Book of Common Prayer

A psalm of David.

A psalm of David.

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Nehemiah Helps Some Poor People

5 Some men and their wives cried out against their Jewish brothers and sisters. ² Some of them were saying, “There are now many of us. We have many sons and daughters. We have to get some grain so we can eat and stay alive.”

³ Others were saying, “We’re being forced to sell our fields, vineyards and homes. We have to do it to buy grain. There isn’t enough food for everyone.”

⁴ Still others were saying, “We’ve had to borrow money. We needed it to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵ We belong to the same family lines as the rest of our people. Our children are as good as theirs. But we’ve had to sell them off as slaves. Some of our daughters have already been made slaves. But we can’t do anything about it. That’s because our fields and vineyards now belong to others.”

⁶ I heard them when they cried out. And I was very angry when I heard what they were saying. ⁷ I thought it over for a while. Then I accused the nobles and officials of breaking the law. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large group of people to handle the matter. ⁸ I said, “Our Jewish brothers and sisters were sold to other nations. We’ve done everything we could to buy them back and bring them home. But look at what you are doing! You are actually selling your own people! Now we’ll have to buy them back too!” The people kept quiet. They couldn’t think of anything to say.

⁹ So I continued, “What you are doing isn’t right. Shouldn’t you show respect for our God? Shouldn’t you live in a way that will keep our enemies from saying bad things about us? ¹⁰ I’m lending the people money and grain. So are my relatives and my men. But we must stop charging interest! ¹¹ Give the people’s fields back to them. Give them back their vineyards, olive groves and houses. Do it right away. Give everything back to them. Also give them back the one percent on the money, grain, fresh wine and olive oil you have charged them.”

¹² “We’ll give it back,” they said. “And we won’t require anything more from them. We’ll do exactly as you say.”

Then I sent for the priests. I made the nobles and officials promise to do what they had said. ¹³ I also shook out my pockets and emptied them. I said, “Someone might decide not to keep this promise they have made. If that happens, may God shake them out of their house! May he empty them of everything they own!”

The whole community said, “Amen.” They praised the Lord. And the leaders did what they had promised to do.

¹⁴ And that’s not all. I was appointed as governor of Judah in the 20th year that Artaxerxes was king of Persia. I remained in that position until his 32nd year. During those 12 years, I and my relatives didn’t eat the food that was provided for my table. ¹⁵ But there had been governors before me. They had put a heavy load on the people. They had taken a pound of silver from each of them. They had also taken food and wine from them. Their officials had acted like high and mighty rulers over them. But because of my great respect for God, I didn’t act like that. ¹⁶ Instead, I spent all my time working on this wall. All my men were gathered there to work on it too. We didn’t receive any land for ourselves.

¹⁷ Many people ate at my table. They included 150 Jews and officials. They also included leaders who came to us from the nations that were around us. ¹⁸ Each day one ox, six of the best sheep and some birds were prepared for me. Every ten days plenty of wine of all kinds was brought in as well. In spite of all that, I never asked for the food that was provided for my table. That’s because the people were already paying too many taxes.

¹⁹ You are my God. Please remember me and help me. Keep in mind everything I’ve done for these people.

Eutychus Is Raised From the Dead at Troas

⁷ On the first day of the week we met to break bread and eat together. Paul spoke to the people. He kept on talking until midnight because he planned to leave the next day. ⁸ There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Sound asleep, Eutychus fell from the third floor. When they picked him up from the ground, he was dead. ¹⁰ Paul went down and threw himself on the young man. He put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “He’s alive!” ¹¹ Then Paul went upstairs again. He broke bread and ate with them. He kept on talking until daylight. Then he left. ¹² The people took the young man home. They were greatly comforted because he was alive.

Do Not Worry

²² Then Jesus spoke to his disciples. He said, “I tell you, do not worry. Don’t worry about your life and what you will eat. And don’t worry about your body and what you will wear. ²³ There is more to life than eating. There are more important things for the body than clothes. ²⁴ Think about the ravens. They don’t plant or gather crops. They don’t have any barns at all. But God feeds them. You are worth much more than birds! ²⁵ Can you add even one hour to your life by worrying? ²⁶ You can’t do that very little thing. So why worry about the rest?

²⁷ “Think about how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work or make clothing. But here is what I tell you. Not even Solomon in his royal robes was dressed like one of those flowers. ²⁸ If that is how God dresses the wild grass, how much better will he dress you! After all, the grass is here only today. Tomorrow it is thrown into the fire. Your faith is so small! ²⁹ Don’t spend time thinking about what you will eat or drink. Don’t worry about it. ³⁰ People who are ungodly run after all those things. Your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But put God’s kingdom first. Then those other things will also be given to you.