Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119[a]
א alef
119 Those whose way is blameless—
who walk in the Lord’s Instruction—are truly happy!
2 Those who guard God’s laws are truly happy!
They seek God with all their hearts.
3 They don’t even do anything wrong!
They walk in God’s ways.
4 God, you have ordered that your decrees
should be kept most carefully.
5 How I wish my ways were strong
when it comes to keeping your statutes!
6 Then I wouldn’t be ashamed
when I examine all your commandments.
7 I will give thanks to you with a heart that does right
as I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes.
Please don’t leave me all alone!
ב bet
9 How can young people keep their paths pure?
By guarding them according to what you’ve said.[b]
10 I have sought you with all my heart.
Don’t let me stray from any of your commandments!
11 I keep your word close, in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 You, Lord, are to be blessed!
Teach me your statutes.
13 I will declare out loud
all the rules you have spoken.
14 I rejoice in the content of your laws
as if I were rejoicing over great wealth.
15 I will think about your precepts
and examine all your paths.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget what you have said.
ג gimel
17 Be good to your servant so I can go on living
and keeping your word.
18 Open my eyes so I can examine
the wonders of your Instruction!
19 I’m an immigrant in the land.
Don’t hide your commandments from me!
20 I’m worn out by longing
every minute for your rules!
21 You rebuke the arrogant, accursed people
who stray from your commandments.
22 Take all their insults and contempt away from me
because I’ve kept your laws!
23 Even if rulers gather and scheme against me,
your servant will contemplate your statutes!
24 Yes, your laws are my joy—
they are my most trusted advisors!
Psalm 12
For the music leader. According to the Sheminith.[a] A psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord, because the godly are all gone;
the faithful have completely disappeared
from the human race!
2 Everyone tells lies to everyone else;
they talk with slick speech and divided hearts.
3 Let the Lord cut off all slick-talking lips
and every tongue that brags and brags,
4 that says, “We’re unbeatable with our tongues!
Who could get the best of us with lips like ours?”
5 But the Lord says,
“Because the poor are oppressed,
because of the groans of the needy,
I’m now standing up.
I will provide the help they are gasping for.”[b]
6 The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver that’s been refined in an oven,
purified seven times over!
7 You, Lord, will keep us,[c]
protecting us from this generation forever.
8 The wicked roam all over the place,
while depravity is praised by human beings.
Psalm 13
For the music leader. A song of David.
13 How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long will I be left to my own wits,
agony filling my heart? Daily?
How long will my enemy keep defeating me?
3 Look at me!
Answer me, Lord my God!
Restore sight to my eyes!
Otherwise, I’ll sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I won!”
My foes will rejoice over my downfall.
5 But I have trusted in your faithful love.
My heart will rejoice in your salvation.
6 Yes, I will sing to the Lord
because he has been good to me.
Psalm 14
For the music leader. Of David.
14 Fools say in their hearts, There is no God.
They are corrupt and do evil things;
not one of them does anything good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humans
to see if anyone is wise,
to see if anyone seeks God,
3 but all of them have turned bad.
Everyone is corrupt.
No one does good—
not even one person!
4 Are they dumb, all these evildoers,
devouring my people
like they are eating bread
but never calling on the Lord?
5 Count on it:[d] they will be in utter panic
because God is with the righteous generation.
6 You evildoers may humiliate
the plans of those who suffer,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Let Israel’s salvation come out of Zion!
When the Lord changes
his people’s circumstances for the better,
Jacob will rejoice;
Israel will celebrate!
Wise advice
6 My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor
or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,
2 you will be trapped by your words;
you will be caught by your words.
3 Do this, my son, to get out of it,
for you have come under the control of your neighbor.
So go, humble yourself,[a] and pester your neighbor.
4 Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
5 Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter,
like a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy person;
observe its ways and grow wise.
7 The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.
8 Even so, it gets its food in summer;
gathers its provisions at harvest.
9 How long, lazy person, will you lie down?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to lie down—
11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
destitution like a warrior.
12 Worthless people and guilty people
go around with crooked talk.
13 They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet,
and point with their fingers.
14 Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil;
they create controversies all the time.
15 Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them;
they will be quickly broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven things detestable to him:
17 snobbish eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that spill innocent blood,
18 a heart set on wicked plans,
feet that run quickly to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes lies,
and one who causes conflicts among relatives.
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God. Whoever loves someone who is a parent loves the child born to the parent. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep God’s commandments. 3 This is the love of God: we keep God’s commandments. God’s commandments are not difficult, 4 because everyone who is born from God defeats the world. And this is the victory that has defeated the world: our faith. 5 Who defeats the world? Isn’t it the one who believes that Jesus is God’s Son?
Testimony about Jesus
6 This is the one who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. Not by water only but by water and blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 The three are testifying— 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and the three are united in agreement. 9 If we receive human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because this is what God testified: he has testified about his Son. 10 The one who believes in God’s Son has the testimony within; the one who doesn’t believe God has made God a liar, because that one has not believed the testimony that God gave about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God gave eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have God’s Son does not have life.
This generation
16 “To what will I compare this generation? It is like a child sitting in the marketplaces calling out to others, 17 ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song and you didn’t mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 Yet the Human One[a] came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved to be right by her works.”
Condemnation of Bethsaida and Capernaum
20 Then he began to scold the cities where he had done his greatest miracles because they didn’t change their hearts and lives. 21 “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives and put on funeral clothes and ashes a long time ago. 22 But I say to you that Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgment Day than you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to the place of the dead. After all, if the miracles that were done among you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today. 24 But I say to you that it will be better for the land of Sodom on the Judgment Day than it will be for you.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible