Book of Common Prayer
31 Lord, I trust in you alone. Don’t let my enemies defeat me. Rescue me because you are the God who always does what is right. 2 Answer quickly when I cry to you; bend low and hear my whispered plea.[a] Be for me a great Rock of safety from my foes. 3 Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress; honor your name by leading me out of this peril. 4 Pull me from the trap my enemies have set for me. For you alone are strong enough.[b] 5-6 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have rescued me, O God who keeps his promises. I worship only you; how you hate all those who worship idols, those imitation gods. 7 I am radiant with joy because of your mercy, for you have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul. 8 You have not handed me over to my enemy but have given me open ground in which to maneuver.
9-10 O Lord, have mercy on me in my anguish. My eyes are red from weeping; my health is broken from sorrow. I am pining away with grief; my years are shortened, drained away because of sadness. My sins have sapped my strength; I stoop with sorrow and with shame.[c] 11 I am scorned by all my enemies and even more by my neighbors and friends. They dread meeting me and look the other way when I go by. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man, like a broken and discarded pot. 13 I heard the lies about me, the slanders of my enemies. Everywhere I looked I was afraid, for they were plotting against my life.
14-15 But I am trusting you, O Lord. I said, “You alone are my God; my times are in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. 16 Let your favor shine again upon your servant; save me just because you are so kind! 17 Don’t disgrace me, Lord, by not replying when I call to you for aid. But let the wicked be shamed by what they trust in; let them lie silently in their graves, 18 their lying lips quieted at last—the lips of these arrogant men who are accusing honest men of evil deeds.”
19 Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you.
20 Hide your loved ones in the shelter of your presence, safe beneath your hand, safe from all conspiring men. 21 Blessed is the Lord, for he has shown me that his never-failing love protects me like the walls of a fort! 22 I spoke too hastily when I said, “The Lord has deserted me,” for you listened to my plea and answered me.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all of you who are his people; for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but harshly punishes all who haughtily reject him. 24 So cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord.
35 O Lord, fight those fighting me; declare war on them for their attacks on me. 2 Put on your armor, take your shield and protect me by standing in front. 3 Lift your spear in my defense, for my pursuers are getting very close. Let me hear you say that you will save me from them. 4 Dishonor those who are trying to kill me. Turn them back and confuse them. 5 Blow them away like chaff in the wind—wind sent by the Angel of the Lord. 6 Make their path dark and slippery before them, with the Angel of the Lord pursuing them. 7 For though I did them no wrong, yet they laid a trap for me and dug a pitfall in my path. 8 Let them be overtaken by sudden ruin, caught in their own net and destroyed.
9 But I will rejoice in the Lord. He shall rescue me! 10 From the bottom of my heart praise rises to him. Where is his equal in all of heaven and earth? Who else protects the weak and helpless from the strong, and the poor and needy from those who would rob them?
11 These evil men swear to a lie. They accuse me of things I have never even heard about. 12 I do them good, but they return me harm. I am sinking down to death. 13 When they were ill, I mourned before the Lord in sackcloth, asking him to make them well; I refused to eat; I prayed for them with utmost earnestness, but God did not listen. 14 I went about sadly as though it were my mother, friend, or brother who was sick and nearing death. 15 But now that I am in trouble they are glad; they come together in meetings filled with slander against me—I didn’t even know some of those who were there. 16 For they gather with the worthless fellows of the town and spend their time cursing me.
17 Lord, how long will you stand there, doing nothing? Act now and rescue me, for I have but one life and these young lions are out to get it. 18 Save me, and I will thank you publicly before the entire congregation, before the largest crowd I can find.
19 Don’t give victory to those who fight me without any reason! Don’t let them rejoice[a] at my fall—let them die. 20 They don’t talk of peace and doing good, but of plots against innocent men who are minding their own business. 21 They shout that they have seen me doing wrong! “Aha!” they say. “With our own eyes we saw him do it.” 22 Lord, you know all about it. Don’t stay silent! Don’t desert me now!
23 Rise up, O Lord my God; vindicate me. 24 Declare me “not guilty,” for you are just.[b] Don’t let my enemies rejoice over me in my troubles. 25 Don’t let them say, “Aha! Our dearest wish against him will soon be fulfilled!” and, “At last we have him!” 26 Shame them; let these who boast against me and who rejoice at my troubles be themselves overcome by misfortune that strips them bare of everything they own. Bare them to dishonor. 27 But give great joy to all who wish me well. Let them shout with delight, “Great is the Lord who enjoys helping his child!”[c] 28 And I will tell everyone how great and good you are; I will praise you all day long.
26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam (the son of Nebat), who came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim; his mother was Zeruah, a widow. 27-28 Here is the story of his rebellion: Solomon was rebuilding Fort Millo, repairing the walls of this city his father had built. Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of his labor battalions from the tribe of Joseph.
29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (who had put on a new robe for the occasion) met him and called him aside to talk to him. And as the two of them were alone in the field, 30 Ahijah tore his new robe into twelve parts 31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I will tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe[a] for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the other cities of Israel. 33 For Solomon has forsaken me and worships Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my paths and has not done what I consider right; he has not kept my laws and instructions as his father David did. 34 I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.
35 “‘But I will take away the kingdom from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son shall have the other one so that the descendants of David will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name to be enshrined. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel and give you absolute power. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and walk in my path and do whatever I consider right, obeying my commandments as my servant David did, then I will bless you; and your descendants shall rule Israel forever. (I once made this same promise to David. 39 But because of Solomon’s sin, I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.)’”
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until the death of Solomon.
41 The rest of what Solomon did and said is written in the book The Acts of Solomon. 42 He ruled in Jerusalem for forty years, 43 and then died and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.
13 Look here, you people who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a town, stay there a year, and open up a profitable business.” 14 How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? For the length of your lives is as uncertain as the morning fog—now you see it; soon it is gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you will be bragging about your own plans, and such self-confidence never pleases God.
17 Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin.
5 Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags. 3 The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves to receive on that coming day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
5 You have spent your years here on earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and now your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you.
22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means skull.) 23 Wine drugged with bitter herbs was offered to him there, but he refused it. 24 And then they crucified him—and threw dice for his clothes.
25 It was about nine o’clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.
26 A signboard was fastened to the cross above his head, announcing his crime. It read, “The King of the Jews.”
27 Two robbers were also crucified that morning, their crosses on either side of his. 28 [a]And so the Scripture was fulfilled that said, “He was counted among evil men.”
29-30 The people jeered at him as they walked by, and wagged their heads in mockery.
“Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “Sure, you can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! If you’re so wonderful, save yourself and come down from the cross.”
31 The chief priests and religious leaders were also standing around joking about Jesus.
“He’s quite clever at ‘saving’ others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!”
32 “Hey there, Messiah!” they yelled at him. “You ‘King of Israel’! Come on down from the cross and we’ll believe you!”
And even the two robbers dying with him cursed him.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.