Book of Common Prayer
This song is for the music leader.
The Lord's servant, David, wrote it.
David sang these words to the Lord when the Lord saved him from the power of his enemies. This was at the time when Saul was king.
Thank you, Lord![a]
18 I love you, Lord.
You make me strong.
2 The Lord keeps me safe.
He is my great rock and my strong place.
God is my high rock.[b]
I run to him to hide and be safe.
He keeps me safe like a soldier's shield.
He is the strong place where I can hide safely.
3 I praise the Lord because he deserves it!
When I called to him for help,
he saved me from my enemies.
4 Death was near enough to catch me!
Danger was like a river that poured over me.
5 Death was tying me up with ropes,
to pull me into the deep hole of the grave.
6 In my trouble, I prayed to the Lord.
I called to my God to help me.
He heard my voice from his home in heaven.
My prayer reached his ears.
7 Then the earth moved and it shook.
Even the strong mountains shook,
because God was angry.
8 He breathed out smoke from his nose.
Fire and hot coals came out from his mouth,
to destroy his enemies.
9 God caused the sky to bend as he came down.
Dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He sat on a cherub and he flew.
The wind carried him as he travelled.
11 God covered himself with darkness.
He hid himself in dark clouds that held rain.
12 Bright light went in front of him.
Hail and lightning fell from the clouds.
13 The Lord sent thunder from the sky.
People everywhere heard the voice of the Most High God.
14 The Lord shot his arrows of lightning.
He caused his enemies to run away.
15 When you shouted against your enemies, Lord,
even the bottom of the deep sea appeared.
People could see the foundations of the earth,
when you breathed out in anger.
16 The Lord reached down to me from above.
He took hold of me and he pulled me up out of the deep water.
17 Yes, he saved me from my powerful enemies.
The people who hated me were too strong for me,
but the Lord saved me from their power.
18 They attacked me when I was in trouble,
but the Lord helped me.
19 He led me out to a place where I would be safe.
He saved me because I made him happy.
20 The Lord was kind to me
because I do things that please him.
He blesses me
because I am not guilty of bad things.
21 I have obeyed the Lord's commands.
I have not turned against my God.
22 I understand all his rules,
and I do not refuse to obey them.
23 He knows that I have done nothing that is wrong.
I kept away from any sin.
24 The Lord has been kind to me,
because I did good things.
He sees that I am not guilty.
25 Lord, if people are faithful to you,
then you are faithful to them.
If people do nothing that is bad,
they can trust you to do nothing bad to them.
26 If people always do what is right,
they can trust you to be kind to them.
But if people are wicked,
you turn against them.
27 You save people who are humble.
But if people are proud, you bring them down very low.
28 Lord, you make my lamp burn brightly.
My God is my light in the dark.
29 You make me strong,
so that I can attack a whole army!
With the help of my God,
I can climb over any high wall.[c]
30 God's way is perfect.
Yes, the Lord's promises are always true.
He keeps safe everyone who goes to him for help,
like a shield that keeps a soldier safe.
31 We know that the Lord is God,
and no one else.
Only our God can keep us safe,
like a strong rock!
32 It is God who makes me strong.
He shows me the safe way through my life.
33 He makes my feet stand strongly on the ground.
Like a deer,
I can stand on high mountains and not fall.
34 He teaches me how to fight in war.
He makes my arms strong
to shoot arrows from a metal bow.[d]
35 Lord, your power has helped me to be strong.
You have kept me safe, like a shield.
Your kind help has made me great.
36 You have helped me to move safely,
so that my feet do not slip.
37 I ran after my enemies and I caught them.
I did not turn back until I had killed them.
38 I knocked them down to the ground.
They could not get up again.
They fell under my feet.
39 You have made me strong to fight battles,
so that I win against my enemies.
40 You cause my enemies to turn around,
and they run away from me.
I can destroy those who hate me.
41 They call out for help,
but nobody is there to help them.
They call to the Lord,
but he does not answer them.
42 I beat them into dust
that the wind blows away.
I walk over them,
like dirt that lies on the streets.
43 You have saved me from people who attacked me.
You made me a ruler of other nations.
People that I did not know before
now serve me as their ruler.
44 When foreign people hear about me,
they choose to obey me.
They cannot stand against me
because they are afraid.
45 They are not brave enough to fight me.
They shake with fear,
as they come out of their strong cities.
46 The Lord is alive! He is my strong Rock!
Everyone should praise him!
He rules as king!
He is the God who saves me.
47 He is the true God who punishes my enemies.
He makes the nations obey me.
48 He is the one who saves me from my enemies.
Yes, God, you give me power
to win against those who attack me.
You keep me safe from angry and cruel men.
49 Lord, I will thank you,
so that all the nations know about you.
I will sing to praise your name.
50 Yes, the Lord gives power to me, David, his king.
He gives me great strength to win against my enemies.
I am the special king that he has chosen.[e]
He will continue to be kind to me
and to my descendants for ever.
The dream
31 Daniel said, ‘In your dream, you saw in front of you a statue with a man's shape. It was very big and very bright. It frightened people very much. 32 Its head was made from pure gold. The top of its body and its arms were made from silver. Its lower body was made from bronze. 33 The statue's legs were made from iron. Its feet had parts made from iron and parts made from clay. 34 While you looked, someone cut out a large stone from a mountain. But no human hand did this. The stone hit the statue on its iron and clay feet. The stone broke them into pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all broke into pieces. They became like chaff that the wind blows away. Nobody could see any of those pieces any more. But the stone that had hit the statue became a large mountain. It filled the whole earth.’
Daniel explains the dream to the king
36 Daniel continued to say, ‘That was your dream, King Nebuchadnezzar. Now we will tell you what it means. 37 You are a great king who rules over other kings. The God of heaven has given you authority to rule. He has given you power, strength and honour. 38 He has put all the people of this world, the wild animals and the birds under your power. He has given you authority to rule them all, in every place that they live. You are like the head of gold that you saw in your dream.
39 After you, there will be another kingdom. It will not be as great as your kingdom. Then a third kingdom will come. It will be like the bronze part of the statue. It will also rule the whole earth. 40 Then there will be a fourth kingdom. It will be as strong as iron which breaks everything into pieces. Like iron, that kingdom will destroy the other kingdoms. 41 In your dream, you saw that the statue's feet and toes had parts of clay and parts of iron. This shows that this kingdom will not be united as one. Some parts will be strong, like iron. The iron that you saw shows that strength. 42 But the iron parts of the statue were mixed with clay parts. This shows that the fourth kingdom will be strong in some parts and weak in other parts. 43 You saw iron and clay that were mixed together. The two parts of that kingdom will try to become united by marriage. But that will not help them to stay together as one. Iron cannot mix properly with clay.
44 During the time when those kings rule, the God of heaven will begin a new kingdom. That kingdom will continue for ever. No other people will ever have power over it. It will break up all those other kingdoms and it will destroy them. And it will continue for ever. 45 You saw the stone that came from the mountain. It was not a human hand that cut it out. That stone broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold into pieces.
In your dream, King Nebuchadnezzar, the great God has shown you what will happen in future years. I have told you the dream, and I have told you what it means. You can be sure that all this is true.’
The king thanks Daniel
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar bent down with his face towards the ground. He gave honour to Daniel. He commanded his servants to offer sacrifices and to burn incense to praise Daniel. 47 The king said to Daniel, ‘It is true that your God rules all other gods. He rules over kings and he explains secret things. I know this because you were able to explain this dream to me.’
48 Then the king made Daniel an important officer. He also gave Daniel many valuable gifts. He gave Daniel authority to rule over the whole region of Babylon. Daniel also became the most important officer with authority over all the wise men in Babylon.
49 Daniel asked the king to give important jobs to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So the king gave them authority over the region of Babylon. But Daniel himself stayed in the king's palace.
People who are against Christ
18 My children, the world will soon end.[a] You have heard that the enemy of Christ will appear. You can see that many enemies of Christ have already appeared. This shows us that the world will end soon. 19 These people used to be in our group of believers. But they left us. They never really belonged to our group. If they had been true believers, they would have remained with us. When they left us, it showed clearly that none of them really belonged to us.
20 But Christ, the Holy One, has given you the Holy Spirit. As a result, you all know what is true. 21 That is why I am writing to you. It is not because you do not yet know God's true message. I am writing to you because you do know that true message. And you can be sure that there are no lies in it.
22 Who is the one who tells the worst lies? It is anyone who says that Jesus is not the Messiah. A person like that is the enemy of Christ. He is speaking against God, the Father, and against Jesus, his Son. 23 Anyone who says that Jesus is not God's Son does not belong to the Father. But anyone who accepts Jesus as the Son of God also belongs to the Father.[b]
24 As for you, always remember the true message that you heard at the beginning. If you continue to believe that message, you will continue to live with the Son and with the Father. 25 That is the real life that continues for ever. And that is what God has promised to give to us.
26 Some people are trying to lead you away from God's true message. I am writing these things to you so that you know about these people. 27 But Christ has given the Holy Spirit to you, and he continues to help you. So you do not need people to teach you what is true. The Holy Spirit himself teaches you everything about God's message. He helps you to know what is true. He does not tell you any lies. So you must remember what he has taught you. Continue to live together with Christ.
28 Yes, my children, continue to live with Christ. Then we will not be ashamed when he returns to this world. We will not be afraid to meet him.
29 You know that Christ only does what is right. So you should know this: Everyone who continues to do what is right has become a child of God.
John the Baptist prepares people to meet Jesus
3 This report is about John, the son of Zechariah. It happened when Tiberius Caesar had been the Roman ruler for 15 years.[a] Pontius Pilate was the Roman ruler of Judea. Herod had authority over the region of Galilee. Herod's brother Philip had authority over Iturea and Trachonitis. Lysanias had authority over Abilene.[b] 2 At this time, the leaders of the priests were Annas and Caiaphas. John was living in the wilderness. While he was there, God spoke to him.
3 John went to many places near the Jordan River and spoke a message from God. ‘You have done many wrong things,’ he taught everybody. ‘You must turn away from them and change how you live. Then God will forgive you and I will baptize you.’
4 The prophet Isaiah wrote this message from God in his book:
‘Somebody's voice is shouting in the wilderness,
“The Lord will come soon, so prepare a way for him to follow.
Make the paths straight for him.
5 Fill in every valley and make every mountain and hill flat.
Take away every bend so that the road is straight.
Take away all the rocks so that the road is flat.
6 Then everyone will see how God can save them.” ’[c]
7 Crowds of people were going out into the wilderness. They wanted John to baptize them. He told them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes! God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punish people like you. 8 You have to show that you are sorry. Change how you live. Stop doing things that God does not like. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We are in the family of Abraham. God will surely not punish us.”[d] Listen! God can take these stones and make children for Abraham out of them![e] 9 You are like trees that have bad fruit. God has an axe ready to use. He will cut down every tree that does not make good fruit. He will throw those trees into the fire.’
10 ‘So what should we do?’ the crowd asked.
11 John answered, ‘If you have two shirts, give one away. Give it to someone who does not have even one shirt. If you have some food, give some of it away. Give some to someone who has no food.’
12 In the crowd, there were men who took taxes from people. These men also wanted John to baptize them. They asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ 13 John told them, ‘You must take the right amount of money from people. You must not take more money than the rules say you should take.’
14 Then some soldiers asked John, ‘What about us? What should we do?’
John replied, ‘Do not rob people of their money. Do not say that a person is guilty if he has not done anything wrong. You must not take money for yourself in that way. You should be happy with the money that you receive for your work.’[f]
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