Book of Common Prayer
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
131 Lord, I am not proud.
I do not think that I am a great person.
I do not try to do great things.
I do not worry about things that are too hard for me to understand.
2 Instead, I am quiet
and there is peace in my mind.
I am like a young child who sits on his mother's knee.
Yes, I have peace in my mind.
3 Israel's people, trust the Lord to help you,
now and for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
The house of God
132 Lord, remember King David
and all the troubles that he suffered.
2 He made a special promise to the Lord.
He promised you, the Mighty One of Jacob.[a]
3 He said, ‘I will not go into my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not sleep even for a moment,
5 until I find a house for the Lord.
Yes, the Mighty One of Jacob needs a proper home.’[b]
6 Listen! We heard the news at Ephrathah.[c]
We found God's Covenant Box in the fields of Jaar.[d]
7 We will go to the Lord's home!
We will worship him on his throne!
8 Lord, come now and stay here, in your home!
Come with the Covenant Box that shows your great power.[e]
9 May your priests serve you in a good way.
Cause your faithful people to shout with joy!
10 Remember your servant, King David.
Do not turn away from your chosen king.[f]
11 The Lord made a strong promise to David.
He will not change what he has promised to do.
The Lord said,
‘I will put one of your sons on your throne to rule as king.
12 If your sons obey my covenant and my rules,
their descendants will rule for ever.’
13 The Lord has chosen Zion to be his home.
14 He said, ‘This is where I will live for ever.
This is where I want my home to be.
15 I will give Zion's people everything that they need.
Zion's poor people will have plenty of food to eat.
16 I will keep Zion's priests safe.
The people who serve God faithfully will shout loudly,
because they are so happy.
17 In Zion I will give strength to King David's family.
My chosen king will continue to rule well,
like a light that shines brightly.
18 I will cause his enemies to be ashamed.
But his own kingdom will be great!’
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
133 It is good for a family of God's people to live together in peace.
Yes! It brings great pleasure!
2 It brings pleasure like valuable olive oil
that is poured on your head,
and it goes down onto your beard.
They poured it onto Aaron's head and his beard,
and it went down onto his clothes.[g]
3 It brings pleasure like the dew on Hermon.[h]
It makes the mountains of Zion become wet.[i]
That is the place where the Lord has promised to bless his people.
He blesses them with life for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
A song at night
134 Listen, all you servants of the Lord,
come and praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord,
all you who serve him in his temple during the night.
2 Lift up your hands towards his Holy Place,
and praise him.
3 The Lord made the heaven and the earth.
From his home in Zion, may he bless you!
A song to praise God
135 Hallelujah![j]
Praise the name of the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
2 You serve the Lord in his temple.
You serve him in the temple yards.
3 The Lord is good, so praise him!
His name is good and great,
so praise him with songs!
4 The Lord chose Jacob's family for himself.
Yes, he chose Israel's people to belong to him.[k]
5 I know that the Lord is great.
Our Lord is greater than any other god.
6 He does whatever he decides to do.
He rules the sky and the earth,
and the deepest parts of the sea.
7 The Lord causes clouds to rise up all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the storms of rain.
He sends out the wind from its place,
so that it blows where he chooses.
8 God destroyed the firstborn sons in Egypt,
both men and animals.[l]
9 He did great miracles in Egypt.
He warned Pharaoh and his officers
that he would punish them.
10 He destroyed many nations
and he killed powerful kings.
11 He killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
He killed Og, the king of Bashan,
and all the other kings of Canaan.
12 He gave their land to his people, the Israelites.
The land would belong to them and to their descendants.
13 Lord, people will always remember your name.
You will always be famous.
14 The Lord shows that his people are right.
He is kind to those who serve him.
15 Other nations make idols with silver and gold.
People worship things that they have made with their hands!
16 Their idols have mouths, but they cannot speak!
They have eyes, but they cannot see!
17 They have ears, but they cannot hear!
They cannot even breathe!
18 The people who made them will become as they are.
Everyone who trusts in idols
will become as useless as their idols are.[m]
19 Israel's family, praise the Lord!
Descendants of Aaron, praise the Lord!
20 Descendants of Levi, praise the Lord!
Everyone who serves the Lord, praise him!
21 Everyone in Zion should praise the Lord.
He is the one who has his home in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The Lord takes away the sin of the people
13 ‘On that day, water will start to pour from a fountain for King David's descendants and Jerusalem's people. It will make them clean from their sins and the dirty things that they have done.’
2 The Lord Almighty says, ‘On that day, I will remove the names of false gods from the country. Everyone will forget them. I will remove all the false prophets. And I will remove the bad spirit that is not holy.
3 And if anyone appears as a prophet again, his father and his mother will say to him, “You must die. You do not speak true words. The Lord has not spoken to you.” Then they will kill him.
4 On that day, every prophet will be ashamed that he was ever a prophet. He will not put on the clothes of a prophet that they make from hair. Then people will not know that he is a prophet.
5 He will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a farmer. From the time that I was a boy, I have worked on the land.”
6 If someone asks him, “Who cut your body?” he will answer, “My friends cut me when I was at their house.” ’
Kill the shepherd and the sheep will run away
7 ‘Attack my shepherd with a sharp knife.
Attack the man that is next to me,’
says the Lord Almighty.
‘Kill the shepherd and then the sheep will run away.
Then I will attack the young sheep.
8 In the whole country,’ says the Lord,
‘two thirds of the people will die.
But one third will still be living there.
9 I will bring these people through fire.
As men clean silver in the fire, so I will clean them.
As men test gold in the fire, so I will test them.
They will speak my name and I will answer them.
I will say, “They are my people.”
They will say, “The Lord is our God.” ’
Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians
15 People have told me that you continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. They have told me that you love all God's people. Because I have heard these good things about you, 16 I am always thanking God because of you. Whenever I pray to God, I always ask him to help you. 17 God is very great! He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that his Holy Spirit will make you wise. I pray that his Holy Spirit will help you to understand what God is like. Then you will know God better and better. 18 I pray that God will bring light into your minds. Then you will understand about the many good things that he has prepared for you. You know that you will receive those things because he has chosen you to be his people. God has prepared very valuable things for you in heaven. 19 You will also know how very powerful God is. He uses that power to help us now, as we trust in Christ.
God's power is greater than anything we could ever know. 20 He used that power to raise Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Then he gave Christ a place to sit at his right side in heaven.[a] 21 There, Christ rules over every other ruler and leader. He rules over everything else that has authority. He is greater than any power which people respect. That is true for the rulers of this world now, and also the rulers of the world that will come. 22 God has put all things under Christ's authority. He has made Christ the ruler over all things. He has done this to help his people, the church. 23 The church is like Christ's body and he is its head. Christ fills all things everywhere and he causes the church to become complete.
Jesus tells a story about 10 servants
11 While the people were still listening, Jesus told them a story. He did this because the people had wrong thoughts. He was now getting near to Jerusalem. So the people with him were thinking that God would begin to rule his people immediately.
12 Jesus said to them, ‘An important man left his home and he travelled a long way to another country. There he would receive authority to rule his own country. After that, he would return home and he would be king. 13 Before he left, he asked ten of his servants to come to him. He gave each of them ten pounds of silver.[a] “Use this money to get more money for me while I am away,” he said.[b]
14 But the people who were living in his country did not like the man. So they sent some of their people to the foreign country with a message. They said, “We do not want this man to rule over us.”
15 Then the man returned home and he was now their king. He asked those ten servants to come to him. He had given them each some money. Now he wanted to know how much more money they had now. They should have bought things with it and then they should have sold those things again for more money.
16 The first servant came to him and said, “Master, your money has made ten more pounds for you.” 17 The king was happy and said to his servant, “You have done well. You are a good servant that I can trust. You have used a small amount of money well. So now you will rule over ten cities.”
18 The second servant came and said, “Master, your money has made five more pounds.” 19 The king replied, “You will rule over five cities.”
20 Then another servant came. He said, “Master, here is your money. I put it away in a piece of cloth to keep it safe. 21 I did this because I was afraid of you. You tell people what they should do all the time. You take things that you did not work for. You take food from fields where you did not plant any seed.”
22 The king replied, “You are a very bad servant! I will use your own words to show you that you have done the wrong thing. You say that I tell people what they should do all the time. That I take things that I did not work for. That I take food from fields where I did not plant any seed. Did you know all that about me? 23 Then you should have put my money into the bank. When I came home, I would have received my money back, with extra money.”
24 Some other servants were standing near to their master. He said to them, “Take the money from this bad servant. Give it to the servant that has ten pounds.” 25 “But, master,” they replied, “that servant has ten pounds already.”
26 “Let me tell you this,” the king said. “Some people have received good things. They will all receive more. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 27 Now I must punish these other people that did not want me to rule over them. Bring them here and kill them in front of me.” ’[c]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.