Book of Common Prayer
To the director: A praise song of David.
140 Lord, save me from people who are evil.
Protect me from those who are cruel,
2 from those who plan to do evil
and always cause trouble.
3 Their words are as harmful as the fangs of a snake,
as deadly as its venom. Selah
4 Lord, save me from the wicked!
Protect me from these cruel people who plan to hurt me.
5 These proud people are trying to trap me.
They spread nets to catch me;
they set traps in my path. Selah
6 Lord, you are my God.
Lord, listen to my prayer.
7 My Lord God, you are the powerful one who saves me.
You protect my head in battle.
8 Lord, don’t let the wicked have what they want.
Don’t let their plans succeed. Selah
9 My enemies are planning trouble for me.
Lord, make that trouble fall on them.
10 Pour burning coals on their heads.
Throw them into the fire.
Throw them into pits they can never escape.
11 Don’t let those cruel liars enjoy success here.
Let disaster hunt them down.
12 I know the Lord will provide justice for the poor
and will defend the helpless.
13 Those who do what is right will praise your name;
those who are honest will live in your presence.
A maskil of David written when he was in the cave. A prayer.
142 I cry out to the Lord.
I beg the Lord to help me.
2 I tell him my problems;
I tell him about my troubles.
3 I am ready to give up.
But you, Lord, know the path I am on,
and you know that my enemies have set a trap for me.
4 I look around,
and I don’t see anyone I know.
I have no place to run.
There is no one to save me.
5 Lord, I cry out to you for help:
“You are my place of safety.
You are all I need in life.”
6 Listen to my prayer.
I am so weak.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
They are stronger than I am.
7 Help me escape this trap,[a]
so that I can praise your name.
Then good people will celebrate with me,
because you took care of me.
A praise song of David.
141 Lord, I call to you for help.
Listen to me as I pray.
Please hurry and help me!
2 Accept my prayer like a gift of burning incense,
the words I lift up like an evening sacrifice.
3 Lord, help me control what I say.
Don’t let me say anything bad.
4 Take away any desire to do evil.
Keep me from joining the wicked in doing wrong.
Help me stay away from their feasts.
5 If good people correct me,
I will consider it a good thing.
If they criticize me,
I will accept it like a warm welcome.[a]
But my prayer will always be against the wicked and the evil they do.
6 Let their judges be put to death.[b]
Then everyone will know that I told the truth.
7 Like rocks in a field that a farmer has plowed,
so our bones will be scattered in the grave.
8 My Lord God, I look to you for help.
I look to you for protection; don’t let me die.
9 Those evil people are trying to trap me.
Don’t let me fall into their traps.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own traps,
while I walk away unharmed.
A praise song of David.
143 Lord, hear my prayer.
Listen to my call for help and answer my prayer.
Show me how good and loyal you are.
2 Don’t judge me, your servant.
No one alive could be judged innocent by your standards.
3 My enemies are chasing me.
They have crushed me into the dirt.
They are pushing me into the dark grave,
like people who died long ago.
4 I am ready to give up.
I am losing my courage.
5 But I remember what happened long ago.
I am thinking about all you have done.
I am talking about what you made with your hands!
6 I lift my hands in prayer to you.
I am waiting for your help, like a dry land waiting for rain. Selah
7 Hurry and answer me, Lord!
I have lost my courage.
Don’t turn away from me.
Don’t let me die and become like the people lying in the grave.
8 Show me your faithful love this morning.
I trust in you.
Show me what I should do.
I put my life in your hands!
9 Lord, I come to you for protection.
Save me from my enemies.
10 Show me what you want me to do.
You are my God.
Let your good Spirit lead me over level ground.
11 Lord, let me live
so that people will praise your name.
Show me how good you are
and save me from my trouble.
12 Show me your love
and defeat my enemies.
Destroy those who are trying to kill me
because I am your servant.
The Leaders of Israel Are to Blame
9 Leaders of Jacob and rulers of Israel, listen to me!
You hate the right way of living!
If something is straight,
then you make it crooked!
10 You build Zion by murdering people.[a]
You build Jerusalem by cheating people!
11 The judges in Jerusalem accept bribes
to help them decide who wins in court.
The priests in Jerusalem must be paid
before they will teach the people.
People must pay the prophets
before they will look into the future.
Then those leaders expect the Lord to help them.
They say, “The Lord lives here with us,
so nothing bad will happen to us.”
12 Leaders, because of you, Zion will be destroyed.
It will become a plowed field.
Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.
Temple Mount will be an empty hill[b] overgrown with bushes.
The Law Will Come From Jerusalem
4 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s Temple
will be on the highest of all mountains.
It will be raised higher than the hills.
There will be a steady stream of people going there.
2 People from many nations will go there and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob.
Then God will teach us his way of living,
and we will follow him.”
His teaching, the Lord’s message, will begin in Jerusalem on Mount Zion
and will go out to all the world.
3 Then God will act as judge to end arguments between people in many places.
He will decide what is right for great nations far and near.
They will stop using their weapons for war.
They will hammer their swords into plows
and use their spears to make tools for harvesting.
All fighting between nations will end.
They will never again train for war.
4 They will sit under their own
grapevine and fig tree.
No one will make them afraid.
That is because the Lord All-Powerful said it would happen like that.
5 All the people from other nations follow their own gods,
but we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever![c]
Paul Speaks to Felix and His Wife
24 After a few days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jew. Felix asked for Paul to be brought to him. He listened to Paul talk about believing in Christ Jesus. 25 But Felix became afraid when Paul spoke about things like doing right, self-control, and the judgment that will come in the future. He said, “Go away now. When I have more time, I will call for you.” 26 But Felix had another reason for talking with Paul. He hoped Paul would pay him a bribe, so he sent for Paul often and talked with him.
27 But after two years, Porcius Festus became governor. So Felix was no longer governor. But he left Paul in prison to please the Jews.
Paul Asks to See Caesar
25 Festus became governor, and three days later he went from Caesarea to Jerusalem. 2 The leading priests and the important Jewish leaders made charges against Paul before Festus. 3 They asked Festus to do them a favor. They wanted him to send Paul back to Jerusalem because they had a plan to kill Paul on the way. 4 But Festus answered, “No, Paul will be kept in Caesarea. I will be going there soon myself, 5 and your leaders can go with me. If this man has really done anything wrong, they can accuse him there.”
6 Festus stayed in Jerusalem another eight or ten days and then went back to Caesarea. The next day Festus told the soldiers to bring Paul before him. Festus was seated on the judgment seat. 7 Paul came into the room, and the Jews who had come from Jerusalem stood around him. They made many serious charges against him, but they could not prove anything. 8 Paul defended himself, saying, “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law, against the Temple, or against Caesar.”
9 But Festus wanted to please the Jews. So he asked Paul, “Do you want to go to Jerusalem for me to judge you there on these charges?”
10 Paul said, “I am standing at Caesar’s judgment seat now. This is where I should be judged. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, and you know it. 11 If I have done something wrong and the law says I must die, then I agree that I should die. I don’t ask to be saved from death. But if these charges are not true, then no one can hand me over to these people. No, I want Caesar to hear my case!”
12 Festus talked about this with his advisors. Then he said, “You have asked to see Caesar, so you will go to Caesar!”
The Group With Jesus
8 The next day, Jesus traveled through some cities and small towns. Jesus told the people a message from God, the Good News about God’s kingdom. The twelve apostles were with him. 2 There were also some women with him. Jesus had healed these women of sicknesses and evil spirits. One of them was Mary, who was called Magdalene. Seven demons had come out of her. 3 Also with these women were Joanna, the wife of Chuza (the manager of Herod’s property), Susanna, and many other women. These women used their own money to help Jesus and his apostles.
A Story About a Farmer Sowing Seed(A)
4 A large crowd came together. People came to Jesus from every town, and he told them this story:
5 “A farmer went out to sow seed. While he was scattering the seed, some of it fell beside the road. People walked on the seed, and the birds ate it all. 6 Other seed fell on rock. It began to grow but then died because it had no water. 7 Some other seed fell among thorny weeds. This seed grew, but later the weeds stopped the plants from growing. 8 The rest of the seed fell on good ground. This seed grew and made 100 times more grain.”
Jesus finished the story. Then he called out, “You people who hear me, listen!”
9 Jesus’ followers asked him, “What does this story mean?”
10 He said, “You have been chosen to know the secret truths about God’s kingdom. But I use stories to speak to other people. I do this so that
‘They will look,
but they will not see,
and they will listen,
but they will not understand.’ (B)
Jesus Explains the Story About Seed(C)
11 “This is what the story means: The seed is God’s teaching. 12 Some people are like the seed that fell beside the path. They hear God’s teaching, but then the devil comes and causes them to stop thinking about it. This keeps them from believing it and being saved. 13 Others are like the seed that fell on rock. That is like the people who hear God’s teaching and gladly accept it. But they don’t have deep roots. They believe for a while. But when trouble comes, they turn away from God.
14 “What about the seed that fell among the thorny weeds? That is like the people who hear God’s teaching, but they let the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life stop them from growing. So they never produce a crop.[a] 15 And what about the seed that fell on the good ground? That is like the people who hear God’s teaching with a good, honest heart. They obey it and patiently produce a good crop.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International