Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for the King
72 O God, make the king right in what he decides. Make the king’s son right with You. 2 May he be right when he decides who is right and who is wrong and may he be fair to the poor. 3 Let mountains and hills bring peace to the people through what is right and good. 4 May he stand by those who are poor, save the children of those in need, and destroy the bad power over them.
5 May all the children-to-come fear You as long as the sun and the moon last. 6 May He come down like rain upon the cut grass, like rain that waters the earth. 7 In His days may all go well with those who are right and good. And may there be much peace until the moon is no more.
8 May he also rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. 9 Those who live in the desert will put their faces to the ground before Him. And those who hate Him will kiss the dust. 10 Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. Let the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. 11 Yes, let all kings fall down at His feet, and all nations serve Him.
12 For He will take out of trouble the one in need when he cries for help, and the poor man who has no one to help. 13 He will have loving-pity on the weak and those in need. He will save the lives of those in need. 14 He will take them from the bad power that is held over them and from being hurt. Their blood will be of much worth in His eyes. 15 He will live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him. Prayer will be given for Him all the time. Let them honor Him all day long.
16 May there be much grain in the land on top of the mountains. May its fruit grow like the trees of Lebanon. And may those of the city grow like the grass of the earth. 17 May His name last forever. May His name become bigger as long as the sun shines. And let men respect themselves through Him. Let all nations honor Him.
18 Honor and thanks be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who alone does great things. 19 And honor be to His great name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His shining-greatness. Let it be so.
20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
73 Your hands made me and put me together. Give me understanding to learn Your Law. 74 May those who fear You see me and be glad, for I have put my hope in Your Word. 75 O Lord, I know that what You decide is right and good. You punish me because You are faithful. 76 May Your loving-kindness comfort me because of Your promise to Your servant. 77 Let Your loving-pity come to me so I may live. For Your Law is my joy. 78 May the proud be ashamed, because they do wrong to me for no reason, but I will think about Your Law. 79 May those who fear You and those who know Your Law turn to me. 80 Let my heart be without blame in Your Law. Do not let me be put to shame.
81 My soul becomes weak with desire for Your saving power, but I have put my hope in Your Word. 82 My eyes become weak with desire for Your Word. I say, “When will You comfort me?” 83 I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, but I do not forget Your Law. 84 How long must Your servant wait? When will You punish those who make it hard for me? 85 The proud have dug deep holes for me. They do not obey Your Law. 86 All of Your Word is faithful. Help me! For they have made it hard for me with a lie. 87 They almost destroyed me on the earth, but I did not turn away from Your Law. 88 Give me life again by Your loving-kindness, and I will keep the Word of Your mouth.
89 Forever, O Lord, Your Word will never change in heaven. 90 You are faithful to all people for all time. You have made the earth, and it stands. 91 They stand today by Your Law, for all things serve You. 92 I would have been lost in my troubles if Your Law had not been my joy. 93 I will never forget Your Word for by it You have given me new life. 94 I am Yours. Save me, for I have looked to Your Law. 95 The sinful wait to destroy me, but I will think about Your Word. 96 I have seen that all things have an end, even if they are perfect, but Your Word is without end.
11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the fast and the battle to the men of war. Bread is not to the wise and riches are not to the men of understanding. Favor is not to able workers. Time comes and goes and things happen for no reason to them all. 12 Man does not know his time. Like fish caught in a bad net, and birds caught in a trap, so men are trapped at a bad time when trouble comes upon them when they do not expect it.
Wisdom Is Better Than Being Foolish
13 I have also seen this as wisdom under the sun, and it made me think. 14 There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it. His army gathered around it and built a large wall to help them in battle against it. 15 But a poor wise man was found in the city, and he brought the city out of its trouble by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is hated and his words are not carried out. 17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the loud words of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than objects used in war, but one sinner destroys much good.
Christ Made Us Free
5 Christ made us free. Stay that way. Do not get chained all over again in the Law and its kind of religious worship.
2 Listen to me! I, Paul, tell you that if you have the religious act of becoming a Jew done on you, Christ will be of no use to you at all. 3 I say it again. Every man who has the religious act of becoming a Jew done on him must obey every Law. 4 If you expect to be made right with God by obeying the Law, then you have turned away from Christ and His loving-favor. 5 We are waiting for the hope of being made right with God. This will come through the Holy Spirit and by faith. 6 If we belong to Jesus Christ, it means nothing to have or not to have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. But faith working through love is important.
7 You were doing well. Who stopped you from obeying the truth? 8 Whatever he used did not come from the One Who chose you to have life. 9 It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf of bread rise. 10 I feel I can trust you because of what the Lord has done in your life. I believe you will not follow another way. Whoever is trying to lead you in the wrong way will suffer for it. 11 Christian brothers, if I would still preach that people must go through the religious act of becoming a Jew to be a Christian, I would not be suffering from those who are making it hard for me. If I preached like that, the Jews would have no reason to be against the cross of Christ. 12 I wish those who are so willing to cut your bodies would complete the job by cutting themselves off from you.
13 Christian brother, you were chosen to be free. Be careful that you do not please your old selves by sinning because you are free. Live this free life by loving and helping others. 14 You obey the whole Law when you do this one thing, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (A) 15 But if you hurt and make it hard for each other, watch out or you may be destroyed by each other.
Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Proud Religious Law-Keepers (A)
16 The proud religious law-keepers and a religious group of people who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked Him to show something special from heaven. They wanted to trap Jesus. 2 (*He said to them, “In the evening you say, ‘The weather will be good tomorrow because the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning you say, ‘We will have a storm today because the sky is red and the clouds are low.’ You understand the things you see in the sky, but you cannot understand the special things you see these days!) 4 The sinful people of this day go after something special to see. There will be nothing special for them to see but the early preacher Jonah.” Then He went away from them.
Jesus Shows That the Teaching of the Proud Religious Law-Keepers Is Wrong (B)
5 The followers came to the other side of the lake. They remembered they had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “See! Have nothing to do with the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers and the religious group of people who believe no one will be raised from the dead.” 7 They started to think about it among themselves and said, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.” 8 Jesus knew this and said, “You have very little faith! Why are you talking among yourselves about not bringing bread? 9 Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of bread that fed five thousand men? And how many baskets full were gathered up? 10 Or do you not even remember the seven loaves of bread that fed the four thousand men? And how many baskets full were gathered up? 11 Why is it that you do not see that I was not talking to you about bread? I was talking to you about keeping away from the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers and the religious group of people who believe no one will be raised from the dead.” 12 Then they understood that it was not the yeast of bread that He was talking about. But He was talking about the teaching of the proud religious law-keepers and of the other religious group of people.
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