Book of Common Prayer
A Cry for Help
A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is discouraged and tells the Lord his complaints.
102 Lord, listen to my prayer;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide from me
in my time of trouble.
Pay attention to me.
When I cry for help, answer me quickly.
3 My life is passing away like smoke,
and my bones are burned up with fire.
4 My heart is like grass
that has been cut and dried.
I forget to eat.
5 Because of my grief,
my skin hangs on my bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl living among the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long enemies insult me;
those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes for food,
and my tears fall into my drinks.
10 Because of your great anger,
you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a passing shadow;
I am like dried grass.
12 But, Lord, you rule forever,
and your fame goes on and on.
13 You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem,
because the time has now come to be kind to her;
the right time has come.
14 Your servants love even her stones;
they even care about her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings on earth will honor you.
16 The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem;
there his glory will be seen.
17 He will answer the prayers of the needy;
he will not reject their prayers.
18 Write these things for the future
so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord.
19 The Lord looked down from his holy place above;
from heaven he looked down at the earth.
20 He heard the moans of the prisoners,
and he freed those sentenced to die.
21 The name of the Lord will be heard in Jerusalem;
his praise will be heard there.
22 People will come together,
and kingdoms will serve the Lord.
23 God has made me tired of living;
he has cut short my life.
24 So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life.
Your years go on and on.
25 In the beginning you made the earth,
and your hands made the skies.
26 They will be destroyed, but you will remain.
They will all wear out like clothes.
And, like clothes, you will change them
and throw them away.
27 But you never change,
and your life will never end.
28 Our children will live in your presence,
and their children will remain with you.”
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say.
He has saved them from the enemy
3 and has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
4 Some people had wandered in the desert lands.
They found no city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and they were discouraged.
6 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a straight road
to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
9 He satisfies the thirsty
and fills up the hungry.
10 Some sat in gloom and darkness;
they were prisoners suffering in chains.
11 They had turned against the words of God
and had refused the advice of God Most High.
12 So he broke their pride by hard work.
They stumbled, and no one helped.
13 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of their gloom and darkness
and broke their chains.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
16 He breaks down bronze gates
and cuts apart iron bars.
17 Some fools turned against God
and suffered for the evil they did.
18 They refused to eat anything,
so they almost died.
19 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
20 God gave the command and healed them,
so they were saved from dying.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
22 Let them offer sacrifices to thank him.
With joy they should tell what he has done.
23 Others went out to sea in ships
and did business on the great oceans.
24 They saw what the Lord could do,
the miracles he did in the deep oceans.
25 He spoke, and a storm came up,
which blew up high waves.
26 The ships were tossed as high as the sky and fell low to the depths.
The storm was so bad that they lost their courage.
27 They stumbled and fell like people who were drunk.
They did not know what to do.
28 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
29 He stilled the storm
and calmed the waves.
30 They were happy that it was quiet,
and God guided them to the port they wanted.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
32 Let them praise his greatness in the meeting of the people;
let them praise him in the meeting of the elders.
Israel Will Pay for Sin
10 Israel is like a large vine
that produced plenty of fruit.
As the people became richer,
they built more altars for idols.
As their land became better,
they put up better stone pillars to honor gods.
2 Their heart was false,
and now they must pay for their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars;
he will destroy their holy stone pillars.
3 Then they will say, “We have no king,
because we didn’t honor the Lord.
As for the king,
he couldn’t do anything for us.”
4 They make many false promises
and agreements which they don’t keep.
So people sue each other in court;
they are like poisonous weeds growing in a plowed field.
5 The people from Israel are worried about
the calf-shaped idol at Beth Aven.
The people will cry about it,
and the priests will cry about it.
They used to shout for joy about its glory,
6 but it will be carried off to Assyria
as a gift to the great king.
Israel will be disgraced,
and the people will be ashamed for not obeying.
7 Israel will be destroyed;
its king will be like a chip of wood floating on the water.
8 The places of false worship will be destroyed,
the places where Israel sins.
Thorns and weeds will grow up
and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 “Israel, you have sinned since the time of Gibeah,[a]
and the people there have continued sinning.
But war will surely overwhelm them in Gibeah,
because of the evil they have done there.
10 When I am ready,
I will come to punish them.
Nations will come together against them,
and they will be punished for their double sins.
11 Israel is like a well-trained young cow
that likes to thresh grain.
I will put a yoke on her neck
and make her work hard in the field.
Israel will plow,
and Judah will break up the ground.
12 I said, ‘Plant goodness,
harvest the fruit of loyalty,
plow the new ground of knowledge.
Look for the Lord until he comes
and pours goodness on you like water.’
13 But you have plowed evil
and harvested trouble;
you have eaten the fruit of your lies.
Because you have trusted in your own power
and your many soldiers,
14 your people will hear the noise of battle,
and all your strong, walled cities will be destroyed.
It will be like the time King Shalman
destroyed Beth Arbel in battle,
when mothers and their children were bashed to death.
15 The same will happen to you, people of Bethel,
because you did so much evil.
When the sun comes up,
the king of Israel will die.
37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the army building, he spoke to the commander, “May I say something to you?”
The commander said, “Do you speak Greek? 38 I thought you were the Egyptian who started some trouble against the government not long ago and led four thousand killers out to the desert.”
39 Paul said, “No, I am a Jew from Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. I am a citizen of that important city. Please, let me speak to the people.”
40 The commander gave permission, so Paul stood on the steps and waved his hand to quiet the people. When there was silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language.
Paul Speaks to the People
22 Paul said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense to you.” 2 When they heard him speaking the Hebrew language,[a] they became very quiet. Paul said, 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in the country of Cilicia, but I grew up in this city. I was a student of Gamaliel,[b] who carefully taught me everything about the law of our ancestors. I was very serious about serving God, just as are all of you here today. 4 I persecuted the people who followed the Way of Jesus, and some of them were even killed. I arrested men and women and put them in jail. 5 The high priest and the whole council of elders can tell you this is true. They gave me letters to the brothers in Damascus. So I was going there to arrest these people and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “About noon when I came near Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The voice said, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’ 9 Those who were with me did not understand the voice, but they saw the light. 10 I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told about all the things I have planned for you to do.’ 11 I could not see, because the bright light had made me blind. So my companions led me into Damascus.
12 “There a man named Ananias came to me. He was a religious man; he obeyed the law of Moses, and all the Jews who lived there respected him. 13 He stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ Immediately I was able to see him. 14 He said, ‘The God of our ancestors chose you long ago to know his plan, to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from him. 15 You will be his witness to all people, telling them about what you have seen and heard. 16 Now, why wait any longer? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, trusting in him to save you.’
Jesus Chooses His Apostles
12 At that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the night praying to God. 13 The next morning, Jesus called his followers to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon (Jesus named him Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon (called the Zealot), 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later turned Jesus over to his enemies.
Jesus Teaches and Heals
17 Jesus and the apostles came down from the mountain, and he stood on level ground. A large group of his followers was there, as well as many people from all around Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast cities of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They all came to hear Jesus teach and to be healed of their sicknesses, and he healed those who were troubled by evil spirits. 19 All the people were trying to touch Jesus, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Jesus looked at his followers and said,
“You people who are poor are blessed,
because the kingdom of God belongs to you.
21 You people who are now hungry are blessed,
because you will be satisfied.
You people who are now crying are blessed,
because you will laugh with joy.
22 “People will hate you, shut you out, insult you, and say you are evil because you follow the Son of Man. But when they do, you will be blessed. 23 Be full of joy at that time, because you have a great reward in heaven. Their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.
24 “But how terrible it will be for you who are rich,
because you have had your easy life.
25 How terrible it will be for you who are full now,
because you will be hungry.
How terrible it will be for you who are laughing now,
because you will be sad and cry.
26 “How terrible when everyone says only good things about you, because their ancestors said the same things about the false prophets.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.