Book of Common Prayer
Wishing to Be Near God
A psalm of David when he was in the ·desert [wilderness] of Judah [C fleeing from a jealous Saul; 1 Sam. 21–31].
63 God, you are my God.
I ·search for [am intent on] you.
I thirst for you [42:1–2]
·like someone [or my flesh yearns for you] in a dry, ·empty [exhausted; weary] land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in ·the Temple [L the Holy Place; or holiness]
and have seen your strength and glory.
3 Because your ·love [loyalty] is better than life,
·I [L My lips] will praise you.
4 I will ·praise [bless] you ·as long as I live [L with my life].
I will lift up my hands in your name [C in prayer].
5 I will be ·content as if I had eaten the best foods [L satisfied as with fat and fatness].
My lips will sing, and my mouth will praise you.
6 I remember you while I’m lying in bed;
I ·think about [meditate on] you through the watches of the night [C the night was divided into four watches of three hours each].
7 You are my help.
·Because of your protection [L In the shadow of your wings; C an image of compassion or perhaps a reference to the cherubim whose wings covered the Ark of the Covenant; Ex. 25:20], I sing.
8 I ·stay close [cling] to you;
·you support me with your right hand [L your right hand sustains me].
9 ·Some people are trying to kill me [L They seek my life for ruin],
but they will go down to the ·grave [L underbelly of the earth].
10 They will be ·killed with swords [L handed over to the sword]
and ·eaten by wild dogs [L be the prey of jackals].
11 But the king will rejoice in his God.
All who ·make promises in his name [L swear by him] will praise him,
but the mouths of liars will be shut.
The Lord of Power and Justice
A psalm.
98 Sing to the Lord a new song [C celebrating victory; 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1; Is. 42:10; Rev. 5:9; 14:3],
because he has done ·miracles [wonderful acts].
By his right hand and holy arm
he has won the victory.
2 The Lord has made known his ·power to save [salvation; victory];
he has ·shown [revealed to] ·the other [L before the eyes of the] nations his ·victory for his people [righteousness].
3 He has remembered his ·love [loyalty]
and his ·loyalty [faithfulness] to the ·people [L house] of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
God’s ·power to save [salvation; victory].
4 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;
·burst into songs [L break forth and sing for joy] and make ·music [a psalm].
5 Make music to the Lord with harps,
with harps and the sound of singing.
6 Blow the trumpets and the ·sheep’s [ram’s] horns;
shout for joy to the Lord the King [47:2; 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; Rev. 19:6].
7 Let the sea and ·everything in it [its fullness] ·shout [thunder];
let the world and everyone in it sing.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the mountains sing together for joy.
9 Let them sing before the Lord,
because he is coming to judge the world.
He will judge the world ·fairly [with righteousness];
he will judge the peoples with fairness [96:13].
Praise to the Lord of Love
Of David.
103 ·All that I am [T O my soul], ·praise [bless] the Lord;
·everything in me [L all my inward parts], ·praise [bless] his holy name.
2 ·My whole being [T O my soul], ·praise [bless] the Lord
and do not forget all his ·kindnesses [gifts; benefits].
3 He forgives all ·my [or your] ·sins [iniquity]
and heals all ·my [or your] ·diseases [ills].
4 He ·saves [redeems] ·my [or your] life from the ·grave [L pit]
and ·loads [or crowns] ·me [or you] with ·love [loyalty] and ·mercy [compassion].
5 He satisfies ·me [or you] with good things [L as long as you live; or according to your desires]
and ·makes me young again [L renews your youth], like the eagle [Is. 40:31].
6 The Lord does what is ·right [righteous] and ·fair [just]
for all who are ·wronged by others [oppressed; exploited].
7 He ·showed [revealed] his ways to Moses [Ex. 34:5–7]
and his deeds to the ·people [sons] of Israel.
8 The Lord shows ·mercy [compassion] and ·is kind [grace].
He ·does not become angry quickly [is slow to anger], and he has great ·love [loyalty; 86:15; 145:8–9; Ex. 34:6–7; Neh. 9:17. 31; Joel 2:13; Jon. 4:2].
9 He will not always ·accuse [charge; contend with] us,
and he will not ·be angry forever [L keep watch forever].
10 He ·has not punished us as our sins should be punished [L does not act toward us according to our sins];
he has not repaid us ·for the evil we have done [L according to our iniquity].
11 As high as the ·sky [heaven] is above the earth,
so great is his ·love [loyalty] for those who ·respect [fear] him [Prov. 1:7].
12 He has taken our ·sins [transgressions] away from us
as far as the east is from west.
13 The Lord has ·mercy [compassion] on those who ·respect [fear] him [Prov. 1:7],
as a father has ·mercy [compassion] on his children.
14 He knows how we were ·made [formed];
he remembers that we are dust [Gen. 2:7; 3:19; Job 4:19; 10:9; 34:15; Eccl. 3:20; 12:7].
15 Human ·life [L days] is like grass [90:5–6; Is. 51:12];
we ·grow [sprout; flourish] like a flower in the field [Job 14:2; Is. 40:6–7].
16 After the wind ·blows [passes by], ·the flower [L it] is gone,
and ·there is no sign of where it was [L no one can recognize its place].
17 But the Lord’s ·love [loyalty] for those who ·respect [fear] him [Prov. 1:7]
continues forever and ever,
and his ·goodness [righteousness] continues to their ·grandchildren [L children’s children]
18 and to those who ·keep [observe; guard] his ·agreement [covenant; treaty; Ex. 19–24]
and who remember to ·obey [L do] his ·orders [precepts].
19 The Lord has ·set [established] his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over everything [93:1; 96:10; 99:1].
20 You who are his ·angels [or messengers], ·praise [bless] the Lord.
You are the mighty warriors who do what he says
and who ·obey [listen to] his voice.
21 You, his ·armies [hosts; C perhaps the angelic army], ·praise [bless] the Lord;
you are his ·servants [ministers] who do what he ·wants [desires].
22 Everything the Lord has made
should ·praise [bless] him in all the places he rules.
·My whole being [T O my soul], ·praise [bless] the Lord.
2 Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.
3 He ·left [L went by stages from] ·southern Canaan [L the Negev] and went back to Bethel where ·he had camped before [L his tent had been], between Bethel and Ai [12:8], 4 and where he had built an altar [L at first]. So he ·worshiped [L called on the name of] the Lord there.
5 During this time Lot was traveling with Abram, and Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 Abram and Lot had so many ·animals [L possessions] that the land could not support both of them together, 7 so Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.
8 Abram said to Lot, “There should be no arguing between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, because we are ·brothers [relatives]. 9 We should separate. ·The whole land is [L Is not the whole land…?] there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
10 Lot looked all around and saw the whole Jordan ·Valley [or plain; region] and that there was much water there. It was like the Lord’s garden [C the garden of Eden], like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar [C name meaning “small,” in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah; 14:2, 17; 19:23–24]. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah [19:1–29].) 11 So Lot chose to move east and live in the Jordan Valley [13:10]. In this way Abram and Lot separated. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived among the cities in the Jordan Valley [13:10], ·very near to [L he moved his tent near] Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord.
14 After Lot ·left [L had separated from him], the Lord said to Abram, “Look all around you—to the north and south and east and west. 15 All this land that you see I will give to you and your ·descendants [L seed] forever. 16 I will make your ·descendants [L seed] as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your ·people [L seed]. 17 Get up! Walk through ·all [L the length and width of] this land because I am now giving it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great ·trees [L oaks; or terebinths] of Mamre [C an area near Hebron, named after an Amorite leader; 14:13, 24] at the city of Hebron [C nineteen miles south of Jerusalem]. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Other Apostles Accepted Paul
2 [L Then] After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas [Acts 4:36; 9:26–27; 11:22, 25, 30; 13:2–4; 15:36–39]. I also took Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; Titus 1:4–5] with me. 2 I went because ·God showed me I should go [L of a revelation]. There I met in private with ·the leaders of the church [or those who seemed to be leaders; or the prominent/influential ones] and I ·told [presented to; set before] them the ·Good News [Gospel] that I preach to the Gentiles. ·I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted [L …to make sure I was not running or had run in vain]. 3 Titus was with me, but he was not ·forced [compelled] to be circumcised [Gen. 17], even though he was a Greek. 4 ·We talked about this problem [This issue arose] because some false ·believers [L brothers] had come into our group secretly. They came in ·like spies to overturn [to sabotage; L to spy on] the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves. 5 But we did not give in to ·those false believers [L them] for a minute, so that the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel] would ·continue [be preserved; not be compromised] for you.
6 Those leaders who ·seemed to be important [or were prominent/influential] did not ·change the Good News that I preach [or add anything to my message]. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were ·“important” [prominent; influential] or not. To God everyone is the same.) 7 But these leaders saw that I had been ·given the work of telling the Good News [L entrusted with the Gospel] to the ·Gentiles [non-Jewish people; L uncircumcised], just as Peter ·had the work of telling the Jews [L to the circumcised]. 8 [L For] ·God [L The one] who gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the ·Jewish people [L circumcised] also gave me the power to work as an apostle for the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be ·the leaders [L pillars], ·understood [recognized; acknowledged] that God had given me this special grace, so they ·accepted [shook hands in partnership with; L gave the right hand of fellowship/partnership to] Barnabas and me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the ·Jewish people [L circumcised]. 10 The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor [C meaning especially the poor believers in Jerusalem; Acts 11:27–30]—something I ·really wanted [myself was eager/zealous] to do.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man(A)
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee [T the Sea of Galilee], to the area of ·the Ten Towns [or Decapolis; C an area east of Lake Galilee that once had ten main towns; 5:20]. 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and ·could not talk plainly [had a speech impediment]. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. [C The use of saliva is mentioned in other ancient accounts of healing, and elsewhere in the Gospels; see 8:23; John 9:6.] 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means [C in Aramaic], “Be opened.”) 35 Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus ·commanded [ordered; instructed] the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he ·commanded [ordered; instructed] them, the more they ·told about [proclaimed] it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And ·those who can’t talk [the mute] he makes able to speak.”
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