Book of Common Prayer
This psalm is for Solomon.
A prayer for the king[a]
72 God, please help the king
to judge people in a right way.
Help the king's son to be honest and fair,
as you are.[b]
2 Then he will rule your people in a good way,
so that even poor people receive justice.
3 The mountains and the hills will bring peace,
so that the people can live honest lives.
4 Please help the king to judge poor people fairly.
May he save the children of weak people,
and destroy those cruel people who hurt them.
5 May people always respect your authority, God,
through all time,
as long as the sun and the moon remain in the sky.[c]
6 May the king be a blessing to his people,
like rain that falls on grass that lies in the fields.
May he be like rain
that brings water to the soil.
7 While he rules as king,
those people who serve God will do well.
There will be peace in all the land,
for as long as the moon remains in the sky.
8 May the king rule everywhere,
from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth.[d]
9 Then people who live in the desert
will bend down to respect him.
His enemies will fall down
with their faces in the dust.
10 Kings from Spain and from other far places
will pay taxes to him.
Kings from Sheba and from Seba
will bring gifts to him.
11 All kings will bend down in front of him.
People from all nations will serve him.
12 He will rescue the poor person
who calls out to him for help.
He will save weak people
who have nobody to help them.
13 He will be kind to people who are poor and weak.
He will save them from death.
14 He will rescue them from cruel people who hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
May people come from Sheba to give gold to him.
May people always pray for him.
May people praise him all the time.
16 May there always be plenty of grain
that grows in the land.
May the crops grow well
on the tops of the mountains.
May the fruit trees give a lot of fruit,
as they do in Lebanon.
May all the crops grow well,
like grass that grows in a field.
17 May the king be famous for ever!
May people remember him
for as long as the sun continues to shine.
May people from all nations use his name
when they bless one another.
May they all say that God has blessed the king!
18 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves.
Only he does such wonderful things.
19 Praise his great name for ever!
May his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen! May that all happen!
20 This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.[e]
YOD
73 You made me with your hands. You made me what I am.
Help me to understand things well,
so that I learn your commands.
74 People who respect you will be happy when they see me.
That is because I trust your word.
75 Lord, I know that your rules are good and fair.
When you sent trouble to me,
it was because you truly loved me.
76 Now, please use your faithful love
to comfort me.
That is what you promised to do for me, your servant.
77 Be kind to me so that I will live!
Your Law makes me really happy.
78 Proud men should be ashamed!
They have spoken lies against me.
79 Let the people who respect you come back to me.
Then they will learn to obey your rules.
80 Let me obey your commands completely.
Then I will not be ashamed.
KAPH
81 As I wait for you to save me,
I feel tired and weak.
I trust in your word.
82 As I wait for you to do what you have promised,
my eyes are too tired to stay open.
I ask, ‘When will you come to help me?’
83 I am like an old wineskin that has become useless.
But I have not forgotten your rules.
84 As your servant, help me to be patient.
Please punish the people who want to hurt me.
Please do it soon.
85 Proud people want to catch me in their traps.
That is against your Law!
86 I know that I can trust all your commands,
but people still give me trouble with their lies.
Quickly, help me!
87 People here on earth have almost destroyed me,
but I continue to obey your teaching.
88 Please use your faithful love to keep me alive.
Then I can continue to obey the rules that you have taught me.
LAMED
89 Lord, your teaching will always be there.
You keep it safe in heaven.
90 You continue to show that people can trust you,
from one century to the next.
You have fixed the earth in its place,
and it will remain.
91 It is by your command that all things continue.
You have put them there to serve you.
92 If your Law had not made me happy,
I would have been sad until I died.
93 I will never forget your rules,
because you have used them to give me life.
94 I belong to you. Please save me!
I have respected your rules.
95 Wicked people are ready to kill me,
but I think carefully about your teaching.
96 I have learned that all things will come to an end,
but your commands have no end.
The Lord takes care of his people
54 ‘Sing with joy,
you woman who could not give birth to any children.
You have never known the pain of a child's birth,
but now shout loudly with joy.
Be happy, because the woman who is alone
will have many children.
She will have more children than the woman who has a husband.’[a]
That is what the Lord says.
2 Make your tent bigger!
You need more room to live in.
Yes, do it!
Make the tent's ropes longer!
Make the pegs that hold it stronger!
3 The borders of your land will be wider in all directions.
Your descendants will take land from other nations.
They will live in the cities that had become empty.
4 Do not be afraid.
You will not be ashamed again.
Do not be frightened of shame.
Nobody will make you ashamed.
You will forget the shame
which you had when you were young.
You will forget that you were ashamed to be alone,
like a widow.
5 Now your Maker is your husband.
His name is the Lord Almighty.
Israel's Holy God is your Redeemer.
He is called, ‘The God who rules the whole earth’.
6 ‘The Lord will now call you to come back to him.
You have been like a wife who was very upset,
because her husband has left her.
You have been like a wife who married when she was young,
and her husband sent her away.’
That is what your God says.
7 ‘For a short time I went away from you.
But now I will bring you back to myself,
because I feel very sorry for you.
8 For a moment I became very angry with you,
and I turned away from you.
But now I will be kind to you,
because my love for you continues for ever.’
That is what the Lord, your Redeemer, says.
9 ‘This is like what I did in Noah's time.[b]
At that time, I promised that a flood of water would never again destroy the earth.
Now, at this time, I have promised that I will not be angry with you again.
I will not speak against you again.
10 The mountains may shake to pieces,
and the hills may disappear.
But I will never take my love away from you.
My covenant that brings peace between us will never finish.’
That is what the Lord who is very kind to you says.
11 ‘My city, enemies attacked you,
like a strong storm.
Nobody was there to help you.
Look! Now I will use beautiful jewels to build you again.
I will build your foundation with blue sapphires.
12 I will build your strong towers with rubies.
I will build your gates with valuable jewels,
and I will build your walls with beautiful stones.[c]
13 I, the Lord, will teach your children,
and peace will fill their lives.
14 You will have a strong foundation of righteousness.
Your cruel enemies will be far away.
You will have nothing to be afraid of.
No trouble will come near to frighten you.
15 If anyone comes to attack you,
I will not have sent them.
You will win against anyone who tries to attack you.
16 Look! I myself created the worker
who knows how to use iron to make things.
He makes his fire very hot,
and he makes weapons from the iron.
He makes weapons that are strong to fight with.
I also created the armies
who use their weapons to destroy people.
17 But nobody can make a weapon that will beat you,
when your enemies attack you.
If people accuse you of bad things,
you will show that they are wrong.
That is what the Lord will do
as a gift for his servants.
Yes, I will show that they are right.’
That is what the Lord says.
A picture of Hagar and Sarah
21 I say this to you people who want God's Law to have authority over you. Think carefully about what that Law really says. 22 The Bible says that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one of them was a slave. The mother of the other son was a free woman. 23 Hagar was a slave. Her son was born as a result of what Abraham himself decided. But Abraham's wife, Sarah, gave birth to the other son. That son was born as a result of what God had promised to Abraham.[a]
24 These two women are like pictures of two agreements that God made with his people. Hagar is like the agreement that God made on Sinai mountain.[b] That agreement causes people to become slaves. 25 Hagar is like a picture of Sinai mountain in Arabia.[c] Also, she is like the city of Jerusalem here on earth now, because that city and its people are slaves under the authority of God's Law.
26 But Abraham's wife, Sarah, is a picture of the new Jerusalem that is above. Sarah was a free person, not a slave, and she is like our mother. 27 It says in the Bible:
‘Be happy, you woman who could not have any children!
You have never known the pain of a child's birth.
But now shout loudly because you are so happy!
Yes, be happy, because the lonely woman now has more children
than the woman who has a husband.’[d]
28 You, my Christian friends, are like Sarah's son, Isaac. Like him, you became God's children as a result of God's promise. 29 Isaac was born because of God's Spirit. The son who was born in the human way gave much trouble to Isaac at that time. You who are believers receive the same kind of trouble now. 30 But this is what it says in the Bible: ‘Send away the woman who is a slave and her son. That woman's son will never receive anything from his father. The son of the free woman will receive all those good things.’[e] 31 So then, my Christian friends, we are not children of the woman who is a slave. No, we are children of the free woman.
11 Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began to argue with him. They wanted to see him do something powerful. That would show them that God had really sent him. 12 Jesus cried with a low, sad sound. He said, ‘People who are alive today want God to show them something powerful. But I tell you this: God will not do the powerful thing for them that they want.’ 13 Then Jesus left those Pharisees. He got back into the boat to go to the other side of the lake.
Jesus talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod
14 Jesus' disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They only had one loaf in the boat. 15 Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful. Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees or the yeast of Herod.’[a]
16 The disciples began to say to each other, ‘Jesus is saying that because we do not have any bread.’
17 Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing about the bread. You still do not understand my teaching. You seem unable to learn. 18 You are like people who have eyes but they cannot see with them. You are like people who have ears but they cannot hear with them. 19 Remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. How many baskets did you fill with pieces of food that were left?’
‘There were 12 baskets,’ they replied.
20 Jesus asked them, ‘I also used seven loaves to feed 4,000 people. That time, how many baskets did you fill with pieces of food?’
‘There were seven baskets,’ they replied.
21 ‘You really should understand about me now,’ he said to them.
Jesus makes a blind man able to see
22 Jesus and his disciples came to a village called Bethsaida. Some people led a blind man to Jesus. They asked Jesus to touch the man. 23 Jesus took the blind man's hand and he led the man out of the village. Jesus put water from his own mouth on the man's eyes. And he put his hands on the man. ‘Can you see anything?’ Jesus asked.
24 The man looked up. He said, ‘I can see people. But they look like trees that are walking about.’
25 So Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again. The man looked carefully and then his eyes were completely well. Now he could see everything clearly. 26 Jesus told the man that he must go back to his home. Jesus said, ‘Do not even go into the village.’
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