Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader.
A prayer[a]
41 If someone is kind to poor people,
God blesses him.
When he is in trouble,
the Lord rescues him.
2 The Lord keeps him safe.
The Lord saves his life!
God causes him to be happy
here in the land where he lives.
The Lord will not put him under the power of his enemies.
3 The Lord takes care of him
when he is ill in bed.
Whenever he is ill,
you will make him completely well again.
4 I said, ‘Lord be kind to me
and forgive me.
I have done wrong things against you,
but please make me well again.’
5 My enemies say cruel things about me.
They say, ‘Surely he must die soon!
Then everyone will forget about him.’
6 When they come to see me,
they say that they are my friends.
But they think of ways to make me ashamed.
When they leave,
they tell everyone bad things about me.
7 All the people who hate me
insult me to other people.
My enemies make plans to hurt me.
8 They say, ‘He has a dangerous disease.
He will never get up from his bed.’
9 Even my special friend has turned against me.
He was someone that I trusted.
I often ate food with him in my home.[b]
10 But you, Lord, please be kind to me.
Raise me up to be well again.
Then I can punish my enemies as they have punished me.[c]
11 They have not won against me,
so I know that you are pleased with me!
12 You continue to help me because I do what is right.
You will let me stay near to you for ever.
13 Let us all praise the Lord,
who is Israel's great God!
Yes, praise him now and for ever!
Amen! Amen!
This is a special song that David wrote for the music leader.
It was when Doeg, the man from Edom, went to Saul and told him, ‘David went to the house of Ahimelech, the priest.’
Cruel words[a]
52 Strong man, why are you so proud
about the evil things that you like to do?
Remember that God's faithful love keeps me safe.
2 Your tongue is like a sharp knife!
You talk about how to hurt other people,
You speak nothing but lies.
3 You love to do evil things,
not good things.
You love to tell lies
more than the truth.
Selah.
4 You love to say cruel words.
You speak to deceive others.
5 But God will knock you down,
and he will break you into pieces.
He will take you away from your home.
He will remove you from this world where people live.
Selah.
6 Righteous people will see what has happened,
and they will be afraid.[b]
Then they will laugh at the wicked person,
and they will say,
7 ‘Look! This man did not trust God to keep him safe.
Instead, he trusted in his riches.
He thought that he could be cruel,
and that would keep him safe.’
8 But I am like a strong olive tree
that grows in the house of God.
I will always trust in God's faithful love for his people.
9 I will always praise you, God,
for what you have done.
I will trust you to help me,
together with all those who serve you.
This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader.
God, please help us![a]
44 God, we have heard it for ourselves.
Our ancestors told us
what you did for them a long time ago.
2 You used your power to chase away the other nations,
so that our ancestors could live in their land.
You punished those nations,
and you helped our ancestors to be free.
3 Our ancestors did not get the land
by the power of their own swords.
Their own strength did not win the fight.
It was your own power and strength that did it!
You were kind to them because you were their friend.
4 God, you are my king!
You command that Jacob's descendants
must win against their enemies.
5 Because of your power,
we can knock down our enemies.
Because of your strength,
we can beat them down.
6 I do not trust in my bow and arrows.
It is not my sword
that has helped me to win the fight.
7 It is you who rescues us from our enemies.
You bring shame on the people that hate us.
8 Every day, we praise you, God.
We will always thank you, all the time,
because you are great!
Selah.
9 But now you have turned against us.
You have made us ashamed.
When our armies go out to fight a battle,
you no longer go with us.
10 You make us run away from our enemies.
The people who hate us take from us whatever they like!
11 You have put us under their power,
so that they kill us like sheep for them to eat.
You have sent us away
to live in foreign countries.
12 You have sold your own people,
for almost nothing!
They had no value to you.
13 The people who live in countries near us
do not respect us.
They laugh at us
and they insult us.
14 The other nations tell jokes about us.
They think that we are nothing.
15 I feel ashamed all the time.
I do not know where to look.
16 This is because my cruel enemies are always insulting me.
All they want is to hurt me.
17 We have not turned away from you,
but all this has happened to us.
We have not turned against the covenant that you made with us.
18 We have continued to serve you
and obey your commands.
19 But you have broken us in pieces.
You have left us for wild dogs to eat.
You have covered us with the darkness of death.
20 We might have turned against you, our God,
and worshipped a strange god.
21 But if we had done that,
you would have discovered it.
You know even our most secret thoughts.
22 But, because we are your people, God,
people try to kill us all the time.
They think that we are like sheep
and we are ready to be killed.
23 Lord, do something!
Why are you sleeping? Wake up!
Do not turn away from us for ever!
24 Why do you turn away from us?
Why do you forget our troubles
and the way that people hurt us?
25 We have fallen down in the dirt.
Our bodies are lying on the ground.
26 Wake up and help us!
Save us, because of your faithful love.
Isaiah's message to his disciples
16 Tie a string round the paper where I have written this. Keep it safe as a true message. Give it to my disciples, to teach them. 17 I will wait for the Lord to do what he says. He has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. But I will trust him to do what is right.
18 Look! Here I am, with the children that the Lord has given to me. We are messages from the Lord Almighty who lives on Mount Zion. We are messages to Israel's people.
19 They will say to you, ‘Go to the people who speak to the spirits of dead people. Go to the magicians who speak magic words. They will tell you what you should do. People should ask their gods and spirits to give them messages. People who are alive should ask the spirits of dead people to help them.’
20 When they say that to you, remember my teaching. Tell them what I have said will happen. People who talk like that are completely in the dark. There is no truth in what they say. 21 Then the people will travel through the land, and they will be sad and hungry. Because of their hunger they will become angry.[a] They will curse their king and their God, as they look up to the sky. 22 They will look down at the earth, but they will only see trouble. Everywhere will be dark and people will have no hope. Then they will fall into complete darkness.
Good news for God's people
9 But the darkness will not continue for ever. Those who had no hope will no longer be afraid. In past times, God let trouble happen to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.[b] But in future years, he will cause the people of that region to be great. Those are the places near the sea, and those beyond the Jordan River, and Galilee region where people from other nations live.
God has given to us everything that we need to be his people
1 This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ's servant and his apostle.
I am writing to you people who believe in Jesus Christ, as we do. That is a valuable gift that God has given to us all. He has done this because Jesus is completely good and right. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the God that we serve.
2 I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more. You will grow as believers because you know God and you know Jesus, our Lord.
3 God is very powerful because he is God. He has used that power to help us. He has given us everything that we need to live in a good way. We can do things that make God happy. This is possible because now we know him. God has chosen us to be his people because he is very great and very good. 4 Because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things for us. As a result, you can do what is right, like God does. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. Those bad things make them become worse and worse. But God gives you the power to be free from all that.
5 God has done all this to help you. So now that you believe in Christ, you must grow as believers. Try very much to do always what is good. Then you should grow to know God more and more. 6 Then you should learn to control yourselves properly. That is not all. You should also learn to be patient and brave. And you should live in a way that pleases God. 7 You should not only please God, but you should be kind to other believers. You should not only love other believers, but you must also love all people.
8 You should continue to grow as believers in all these ways. Then it will show that you really know our Lord Jesus Christ. People will see that your life has good results. 9 But some people do not live in these good ways. They do not think that these things are important. They are like blind people. They cannot really see anything properly. They have forgotten that God has made them clean from all the sins that they did in past times.
10 So, my friends, try very much to live in a way that pleases God. God has chosen you to be his own people. Show that you really do belong to him! If you do these things, you will never turn away from God. 11 Then God will bring you safely into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that continues for ever. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and God will be happy to welcome you into his kingdom.
Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives
39 Jesus left the city. He went to the Mount of Olives. This is what he usually did. His disciples went with him. 40 When they arrived there he said to them, ‘Ask God to help you, so that you do not want to do wrong things.’
41 Then he went away from them about as far as you can throw a stone. He went down on his knees and he prayed, 42 ‘Father, if you want, you can save me from this time of great pain. But I do not ask you to do what I want. Do what you want to do.’
43 Then an angel came to him from heaven. The angel made him stronger. 44 Jesus began to have troubles in his mind. He prayed again even more strongly. His sweat became like blood and it fell to the ground.[a]
45 Then Jesus finished praying and he stood up again. He returned to the disciples. He saw that they were sleeping. They were very weak and tired because they were so sad. 46 ‘You should not be sleeping,’ he said. ‘Get up and pray! Ask God to help you, so that you do not want to do wrong things.’
The soldiers catch Jesus
47 While Jesus was still speaking, a crowd of people came towards him. Judas led the crowd to that place. He was one of the 12 apostles. He came near to Jesus to kiss him. 48 Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, why do you want to kiss me, the Son of Man? You are helping my enemies to take hold of me!’
49 The people near to Jesus saw what was happening. They asked him, ‘Lord, should we use our swords to fight?’ 50 One of them hit the servant of the leader of the priests. He cut off the servant's right ear. 51 ‘That is enough!’ Jesus said. He then touched the man's ear and made him well again.
52 Then Jesus spoke to the people that had come to take hold of him. They were the leaders of the priests, and the leaders of the police in the temple. Other important Jews were also there. He said to them, ‘You have come here with swords and heavy sticks. Do you really think that I am leading people to fight against our country's rulers? 53 No! But I was with you every day in the yard of the temple. You did not try to take hold of me then. But now really is the time and the place for you to work. Now it is a bad dark time, when the Devil has authority.’
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