Book of Common Prayer
A Sad Complaint
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the director of music. By the mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord, you are the God who saves me.
I cry out to you day and night.
2 Receive my prayer,
and listen to my cry.
3 My life is full of troubles,
and I am nearly dead.
4 They think I am on the way to my grave.
I am like a man with no strength.
5 I have been left as dead,
like a body lying in a grave
whom you don’t remember anymore,
cut off from your care.
6 You have brought me close to death;
I am almost in the dark place of the dead.
7 You have been very angry with me;
all your waves crush me. Selah
8 You have taken my friends away from me
and have made them hate me.
I am trapped and cannot escape.
9 My eyes are weak from crying.
Lord, I have prayed to you every day;
I have lifted my hands in prayer to you.
10 Do you show your miracles for the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you? Selah
11 Will your love be told in the grave?
Will your loyalty be told in the place of death?
12 Will your miracles be known in the dark grave?
Will your goodness be known in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But, Lord, I have called out to you for help;
every morning I pray to you.
14 Lord, why do you reject me?
Why do you hide from me?
15 I have been weak and dying since I was young.
I suffer from your terrors, and I am helpless.
16 You have been angry with me,
and your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me daily like a flood;
they are all around me.
18 You have taken away my loved ones and friends.
Darkness is my only friend.
Safe in the Lord
91 Those who go to God Most High for safety
will be protected by the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety and protection.
You are my God and I trust you.”
3 God will save you from hidden traps
and from deadly diseases.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you can hide.
His truth will be your shield and protection.
5 You will not fear any danger by night
or an arrow during the day.
6 You will not be afraid of diseases that come in the dark
or sickness that strikes at noon.
7 At your side one thousand people may die,
or even ten thousand right beside you,
but you will not be hurt.
8 You will only watch
and see the wicked punished.
9 The Lord is your protection;
you have made God Most High your place of safety.
10 Nothing bad will happen to you;
no disaster will come to your home.
11 He has put his angels in charge of you
to watch over you wherever you go.
12 They will catch you in their hands
so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.
13 You will walk on lions and cobras;
you will step on strong lions and snakes.
14 The Lord says, “Whoever loves me, I will save.
I will protect those who know me.
15 They will call to me, and I will answer them.
I will be with them in trouble;
I will rescue them and honor them.
16 I will give them a long, full life,
and they will see how I can save.”
Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
92 It is good to praise you, Lord,
to sing praises to God Most High.
2 It is good to tell of your love in the morning
and of your loyalty at night.
3 It is good to praise you with the ten-stringed lyre
and with the soft-sounding harp.
4 Lord, you have made me happy by what you have done;
I will sing for joy about what your hands have done.
5 Lord, you have done such great things!
How deep are your thoughts!
6 Stupid people don’t know these things,
and fools don’t understand.
7 Wicked people grow like the grass.
Evil people seem to do well,
but they will be destroyed forever.
8 But, Lord, you will be honored forever.
9 Lord, surely your enemies,
surely your enemies will be destroyed,
and all who do evil will be scattered.
10 But you have made me as strong as an ox.
You have poured fine oils on me.
11 When I looked, I saw my enemies;
I heard the cries of those who are against me.
12 But good people will grow like palm trees;
they will be tall like the cedars of Lebanon.
13 Like trees planted in the Temple of the Lord,
they will grow strong in the courtyards of our God.
14 When they are old, they will still produce fruit;
they will be healthy and fresh.
15 They will say that the Lord is good.
He is my Rock, and there is no wrong in him.
17 The lookout was standing on the watchtower in Jezreel when he saw Jehu’s troops coming. He said, “I see some soldiers!”
Joram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them. Tell him to ask, ‘Is all in order?’”
18 The horseman rode out to meet Jehu, and he said, “This is what the king says: ‘Is all in order?’”
Jehu said, “Why bother yourself with order? Come along behind me.”
The lookout reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”
19 Then Joram sent out a second horseman. This rider came to Jehu’s group and said, “This is what the king says: ‘Is all in order?’”
Jehu answered, “Why bother yourself with order? Come along behind me.”
20 The lookout reported, “The second man reached them, but he is not coming back. The man in the chariot is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi. He drives as if he were crazy!”
21 Joram said, “Get my chariot ready.” Then the servant got Joram’s chariot ready. Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22 When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is all in order, Jehu?”
Jehu answered, “There will never be any order as long as your mother Jezebel worships idols and uses witchcraft.”
23 Joram turned the horses to run away and yelled to Ahaziah, “It’s a trick, Ahaziah!”
24 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between his shoulders. The arrow went through Joram’s heart, and he fell down in his chariot.
25 Jehu ordered Bidkar, his chariot officer, “Pick up Joram’s body, and throw it into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember when you and I rode together with Joram’s father Ahab. The Lord made this prophecy against him: 26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and his sons, says the Lord, so I will punish Ahab in his field, says the Lord.’ Take Joram’s body and throw it into the field, as the Lord has said.”
27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he ran away toward Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, saying, “Shoot Ahaziah, too!” Ahaziah was wounded in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam. He got as far as Megiddo but died there. 28 Ahaziah’s servants carried his body in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in Jerusalem. 29 (Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year Joram son of Ahab was king.)
Death of Jezebel
30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She put on her eye makeup and fixed her hair. Then she looked out the window. 31 When Jehu entered the city gate, Jezebel said, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri,[a] you who killed your master?”
32 Jehu looked up at the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three servants looked out the window at Jehu. 33 He said to them, “Throw her down.” So they threw Jezebel down, and the horses ran over her. Some of her blood splashed on the wall and on the horses.
34 Jehu went into the house and ate and drank. Then he said, “Now see about this cursed woman. Bury her, because she is a king’s daughter.”
35 The men went to bury Jezebel, but they could not find her. They found only her skull, feet, and the palms of her hands. 36 When they came back and told Jehu, he said, “The Lord said this through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel at Jezreel. 37 Her body will be like manure on the field in the land at Jezreel. No one will be able to say that this is Jezebel.’”
About Marriage
7 Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. 2 But because sexual sin is a danger, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. 3 The husband should give his wife all that he owes her as his wife. And the wife should give her husband all that she owes him as her husband. 4 The wife does not have full rights over her own body; her husband shares them. And the husband does not have full rights over his own body; his wife shares them. 5 Do not refuse to give your bodies to each other, unless you both agree to stay away from sexual relations for a time so you can give your time to prayer. Then come together again so Satan cannot tempt you because of a lack of self-control. 6 I say this to give you permission to stay away from sexual relations for a time. It is not a command to do so. 7 I wish that everyone were like me, but each person has his own gift from God. One has one gift, another has another gift.
8 Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for them to stay unmarried as I am. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
7 “And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. 9 So when you pray, you should pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
10 May your kingdom come
and what you want be done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for each day.
12 Forgive us for our sins,
just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
13 And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One.’ [The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.][a]
14 Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for your sins. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.