Book of Common Prayer
The Destiny of the Wicked and of the Good[a]
37 Don't be worried on account of the wicked;
don't be jealous of those who do wrong.
2 They will soon disappear like grass that dries up;
they will die like plants that wither.
3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
live in the land and be safe.
4 Seek your happiness in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart's desire.
5 Give yourself to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will help you;
6 he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.
7 Be patient and wait for the Lord to act;
don't be worried about those who prosper
or those who succeed in their evil plans.
8 Don't give in to worry or anger;
it only leads to trouble.
9 Those who trust in the Lord will possess the land,
but the wicked will be driven out.
10 Soon the wicked will disappear;
you may look for them, but you won't find them;
11 (A)but the humble will possess the land
and enjoy prosperity and peace.
12 The wicked plot against good people
and glare at them with hate.
13 But the Lord laughs at wicked people,
because he knows they will soon be destroyed.
14 The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows
to kill the poor and needy,
to slaughter those who do what is right;
15 but they will be killed by their own swords,
and their bows will be smashed.
16 The little that a good person owns
is worth more than the wealth of all the wicked,
17 because the Lord will take away the strength of the wicked,
but protect those who are good.
18 The Lord takes care of those who obey him,
and the land will be theirs forever.
19 They will not suffer when times are bad;
they will have enough in time of famine.
20 But the wicked will die;
the enemies of the Lord will vanish like wild flowers;
they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and never pay back,
but good people are generous with their gifts.
22 Those who are blessed by the Lord will possess the land,
but those who are cursed by him will be driven out.
23 The Lord guides us in the way we should go
and protects those who please him.
24 If they fall, they will not stay down,
because the Lord will help them up.
25 I am old now; I have lived a long time,
but I have never seen good people abandoned by the Lord
or their children begging for food.
26 At all times they give freely and lend to others,
and their children are a blessing.
27 Turn away from evil and do good,
and your descendants will always live in the land;
28 for the Lord loves what is right
and does not abandon his faithful people.
He protects them forever,
but the descendants of the wicked will be driven out.
29 The righteous will possess the land
and live in it forever.
30 The words of good people are wise,
and they are always fair.
31 They keep the law of their God in their hearts
and never depart from it.
32 Wicked people watch good people
and try to kill them;
33 but the Lord will not abandon them to their enemy's power
or let them be condemned when they are on trial.
34 Put your hope in the Lord and obey his commands;
he will honor you by giving you the land,
and you will see the wicked driven out.
35 I once knew someone wicked who was a tyrant;
he towered over everyone like a cedar of Lebanon;[b]
36 but later I[c] passed by, and he wasn't there;
I looked for him, but couldn't find him.
37 Notice good people, observe the righteous;
peaceful people have descendants,
38 but sinners are completely destroyed,
and their descendants are wiped out.
39 The Lord saves the righteous
and protects them in times of trouble.
40 He helps them and rescues them;
he saves them from the wicked,
because they go to him for protection.
10 1 A wise ruler will educate his people, and his government will be orderly. 2 All the officials and all the citizens will be like their ruler. 3 An uneducated king will ruin his people, but a government will grow strong if its rulers are wise. 4 The Lord sees to the government of the world and brings the right person to power at the right time. 5 The success of that person is in the Lord's hands. The Lord is the source of the honor given to any official.
Pride
6 Don't be angry with someone for every little thing he does wrong. Don't do anything out of injured pride. 7 Arrogance and injustice are hated by both the Lord and people. 8 Injustice, arrogance, and wealth cause nations to fall from power, and others then rise to take their place. 9 We are only dust and ashes; what have we got to be proud of Our body decays even while we are alive.[a] 10 A long illness puzzles the doctor.[b] Even a king may be alive today and dead tomorrow. 11 When a person dies, all he then possesses is worms, flies, and maggots.
12 Pride has its beginning when a person abandons the Lord, his maker. 13 Pride is like a fountain pouring out sin, and whoever persists in it will be full of wickedness. That is why the Lord brought terrible punishments on some people and completely destroyed them. 14 (A)The Lord has overthrown kings and put humbler people in their place. 15 The Lord has pulled up nations by the roots and established humbler ones in their place. 16 The Lord has overthrown empires and completely devastated their lands. 17 He destroyed some so completely that they are not even remembered any more. 18 The Creator never intended for human beings to be arrogant and violent.
9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star which had fallen down to the earth, and it was given the key to the abyss.[a] 2 (A)The star opened the abyss, and smoke poured out of it, like the smoke from a large furnace; the sunlight and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. 3 (B)Locusts came down out of the smoke upon the earth, and they were given the same kind of power that scorpions have. 4 (C)They were told not to harm the grass or the trees or any other plant; they could harm only the people who did not have the mark of God's seal on their foreheads. 5 The locusts were not allowed to kill these people, but only to torture them for five months. The pain caused by the torture is like the pain caused by a scorpion's sting. 6 (D)During those five months they will seek death, but will not find it; they will want to die, but death will flee from them.
7 (E)The locusts looked like horses ready for battle; on their heads they had what seemed to be crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. 8 (F)Their hair was like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9 (G)Their chests were covered with what looked like iron breastplates, and the sound made by their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion, and it is with their tails that they have the power to hurt people for five months. 11 They have a king ruling over them, who is the angel in charge of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon; in Greek the name is Apollyon (meaning “The Destroyer”).
12 The first horror is over; after this there are still two more horrors to come.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 (A)A teacher of the Law came up and tried to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?”
26 Jesus answered him, “What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?”
27 (B)The man answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’”
28 (C)“You are right,” Jesus replied; “do this and you will live.”
29 But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus answered, “There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half dead. 31 It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side. 32 In the same way a Levite also came there, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by on the other side. 33 (D)But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. 34 He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he told the innkeeper, ‘and when I come back this way, I will pay you whatever else you spend on him.’”
36 And Jesus concluded, “In your opinion, which one of these three acted like a neighbor toward the man attacked by the robbers?”
37 The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who was kind to him.”
Jesus replied, “You go, then, and do the same.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.