Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this psalm.
The king's song[a]
101 I will sing and praise you, Lord!
I will sing about your faithful love and your justice.[b]
2 I will be careful to live in a completely good way.
When will you come to help me, Lord?
In my own home,
I will always be completely honest.
3 As for evil things,
I will not even think about them.
I hate the things that wicked people do.
They will not be my friends.
4 I will keep away from people with wrong thoughts.
I will not mix with them.
5 If anyone secretly speaks against his friend,
I will destroy them.
If anyone is proud and they boast about themselves,
I will send them away from me.
6 Instead, I will work with people
that I can trust.
I will let them live with me and be my guides.
My servants will be people
who live in an honest way.
7 People who deceive others or who tell lies
will not have a place in my home.
8 Every morning I will remove
any wicked person who lives in our land.[c]
Nobody who does evil things
will remain in the city of the Lord.
David wrote this psalm for the music leader.
A prayer for help in trouble[a]
109 You are the God that I praise.
Let me hear you speak!
2 Wicked people are saying bad things against me.
They are telling lies about me.
3 They are all round me,
and they say cruel things.
I have done nothing against them,
but they still attack me.
4 I have loved them,
but they still accuse me.
I will continue to pray for them.[b]
5 I have been kind to them,
but they do bad things to me in return.
I have loved them,
but they hate me in return.
6 Find an evil man to judge my enemy!
Put somebody at his right side to accuse him!
7 When they judge him,
show that he is guilty.
Show that even his prayers are a sin.
8 Make his life very short!
Let somebody else do the job which he did.
9 May he soon die,
so that his children have no father,
and his wife has no husband.
10 Cause his children to have no home,
so that they go from place to place,
and ask people to give them food.
11 May the people who lent money to my enemy,
take away everything that belonged to him.
Let strangers take everything
that he worked hard to get for himself.
12 Do not let anyone be kind to him.
Do not let anyone help his children,
even when they have no father.
13 Remove all the descendants in his family.
When his children die,
may nobody remember his family any more!
14 Lord, please remember his ancestors sins.
Please do not forgive his mother's sins.
15 Lord, never forget his family's sins.
May nobody on earth remember his family's name.
16 My enemy was never kind to anyone.
He was cruel to poor, weak, and helpless people.
He even caused them to die,
17 He loved to curse people.
Now may those curses happen to him!
He never asked God to bless other people,
so nobody will ask God to bless him!
18 He always cursed others,
as he always put on clothes.
So those curses have become like his food and drink.
May they go deep inside him,
like olive oil that goes into his bones.
19 Then curses will truly be his clothes.
They will be like the belt that he wears every day.
20 Yes, Lord, please punish all my enemies like that,
because they say evil things to accuse me!
21 You, Almighty Lord, must help me!
Show that your name is great.
Rescue me,
because your faithful love is good.
22 I am weak and helpless.
My heart beats fast inside me.
23 I will soon be gone,
like a shadow that disappears in the evening.
I am like an insect
that the wind blows away.
24 I am so hungry that my knees shake.
I am so thin that my bones show.
25 My enemies laugh at me!
When they see me,
they shake their heads at me.
26 Lord my God, please help me!
Please rescue me,
because of your faithful love.
27 Lord, cause my enemies to know
that you are the one who has rescued me.
28 They may curse me,
but you will bless me.
When they attack me,
they will become ashamed.
But I will be very happy,
as your servant.
29 Shame will come on my enemies.
It will cover them like a coat.
30 I will thank the Lord with a loud voice!
I will praise him,
in front of a big crowd of people.
AYIN
121 I have done what is fair and right.
Do not leave me alone
so that my cruel enemies can hurt me.
122 Promise to take care of me, your servant.
Do not let proud people hurt me.
123 I have been waiting a long time for you to save me.
My eyes have become tired.
I am waiting for you to save me,
as your true promise has said.
124 Please be kind to me, your servant,
so that I see your faithful love.
Continue to teach me your laws.
125 I am your servant. Help me to be wise,
so that I can understand your rules.
126 It is time for you to do something, Lord,
because people have turned against your Law.
127 That is why I love your commands.
They are more valuable to me than very pure gold.
128 So I carefully obey your teaching.
I hate everything that is false.
PE
129 Your laws are wonderful, Lord!
So I obey them.
130 Your message brings light to people,
when they understand it.
It helps ordinary people to become wise.
131 I want very much to know your commands,
like a thirsty dog needs water to drink.
132 Turn towards me and be kind to me,
as you always do for those who serve you.
133 Use your word to lead me along the right way.
Do not let sin rule over me.
134 Keep me safe from cruel people,
so that I can obey your teaching.
135 Show a kind face to me, your servant.
Teach me your laws.
136 I weep with streams of tears,
because people do not obey your Law.
TSADHE
137 Lord, you are righteous
and your laws are completely fair.
138 The rules that you have given to us are good and right.
We can trust them completely.
139 I am so upset that it almost kills me,
because my enemies do not accept your message.
140 I know that your promises are completely true.
I love them more than anything.
141 I am not important enough for people to respect me,
but I do not forget your teaching.
142 You will always do what is right
and your law is completely true.
143 I have much trouble and it makes me afraid,
but your commands make me happy.
144 Your rules are always fair.
Help me to understand them,
so that I may find true life.
15 So now, do something to help us! Look down from your beautiful, holy home in heaven. Use your power to show that we are your special people. Have you forgotten how to be kind to us?
16 Remember that you are our Father. Maybe our ancestor Abraham does not recognize us. Even Israel himself may not recognize us. But you, Lord, are our Father. Since times long ago, your name has been our Redeemer.
17 Lord, why do you cause us to turn away from your ways? You make our minds become hard, so that we do not obey you. Please come back to help us, because we are your servants. We are the tribes that you have chosen for yourself!
18 For only a short time, the holy place belonged to us, your special people. Then our enemies knocked down your temple. 19 It seems that we have not belonged to you for a long time. You no longer rule over us or take care of us.
Isaiah's prayer continues
64 Please Lord, break open the skies
and come down to help us!
That would make the mountains shake!
2 You would come like a fire that burns up wood,
and it causes water to boil.
The nations would shake with fear.
Your enemies would know why your name is so great.
3 In the past, you did great things,
and they surprised us.
You came down and the mountains shook with fear.
4 From the beginning, nobody has heard of any God like you.
You come to help those people who trust in you.
Nobody has ever seen or heard of a God like you!
5 You help people who are happy when they do what is right.
People like that obey your commands.
But we continued to do wrong things,
even when you were angry with us.
We have done bad things for a long time,
so will you ever come to save us?
6 Our sins have made us all like unclean people,
who cannot worship you.
Even the good things that we try to do
are like dirty bits of cloth.
Our sins will blow us all away,
as the wind blows away dead leaves.
7 Nobody prays in your name,
or calls out to you to help them.
It seems that you have turned away from us.
You have left us for our sins to rule us.
8 But Lord, you are still our Father.
We are like clay that you have used.
You are like the potter who has made us into pots.
You made us all with your own hands.
9 Lord, please do not be too angry with us.
Do not hold our sins in your mind for ever.
Do not forget us!
We are your people, all of us!
Leaders of the church
3 These words are true: ‘If you want to become a leader of God's people, it is an important work that you want to do.’ 2 For that reason, a leader of the church must live a life that everyone knows is good. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously about how he lives and he must control himself well. He must be someone that people respect. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher. 3 He should not drink too much wine. He must not get angry quickly or quarrel with people. Instead he should be kind to people. He must not want lots of money. 4 He must take care of his own family. His children must obey him and respect him. 5 A man must know how to take care of his own family. If he cannot do that, he will not be able to take care of God's people in the church.
6 A leader of the church must not be someone who has believed in Christ for only a short time. Someone like that might boast that he is great and important. Then he would receive punishment, as the Devil did. 7 Also, people outside the church should agree that the leader is a good person. Then nobody can say anything bad against him. And so, he will not come under the Devil's power.[a]
Helpers in the church
8 In the same way, deacons must live good lives, so that people respect them. They must not be hypocrites. They must not drink too much wine. They must not want to get a lot of money for themselves. 9 They must completely believe the true message that God has shown us about Christ. They must be sure in their minds about it. 10 Before anyone becomes a deacon, you must first test their character. If they are good enough, then let them serve God as deacons.
11 Deacons' wives must live good lives, so that people respect them.[b] They must not say bad things against people. They must think carefully about how they live. People should know that they are honest in everything they do.
12 A deacon must be the husband of one wife. He must take care of his children and everyone who lives in his house. 13 If a deacon serves God's people well, then people will respect him as a good person. He will become strong to tell people about his faith in Christ Jesus.
14 I hope to come to visit you soon. But anyway, I want to write these things to you now. 15 Then, even if I cannot come to you soon, you will know how people in God's family should live. That family is the church of God, who lives for ever. God's family, the church, teaches God's true message and keeps it safe.
16 Yes, the message that God has shown us about Jesus Christ is very great. We all agree to this:
God showed him to us as a man.
God's Spirit showed that he always did what was right.
Angels saw him.
People taught his message in many countries of the world.
People in the world believed in him.
God took him up to be with himself in heaven.[c]
Jesus talks about his authority
27 Jesus and his disciples arrived again in Jerusalem. Jesus was walking about in the yard at the temple. The leaders of the priests, the teachers of God's Law and the important Jews came to him. 28 They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you the authority to do them?’
29 Jesus replied, ‘I will ask you one question and you should answer me. If you do that, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. 30 John baptized people. Did God give him authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it? Now, tell me your answer.’
31 Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But, if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” 32 But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority.’ The Jewish leaders were afraid of the crowd. All the people thought that John really was a prophet from God.
33 So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’
So Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’
Jesus tells a story about a garden
12 Then Jesus began to speak again to the important Jews. He told them stories. He said, ‘There was a man who made a garden. He planted vines to grow grapes there. He built a wall around the garden. He dug a hole in the ground where he could make the grapes into wine. He also built a tall building to watch over the garden.[a] He found some farmers who would work in the garden for him. Then he went away to another country.[b]
2 At the time for the harvest, the man sent a servant to speak to the farmers.[c] He wanted them to give him some fruit from the garden. 3 But the farmers took hold of the servant and they hit him with sticks. They sent him away with nothing. 4 So the man sent another servant to the farmers. They also hit this servant on the head, and they did other bad things to him. 5 The man then sent another servant, but the farmers killed this servant. He sent many other servants to them. The farmers hit some of these servants with sticks and they killed other servants.
6 The man had only one person that he could still send. This was his own son. The man loved him very much.[d] So, last of all, he sent his son to the farmers. He thought, “The farmers will surely respect my son.”
7 But those farmers said to each other, “This is the son of our master. The garden will belong to him when his father dies. We should kill the son and then the garden will be ours.” 8 So the farmers took the son and they killed him. Then they threw his dead body out of the garden.’[e]
9 Jesus then asked, ‘What will the master of the garden do then? I tell you, he will come and he will kill those farmers. Then he will give the garden to other people to take care of it. 10 I am sure that you have read these words in the Bible:[f]
“The builders refused to use a certain stone. [g]
They thought that it had no value.
But now that stone has become the most important stone at the corner of the building.
11 The Lord God did this.
And we can see that he did something great.” ’
12 The Jewish leaders knew that Jesus had told this story about them. They were the bad farmers in the story. So they wanted to take hold of Jesus. But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and they went away.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.