Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 119[a]
Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the collection. It is a hymn in praise of and appreciation for God’s instructions to His people. You see, God not only called Israel to be His people and gave them a wonderful land, but He gave them a blueprint for living. The Hebrew word for that is torah, sometimes translated “law” or “teachings.” In torah God tells them how to structure their lives and communities so that they will live long, prosperous lives in the land He has given them. As you read through the psalm, you will notice words like law, teachings, precepts, word, decrees, and commands. Each of these words is a synonym highlighting some attribute of God’s instructions to His people.
Another memorable feature of this psalm is its form. The psalmist constructs this hymn as an elaborate acrostic poem that moves artfully through each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Essentially, all the elements of this psalm combine to emphasize the importance of God’s Word to His people, to the praise and glory of the one True God.
Aleph
1 Happy are the people who walk with integrity,
who live according to the teachings of the Eternal.
2 Happy are the people who keep His decrees,
who pursue Him wholeheartedly.
3 These are people who do nothing wrong;
they do what it takes to follow His ways.
4 You have given us Your precepts
so we would be careful about keeping them.
5 Oh, that every part of my life would remain in line
with what You require!
6 Then I would feel no shame
when I fix my eyes upon Your commands.
7 With a pure heart, I will give thanks to You
when I hear about Your just and fair rulings.
8 I will live within Your limits;
do not abandon me completely!
Beth
9 How can a young person remain pure?
Only by living according to Your word.
10 I have pursued You with my whole heart;
do not let me stray from Your commands.
11 Deep within me I have hidden Your word
so that I will never sin against You.
12 You are blessed, O Eternal One;
instruct me in what You require.
13 My lips have told how
You have delivered all Your wise rulings.
14 I have celebrated Your testimonies
as though rejoicing over an immeasurable fortune.
15 I will fix my mind on Your instructions
and my eyes on Your path.
16 I will find joy in Your ordinances;
I will remember Your word forever.
Gimel
17 Treat Your servant well, Lord,
so that I may live and remain faithful to Your word.
18 Let me see clearly so that I may take in
the amazing things coming from Your law.
19 I am a sojourner in the world;
do not keep Your commands hidden from me.
20 My soul aches from craving
Your wise rulings day and night.
21 You rebuke those who are proud,
and those who stray from Your commands are cursed.
22 Free me from the contempt and disdain of others
because I keep Your decrees.
23 Even though powerful princes conspire against me,
I fix my mind on what You require.
24 Yes, Your testimonies are my joy;
they are like the friends I seek for counsel.
Psalm 12
For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by the lyre.[a]
1 Help me, O Eternal One, for I can’t find anyone who follows You.
The faithful have fallen out of sight.
2 Everyone tells lies through sweet-talking lips
and speaks from a hollow and deceptive heart.
3 May the Eternal silence all sweet-talking lips,
stop all boasting tongues,
4 Of those who say, “With our words we will win;
our lips are our own. Who is the master of our souls?”
5 “I will rise up,” says the Eternal,
“because the poor are being trampled, and the needy groan for My saving help.
I will lift them up to the safety they long for.”
6 The promises of the Eternal, they are true, they are pure—
like silver refined in a furnace,
purified seven times, they will be without impurity.
7 You, O Eternal, will be their protector.
You will keep them safe from those around them forever.
8 All around, those who are wicked parade—proud and arrogant—and people applaud their emptiness.
Psalm 13
For the worship leader. A song of David.
1 How long, O Eternal One? How long will You forget me? Forever?
How long will You look the other way?
2 How long must I agonize,
grieving Your absence in my heart every day?
How long will You let my enemies win?
3 Turn back; respond to me, O Eternal, my True God!
Put the spark of life in my eyes, or I’m dead.
4 My enemies will boast they have beaten me;
my foes will celebrate that I have stumbled.
5 But I trust in Your faithful love;
my heart leaps at the thought of imminent deliverance by You.
6 I will sing to the Eternal,
for He is always generous with me.
Psalm 14
For the worship leader. A song of David.
This is a wisdom psalm that grieves over the pervasiveness of sin and its sad effects. It is repeated with minor changes in Psalm 53. Paul refers to this Davidic psalm to explain how all of humanity is tainted by sin (Romans 3:1–12).
1 A wicked and foolish man truly believes there is no God.
They are vile, their sinfulness nauseating to their Creator;
their actions are soiled and repulsive; every deed is depraved;
not one of them does good.
2 The Eternal leans over from heaven to survey the sons of Adam.
No one is missed, and no one can hide.
He searches to see who understands true wisdom,
who desires to know the True God.
3 They all turn their backs, walking their own roads;
they are rancid, leaving a trail of rotten footsteps behind them;
not one of them does good,
not even one.
4 Do the wicked have no clue about what really matters?
They devour my brothers and sisters the way a man eats his dinner.
They ignore the Eternal and don’t call on Him, rejecting His reality and truth.
5 They shall secretly tremble behind closed doors, hearts beating hard within their chests,
knowing that God always avenges the upright.
6 You laugh at the counsel of the poor, the needy, the troubled who put their trust in God.
You try to take away their only hope,
but the Eternal is a strong shelter in the heaviest storm.
7 May a new day, a day of deliverance come for Israel, starting with Zion.
When the Eternal breaks the chains of His oppressed people,
the family of Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be delighted.
3 Solomon then arranged a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David. He kept her there while he constructed his own house and the Eternal One’s temple and completed the wall surrounding Jerusalem. 2 However the people were still offering sacrifices at the high places because a temple had not been constructed for the Eternal until then.
3 Solomon’s heart belonged to the Eternal. Solomon abided by the same laws as his father, David. The only difference was that Solomon offered sacrifices and incense at the high places. 4 Solomon went to Gibeon—the great high place—and presented 1,000 burnt offerings at the altar.
Before Israel united as one nation under David, the countryside was inhabited by people who worship other gods. As Solomon prepares to build the temple and centralize worship of the one God—the Lord—in one place—Jerusalem—he finds it necessary to visit the former shrines of local gods and convert them to shrines to God. While this may have worked in the short term by introducing the people outside of Jerusalem to the worship practices of the Eternal, those shrines, called “high places,” will be the undoing of the entire country. By allowing people to worship at local shrines instead of only in Jerusalem, where the priests meticulously follow God’s laws, Solomon and future kings are opening the door to the blending of God worship and pagan worship.
5 The Eternal revealed Himself to Solomon in a dream while he was still in Gibeon.
Eternal One: Tell me, what is your request of Me?
Solomon: 6 You have already revealed Your loyal love to my father, David, for he lived by Your truth and righteousness and honor during the days of his life. You have continued to show this loyal love to him by giving him a son who now reigns upon his throne. 7 Eternal One, my God, You have allowed me to serve as my father David served, but I am still young and inexperienced. I don’t know much about anything, 8 yet I am supposed to lead Your chosen people who are innumerable and even uncountable. 9 Please give Your servant a listening heart for judging Your people and for knowing the difference between what is good and what is evil. Who is capable of judging Your chosen ones, a great people?
10 The Lord was delighted by Solomon’s request.
Eternal One: 11 Since you have asked for wisdom and not for an extended lifetime or for personal wealth or for the annihilation of your enemies, since you have instead asked for the ability to understand justice, 12 I will honor your request. I have planted the deepest human wisdom into your heart. There has never been nor will there ever be a man like you.
13 I have also given you the things for which you have not asked—wealth and an honorable reputation. There will be no other kings like you for as long as you live. 14 If you live a life devoted to Me, if you remain loyal to My laws and commands just as your father David did, then I will add days to your life.
15 Solomon woke up from his dream. He then returned to Jerusalem and visited the Eternal’s covenant chest and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he prepared a great feast for all those who were in his service.
9 We had lost a lot of time already—it was late in the year for sailing—following the Day of Atonement, and conditions had deteriorated from adverse to dangerous. Paul tried to warn those in charge.
Paul: 10 Sirs, if we proceed, I can see that our voyage will be dangerous and will involve heavy loss, not only of cargo, but of the ship itself; not only of the ship, but also of our lives.
11 But the officer ignored Paul and instead trusted the ship’s pilot and owner who felt they could proceed.
12 We had two choices. We could anchor in the harbor at Fair Havens and spend the winter, or we could proceed west along the coastline, hoping to reach Phoenix and wait there for calmer spring weather. Fair Havens was not a good option, though, being vulnerable to winter storms; so most of us agreed we should try to reach Phoenix, whose harbor was more protected. 13 One day a moderate south wind began to blow, which made an attempt possible. We weighed anchor and sailed west, staying near shore. 14 Then things got scary. A violent northeaster, the Euraquilo, blew down across Crete. 15 We were caught. We couldn’t turn and sail into this fierce wind, so we had no choice but to let it drive us. 16 We briefly found a bit of shelter from the wind near the island of Clauda. We had been having trouble securing the ship’s lifeboat; 17 but we were able there to hoist it up and send down cables to brace the hull, which was in danger of breaking apart under the strain of the storm. The wind was relentless, and soon we were again being driven southwest at the mercy of the storm. We feared it would drive us all the way to the Syrtis Banks, down near the North African coast, so we threw out the sea anchor to slow us down. 18 All through the night, the storm pounded us violently. The next day, the crew threw the ship’s cargo overboard; 19 and the day after that, they discarded any of the ship’s equipment they could do without. 20 Days passed without relief from the furious winds, without a single break in the clouds to see sun or stars, even for a moment. Despair set in, as if all hope of rescue had been cast overboard as well. 21 On top of all of this, the crew had been unable to eat anything because of the turmoil. Paul saw the crew had reached a critical moment. He gathered them.
Paul: Men, if you had listened to my warning, we would still be safe in Crete and would have avoided this damage and loss. 22 I was correct in my warning, so I urge you to believe me now: none of you will die. We will lose the ship, but we will not lose one life. So keep up your courage, men! 23 The God I belong to, the God I worship, sent a heavenly messenger to me this night. 24 He said, “Do not be afraid, Paul. I’m not finished with you yet. You are going to stand before the emperor! You can be certain that God has granted safety to you and all your companions.” 25 So listen, men: you must not give up hope! Keep up your courage! I have faith in God that things will turn out exactly as I was told last night. 26 Here’s what I foresee: we will run aground on some island.
Later Christians will try to use this chapter to predict exactly when Jesus will come and how the world will end. But to do that is to do exactly the opposite of what Jesus intends as He speaks these words. He makes it very clear that He doesn’t want anyone to use this description of signs to predict an exact time and date for His coming; even He Himself doesn’t know that time and date, and no one else needs to know either. Instead, the purpose is to warn them to stay ready and alert.
14 The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away. The Jewish leaders—the chief priests and the scribes—gathered to discuss how they might secretly arrest Jesus and kill Him.
Jewish Leaders: 2 We can’t do it during the festivals. It might create an uproar.
3 While Jesus was eating dinner in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came into the house carrying an alabaster flask filled with a precious, sweet-smelling ointment made from spikenard. She came to Jesus, broke the jar, and gently poured out the perfume onto His head.
4 Some of those around the table were troubled by this and grumbled to each other.
Dinner Guests: Why did she waste this precious ointment? 5 We could have sold this ointment for almost a year’s wages,[a] and the money could have gone to the poor!
Their private concerns turned to public criticism against her.
Jesus: 6 Leave her alone. Why are you attacking her? She has done a good thing. 7 The poor will always be with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you want. But I won’t always be with you. 8 She has done what she could for Me—she has come to anoint My body and prepare it for burial. 9 Believe Me when I tell you that this act of hers will be told in her honor as long as there are people who tell the good news.
The disciples can’t see any value in pouring so much perfume on Jesus. It is obviously a waste. The woman is demonstrating her love for Him with an abandon and an emotional commitment that few people have ever shown, and He appreciates her love and her faith. To Him, it is more than a gesture; it is a practical preparation for His imminent death and burial. No one else there can see what use her action is; but to Jesus, it is incredibly precious—so much so that He promises to make sure her action is never forgotten.
10 It was after this that Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to meet the chief priests with the intention of betraying Jesus to them. 11 When they heard what he proposed, they were delighted and promised him money. So from that time on, Judas thought and waited and sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.