Book of Common Prayer
For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord, you are the God who saves me.
Day and night I cry out to you.
2 Please hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.
3 I have so many troubles
I’m about to die.
4 People think my life is over.
I’m like someone who doesn’t have any strength.
5 People treat me as if I were dead.
I’m like those who have been killed and are now in the grave.
You don’t even remember them anymore.
They are cut off from your care.
6 It’s as if you have put me deep down in the grave.
It’s as if you have put me in that deep, dark place.
7 Your great anger lies heavy on me.
All the waves of your anger have crashed over me.
8 You have taken my closest friends away from me.
You have made me sickening to them.
I feel trapped and can’t escape.
9 I’m crying so much I can’t see very well.
Lord, I call out to you every day.
I lift up my hands to you in prayer.
10 Do you do wonderful things for those who are dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Do those who are dead speak about your love?
Do those who are in the grave tell how faithful you are?
12 Are your wonderful deeds known in that dark place?
Are your holy acts known in that land where the dead are forgotten?
13 Lord, I cry out to you for help.
In the morning I pray to you.
14 Lord, why do you say no to me?
Why do you turn your face away from me?
15 I’ve been in pain ever since I was young.
I’ve been close to death.
You have made me suffer terrible things.
I have lost all hope.
16 Your great anger has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood.
They have closed in all around me.
18 You have taken my friends and neighbors away from me.
Darkness is my closest friend.
91 Whoever rests in the shadow of the Most High God
will be kept safe by the Mighty One.
2 I will say about the Lord,
“He is my place of safety.
He is like a fort to me.
He is my God. I trust in him.”
3 He will certainly save you from hidden traps
and from deadly sickness.
4 He will cover you with his wings.
Under the feathers of his wings you will find safety.
He is faithful. He will keep you safe like a shield or a tower.
5 You won’t have to be afraid of the terrors that come during the night.
You won’t have to fear the arrows that come at you during the day.
6 You won’t have to be afraid of the sickness that attacks in the darkness.
You won’t have to fear the plague that destroys at noon.
7 A thousand may fall dead at your side.
Ten thousand may fall near your right hand.
But no harm will come to you.
8 You will see with your own eyes
how God punishes sinful people.
9 Suppose you say, “The Lord is the one who keeps me safe.”
Suppose you let the Most High God be like a home to you.
10 Then no harm will come to you.
No terrible plague will come near your tent.
11 The Lord will command his angels
to take good care of you.
12 They will lift you up in their hands.
Then you won’t trip over a stone.
13 You will walk on lions and cobras.
You will crush mighty lions and poisonous snakes.
14 The Lord says, “I will save the one who loves me.
I will keep him safe, because he trusts in me.
15 He will call out to me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in times of trouble.
I will save him and honor him.
16 I will give him a long and full life.
I will save him.”
A psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.
92 Lord, it is good to praise you.
Most High God, it is good to make music to honor you.
2 It is good to sing every morning about your love.
It is good to sing every night about how faithful you are.
3 I sing about it to the music of the lyre that has ten strings.
I sing about it to the music of the harp.
4 Lord, you make me glad by your deeds.
I sing for joy about what you have done.
5 Lord, how great are the things you do!
How wise your thoughts are!
6 Here is something that people without sense don’t know.
Here is what foolish people don’t understand.
7 Those who are evil spring up like grass.
Those who do wrong succeed.
But they will be destroyed forever.
8 But Lord, you are honored forever.
9 Lord, your enemies will certainly die.
All those who do evil will be scattered.
10 You have made me as strong as a wild ox.
You have poured the finest olive oil on me.
11 I’ve seen my evil enemies destroyed.
I’ve heard that they have lost the battle.
12 Those who do what is right will grow like a palm tree.
They will grow strong like a cedar tree in Lebanon.
13 Their roots will be firm in the house of the Lord.
They will grow strong and healthy in the courtyards of our God.
14 When they get old, they will still bear fruit.
Like young trees they will stay fresh and strong.
15 They will say to everyone, “The Lord is honest.
He is my Rock, and there is no evil in him.”
17 A lookout was standing on the roof of the tower in Jezreel. He saw Jehu’s troops approaching. So he called out, “I see some troops coming.”
“Get a horseman,” Joram ordered. “Send him to ride out to them. Have him ask, ‘Are you coming in peace?’ ”
18 The horseman rode out to where Jehu was. He said, “The king asks, ‘Are you coming in peace?’ ”
“What do you know about peace?” Jehu answered. “Get in line behind me.”
The lookout reported, “The messenger has reached them. But he isn’t coming back.”
19 So the king sent out a second horseman. When he came to them, he said, “The king asks, ‘Are you coming in peace?’ ”
Jehu replied, “What do you know about peace? Get in line behind me.”
20 The lookout reported, “The second messenger has reached them. But he isn’t coming back either. The one driving the chariot drives like Jehu, the son of Nimshi. He’s driving like a crazy person.”
21 “Get my chariot ready,” King Joram ordered. When it was ready, he rode out. Ahaziah, the king of Judah, rode out with him. Each of them was in his own chariot. They both went to meet Jehu. They met him at the piece of land that had belonged to Naboth from Jezreel. 22 When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come here in peace, Jehu?”
“Your mother Jezebel worships statues of gods,” Jehu replied. “She also worships evil powers. The evil things she does have spread everywhere. As long as all of that goes on, how can there be peace?”
23 Joram turned around and tried to get away. He called out, “It’s treason, Ahaziah!”
24 Then Jehu shot an arrow at Joram. It hit him between the shoulders. It went through his heart. He sank down slowly in his chariot. 25 Jehu spoke to Bidkar, his chariot officer. Jehu said, “Pick Joram up. Throw him on the field that belonged to Naboth from Jezreel. Remember how you and I were riding together in chariots behind Joram’s father Ahab? It was when the Lord spoke this prophecy against him. The Lord announced, 26 ‘Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons. You can be sure that I will make you pay for it on this piece of land.’ So pick Joram up. Throw him on that piece of land. That’s what the Lord said would happen.”
27 Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw what had happened. So he tried to get away. He went up the road toward Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him. He shouted, “Kill him too!” Jehu’s men wounded Ahaziah in his chariot. It happened on the way up to Gur near Ibleam. But Ahaziah escaped to Megiddo. And that’s where he died. 28 Ahaziah’s servants took him to Jerusalem in his chariot. They buried him in his family tomb in the City of David. 29 Ahaziah had become king of Judah. It was in the 11th year of Joram, the son of Ahab.
Jehu Kills Jezebel
30 Jehu went to Jezreel. Jezebel heard about it. So she put makeup on her eyes and fixed her hair. Then she looked out of a window. 31 Jehu entered the gate below. Jezebel said to him, “You are just like Zimri. You murdered your master. Have you come here in peace?”
32 Jehu looked up at the window. “Who is on my side?” he called out. “Who?” Two or three officials looked down at him. 33 “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down. Some of her blood splashed on the wall. Some of it splashed on Jehu’s chariot horses as they ran over her.
34 Jehu went inside. He ate and drank. “The Lord put a curse on that woman,” he said. “Take proper care of her body. Bury her. After all, she was a king’s daughter.” 35 So they went out to bury her. But all they found was her head, feet and hands. 36 They went back and reported it to Jehu. He told them, “That’s what the Lord said would happen. He announced it through his servant Elijah, who was from Tishbe. He said, ‘On a piece of land at Jezreel, dogs will eat up Jezebel’s body. 37 Her body will end up as garbage on that piece of land. So no one will be able to say, “Here’s where Jezebel is buried.” ’ ”
Advice for Those Who Are Married
7 Now I want to deal with the things you wrote me about. Some of you say, “It is good for a man not to sleep with a woman.” 2 But since sexual sin is happening, each man should sleep with his own wife. And each woman should sleep with her own husband. 3 A husband should satisfy his wife’s needs. And a wife should satisfy her husband’s needs. 4 The wife’s body does not belong only to her. It also belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong only to him. It also belongs to his wife. 5 You shouldn’t stop giving yourselves to each other. You might possibly do this when you both agree to it. And you should only agree to it to give yourselves time to pray. Then you should come together again. In that way, Satan will not tempt you when you can’t control yourselves. 6 I say those things to you as my advice, not as a command. 7 I wish all of you were single like me. But you each have your own gift from God. One has this gift, and another has that one.
8 I speak now to those who are not married. I also speak to widows. It is good for you to stay single like me. 9 But if you can’t control yourselves, you should get married. It is better to get married than to burn with desire.
7 When you pray, do not keep talking on and on. That is what ungodly people do. They think they will be heard because they talk a lot. 8 Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him.
9 “This is how you should pray.
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name be honored.
10 May your kingdom come.
May what you want to happen be done
on earth as it is done in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our sins,
just as we also have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 Keep us from sinning when we are tempted.
Save us from the evil one.’
14 Forgive other people when they sin against you. If you do, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive the sins of other people, your Father will not forgive your sins.
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