Book of Common Prayer
God Will Reward Fairly
Of David.
37 Don’t be upset because of evil people.
Don’t be jealous of those who do wrong,
2 because like the grass, they will soon dry up.
Like green plants, they will soon die away.
3 Trust the Lord and do good.
Live in the land and feed on truth.
4 Enjoy serving the Lord,
and he will give you what you want.
5 Depend on the Lord;
trust him, and he will take care of you.
6 Then your goodness will shine like the sun,
and your fairness like the noonday sun.
7 Wait and trust the Lord.
Don’t be upset when others get rich
or when someone else’s plans succeed.
8 Don’t get angry.
Don’t be upset; it only leads to trouble.
9 Evil people will be sent away,
but those who trust the Lord will inherit the land.
10 In a little while the wicked will be no more.
You may look for them, but they will be gone.
11 People who are not proud will inherit the land
and will enjoy complete peace.
12 The wicked make evil plans against good people.
They grind their teeth at them in anger.
13 But the Lord laughs at the wicked,
because he sees that their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords
and bend their bows
to kill the poor and helpless,
to kill those who are honest.
15 But their swords will stab their own hearts,
and their bows will break.
16 It is better to have little and be right
than to have much and be wrong.
17 The power of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord supports those who do right.
18 The Lord watches over the lives of the innocent,
and their reward will last forever.
19 They will not be ashamed when trouble comes.
They will be full in times of hunger.
20 But the wicked will die.
The Lord’s enemies will be like the flowers of the fields;
they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and don’t pay back,
but those who do right give freely to others.
22 Those whom the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be sent away.
23 When people’s steps follow the Lord,
God is pleased with their ways.
24 If they stumble, they will not fall,
because the Lord holds their hand.
25 I was young, and now I am old,
but I have never seen good people left helpless
or their children begging for food.
26 Good people always lend freely to others,
and their children are a blessing.
27 Stop doing evil and do good,
so you will live forever.
28 The Lord loves justice
and will not leave those who worship him.
He will always protect them,
but the children of the wicked will die.
29 Good people will inherit the land
and will live in it forever.
30 Good people speak with wisdom,
and they say what is fair.
31 The teachings of their God are in their heart,
so they do not fail to keep them.
32 The wicked watch for good people
so that they may kill them.
33 But the Lord will not take away his protection
or let good people be judged guilty.
34 Wait for the Lord’s help
and follow him.
He will honor you and give you the land,
and you will see the wicked sent away.
35 I saw a wicked and cruel man
who looked strong like a healthy tree in good soil.
36 But he died and was gone;
I looked for him, but he couldn’t be found.
37 Think of the innocent person,
and watch the honest one.
The man who has peace
will have children to live after him.
38 But sinners will be destroyed;
in the end the wicked will die.
39 The Lord saves good people;
he is their strength in times of trouble.
40 The Lord helps them and saves them;
he saves them from the wicked,
because they trust in him for protection.
The Languages Confused
11 At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words. 2 As people moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and bake them to make them hard.” So they used bricks instead of stones, and tar instead of mortar. 4 Then they said to each other, “Let’s build a city and a tower for ourselves, whose top will reach high into the sky. We will become famous. Then we will not be scattered over all the earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 The Lord said, “Now, these people are united, all speaking the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. They will be able to do anything they want. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not be able to understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 The place is called Babel[a] since that is where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. So the Lord caused them to spread out from there over the whole world.
13 God made a promise to Abraham. And as there is no one greater than God, he used himself when he swore to Abraham, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[a] 15 Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and he received what God promised.
16 People always use the name of someone greater than themselves when they swear. The oath proves that what they say is true, and this ends all arguing. 17 God wanted to prove that his promise was true to those who would get what he promised. And he wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change, so he made an oath. 18 These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he makes a promise, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. These things encourage us who came to God for safety. They give us strength to hold on to the hope we have been given. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and strong. It enters behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place in heaven, 20 where Jesus has gone ahead of us and for us. He has become the high priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek.[b]
Jesus and a Samaritan Woman
4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John, 2 although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his followers did. 3 Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4 But on the way he had to go through the country of Samaria.
5 In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about twelve o’clock noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 8 (This happened while Jesus’ followers were in town buying some food.)
9 The woman said, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink, since you are a Jewish man and I am a Samaritan woman.” (Jewish people are not friends with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus said, “If you only knew the free gift of God and who it is that is asking you for water, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said, “Sir, where will you get this living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. 12 Are you greater than Jacob, our father, who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and flocks?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty again and will not have to come back here to get more water.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.