Book of Common Prayer
א Aleph
119 Blessed are those who live without blame.
They live in keeping with the law of the Lord.
2 Blessed are those who obey his covenant laws.
They trust in him with all their hearts.
3 They don’t do anything wrong.
They live as he wants them to live.
4 You have given me rules
that I must obey completely.
5 I hope I will always stand firm
in following your orders.
6 Then I won’t be put to shame
when I think about all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an honest heart
as I learn about how fair your decisions are.
8 I will obey your orders.
Please don’t leave me all alone.
ב Beth
9 How can a young person keep their life pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I trust in you with all my heart.
Don’t let me wander away from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 Lord, I give praise to you.
Teach me your orders.
13 With my lips I talk about
all the decisions you have made.
14 Following your covenant laws gives me joy
just as great riches give joy to others.
15 I spend time thinking about your rules.
I consider how you want me to live.
16 I take delight in your orders.
I won’t fail to obey your word.
ג Gimel
17 Be good to me while I am alive.
Do this so that I may obey your word.
18 Open my eyes so that I can see
the wonderful truths in your law.
19 I’m a stranger on earth.
Don’t hide your commands from me.
20 My heart is filled with longing
for your laws at all times.
21 You correct proud people. They are under your curse.
They wander away from your commands.
22 I obey your covenant laws.
So don’t let evil people laugh at me or hate me.
23 Even if rulers sit together and tell lies about me,
I will spend time thinking about your orders.
24 Your covenant laws are my delight.
They give me wise advice.
For the director of music. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
12 Help, Lord! No one does what is right anymore.
Those who are faithful have disappeared from the human race.
2 Everyone tells lies to their neighbors.
With their lips they praise others, but they don’t really mean it.
3 May the Lord close all lips that don’t mean what they say.
May he stop every tongue that brags.
4 They say, “What we speak with our tongues will win the battle.
What we say with our lips will keep us safe. No one will have victory over us.”
5 The Lord says, “The poor are being robbed.
Those who are in need groan.
So I will stand up to help them.
I will keep them safe from those who tell lies about them.”
6 The words of the Lord are perfect.
They are like silver made pure in a clay furnace.
They are like gold made pure seven times over.
7 Lord, you will keep needy people safe.
You will always keep sinners from hurting us.
8 Proud and sinful people walk around openly
when the evil they do is praised by the human race.
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
13 Lord, how long must I wait? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you turn your face away from me?
2 How long must I struggle with my thoughts?
How long must my heart be sad day after day?
How long will my enemies keep winning the battle over me?
3 Lord my God, look at me and answer me.
Give me new life, or I will die.
4 Then my enemies will say, “We have beaten him.”
They will be filled with joy when I die.
5 But I trust in your faithful love.
My heart is filled with joy because you will save me.
6 I will sing praise to the Lord.
He has been so good to me.
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
14 Foolish people say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They do all kinds of horrible and evil things.
No one does anything good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven
on all people.
He wants to see if there are any who understand.
He wants to see if there are any who trust in God.
3 All of them have turned away.
They have all become evil.
No one does anything good,
no one at all.
4 Do all these people who do evil know nothing?
They eat up my people as if they were eating bread.
They never call out to the Lord.
5 But just look at them! They are filled with terror
because God is among those who do right.
6 You who do evil keep poor people from succeeding.
But the Lord is their place of safety.
7 How I pray that the God who saves Israel will come out of Zion!
Then the Lord will bless his people with great success again.
So let the people of Jacob be filled with joy! Let Israel be glad!
12 The Lord says,
“Suppose a shepherd saves only two leg bones
from a lion’s mouth.
Or he might save only a piece of an ear.
That is how the Israelites living in Samaria will be saved.
They will only have a board
from a bed
and a piece of cloth
from a couch.”
13 “Listen to me,” announces the Lord. “Be a witness against the people of Jacob,” says the Lord God who rules over all.
14 “I will punish Israel for their sins.
When I do, I will destroy their altars at Bethel.
The horns that stick out from the upper corners
of their main altar will be cut off.
They will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down their winter houses.
I will also pull down their summer houses.
The houses they have decorated with ivory will be destroyed.
And their princely houses will be torn down,”
announces the Lord.
Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord
4 Listen to the Lord’s message,
you women who live on the hill of Samaria.
You treat poor people badly.
You crush those who are in need.
You say to your husbands,
“Bring us some drinks!”
But you are already as fat
as the cows in Bashan.
2 The Lord and King has made a promise
by his own holy name.
He says, “You can be sure
that the time will come
when your enemies will put hooks in your faces.
They will lead every one of you away with fishhooks.
3 Each of you will go straight out
through gaps made in the wall.
You will be thrown out toward Harmon,”
announces the Lord.
4 “People of Samaria, go to Bethel and sin!
Go to Gilgal! Sin there even more!
Bring your sacrifices every morning.
Every third year, bring a tenth
of everything you produce.
5 Bake some bread with yeast.
Burn it as a thank offering.
Brag about the offerings you freely give.
This is what you Israelites love to do,”
announces the Lord and King.
The Day of the Lord
3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders. I want to encourage you to think in a way that is pure. 2 I want you to remember the words the holy prophets spoke in the past. Remember the command our Lord and Savior gave through your apostles.
3 Most of all, here is what you must understand. In the last days people will make fun of the truth. They will laugh at it. They will follow their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘return’ he promised? Everything goes on in the same way it has since our people of long ago died. In fact, it has continued this way since God first created everything.” 5 Long ago, God’s word brought the heavens into being. His word separated the earth from the waters. And the waters surrounded it. But these people forget things like that on purpose. 6 The waters also flooded the world of that time. And so they destroyed the world. 7 By God’s word the heavens and earth of today are being reserved for fire. They are being kept for the day when God will judge. Then ungodly people will be destroyed.
8 Dear friends, here is one thing you must not forget. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow to keep his promise. He is not slow in the way some people understand it. Instead, he is patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed. Instead, he wants all people to turn away from their sins.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. Fire will destroy everything in them. God will judge the earth and everything done in it.
The Authority of Jesus Is Questioned
23 Jesus entered the temple courtyard. While he was teaching there, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “Who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from? Was it from heaven? Or did it come from human authority?”
They talked to one another about it. They said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But what if we say, ‘From human authority’? We are afraid of the people. Everyone believes that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things either.
The Story of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “ ‘I will not,’ the son answered. But later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the other son. He said the same thing. The son answered, ‘I will, sir.’ But he did not go.
31 “Which of the two sons did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “What I’m about to tell you is true. Tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 John came to show you the right way to live. And you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. You saw this. But even then you did not turn away from your sins and believe him.
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