Book of Common Prayer
A Cry for Help
A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is discouraged and tells the Lord his complaints.
102 Lord, listen to my prayer;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide from me
in my time of trouble.
Pay attention to me.
When I cry for help, answer me quickly.
3 My life is passing away like smoke,
and my bones are burned up with fire.
4 My heart is like grass
that has been cut and dried.
I forget to eat.
5 Because of my grief,
my skin hangs on my bones.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl living among the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 All day long enemies insult me;
those who make fun of me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes for food,
and my tears fall into my drinks.
10 Because of your great anger,
you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a passing shadow;
I am like dried grass.
12 But, Lord, you rule forever,
and your fame goes on and on.
13 You will come and have mercy on Jerusalem,
because the time has now come to be kind to her;
the right time has come.
14 Your servants love even her stones;
they even care about her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings on earth will honor you.
16 The Lord will rebuild Jerusalem;
there his glory will be seen.
17 He will answer the prayers of the needy;
he will not reject their prayers.
18 Write these things for the future
so that people who are not yet born will praise the Lord.
19 The Lord looked down from his holy place above;
from heaven he looked down at the earth.
20 He heard the moans of the prisoners,
and he freed those sentenced to die.
21 The name of the Lord will be heard in Jerusalem;
his praise will be heard there.
22 People will come together,
and kingdoms will serve the Lord.
23 God has made me tired of living;
he has cut short my life.
24 So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life.
Your years go on and on.
25 In the beginning you made the earth,
and your hands made the skies.
26 They will be destroyed, but you will remain.
They will all wear out like clothes.
And, like clothes, you will change them
and throw them away.
27 But you never change,
and your life will never end.
28 Our children will live in your presence,
and their children will remain with you.”
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say.
He has saved them from the enemy
3 and has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south.
4 Some people had wandered in the desert lands.
They found no city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and they were discouraged.
6 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a straight road
to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
9 He satisfies the thirsty
and fills up the hungry.
10 Some sat in gloom and darkness;
they were prisoners suffering in chains.
11 They had turned against the words of God
and had refused the advice of God Most High.
12 So he broke their pride by hard work.
They stumbled, and no one helped.
13 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of their gloom and darkness
and broke their chains.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
16 He breaks down bronze gates
and cuts apart iron bars.
17 Some fools turned against God
and suffered for the evil they did.
18 They refused to eat anything,
so they almost died.
19 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
20 God gave the command and healed them,
so they were saved from dying.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
22 Let them offer sacrifices to thank him.
With joy they should tell what he has done.
23 Others went out to sea in ships
and did business on the great oceans.
24 They saw what the Lord could do,
the miracles he did in the deep oceans.
25 He spoke, and a storm came up,
which blew up high waves.
26 The ships were tossed as high as the sky and fell low to the depths.
The storm was so bad that they lost their courage.
27 They stumbled and fell like people who were drunk.
They did not know what to do.
28 In their misery they cried out to the Lord,
and he saved them from their troubles.
29 He stilled the storm
and calmed the waves.
30 They were happy that it was quiet,
and God guided them to the port they wanted.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his love
and for the miracles he does for people.
32 Let them praise his greatness in the meeting of the people;
let them praise him in the meeting of the elders.
17 “‘This is what the Lord God says: As for you, my flock, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the male sheep and the male goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to eat grass in the good land? Must you crush the rest of the grass with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you make the rest of the water muddy with your feet? 19 Must my flock eat what you crush, and must they drink what you make muddy with your feet?
20 “‘So this is what the Lord God says to them: I, myself, will judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep. 21 You push with your side and with your shoulder, and you knock down all the weak sheep with your horns until you have forced them away. 22 So I will save my flock; they will not be hurt anymore. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 Then I will put over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and tend them and be their shepherd. 24 Then I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a ruler among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
25 “‘I will make an agreement of peace with my sheep and will remove harmful animals from the land. Then the sheep will live safely in the desert and sleep in the woods. 26 I will bless them and let them live around my hill. I will cause the rains to come when it is time; there will be showers to bless them. 27 Also the trees in the countryside will give their fruit, and the land will give its harvest. And the sheep will be safe on their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their captivity and save them from the power of those who made them slaves. 28 They will not be led captive by the nations again. The wild animals will not eat them, but they will live safely, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will give them a place famous for its good crops, so they will no longer suffer from hunger in the land. They will not suffer the insults of other nations anymore. 30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them. The nation of Israel will know that they are my people, says the Lord God. 31 You, my human sheep, are the sheep I care for, and I am your God, says the Lord God.’”
Jesus Is Our High Priest
8 Here is the point of what we are saying: We have a high priest who sits on the right side of God’s throne in heaven. 2 Our high priest serves in the Most Holy Place, the true place of worship that was made by God, not by humans.
3 Every high priest has the work of offering gifts and sacrifices to God. So our high priest must also offer something to God. 4 If our high priest were now living on earth, he would not be a priest, because there are already priests here who follow the law by offering gifts to God. 5 The work they do as priests is only a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why God warned Moses when he was ready to build the Holy Tent: “Be very careful to make everything by the plan I showed you on the mountain.”[a] 6 But the priestly work that has been given to Jesus is much greater than the work that was given to the other priests. In the same way, the new agreement that Jesus brought from God to his people is much greater than the old one. And the new agreement is based on promises of better things.
7 If there had been nothing wrong with the first agreement,[b] there would have been no need for a second agreement. 8 But God found something wrong with his people. He says:[c]
“Look, the time is coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new agreement
with the people of Israel
and the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the agreement
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to bring them out of Egypt.
But they broke that agreement,
and I turned away from them, says the Lord.
10 This is the agreement I will make
with the people of Israel at that time, says the Lord.
I will put my teachings in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives
to know the Lord,
because all people will know me,
from the least to the most important.
12 I will forgive them for the wicked things they did,
and I will not remember their sins anymore.” Jeremiah 31:31–34
13 God called this a new agreement, so he has made the first agreement old. And anything that is old and worn out is ready to disappear.
Mary and Martha
38 While Jesus and his followers were traveling, Jesus went into a town. A woman named Martha let Jesus stay at her house. 39 Martha had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. 40 But Martha was busy with all the work to be done. She went in and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work? Tell her to help me.”
41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. 42 Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the better thing, and it will never be taken away from her.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.