Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song. He asks God to bless the Temple.
Thank you, Lord[a]
30 Lord, I will praise you,
because you have saved me from death.
You have not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I called to you for help,
and you have made me well again.
3 Lord, you pulled me up
out of the deep hole of death.
You saved me
from among those who are going into the grave.
4 Sing to the Lord,
you people who trust him.
Praise his holy name.
5 His anger continues only for a moment,
but he is kind to us for our whole life.
You may be sad all through the night,
but in the morning, you will be happy again.[b]
6 When I was feeling safe and strong,
I thought, ‘Nothing can ever destroy me.’
7 But Lord, it was you who made my kingdom strong,
because you are so kind.
But then you turned away from me,
and I became very afraid.[c]
8 I called to you for help, Lord.
I asked you to be kind to me, my Lord.
9 If I go down into the deep hole of death,
that will not help you!
My dead body cannot praise you there!
It cannot tell people to trust you!
10 Lord, please listen to me!
Please be kind to me!
Lord, please be my helper!
11 Now you have caused me to stop crying,
so that I dance instead!
I do not need to wear sackcloth,
because I am no longer sad.
Instead, you have made me very happy.[d]
12 So I am truly happy and I will sing to praise you.
I cannot stay quiet!
Lord, my God,
I will continue to thank you for ever.
This is a special song that David wrote.
Tell God about your sins[a]
32 When God has forgiven someone's sins,
they are truly happy!
They may have turned against God,
but when God forgives them, they are happy.
2 They may have done something bad,
but when the Lord says, ‘Not guilty!’,
he has truly blessed them.
They are happy because they no longer try to hide their sins.
3 When I said nothing to God about my sin,
my whole body became weak.
I cried all the time because of the pain.
4 In the day and in the night,
you punished me very much.
It seemed as if the hot sun was taking away my strength.
Selah.
5 Then I told you about my sins.
I did not try to hide the bad things that I had done.
I said, ‘I will tell the Lord
about the things that I have done against him.’
When I did that, you forgave my sins.
Selah.
6 Because of this, all your own people should pray to you.
They should pray while they still have the chance.[b]
Then, when danger comes to them like a river of deep water,
they will still be safe.
7 Yes, Lord, you are a place where I can hide.
You will keep me safe from trouble.
I will hear happy songs all around me,
because you save your people from danger.
Selah.
8 I will teach you the right way to live.
I will be your guide
and I will take care of you.[c]
9 Do not be like a silly horse, or a mule.
You have to use a rope to show them which way to go.
Without that, they will not obey you.
10 Wicked people will receive a lot of trouble and pain.
But if anyone trusts in the Lord,
they will know that God always loves them.
11 So all you people who belong to the Lord,
praise him and be happy!
All of you who are good, honest people,
shout aloud because you are so happy!
This is a special song for the music leader. The sons of Korah wrote it.
A prayer when you are away from home[a]
42 God, I need you so much!
I look for you,
as a thirsty deer looks for streams of water.
2 Deep down inside me,
I am very thirsty!
You are the God who lives for ever,
and I need life from you!
When will I be able to come near to you
and see you face to face?[b]
3 All day and all night I weep.
My tears are my only food!
My enemies say to me all the time,
‘Where is your God?’
4 When I remember how my life was before,
I am very upset and I weep.
Once I walked with a big crowd of people
to worship God in his temple.
I led the people there as we sang happy songs,
and we praised God with loud voices.[c]
5 Now I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.[d]
6 Deep inside me I am very sad.
So I will turn to you, my God, from where I am.
I will pray to you from Hermon mountain
where the Jordan River begins,
and from Mizar mountain.
7 I hear your waterfalls make a noise like thunder.
It seems like all that water is pouring over me
and it knocks me down to the ground.[e]
8 Each day, the Lord shows me that he loves me
with his faithful love.
Each night he gives me a song to sing,
as I pray to the God who lives for ever.[f]
9 I say to God, who is my high rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I be so sad?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?’
10 My enemies laugh at me all the time.
It is like they are breaking all my bones.
They are always saying,
‘Where is your God?’
11 I ask myself again,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
A prayer when you are in trouble[g]
43 My God, show that I am not guilty.
Make the people who do not respect you
know that I am right.
Rescue me from the evil people
who tell lies about me.
2 God, you are the safe place where I can hide.
Why have you pushed me away?
How much longer must I continue to weep,
because my enemies do cruel things to me?
3 Send to me your light and your truth.
Let them be my guide.
They will take me back to your holy mountain
and to the house where you live.[h]
4 Then I will go to your altar,
to worship you, the God who makes me happy.
You are my God and I will praise you there.
I will sing to thank you, God, with my harp.
5 I ask myself,
‘Why am I so sad and upset?’
I must wait patiently for God to help me.
Then I will praise my God once again,
because he is the one who saves me.
9 Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.[a]
Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10 There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.[b]
11 When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.[c] 13 So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’
14 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.[d]
16 Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.
17 But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? 19 You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’
20 Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.
Abram and Lot go different ways
13 Abram left Egypt and he travelled north to the Negev. He took his wife and everything that belonged to him. Lot also went with him.
18 So the old law about priests no longer has authority. It was weak and it could not help people. 19 God's Laws that he gave to Moses could not make anything completely right. But now God has brought us something better to hope for. And in that way, we ourselves can come near to God.
20 Also, when God said that Jesus would be his special priest, he made a strong promise. When the Levites became priests, he did not make a strong promise like that. 21 But when Jesus became God's priest, God made a strong promise. God said:
‘The Lord God has promised this strongly.
He will not change his mind.
You will be a priest for ever.’
22 Because God promised that to Jesus, we know that his new agreement with his people is very strong. It is a much better agreement than the old one.
23 In the old way, there were many Levite priests. Each one of them died, so that they could not continue to serve God as priests. 24 But Jesus lives for ever, so he will never stop being a priest. 25 Jesus is always alive and he asks God to help his people. So he can completely save everyone who believes in him. He will lead them to God.
26 Jesus is the kind of special priest that we need. He completely belongs to God. He has never done anything wrong. He is completely good and clean. He is separate from everyone who does wrong things. God has raised him up to the most important place in heaven. 27 Jesus is not like the Levite priests. They need to offer sacrifices to God every day. First, they offer sacrifices so that God will forgive their own sins. Then they offer sacrifices on behalf of the other people, so that God will forgive their sins too. But Jesus offered one sacrifice for all time. That sacrifice was himself. 28 In the old agreement, Moses' laws decide who will become special priests. Because those men are weak, they often do wrong things. But God's very strong promise came after the Law that he gave to Moses. With that promise, God chose his Son to be his special priest. And his Son has become everything that God wants him to be, completely and for ever.[a]
The disciples return
27 At this moment, Jesus' disciples returned. They were surprised to see that Jesus was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you talking to her?’ 28 Then the woman left her water pot and she returned to the town. She said to the people there, 29 ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything about myself. He told me all the things that I have ever done! He must be the Messiah!’ 30 So they left the town and they went to find Jesus.
31 While that was happening, the disciples said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food that I can eat. But you do not know about it.’ 33 So the disciples asked each other, ‘Could someone have brought food to him?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My Father has sent me. I must do the things he wants me to do. I must finish the work that he has given to me to do. That is my food. 35 You often say, “It is still four more months until the plants in the farmers' fields will be ready for the harvest.” But I say that you should open your eyes. Look at the fields. The plants are ready for the harvest now. 36 The workers are already bringing in the fruit and their master is paying them. As a result, people are receiving life for ever with God. So the person who plants the seeds will be very happy. And the person who brings in the fruit will also be very happy. Both of them will be happy together. 37 You also say, “One person plants the seeds and another person brings in the fruit.” Now you can see that this is true. 38 I have sent you to bring people to me like a harvest of fruit. You did not do the work to prepare that fruit. Other people did that hard work. Now you have brought in the fruit that they worked for. That makes you happy.’
39 Many of the people who lived in that town in Samaria heard the woman's story. She had said to them, ‘He told me all the things that I have ever done!’ Because of this, they believed in Jesus. 40 So when these people came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them. So he stayed there for two days. 41 Many more people believed in Jesus when they listened to his own words. 42 The people said to the woman, ‘Now we believe in him because we ourselves have heard him. We do not believe only because of what you told us. He really is the man that God has sent to save the world. We know that now.’
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