Book of Common Prayer
Asaph wrote this psalm.
God is our judge[a]
50 God, the great God, the Lord, is speaking.
He is calling everybody on the earth,
from where the sun rises in the east,
to where it goes down in the west.
2 God is shining out from Zion,
that most beautiful place.
3 Our God is coming,
and he does not come quietly!
A fire burns up everything that is in front of him.
There is a great storm all round him.
4 He calls to the skies above,
and to the earth below.
They must watch while he judges his people.
5 He says, ‘Bring my people to me.
They are the people who offered sacrifices to me,
to agree our covenant.’
6 The skies above show that God is righteous,
and God himself is the judge.
Selah.
7 He says, ‘Listen to me, my people,
and I will speak to you.
I have something to say against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8 You offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to me all the time
but that is not why I speak against you.
9 I do not need a bull from your farm,
or goats from your fields.
10 All the wild animals of the forest belong to me!
All the cows on a thousand hills belong to me!
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
as well as all the insects.
12 Even if I did become hungry,
I would not tell you.
All the world belongs to me,
and everything that is in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? No!
Do I drink the blood of goats? No!
14 Say “thank you” to me as your offering.
Do whatever you have promised to do for me,
the Most High God.
15 Pray to me when you are in trouble.
Then I will rescue you,
and you will praise me.’[b]
16 But God says this to the wicked people:
‘It is useless for you to speak about my commands,
or about my covenant.
17 For you hate my teaching,
and you refuse to accept my message.
18 If you see a robber,
you run to help him!
You become friends with adulterers.
19 You speak about evil things,
and you are always telling lies.
20 You say bad things about your own brother,
and you speak against your own family!
21 You did all these things,
and I said nothing.
So you thought that I was as bad as you are.
But now I am warning you!
I will tell you clearly
what you have done wrong.
22 So think carefully about this,
all you people who have turned away from me.
If not, I will tear you into pieces,
and nobody will be able to save you.
23 If anyone wants to praise me,
they should say “thank you” to me as their offering.
If anyone obeys my commands,
I will show them my power to save people.’
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer when King Saul sent men to catch David at his house and murder him.
A prayer[a]
59 My God, please save me from my enemies!
They are attacking me,
so please keep me safe from them.
2 Rescue me from those dangerous men,
who are doing evil things.
3 Look at them! They are waiting to kill me!
Cruel men are ready to attack me.
Lord, I have not done anything against them,
but they still want to kill me.
4 I have done nothing that is wrong,
but they are preparing to attack me.
Do something to help me!
Look at what they are doing!
5 For you are the Lord God Almighty,
the God that Israel serves.
Get up and punish all the foreign nations.
Do not forgive any wicked people
who have turned against us.
Selah.
6 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
7 They shout evil things,
and their words hurt like swords.
They think, ‘Nobody can hear what we say!’
8 But Lord, you laugh at them.
You laugh at all the foreign nations.
9 I will wait for you to help me,
because you are the one who gives me strength.
You, God, are the strong place
where I will be safe.
10 Yes God, you love me with a faithful love,
and you will come to help me.
God will let me see that he has won against my enemies.
11 Do not kill them yet,
or my people will soon forget.
Use your power to send them away without homes.
Then make them fall!
You are our Lord
who keeps us safe like a soldier's shield.
12 They speak bad words that are evil.
Let their own pride catch them in a trap,
because they curse people,
and they tell lies.
13 Because you are angry with them,
destroy them!
Destroy them completely,
so that they are no more.
Then everybody will know that God rules in Israel,
and he rules everywhere in the earth.
Selah.
14 Those bad people come back to the city every evening.
They go from place to place,
and they cry out like dogs.
15 They go from place to place
and they look for food to eat.
They will not rest until they are full.
16 But I will sing to praise you.
I will sing about your strength!
In the morning,
I will praise you for your faithful love.
Because you are the strong place where I can hide.
When I am in trouble,
you keep me safe.
17 You are the one who gives me strength.
I will sing songs to praise you.
You, God, are my strong, safe place.
You are the God who loves me with a faithful love.
This is for the music leader, and he should use special music.
David wrote this prayer to teach people. He wrote it when he fought wars in north Syria. After the battle, Joab's army killed 12,000 of Edom's people in Salt Valley.
God, please help us![b]
60 God, you have turned against us,
and you have broken down our strong walls.[c]
You are angry with us,
but please make us strong again!
2 You made the ground shake
and you tore it open.
Now mend the holes,
or everything will fall down.
3 You have given your people a time of difficult trouble.
You have given us strong wine to drink,
that has made us fall like drunk people.[d]
4 But you have lifted up a flag
for the people who serve you.
They can meet together there,
to be safe in the battle.
Selah.
5 Use your power to rescue us!
Answer our prayers!
Then the people that you love will be safe.
6 God has spoken from his holy place![e]
He has promised:
‘I will show my power!
I will make Shechem into separate pieces.
I will measure Succoth Valley.
7 Gilead belongs to me,
and so does Manasseh.
Ephraim is like my helmet for war.
Judah has the authority of my royal sceptre.[f]
8 But Moab is the place where I wash my hands.
Edom is my servant.
I can throw my shoes at him!
I will shout loudly,
because I have won against the Philistines.’[g]
9 Who will lead me into the strong city?
Who will take me to fight and win against Edom?[h]
10 God, have you really turned against us?
Will you not lead our armies into battle?
11 Help us to fight against our enemies,
because help from men is useless!
12 With God's help, we will win!
He will beat down our enemies for us.
God is good, so thank him[a]
118 Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
2 Israel's people must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
3 Aaron's family, the priests, must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
4 Everyone who serves the Lord must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
5 I was in trouble,
so I called to the Lord to help me.
The Lord answered me
and he made me free.
6 The Lord is there to help me,
so I will not be afraid.
What can any person do to hurt me?
7 The Lord is with me as my helper.
As for those people who hate me,
I will win against them.
8 It is better to go to the Lord to keep you safe,
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to trust the Lord to keep you safe,
than to trust even in important people.
10 All the nations were ready to attack me,
but I turned them away
by the power of the Lord.
11 Yes, they were all round me, ready to attack,
but I won against them
in the name of the Lord.
12 They were all round me like a cloud of bees!
But they were like a fire in a thorn bush
that burns quickly and has soon gone.
I turned them away
by the power of the Lord.
13 My enemies attacked me
and they tried to knock me down!
But the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord makes me strong
and he takes care of me.
He is the one who keeps me safe.
15 Listen to the happy shouts of God's people in their tents!
They have won against their enemies,
because the Lord has power to do great things.
16 Yes, the Lord has lifted up his strong right hand.
He has the strength to win the battle!
17 I will not die. Instead, I will live.
I will tell everyone what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me very much,
but he has not let me die.
19 Open the gates of the temple!
I will go in there,
and I will thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord's gate.
Righteous people can go in through it.
21 I will thank you, Lord,
because you answered my prayer.
You have rescued me.
22 The builders threw away a certain stone.
But now that stone has become the most important stone
at the corner of the building.
23 The Lord has done this.
And we can see that it is wonderful![b]
24 This is the day that the Lord has done a great thing.
We will be very happy today!
25 Lord, please save us now!
Lord, please help us to do well!
26 May the Lord bless the man who comes with his authority![c]
We praise you from here,
in the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is our God.
He has caused his light to shine on us.
Make a happy festival!
Take branches in your hands,
and go to offer a sacrifice on the altar.
28 You are my God,
and I will thank you.
You are my God,
and I will say how great you are.
29 Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
13 Shout with joy, everything in the sky!
Be happy, everything on the earth!
Sing loudly, you mountains!
Be happy, because the Lord comforts his people.
He will be kind to his people who have trouble and pain.
14 But Zion's people said,
‘The Lord has left us alone.
The Lord God has forgotten about us.’
15 The Lord replies,
‘Can a mother forget the baby
who drinks milk at her breast?
Can she refuse to be kind to the child
that she has given birth to?
Perhaps those mothers might forget their children.
But I would not ever forget you, Zion.[a]
16 Look! I have written your name on my own hand.
I always see the walls of your city in my mind.
17 Your children will hurry back to you,
to build you again.
The enemies who destroyed you will go away.
18 Look all round you!
See all your people as they return together.’
The Lord says, ‘I tell you clearly, as the God who lives,
you will be happy with your people.
They will make you beautiful again,
like a bride with her beautiful jewels.
19 Enemies have destroyed your land.
Its towns have become heaps of stones.
But soon your land will be too small for all your people to live in.
The enemies who destroyed you will be far away from you.
20 The children who were born in a foreign land
will return to you.
You will hear them say,
“This place is too small for us.
Find more room for us to live in.”
21 Then you will think, “Who gave me all these children?
Who is their father?
I was alone, with no husband.
They killed my children
or they took them away to a foreign land.
I could no longer give birth.
So where did all these children come from?” ’
22 The Almighty Lord says,
‘Look! I will lift up my hand,
to call the nations.
I will raise up a flag
as a sign to those people.
Then they will bring back your sons and your daughters.
They will carry them in their arms and on their shoulders.
23 The kings of those nations will take care of your children.
The kings' daughters will feed them.
The rulers will bend down low in front of you,
so that their faces touch the ground.
They will taste the dirt by your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
I will not disappoint people who wait for me to help them.
We become right with God when we trust Jesus
3 You Christians in Galatia are like fools! Someone has taught you to believe crazy ideas! I taught you clearly that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrifice on our behalf. You understood that. 2 So think about this: When you received God's Spirit, was it because you had obeyed the rules of God's Law? No! You received God's Spirit because you heard the message about Christ and you believed it. 3 Do not think like fools! You first became believers by the help of God's Spirit. So do not try now to continue by your own human power. That will never get you to the end! 4 You have had many troubles as believers. I want those troubles to help you. Surely they could not be without any good purpose. 5 God gives to you the gift of his Spirit. He also does powerful miracles among you. But he does not do these things because you obey the rules of his Law. No, he does them because you believed the message about Christ which you heard.
6 Think about our Jewish ancestor Abraham. We know this: ‘Abraham believed God. As a result, God accepted Abraham as right with him’. 7 So you should understand who Abraham's children really are. It is those people who trust God. 8 The Bible already said what would happen at a future time. It said that God would make the Gentiles right with himself, if they believed in him. God showed this good news to Abraham a long time before it happened. He said to Abraham, ‘I will bless people from all countries because of you.’[a] 9 So then, God did not bless only Abraham when he trusted God. God also blesses all people who trust him like Abraham did.
10 But some people try to obey all the rules of God's Law. They think that they will become right with God if they do this very well. But God will speak against people like that and he will punish them. It is written in the Bible: ‘God will punish everyone who does not always obey all the rules in his Law completely.’[b] 11 We know that the Law can not cause anyone to become right with God. That is clear because the Bible says, ‘The person that God has accepted as right will live because they trust him.’[c]
12 But the Law does not tell people to trust God. It tells people about all the things that they must do. The Bible says, ‘The person who obeys all the rules in God's Law completely will live’. 13 So God's Law shows that it is right for God to punish us. But Christ took that punishment away from us, because God punished him instead of us. It says in the Bible: ‘When people hang someone on a tree to kill him, it shows that God has cursed that person.’[d] 14 Christ died in that way so that God would bless the Gentiles in the way that he blessed Abraham. Also, if we believe in Christ, we can then receive God's Spirit that he promised.
Jesus gives food to 5,000 men and their families
30 The apostles all came to Jesus. They told him about all the things that they had done. And they told him what they had taught. 31 Many people were coming to Jesus and then going away. Jesus and his disciples were too busy even to eat. So Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me to a place where there are no other people. We should be alone together. Then we can rest for a short time.’
32 So they left all the people behind. They went away in a boat together to a quiet place. 33 But many people saw that they were leaving the town. Those people recognized them. So they ran out from all the towns around there. They went on land and reached the place before Jesus and the disciples. 34 Jesus got out of the boat and he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them. He thought to himself, ‘These people are like sheep that have nobody to take care of them.’ So he began to teach them many things.
35 When it was almost evening time, Jesus' disciples came and said to him, ‘We are in a place where there are no houses. Soon it will be dark. 36 The people do not have anything to eat. So send them away now. Tell them to go to the farms and villages that are near here. Then they can buy some food for themselves to eat.’
37 ‘You should give them some food to eat,’ Jesus replied.
But the disciples said, ‘We cannot go to buy bread for all these people. A man must work for eight months to get the 200 coins that we would need for that.[a] We cannot get enough food to give to these people.’
38 Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and see.’ When they had looked, they told Jesus, ‘We have five loaves and two fish.’
39 Then Jesus told all the people to sit down on the green grass. He wanted them to sit in large groups. 40 So the people sat down in groups. Each group had 50 or 100 people in it. 41 Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and he thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces. He gave the pieces of bread to the disciples, and they gave the bread to the people. Jesus also broke the two fish into pieces for all the people. 42 Everyone ate and they all had enough food. They were not hungry any more. 43 Jesus' disciples then picked up all the bits of food that people had not eaten. They filled 12 baskets with little bits of bread and fish. 44 There were 5,000 men in the crowd that ate the food there.[b]
Jesus walks on water
45 Immediately after this, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Get into the boat and sail across the lake to Bethsaida.’ Jesus said that he would first send the crowd away. Then he would also leave. 46 So he said ‘goodbye’ to the crowd. Then he went up on a mountain to pray.
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