Book of Common Prayer
A song of David for the day of remembrance.[a]
38 Lord, don’t criticize me when you are angry.
Don’t discipline me in anger.
2 You have hurt me.
You punished me and hurt me deeply.
3 You punished me severely, so my whole body is sore.
I sinned, and now all my bones hurt.
4 My guilt is like a heavy burden.
I am sinking beneath its weight.
5 I did a foolish thing,
and now I have infected sores that stink.
6 I am bent and bowed down.
I am depressed all day long.
7 I am burning with fever,
and my whole body hurts.
8 I hurt so much I cannot feel anything.
My pounding heart makes me scream!
9 My Lord, you heard my groaning.
You can hear my sighs.
10 My heart is pounding.
My strength is gone, and I am going blind.[b]
11 Because of my sickness,
my friends and neighbors will not visit me;
my family will not come near me.
12 My enemies say bad things about me.
They are spreading lies and rumors.
They talk about me all the time.
13 But I am like a deaf man and cannot hear.
I am like someone who cannot speak.
14 I am like those who cannot hear what people are saying about them.
I cannot answer to prove my enemies wrong.
15 Lord, you must defend me.
Lord my God, you must speak for me.
16 That’s why I prayed, “Don’t let my enemies smile at my pain.
Full of pride, they will laugh if I stumble and fall.”
17 I know I am guilty of doing wrong.
I cannot forget my pain.
18 Lord, I told you about the evil I have done.
I am sorry for my sin.
19 But my enemies are alive and healthy,
and they have told many lies.
20 I did nothing but good,
and they paid me back with evil.
I try to do what is right,
but that only makes them turn against me.
21 Lord, don’t leave me.
My God, stay close to me.
22 Come quickly and help me.
My Lord, you are the one who saves me.
Daleth
25 I lie here like a dying man.
Say the word, and I will live again.[a]
26 I told you about my life, and you answered me.
Now, teach me your laws.
27 Help me understand your instructions,
and I will think about your wonderful teachings.[b]
28 I am sad and tired.
Say the word, and make me strong again.
29 Don’t let me live a lie.
Guide me with your teachings.
30 I have chosen to be loyal to you.
I respect your laws.
31 I follow your rules closely, Lord.
Don’t let me be put to shame.
32 I do my best to follow your commands,
because you are the one who gives me the desire.
He
33 Lord, teach me your laws,
and I will always follow them.
34 Help me understand your teachings,
and I will follow them.
Obeying them will be my greatest desire.
35 Help me follow your commands,
because that makes me happy.
36 Give me the desire to follow your rules,
not the desire to get rich.
37 Don’t let me look at worthless things.
Help me live your way.
38 Do what you promised me, your servant,
so that people will respect you.
39 Take away the shame I fear.
Your laws are good.
40 See how much I want to obey your instructions!
Be good to me, and let me live.
Waw
41 Lord, show me your faithful love.
Save me, as you promised.
42 Then I will have an answer for those who make fun of me
for trusting what you say.
43 Let me always say what is true.
I depend on your judgment to be fair.
44 I will follow your teachings forever and ever.
45 So I will live in freedom,
because I do my best to know your instructions.
46 I will discuss your rules with kings,
and no one will embarrass me.
47 What joy your commands give me!
How I love them!
48 Not only do I love your commands, but I also honor them.
I will study your laws.
The Vision of the Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “The end[a] has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. 3 Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord God said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile.[b]”
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4 Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5 You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.[c]
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.[d]
6 The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7 The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
8 There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head.[e]
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”
A Famine of God’s Word
11 The Lord God says,
“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
14 They made promises by the sin of Samaria,[f]
They said, ‘Dan,[g] as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[h] lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the one who lives. I was dead, but look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. 19 So write what you see. Write the things that happen now and the things that will happen later. 20 Here is the hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands that you saw: The seven lampstands are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.
Jesus’ Letter to the Church in Ephesus
2 “Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus:
“Here is a message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 “I know what you do, how hard you work and never give up. I know that you don’t accept evil people. You have tested those who say they are apostles but are not. You found that they are liars. 3 You never stop trying. You have endured troubles for my name and have not given up.
4 “But I have this against you: You have left the love you had in the beginning. 5 So remember where you were before you fell. Change your hearts and do what you did at first. If you don’t change, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But there is something you do that is right—you hate the things that the Nicolaitans[a] do. I also hate what they do.
7 “Everyone who hears this should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To those who win the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.
Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders(A)
23 Then Jesus spoke to the people and to his followers. He said, 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have the authority to tell you what the Law of Moses says. 3 So you should obey them. Do everything they tell you to do. But their lives are not good examples for you to follow. They tell you to do things, but they don’t do those things themselves. 4 They make strict rules that are hard for people to obey. They try to force others to obey all their rules. But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules.
5 “The only reason they do what they do is for other people to see them. They make the little Scripture boxes[a] they wear bigger and bigger. And they make the tassels[b] on their prayer clothes long enough for people to notice them. 6 These men love to have the places of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues. 7 They love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces and to call them ‘Teacher.’
8 “But you must not be called ‘Teacher.’ You are all equal as brothers and sisters. You have only one Teacher. 9 And don’t call anyone on earth ‘Father.’ You have one Father. He is in heaven. 10 And you should not be called ‘Master.’ You have only one Master, the Messiah. 11 Whoever serves you like a servant is the greatest among you. 12 People who think they are better than others will be made humble. But people who humble themselves will be made great.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International