Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
A psalm of David ·to remember [or for the memorial offering].
38 Lord, don’t ·correct [rebuke; reprove] me when you are angry.
Don’t ·punish [discipline] me when you are ·furious [enraged; 6:1].
2 Your arrows have ·wounded [pierced] me,
and your hand has come down on me.
3 My ·body [flesh] is ·sick [L not sound] from your ·punishment [L indignation].
Even my bones are not healthy because of my sin.
4 My guilt has ·overwhelmed me [L passed over my head];
like a ·load [burden] it ·weighs me down [is too heavy for me].
5 My sores stink and become infected
because I was foolish.
6 I am bent over and bowed down;
I ·am sad [L walk around mourning] all day long.
7 ·I am burning with fever [L My loins are burned with fever],
and my ·whole body [flesh] is ·sore [L not sound].
8 I am weak and ·faint [L completely crushed].
I ·moan [groan] from the ·pain I feel [L anguish of my heart].
9 Lord, you know everything I ·want [desire; long for];
my ·cries [sighs] are not hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds, and my strength ·is gone [abandons/forsakes me].
·I am losing my sight [L The light of my eyes is not with me].
11 Because of my wounds, ·my friends [L those who love me] and neighbors ·avoid [L stand away from] me,
and my relatives ·stay [L stand] far away.
12 ·Some people set traps to kill me [L Those who seek my life set traps for me].
Those who ·want [seek] to ·hurt [harm; trouble] me plan trouble;
all day long they ·think up [meditate on] ·lies [deception].
13 I am like the deaf; I cannot hear.
Like the mute, I cannot ·speak [open my mouth].
14 I am like those who do not hear,
who have no ·answer [reproof] ·to give [L in their mouth].
15 I ·trust [hope in; wait for] you, Lord.
You will answer, my Lord and God.
16 I said, “Don’t let them ·laugh at [rejoice in] me
or ·brag [boast] when ·I am defeated [L my foot totters/slips].”
17 I am ·about to die [L ready to stumble],
and ·I cannot forget my pain [L my pain is constantly with me].
18 I confess my guilt;
I am troubled by my sin.
19 My ·enemies are strong and [L living enemies are] healthy,
and many hate me for no reason.
20 They repay me with evil for the good I did.
They ·lie about me [L are my accusers/adversaries] because I ·try to do [L pursued] good.
21 Lord, don’t ·leave [abandon; forsake] me;
my God, don’t ·go away [be far from me].
22 Quickly come and help me,
my Lord and Savior.
25 ·I am about to die [L My soul clings to the dust].
Give me life, as you have promised.
26 I ·told you about my life [L recounted my way], and you answered me.
Teach me your ·demands [statutes; ordinances; requirements].
27 Help me understand your ·orders [L the way of your precepts].
Then I will ·think [meditate] about your ·miracles [wonders].
28 ·I am sad and tired [L My soul is weary/melts with sorrow affliction].
Make me ·strong [L rise up] again as you have promised.
29 ·Don’t let me be dishonest [L Turn me away from a false way];
·have mercy on me by helping me obey your teachings [graciously teach me your instructions/laws].
30 I have chosen the way of ·truth [faithfulness];
I have ·obeyed [placed before me] your ·laws [judgments].
31 I ·hold on [cling] to your ·rules [decrees; testimonies].
Lord, do not let me be ·disgraced [shamed].
32 I will ·quickly obey [L run the way of] your commands,
because you have ·made me happy [L enlarged my heart/mind].
33 Lord, teach me ·your demands [L the way of your demands/statutes/ordinances/requirements],
and I will ·keep [observe] them until the end.
34 Help me understand, so I can ·keep [protect] your ·teachings [instructions; laws],
·obeying [guarding] them with all my heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commands,
because ·that makes me happy [L I take pleasure in them].
36 Make me want to keep your ·rules [decrees; testimonies]
·instead of wishing for riches [L not to gain/profit].
37 ·Keep me [L Turn my eyes] from looking at ·worthless [false; vain] things.
Let me live ·by your word [L in your path].
38 ·Keep your promise [Confirm your word] to me, your servant,
so you will be ·respected [feared; Prov. 1:7].
39 Take away ·the shame [my scorn/humiliation] I fear,
because your ·laws [judgments] are good.
40 How I ·want to follow [long for] your ·orders [precepts].
Give me life because of your ·goodness [righteousness].
41 Lord, ·show [L bring] me your ·love [loyalty],
and ·save me [give me victory] as you have ·promised [said].
42 I have an answer for people who ·insult [scorn] me,
because I ·trust [find refuge in] what you say.
43 Never ·keep me from speaking your truth [L take the word of truth from my mouth],
because I ·depend [pin my hopes] on your ·fair laws [judgments].
44 I will ·obey [keep; guard] your ·teachings [instructions; laws]
forever and ever.
45 So I will live in ·freedom [liberty],
because I ·want to follow [L seek] your ·orders [precepts].
46 I will discuss your ·rules [decrees; testimonies] with kings
and will not be ashamed.
47 I ·enjoy obeying [L delight in] your commands,
which I love.
48 I ·praise [L lift my palms/hands to] your commands, which I love,
and I ·think [meditate] about your ·demands [statutes; ordinances; requirements].
The Vision of Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: [L look; T behold] a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “An end [C the Hebrew word for “end” sounds like the word for “summer fruit”] has come for my people Israel, because I will not ·overlook their sins [L pass by them] anymore.
3 “On that day the ·palace [or temple] songs will become ·funeral songs [L wailing],” says the Lord God. “·There will be dead bodies [L Many bodies/corpses] thrown everywhere! ·Silence! [or …and carried out in silence.]”
4 Listen to me, you who ·walk on helpless people [trample the needy],
you who are trying to ·destroy [do away with] the poor people of this country, saying,
5 “When will the New Moon festival be over
so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so we can bring out wheat to sell?
We can ·give them less [L make the ephah small; C a unit of dry measure]
and ·charge them more [L the shekel great; C a unit of money],
and we can change the scales to cheat the people.
6 We will buy poor people for silver,
and needy people for a pair of sandals [2:6].
We will even sell the ·wheat that was swept up from the floor [L chaff of the wheat].”
7 The Lord has sworn by ·his name, the Pride of Jacob [or the arrogance of Jacob], “I will never forget everything that these people did.
8 The whole ·land [or earth] will shake because of it,
and everyone who lives in the land will ·cry for those who died [mourn].
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be ·shaken [stirred/heaved up], and then it will ·fall [sink; subside]
like the Nile River in Egypt [C the Nile flooded its banks each year].”
9 The Lord God says:
“·At that time [L In that day] I will cause the sun to go down at noon
and make the earth dark ·on a bright day [in broad daylight].
10 I will change your festivals into ·days of crying for the dead [mourning],
and all your songs will become ·songs of sadness [dirges; lamentation; weeping].
I will ·make all of you wear rough cloth to show your sadness [L put sackcloth on every waist];
·I will make you shave your heads as well [L …and baldness on every head].
I will make it like ·a time of crying [mourning] for the death of an only son,
and its end like the end of an ·awful [bitter] day.”
11 The Lord God says: “[L Look; T Behold] The days are coming
when I will ·cause a time of hunger in [send a famine throughout] the land.
·The people will not be hungry for bread or thirsty for water [L … not a famine of food or a thirst for water],
but ·they will be hungry for words from [L for hearing the words of] the Lord.
12 They will ·wander [or stagger] from the ·Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea [L sea to sea; C across the whole land],
from the north to the east.
They will ·search for [run to and fro seeking] the word of the Lord,
but they won’t find it.
13 ·At that time [L In that day] the beautiful ·young women [virgins] and the young men
will ·become weak [faint] from thirst.
14 They ·make promises [swear oaths] by the ·idol in [L sin of] Samaria
and say, ‘As surely as the god of Dan lives … [1 Kin. 12:29]’
and, ‘As surely as the ·god of [L way to; C perhaps the pilgrimage route to the pagan worship there] Beersheba lives, we promise….’ [C Dan was the city farthest north in Israel and Beersheba farthest south.]
So they will fall
and never get up again.”
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the One who lives; I was dead, but ·look [T behold], I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys to death and ·to the place of the dead [L Hades]. 19 So write the things you ·see [or have seen], ·what is now [L what is] and what will happen ·later [L after these things]. 20 Here is the ·secret [mystery] of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the ·angels [or messengers; C these may be guardian angels, human leaders, or the personified “spirit” of each church] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
To the Church in Ephesus
2 “Write this to the ·angel [or messenger; see 1:20] of the church in Ephesus [C an important city in western Asia Minor]:
“The One who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands [C the resurrected Jesus; 1:16, 20] says ·this [L these things]: 2 I know ·what you do [L your works], ·how you work hard [L your toil] and ·never give up [L your perseverence/endurance]. I know you do not put up with ·the false teachings of evil people [L evildoers; or evil]. You have tested those who say they are apostles but really are not, and you found they are ·liars [or false]. 3 You have ·patience [perseverance; endurance] and have ·suffered troubles [endured much] for my name and have not ·given up [L grown weary].
4 “But I have this against you: You have ·left [abandoned] ·the love you had in the beginning [or your first love]. 5 So ·remember [consider] ·where you were before you fell [L how far you have fallen]. ·Change your hearts [Repent] and do ·what [L the works] you did at first. If you do not ·change [repent], I will come to you and will take away your lampstand from its place. 6 But ·there is something you do that is right [L this you have]: You hate what the Nicolaitans do [C we know little about this heresy, which possibly entailed false worship and immorality], as much as I.
7 “Every person who has ears should ·listen to [hear; obey] what the Spirit says to the churches. To those who ·win the victory [overcome; conquer] I will give the right to eat the fruit from the ·tree of life, which is in the ·garden [or paradise] of God [22:2; Gen. 2:9].
Jesus Accuses Some Leaders(A)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his ·followers [disciples], 2 “The ·teachers of the law [scribes] and the Pharisees ·have the authority to interpret what the law of Moses says [L sit in Moses’ seat/chair]. 3 So you should ·obey [do; practice] and ·follow [keep; observe] whatever they tell you, but ·their lives are not good examples for you to follow [L do not follow their actions]. ·They tell you to do things, but they themselves don’t do them [L For they say but do not do]. 4 They ·make strict rules [L tie up heavy loads/burdens that are hard to carry] and ·try to force people to obey them [L put them on people’s shoulders], but they are unwilling to ·help those who struggle under the weight of their rules [lift a finger to move them; L move them with their finger].
5 “They do good things so that other people will see them. They enlarge ·the little boxes holding Scriptures that they wear [L their phylacteries; C leather cases worn on the left arm and forehead to literally fulfill Deut. 6:8; 11:18], and they ·make their special prayer clothes very long [L lengthen their tassels; C Jewish males were to wear tassels on the four corners of their garment; Num. 15:38; Deut. 22:12]. 6 Those Pharisees and teachers of the law love to have the ·most important seats [places of greatest honor] at ·feasts [banquets] and [L the best seats] in the synagogues. 7 They love people to greet them with respect in the marketplaces, and they love to have people call them ·‘Teacher [L Rabbi].’
8 “But you must not be called ‘·Teacher [Rabbi],’ because you have only one Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters together. 9 And don’t call any person on earth ‘Father,’ because you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 And you should not be called ‘·Master [Leader; Teacher; Instructor]’ because you have only one ·Master [Leader; Teacher; Instructor], the ·Christ [Messiah]. 11 ·Whoever is your servant is the greatest among you [L The greatest among you will be your servant]. 12 Whoever ·makes himself great [lifts up/exalts himself] will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be ·made great [exalted; lifted up].
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