Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 ·Happy [Blessed] are those who ·think about [or care for] the poor [James 1:27].
·When trouble comes [L In the day of trouble/evil], the Lord will ·save [rescue; T deliver] them.
2 The Lord will ·protect [guard; keep] them and ·spare their life [keep them alive]
and will ·bless them [make them happy] in the land.
He will not ·let their enemies take them [L give their lives to their enemy; or give them over to the desire of their enemy].
3 The Lord will give them strength when they are ·sick [L on their sickbed],
and he will ·make them well again [L restore them from their bed of illness].
4 I said, “Lord, have ·mercy [compassion] on me.
Heal me, because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying evil things about me.
They say, “When will he die and ·be forgotten [L his name/reputation perish]?”
6 Some people come to see me,
but ·they lie [L speak deceptive/vain things].
·They just come to get bad news [L Their hearts collect iniquities].
Then they go ·and gossip [L out and speak].
7 All ·my enemies [L those who hate me] whisper about me
and ·think [imagine] ·the worst [trouble; evil] about me.
8 They say, “·He has a terrible disease [or An evil spell has been cast on him].
He ·will never get out of bed again [L lies down and will not get up].”
9 ·My best and truest friend [L A man of peace in whom I trust/find support], who ate at my table,
has ·even turned against me [L lifted his heel against me; C an act of treachery; 55:12–14; Matt. 26:23; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:21; John 13:18].
10 Lord, have ·mercy [compassion] on me.
·Give me strength [L Raise me up] so I can pay them back.
11 Because my enemies do not ·defeat [triumph over; or make fun of] me,
I know you are ·pleased [delighted] with me.
12 Because I am ·innocent [blameless], you support me
and will ·let me be with you [L set me in your presence] forever.
13 ·Praise [Blessed be] the Lord, the God of Israel.
·He has always been [L …from everlasting to everlasting],
and he will always be.
Amen and amen [C verse 13 is a doxology that closes Book 1].
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and ·said [reported] to him, “David ·is in [L has come to/entered] Ahimelech’s house [1 Sam. 21:7; 22:7–23].”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you ·brag [boast] about the evil you do?
God’s ·love [loyalty] will continue ·forever [L everyday; all day].
2 You think up ·evil plans [L destruction].
Your tongue is like a sharp razor [Prov. 18:21],
making up ·lies [deception].
3 You love ·wrong [evil] more than ·right [good]
and ·lies [falsehood] more than speaking the truth. ·
4 You love words that ·bite [destroy; L swallow up]
and ·tongues that lie [deceptive tongues; James 3:1–12].
5 But God will ·ruin you [L break you down] forever.
He will grab you and ·throw [tear] you out of your tent;
he will ·tear you away [uproot you] from the land of the living. ·
6 Those who ·do right [are righteous] will see this and ·fear God [L fear; Prov. 1:7].
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “·Look what happened to [T Behold] the man
who did not ·depend on God [L make God his refuge]
but ·depended on [trusted/put his confidence in] ·his money [L the abundance of his wealth].
He grew strong by his ·evil [destructive] plans.”
8 But I am like ·an olive tree
growing [L a green olive tree] in God’s ·Temple [L house; 1:3; 92:12–13; Jer. 11:16].
I ·trust [have confidence in] God’s ·love [loyalty]
forever and ever.
9 God, I will ·thank [praise] you forever for what you have done.
With ·those who worship you [his loyal ones/saints], I will ·trust [put my confidence in] you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as Temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].
44 God, we have heard ·about you [L with our ears; 78:3].
Our ·ancestors [fathers] ·told [recited to] us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your ·power [L hand] you ·forced [dispossessed] the nations out of the land
and ·placed [L planted] our ancestors here.
You ·destroyed [troubled] ·those other nations [L the peoples],
but you ·made our ancestors grow strong [set them free].
3 It wasn’t their swords that ·took [possessed] the land.
It wasn’t their ·power [L arm] that gave them victory.
But it was your ·great power [L arm] and ·strength [L right hand].
·You were with them [L …and the light of your face] because you ·loved [delighted in] them.
4 My God, you are my King.
·Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory [or You command victory for Jacob; C Jacob is another name for Israel].
5 With your help we pushed ·back [down] our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who ·came [rose up] against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t ·save me [give me victory].
7 You ·saved us from [gave us victory over] our foes,
and you made ·our enemies [L those who hate us] ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will ·praise [give thanks to] your name forever. ·
9 But you have rejected us and ·shamed [humiliated] us.
You don’t ·march [L go out] with our armies anymore [Ex. 15:3; 2 Chr. 20:20–21].
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have ·taken our wealth [plundered us].
11 You ·gave us away [made us] like sheep ·to be eaten [for slaughter]
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing
and made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a ·joke [reproach] to our neighbors;
those around us ·laugh [ridicule] and make fun of us.
14 You made us a ·joke [byword; proverb] to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and ·I am [L my face is] covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting ·even [revenge]
with ·insults [taunts] and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or ·failed to keep [been false to; betrayed] our ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with you [C perhaps a reference to the covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24].
18 Our hearts haven’t turned ·away [back] from you,
and ·we haven’t stopped following you [L our steps have not departed from your way].
19 But you crushed us in this place where ·wild dogs [jackals] live [C desolate areas],
and you covered us with ·deep darkness [or the shadow of death; Nah. 1:8].
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or ·lifted [L spread] our hands in prayer to ·foreign [L strange] gods,
21 ·God would have known [L Would not God discover this…?],
because he knows ·what is in [L the secrets of] our hearts.
22 But for you we are ·in danger of death [L killed] all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be ·killed [slaughtered; Is. 53:7].
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever [Lam. 5:22].
24 Why do you hide your face from us?
Have you forgotten our ·pain [affliction] and ·troubles [oppression]?
25 We have ·been pushed down [sunk down] into the ·dirt [dust];
·we are flat on the ground [L our stomachs cleave to the earth].
26 ·Get [Rise] up and help us.
Because of your ·love [loyalty], ·save [redeem; ransom] us.
1 From Paul, an ·apostle [messenger] of Christ Jesus. ·I am an apostle because that is what God wanted [L …by the will of God]. Also from Timothy [Acts 16:1–5; 1 Cor. 16:10–11; Phil. 2:19–24; 1 and 2 Timothy], our brother.
2 To the ·holy [T saints] and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ that live in Colossae [a city located in the Lycus Valley in the Roman province of Phrygia, present-day central Turkey]:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[a]
3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 ·because we have [or ever since we; L having] heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all ·of God’s people [T the saints]. 5 You have this faith and love because of your hope, and what you hope for is ·kept safe [stored up; reserved] for you in heaven. You learned about this hope when you heard the ·message about the truth [or true message; L word of truth], the ·Good News [Gospel] 6 that ·was told [L has come] to you. [L …just as] Everywhere in the world that ·Good News [Gospel] is ·bringing blessings [L bearing fruit] and is growing. This has happened with you, too, ·since [L from the day] you heard and ·understood the truth about [or truly understood] the grace of God. 7 You learned about ·God’s grace [L it] from Epaphras, our ·dear [beloved; much loved] fellow ·servant [slave; bondservant], who is a faithful ·servant [minister] of Christ ·for us[b] [on our behalf]. [C Epaphras apparently established the church at Colossae during Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus; Acts 19:10.] 8 He also told us about the love you have ·from [or in] the Holy Spirit.
9 Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we have ·continued [not ceased] praying for you, asking God ·that you will know fully what he wants [L to fill you with the knowledge of his will], ·and that you will have great [L in all] ·spiritual wisdom and understanding [or wisdom and understanding from the Spirit] 10 so that you will live the kind of life that ·honors [is worthy of] and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. 11 ·God will strengthen you [L …being strengthened] with ·his own great power [L all power according to his glorious might] so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will ·be patient. 12 And you will joyfully give thanks [or …have patience with joy, 12 giving thanks] to the Father who has made you[c] able to have a share in ·all that he has prepared for his people in the kingdom of light [L the inheritance of the saints/holy ones in the light]. 13 ·God [L …who] has ·freed [rescued; delivered] us from the ·power [authority; dominion] of darkness, and he brought us into the kingdom of his ·dear [dearly loved; beloved] Son, 14 ·who purchased our freedom[d] [L in whom we have redemption] ·and forgave our sins [or which is the forgiveness of sins].
Jesus Is Lord over the Sabbath(A)
6 One Sabbath day Jesus was walking through some fields of grain. His ·followers [disciples] picked the heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them [Deut. 23:25]. 2 Some Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is ·not lawful [forbidden] on the Sabbath day?” [C Gleaning was viewed as work, and therefore forbidden on the Sabbath; Ex. 34:21.]
3 Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and ·those with him [his companions] were hungry [1 Sam. 21:1–6]? 4 He went into God’s house and took and ate the ·holy bread [consecrated bread; L bread of presentation], which is ·lawful [allowed] only for priests to eat [Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:5–9]. And he gave some to ·the people who were with him [his companions].” 5 Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Son of Man [C a title for the Messiah; Dan. 7:13–14] is ·Lord [Master] of the Sabbath day.”
Jesus Heals a Man’s Hand(B)
6 On another Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man with a ·crippled [paralyzed; shriveled; T withered] right hand was there. 7 The ·teachers of the law [scribes] and the Pharisees were watching closely to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath day so they could ·accuse [make a charge against] him. 8 But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the ·crippled [paralyzed; shriveled; T withered] hand, “Stand up here in ·the middle [front] of everyone.” The man got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath day: to do good or to do ·evil [harm], to save a life or to destroy it?” 10 Jesus looked around at all of them and said to the man, “·Hold [Stretch] out your hand.” The man ·held [stretched] out his hand, and it was ·healed [restored].
11 But the Pharisees and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] were very angry and discussed with each other what they could do to Jesus.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.