Book of Common Prayer

This is a song that David wrote.

It is for the music leader.

Please help me, Lord

This is a special song that David wrote.

He prayed this when he was in the cave.^[a]

Please help me, Lord!

David wrote this song.

An evening prayer^[a]

This is a song that David wrote.

Please help me, Lord!^[a]

David is kind to Mephibosheth

²⁴ Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also came from Jerusalem to meet the king. Since David had left Jerusalem, Mephibosheth had not washed his feet, cut his beard or washed his clothes. ²⁵ When he arrived from Jerusalem to meet the king, David asked him, ‘Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?’

²⁶ He said, ‘My lord the king, as you know, I cannot walk properly. So I said to my servant, “Prepare a donkey for me to ride, so that I can leave Jerusalem with the king.” But Ziba, my servant, deceived me. ²⁷ And he has told you lies about me. But you are like an angel of God. I know that you will do what you think is right. ²⁸ I know that you, my lord the king, would have been right to kill all my grandfather's family. We all deserved that punishment. But instead, you asked me to eat meals at your table. So it would not be right for me to ask you to do anything more for me.’

²⁹ The king said, ‘You have said enough about this. I have decided that you and Ziba will share the fields that belonged to your grandfather, Saul.’

³⁰ Mephibosheth said to the king, ‘That is not important to me. Ziba can take them all. You have returned home safely. That is what makes me happy.’

David and Barzillai

³¹ Barzillai, the man from Gilead, came from Rogelim to meet the king at the Jordan River. He wanted to help the king to come across the river and to continue his journey. ³² But Barzillai was a very old man, 80 years old. He had taken care of David when David was living in Mahanaim. He had helped David with many gifts, because he was a very rich man. ³³ King David said to him, ‘Come with me to live in Jerusalem. I will take care of you while you are with me there.’

³⁴ Barzillai answered the king, ‘I will not live many more years. Why should I go to live in Jerusalem with the king? ³⁵ I am already 80 years old. I can no longer tell what is nice or what is bad. I cannot taste what I eat and drink. I cannot still hear people's voices when they sing. I would only cause trouble to you, my lord the king. ³⁶ I will come across the river and I will travel a short way with you. But I cannot accept your kind gift. ³⁷ Let me return to my own town, sir. Then I will die there. They can bury me near the grave of my father and my mother. Look! Here is my son, Kimham. Let him go with you, my lord the king. Please do for him whatever you think is right.’

³⁸ The king said, ‘Kimham can go with me. I will do for him whatever you think is good. I will also help you in any way that you choose.’

³⁹ So all the people went across the Jordan River with the king. The king kissed Barzillai and he asked God to bless him. Then Barzillai returned to his home.

⁴⁰ The king went across the river to Gilgal. Kimham went with him.^[a] All Judah's army and half of Israel's soldiers helped the king to cross the river.

The men from Israel are angry with the men from Judah

⁴¹ Then all the men of Israel's tribes came to the king. They complained, ‘Why did our brothers, the men of Judah's tribe, take you for themselves? Why were they the only people who could help the king to cross the Jordan River? They helped you and your family and your soldiers to cross, and we had no part in it.’

⁴² The men of Judah's tribe replied, ‘We did it because the king belongs to our own family. Do not be angry about it. The king did not pay for the food that we ate. We have not taken any of his things for ourselves.’

⁴³ The men of Israel's tribes replied, ‘In Israel we are ten tribes, and Judah is only one tribe. So he is our king ten times more than he is your king! So why have you tried to insult us? We were the first people to say that we should bring the king back to Jerusalem.’

But the words that the men of Judah spoke were much stronger than the words of the men of Israel.

Felix and Drusilla listen to Paul

²⁴ After some days, Felix came with Drusilla, his Jewish wife. He told his soldiers to bring Paul to them. Paul talked to them, and they listened to everything that he said. Paul spoke about how people believed in Jesus, the Messiah. ²⁵ Paul continued to speak for some time. He said, ‘People need to do what is right. They need to stop themselves doing wrong things. One day, God will judge people for how they have lived.’

While Paul talked about these things, Felix became afraid. He said to Paul, ‘You can leave us now. At some time I may want to listen to you again. Then I will ask you to come to me again.’ ²⁶ But Felix also hoped that Paul would give him some money.^[a] For that reason he often met with Paul and they talked together.

²⁷ This happened for two years. Felix left Paul in the prison, because he wanted to make the Jewish leaders happy. Then Porcius Festus became the ruler instead of Felix.

Festus travels to Jerusalem to speak to the leaders of the Jews

25 Three days after Festus began to rule in Caesarea, he travelled from there to Jerusalem. ² When he arrived there, the leaders of the priests and the Jewish leaders told him about Paul. They spoke bad things against Paul. ³ They said to Festus, ‘Please listen to us. We really want you to bring Paul here to Jerusalem. You can judge him here. Then we would be very happy.’ They wanted to kill Paul while he was travelling to Jerusalem.

⁴ But Festus answered them, ‘Paul will remain in prison in Caesarea. I myself will return there soon. ⁵ So your leaders should go to Caesarea with me. If this man has done anything wrong, they can speak against him there. I will listen and I will judge.’

⁶ Festus stayed for another eight or ten days in Jerusalem. Then he returned to Caesarea. On the next day, he sat down on his special seat as judge. He said to his soldiers, ‘Bring Paul here!’ ⁷ Some of the Jewish leaders had also come from Jerusalem. When Paul came into the room, they all stood round him. They began to speak to Festus against Paul. They said that he had done very many bad things. But they could not show Festus that these things were really true.

⁸ Then Paul spoke to show what was true. He said, ‘I have not done anything wrong against our Jewish laws or against the temple in Jerusalem. Also, I have not done anything wrong against your Roman ruler, Caesar.’

⁹ Festus wanted to make the Jewish leaders happy. So he asked Paul, ‘I would like to judge this problem in Jerusalem. Would you be happy to go there? Then I can decide if what these men are saying against you is true.’

¹⁰ Paul answered him, ‘I am already in the place where Caesar's officers judge people. This is the right place for you to judge me. I have never done anything wrong against the Jews. You yourself know very well that it is true. ¹¹ Have I done something bad that you should kill me for it? If that is true, then I will agree to it. It is right that I should die. But these Jews are not speaking true words against me. Nobody should let them take hold of me. So now I ask you to send me to Caesar himself. I want him to be the judge.’

¹² Festus talked to his officers about what Paul had said. Then he said to Paul, ‘You have asked to go to Caesar, for him to be your judge. So prepare yourself to go to Caesar!’

Jesus teaches the people about the Messiah

³⁵ Jesus was teaching people in the yard at the temple. He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law say that the Messiah is King David's son.^[a] What do you think about that? ³⁶ The Holy Spirit helped David himself to say:^[b]

³⁷ In these words, David himself calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’^[d]

The large crowd liked to listen to the things that Jesus was saying. It made them happy.

³⁸ As Jesus was teaching the people, he said, ‘Be careful not to do the same as the teachers of God's Law. They want people to think that they are important. So they walk about in beautiful long clothes. They like people to praise them in the market place. ³⁹ They want to sit in the best seats in the meeting places. They choose the most important places at special meals. ⁴⁰ But these men take things away from women after their husbands have died, even their houses. Then they pray for a long time so that other people will praise them. Because they do these things, God will punish those men much more than other people.’

Jesus talks about people who give to God

⁴¹ Many people were giving their gifts for the temple. There was a box for money there. People threw their coins into it. Jesus sat near the box and he watched them. Many rich people put a lot of money into the box. ⁴² But then a woman came there. Her husband had died and she was very poor. She put two small coins that had only a little value into the box.

⁴³ Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘I tell you this: This poor woman has put a better gift into the box than all the other people have put in there. ⁴⁴ All those rich people have plenty of money. They only put a small part of that into the box. But this woman has almost nothing. She put in all the money that she had. That was all the money that she needed to live.’