Book of Common Prayer
This is a song that David wrote.
Tell the music leader, ‘Use harps when you sing this song.’
David prays for health[a]
6 Lord, when you are angry,
please do not punish me.
2 I do not feel strong, Lord,
so please be kind to me.
Lord, please make me well again.
Even my bones are shaking.
3 I am very frightened.
Lord, when will you do something to help me?[b]
4 Lord, turn back to me. Give me back my life.
Make me safe because of your faithful love.
5 If I die, I will no longer remember you.
Nobody can praise you in their grave!
6 I am crying so much that I have no more strength.
My bed becomes wet because I weep all night.
My tears run into my pillow.[c]
7 I am so sad that my eyes do not see well any more.
They are becoming weak because of all my enemies.[d]
8 Go away from me, you people who do wicked things!
Now the Lord has heard me when I weep.[e]
9 I asked the Lord to be kind and to help me.
Now he has answered me!
10 All my enemies will become ashamed!
They will go away from me in fear!
Shame will suddenly come to them!
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
A prayer for help
12 Lord, please help me!
All the good people have gone away!
No kind or faithful people remain.
2 Everybody tells lies to one another.
When they say nice things,
they do it to deceive their friends.
3 Lord, please shut their mouths!
When they deceive people or they boast,
stop them doing that!
4 They say:
‘Nobody can tell us what to do!
We will say what we like to get what we want!’
5 But the Lord says:
‘Now I will do something!
I know the cruel things that wicked people do to poor people.
When weak people cry with pain, I hear them.
So I will make them safe,
as they want me to do for them.’
6 The Lord's promises are true.
We can trust them,
because they are pure.
They are as pure as silver
that people have put in a hot fire seven times.[a]
7 Yes Lord, you will take care of the poor people.
You will always keep each one of them safe
from all those evil people.
8 But if people praise evil things,
then wicked people will boast more and more.
God judges all people
94 Lord, you are the God
who punishes guilty people.
God, show your power
to punish people as they deserve![a]
2 Judge of all people on the earth, do something!
Punish proud people as they deserve!
3 How long will wicked people continue to be happy?
Yes, Lord, how long?
4 Those people who do evil things
speak many proud words.
They boast about how great they are.
5 Lord, see how they hurt your own people.
They are cruel to the people that belong to you.
6 They kill widows
and foreign people who live in our land.
They murder children that have no family.
7 They say, ‘The Lord does not see us.
Israel's God does not see what we are doing.’
8 Think again, all you fools among the people!
Stupid people, become wise!
9 God made our ears!
Can he himself not hear?
He made our eyes!
Does he not see?
10 He teaches the nations what is right.
Will he not punish you,
when you do what is wrong?
He teaches people what they should know.
11 The Lord knows what people think.
He knows that their thoughts are empty.
12 Lord, when you teach people what is right,
you have really blessed them.
You use your Law to teach them.
13 When those people have troubles,
you keep them safe.
Then the wicked people fall into a deep hole
that you have dug to catch them.
14 The Lord will not leave his people alone.
He will not forget to help the people that belong to him.
15 Once again, judges will do what is right and fair,
and good, honest people will agree.
16 Who would fight for me
against the wicked people?[b]
Who would keep me safe
from the people who do evil things?
17 Unless the Lord had helped me,
I would soon have become silent in death.
18 When I think, ‘I am falling down,’
your faithful love keeps me safe, Lord.
19 When I have troubles in my mind,
so that I am afraid,
you help me to be happy again.
20 You will not become a friend of cruel rulers.
They make laws that only hurt people.
21 They join together to work against good people.
They say that people are guilty
who have done nothing wrong.
They say that they must die.
22 But the Lord is a strong place for me.
Yes, my God is a rock
where I can hide and be safe.
23 He will punish those wicked leaders.
He will destroy them,
because they do evil things.
The Lord our God will completely destroy them.
Jeremiah complains to the Lord
10 ‘This is terrible for me!
I am sorry, mother, that you gave birth to me.
I cause trouble and arguments
wherever I go in the land.
I never lend money to people,
and I do not ask them to lend money to me.
But everyone curses me anyway.’
11 The Lord said,[a]
‘I will take care of you
so that it brings something good for you.
I will cause your enemies to ask you for help.
They will come to you when they are in trouble.
12 Your enemy that comes from the north
is like a weapon made from iron and bronze.
You will never break it.
13 I will give all your valuable things to your enemies.
They will take them all away.
You will receive nothing in return.
That will pay for the sins that you have done
everywhere in your land.
14 Your enemies will make you their slaves
in a land that you do not know.
I will punish you as if in a hot fire,
because I am very angry with you.’
15 ‘Lord, you understand my problems.
Remember me and take care of me.
Please punish those people who hate me.
Do not be so patient with them that they kill me.
Remember that they have insulted me
because I am serving you.
16 As your words came to me,
I took them into me like sweet food.
I belong to you, Lord, God Almighty,
so your words made me very happy.
17 When people were enjoying wild parties,
I did not join with them.
I sat alone, because you held me.
You caused me to be angry with those people.
18 I am in pain which never ends.
People have hurt me and nothing makes it better.
Why are you not there to help me?
You are like a stream that becomes dry
and it has no water.’
19 So the Lord said this to me:
‘If you turn back to me,
I will help you to be strong.
Then you can continue to serve me.
Speak valuable words instead of useless words.
Then you can speak on my behalf.
These people must change to be like you have been.
You must not change to become like them.
20 When these people attack you,
I will make you like a strong wall.
You will be like a wall that is made of bronze.
The people will not be able to knock you down.
I will be with you to protect you.
I will keep you safe.’
That is what the Lord says.
21 ‘I will rescue you from the power of those wicked people.
I will keep you safe from those cruel people.’
15 All of us should agree to live like that, if we properly understand God's message. If you think differently about these things, God will show you clearly what is right. 16 But we should continue to live in the way that we already know is right.
17 My Christian friends, you should try to live in the way that I do. Carefully watch other people who live like that. We have shown you what is right. 18 Many people live in a way that shows they do not agree with God's message. I have told you about these people many times before. And now I am crying when I tell you about them. I am very sad, because they speak against Christ's death on the cross. 19 In the end, God will destroy them. Their stomach is what they worship. They are proud of things that should make them ashamed. Their thoughts are full of things that belong to this world. 20 But as for us, the home where we belong is in heaven. We are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from there. He is the one who will come from heaven and save us. 21 He will change these weak bodies that we have now on this earth. He will make them become strong and beautiful, like his own body that he has in heaven. Christ will use his great power to do this. That is the power that he uses to rule over everything.
Jesus says that he will soon die
20 There were some Greek people among the people at the festival. They also had come to worship God. 21 These Greek people came to Philip, who was from a town in Galilee called Bethsaida. They said to him, ‘Please sir, we want to meet Jesus.’ 22 Philip went and he told Andrew this. Then Philip and Andrew went to Jesus and they told him.
23 Jesus said to them, ‘God will show how great the Son of Man is. It is now time for that to happen. 24 I tell you this: A seed of wheat continues to be only a single seed unless it falls into the ground. It must fall into the ground and then it must die. If it dies like that, it will grow to give a lot of seeds.
25 Anyone who loves his own life will lose it. But anyone who hates his life in this world will have true life for ever with God. 26 Anyone who wants to be my servant must follow me. Then he will be with me, where I am. My Father will praise anyone who is my servant.
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