Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Victory
For the director of music. By the Lord’s servant, David. David sang this song to the Lord when the Lord had saved him from Saul and all his other enemies.
18 I love you, Lord. You are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my protection, my Savior.
My God is my rock.
I can run to him for safety.
He is my shield and my saving strength, my defender.
3 I will call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death came around me;
the deadly rivers overwhelmed me.
5 The ropes of death wrapped around me.
The traps of death were before me.
6 In my trouble I called to the Lord.
I cried out to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my call for help reached his ears.
7 The earth trembled and shook.
The foundations of the mountains began to shake.
They trembled because the Lord was angry.
8 Smoke came out of his nose,
and burning fire came out of his mouth.
Burning coals went before him.
9 He tore open the sky and came down
with dark clouds under his feet.
10 He rode a creature with wings and flew.
He raced on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his shelter around him,
surrounded by fog and clouds.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence came clouds
with hail and lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High raised his voice,
and there was hail and lightning.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies.
His many bolts of lightning confused them with fear.
15 Lord, you spoke strongly.
The wind blew from your nose.
Then the valleys of the sea appeared,
and the foundations of the earth were seen.
16 The Lord reached down from above and took me;
he pulled me from the deep water.
17 He saved me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me, because they were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at my time of trouble,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He took me to a safe place.
Because he delights in me, he saved me.
20 The Lord spared me because I did what was right.
Because I have not done evil, he has rewarded me.
21 I have followed the ways of the Lord;
I have not done evil by turning away from my God.
22 I remember all his laws
and have not broken his rules.
23 I am innocent before him;
I have kept myself from doing evil.
24 The Lord rewarded me because I did what was right,
because I did what the Lord said was right.
25 Lord, you are loyal to those who are loyal,
and you are good to those who are good.
26 You are pure to those who are pure,
but you are against those who are bad.
27 You save the humble,
but you bring down those who are proud.
28 Lord, you give light to my lamp.
My God brightens the darkness around me.
29 With your help I can attack an army.
With God’s help I can jump over a wall.
30 The ways of God are without fault.
The Lord’s words are pure.
He is a shield to those who trust him.
31 Who is God? Only the Lord.
Who is the Rock? Only our God.
32 God is my protection.
He makes my way free from fault.
33 He makes me like a deer that does not stumble;
he helps me stand on the steep mountains.
34 He trains my hands for battle
so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
35 You protect me with your saving shield.
You support me with your right hand.
You have stooped to make me great.
36 You give me a better way to live,
so I live as you want me to.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them.
I did not quit until they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so they couldn’t rise up again.
They fell beneath my feet.
39 You gave me strength in battle.
You made my enemies bow before me.
40 You made my enemies turn back,
and I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They called for help,
but no one came to save them.
They called to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I beat my enemies into pieces, like dust in the wind.
I poured them out like mud in the streets.
43 You saved me when the people attacked me.
You made me the leader of nations.
People I never knew serve me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
Foreigners obey me.
45 They all become afraid
and tremble in their hiding places.
46 The Lord lives!
May my Rock be praised.
Praise the God who saves me!
47 God gives me victory over my enemies
and brings people under my rule.
48 He saves me from my enemies.
You set me over those who hate me.
You saved me from violent people.
49 So I will praise you, Lord, among the nations.
I will sing praises to your name.
50 The Lord gives great victories to his king.
He is loyal to his appointed king,
to David and his descendants forever.
12 The Lord All-Powerful has a certain day planned
when he will punish the proud and those who brag,
and they will no longer be important.
13 He will bring down the tall cedar trees from Lebanon
and the great oak trees of Bashan,
14 all the tall mountains
and the high hills,
15 every tall tower
and every high, strong wall,
16 all the trading ships
and the beautiful ships.
17 At that time proud people will be made humble,
and they will bow low with shame.
At that time only the Lord will be praised,
18 but all the idols will be gone.
19 People will run to caves in the rocky cliffs
and will dig holes and hide in the ground
from the anger of the Lord
and his great power,
when he stands to shake the earth.
20 At that time people will throw away
their gold and silver idols,
which they made for themselves to worship;
they will throw them away to the bats and moles.
21 Then the people will hide in caves
and cracks in the rocks
from the anger of the Lord
and his great power,
when he stands to shake the earth.
22 You should stop trusting in people to save you,
because people are only human;
they aren’t able to help you.
3 When we could not wait any longer, we decided it was best to stay in Athens alone 2 and send Timothy to you. Timothy, our brother, works with us for God and helps us tell people the Good News about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faith 3 so none of you would be upset by these troubles. You yourselves know that we must face these troubles. 4 Even when we were with you, we told you we all would have to suffer, and you know it has happened. 5 Because of this, when I could wait no longer, I sent Timothy to you so I could learn about your faith. I was afraid the devil had tempted you, and perhaps our hard work would have been wasted.
6 But Timothy now has come back to us from you and has brought us good news about your faith and love. He told us that you always remember us in a good way and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you. 7 So, brothers and sisters, while we have much trouble and suffering, we are encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 Our life is really full if you stand strong in the Lord. 9 We have so much joy before our God because of you. We cannot thank him enough for all the joy we feel. 10 Night and day we continue praying with all our heart that we can see you again and give you all the things you need to make your faith strong.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus prepare the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love grow more and multiply for each other and for all people so that you will love others as we love you. 13 May your hearts be made strong so that you will be holy and without fault before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
27 Some Sadducees, who believed people would not rise from the dead, came to Jesus. 28 They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29 Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, but had no children. 30 Then the second brother married the widow, and he died. 31 And the third brother married the widow, and he died. The same thing happened with all seven brothers; they died and had no children. 32 Finally, the woman died also. 33 Since all seven brothers had married her, whose wife will she be when people rise from the dead?”
34 Jesus said to them, “On earth, people marry and are given to someone to marry. 35 But those who will be worthy to be raised from the dead and live again will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. 36 In that life they are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from the dead. 37 Even Moses clearly showed that the dead are raised to life. When he wrote about the burning bush,[a] he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[b] 38 God is the God of the living, not the dead, because all people are alive to him.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law said, “Teacher, your answer was good.” 40 No one was brave enough to ask him another question.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.