Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 ·Happy [Blessed] are those who ·think about [or care for] the poor [James 1:27].
·When trouble comes [L In the day of trouble/evil], the Lord will ·save [rescue; T deliver] them.
2 The Lord will ·protect [guard; keep] them and ·spare their life [keep them alive]
and will ·bless them [make them happy] in the land.
He will not ·let their enemies take them [L give their lives to their enemy; or give them over to the desire of their enemy].
3 The Lord will give them strength when they are ·sick [L on their sickbed],
and he will ·make them well again [L restore them from their bed of illness].
4 I said, “Lord, have ·mercy [compassion] on me.
Heal me, because I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are saying evil things about me.
They say, “When will he die and ·be forgotten [L his name/reputation perish]?”
6 Some people come to see me,
but ·they lie [L speak deceptive/vain things].
·They just come to get bad news [L Their hearts collect iniquities].
Then they go ·and gossip [L out and speak].
7 All ·my enemies [L those who hate me] whisper about me
and ·think [imagine] ·the worst [trouble; evil] about me.
8 They say, “·He has a terrible disease [or An evil spell has been cast on him].
He ·will never get out of bed again [L lies down and will not get up].”
9 ·My best and truest friend [L A man of peace in whom I trust/find support], who ate at my table,
has ·even turned against me [L lifted his heel against me; C an act of treachery; 55:12–14; Matt. 26:23; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:21; John 13:18].
10 Lord, have ·mercy [compassion] on me.
·Give me strength [L Raise me up] so I can pay them back.
11 Because my enemies do not ·defeat [triumph over; or make fun of] me,
I know you are ·pleased [delighted] with me.
12 Because I am ·innocent [blameless], you support me
and will ·let me be with you [L set me in your presence] forever.
13 ·Praise [Blessed be] the Lord, the God of Israel.
·He has always been [L …from everlasting to everlasting],
and he will always be.
Amen and amen [C verse 13 is a doxology that closes Book 1].
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and ·said [reported] to him, “David ·is in [L has come to/entered] Ahimelech’s house [1 Sam. 21:7; 22:7–23].”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you ·brag [boast] about the evil you do?
God’s ·love [loyalty] will continue ·forever [L everyday; all day].
2 You think up ·evil plans [L destruction].
Your tongue is like a sharp razor [Prov. 18:21],
making up ·lies [deception].
3 You love ·wrong [evil] more than ·right [good]
and ·lies [falsehood] more than speaking the truth. ·
4 You love words that ·bite [destroy; L swallow up]
and ·tongues that lie [deceptive tongues; James 3:1–12].
5 But God will ·ruin you [L break you down] forever.
He will grab you and ·throw [tear] you out of your tent;
he will ·tear you away [uproot you] from the land of the living. ·
6 Those who ·do right [are righteous] will see this and ·fear God [L fear; Prov. 1:7].
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “·Look what happened to [T Behold] the man
who did not ·depend on God [L make God his refuge]
but ·depended on [trusted/put his confidence in] ·his money [L the abundance of his wealth].
He grew strong by his ·evil [destructive] plans.”
8 But I am like ·an olive tree
growing [L a green olive tree] in God’s ·Temple [L house; 1:3; 92:12–13; Jer. 11:16].
I ·trust [have confidence in] God’s ·love [loyalty]
forever and ever.
9 God, I will ·thank [praise] you forever for what you have done.
With ·those who worship you [his loyal ones/saints], I will ·trust [put my confidence in] you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as Temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].
44 God, we have heard ·about you [L with our ears; 78:3].
Our ·ancestors [fathers] ·told [recited to] us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your ·power [L hand] you ·forced [dispossessed] the nations out of the land
and ·placed [L planted] our ancestors here.
You ·destroyed [troubled] ·those other nations [L the peoples],
but you ·made our ancestors grow strong [set them free].
3 It wasn’t their swords that ·took [possessed] the land.
It wasn’t their ·power [L arm] that gave them victory.
But it was your ·great power [L arm] and ·strength [L right hand].
·You were with them [L …and the light of your face] because you ·loved [delighted in] them.
4 My God, you are my King.
·Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory [or You command victory for Jacob; C Jacob is another name for Israel].
5 With your help we pushed ·back [down] our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who ·came [rose up] against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t ·save me [give me victory].
7 You ·saved us from [gave us victory over] our foes,
and you made ·our enemies [L those who hate us] ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will ·praise [give thanks to] your name forever. ·
9 But you have rejected us and ·shamed [humiliated] us.
You don’t ·march [L go out] with our armies anymore [Ex. 15:3; 2 Chr. 20:20–21].
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have ·taken our wealth [plundered us].
11 You ·gave us away [made us] like sheep ·to be eaten [for slaughter]
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing
and made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a ·joke [reproach] to our neighbors;
those around us ·laugh [ridicule] and make fun of us.
14 You made us a ·joke [byword; proverb] to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and ·I am [L my face is] covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting ·even [revenge]
with ·insults [taunts] and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or ·failed to keep [been false to; betrayed] our ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with you [C perhaps a reference to the covenant with Moses; Ex. 19–24].
18 Our hearts haven’t turned ·away [back] from you,
and ·we haven’t stopped following you [L our steps have not departed from your way].
19 But you crushed us in this place where ·wild dogs [jackals] live [C desolate areas],
and you covered us with ·deep darkness [or the shadow of death; Nah. 1:8].
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or ·lifted [L spread] our hands in prayer to ·foreign [L strange] gods,
21 ·God would have known [L Would not God discover this…?],
because he knows ·what is in [L the secrets of] our hearts.
22 But for you we are ·in danger of death [L killed] all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be ·killed [slaughtered; Is. 53:7].
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever [Lam. 5:22].
24 Why do you hide your face from us?
Have you forgotten our ·pain [affliction] and ·troubles [oppression]?
25 We have ·been pushed down [sunk down] into the ·dirt [dust];
·we are flat on the ground [L our stomachs cleave to the earth].
26 ·Get [Rise] up and help us.
Because of your ·love [loyalty], ·save [redeem; ransom] us.
Lot Is Captured
14 Now Amraphel was king of ·Babylonia [L Shinar], Arioch was king of Ellasar [C possibly in Mesopotamia], Kedorlaomer was king of Elam [C located on the Iranian plateau], and Tidal was king of Goiim [C possibly a people otherwise known as the Umman-manda]. 2 All these kings went to war against several other kings: Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela. (Bela is also called Zoar.) [C Sodom and Gomorrah were located in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, and the other named cities are thought to have been nearby.]
3 These kings who were attacked united their armies in the Valley of Siddim (·now [L that is] the ·Dead [L Salt] Sea). 4 They had served Kedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year, they all ·turned [rebelled] against him. 5 Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came and ·defeated [subdued] the ·Rephaites [or Rephaim; C an especially warlike tribe in Canaan] in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, and the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim [C the Zuzites and Emites were likely related to the Rephaites; Deut. 2:10–11]. 6 They also defeated the Horites in the mountains of ·Edom [L Seir; C a region outside of Palestine on the southeastern coast of the Dead Sea] to El Paran (near the ·desert [wilderness]). 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). They ·defeated [subdued] all the Amalekites [C a fearsome tribe in pre-Israelite Canaan], as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.
8 At that time the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela went out to fight in the Valley of Siddim. (Bela is called Zoar.) 9 They fought against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of ·Babylonia [L Shinar], and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings fighting against five. 10 There were many ·tar [bitumen] pits in the Valley of Siddim. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their armies ·ran away [fled], some of the soldiers fell into the tar pits, but the others ·ran away [fled] to the mountains.
11 Now Kedorlaomer and his armies took everything the people of Sodom and Gomorrah owned, including their food, and left. 12 They took Lot, Abram’s ·nephew [L son of his brother] who was living in Sodom, and ·everything he owned [L his possessions/goods]. Then they left. 13 One of the men who was not captured went to Abram, the Hebrew, and told him what had happened. At that time Abram was camped near the ·great trees [L oaks; or terebinths] of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre was a brother of Eshcol and Aner, and they had all made an ·agreement to help [covenant/treaty with] Abram.
Abram Rescues Lot
14 When Abram learned that ·Lot [L his relative/brother] had been captured, he called out his 318 trained men who had been born in his camp. He led the men and ·chased the enemy [went in pursuit] all the way to the town of Dan [C in the far north of Palestine]. 15 That night he divided his men into groups, and ·they made a surprise attack against the enemy [L he subdued/defeated/struck them]. They chased them all the way to Hobah, north of Damascus [C a major city in Syria]. 16 Then Abram brought back ·everything the enemy had stolen [L all their possessions/goods], the women and the other people, and Lot, and ·everything Lot owned [L his goods/possessions].
17 After defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, Abram ·went home [L returned]. As he was returning, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (now called King’s Valley [C somewhere in the vicinity of Jerusalem]).
18 Melchizedek king of ·Salem [C probably an old name of Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine. He was a priest for God Most High [Ps. 110; Heb. 5:6–10; 6:20—7:28] 19 and blessed Abram, saying,
“Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High,
the ·God [L one] who made heaven and earth.
20 And ·we praise [L blessed be] God Most High,
who has ·helped you to defeat your enemies [L delivered your enemies into your hand].”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a ·tenth [tithe] of everything he had brought back from the battle.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “You may keep ·all these things [the goods/possessions] for yourself. Just give me my people who were captured.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I ·make a promise [L lifted my hand; C a gesture of swearing] to the Lord, the God Most High, who made heaven and earth. 23 I promise that I will not keep anything that is yours. I will not keep even a thread or a sandal strap [C that is, not the smallest thing] so that you cannot say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will keep nothing but the food my young men have eaten. But give Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre their share of what we won, because they went with me into battle.”
Jesus Is Our High Priest
8 Here is the [main; most important] point of what we are saying: We have a high priest who sits on the right side of ·God’s [L the Majesty’s] throne in heaven. 2 Our high priest ·serves [ministers; performs priestly service] in the ·Most Holy Place [sanctuary; L holy things], the true ·place of worship [Tabernacle; Holy Tent; Ex. 33:7] that was made by the Lord, not by humans.
3 [L For] Every high priest ·has the work of offering [is appointed to offer] gifts and sacrifices to God. So our high priest must also ·offer something to God [L have something to offer]. 4 If our high priest were now living on earth, he would not be a priest, because there are already priests here who follow the law by offering gifts to God. 5 ·The work they do as priests [or The sanctuary in which they serve] is only a ·copy [model; prototype] and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why God warned Moses when he was ready to build the ·Holy Tent [T Tabernacle]: “Be very careful to make everything by the ·plan [pattern; design] I showed you on the mountain [Ex. 25:40].” 6 But the priestly ·work [service; ministry] that has been given to Jesus is ·much greater than [far superior to] the work that was given to the other priests. In the same way, the new ·agreement [covenant; contract] that Jesus ·brought from God to his people [L mediates] is much ·greater [better] than the old one. And the new ·agreement [covenant; contract] is ·based [founded; legally enacted] on ·promises of better things [L better promises; C all God’s promises are reliable, but these promises bring greater blessings].
7 If there had been ·nothing wrong [no fault] with the first ·agreement [covenant; contract; C given to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai], there would have been no ·need for [or reason to look for; or occasion for God to establish] a second ·agreement [L one; C the Mosaic covenant was insufficient because it did not provide true forgiveness of sins; 10:1]. 8 But God ·found something wrong with his people and said [or found fault with the covenant, and said to his people]:[a]
“·Look [T Behold], the ·time is [days are] coming, says the Lord,
when I will ·make [complete; establish] a new ·agreement [covenant; contract]
with the ·people [L house] of Israel
and the ·people [L house] of Judah.
9 It will not be like the ·agreement [covenant]
I made with their ·ancestors [forefathers; fathers]
when I took them by the hand
to bring them out of [L the land of] Egypt.
But they ·broke [L did not abide by] that ·agreement [covenant; contract],
and I ·turned away from [abandoned; stopped caring for] them, says the Lord.
10 [For; But] This is the ·agreement [covenant; contract] I will make
with the ·people [L house] of Israel ·at that time [L after those days], says the Lord.
I will put my ·teachings [L laws] in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 People will no longer have to teach their ·neighbors [fellow citizens] and ·relatives [L brothers (and sisters)]
·to know the Lord [L saying, “Know the Lord”],
because all people will know me,
from the least to the ·most important [greatest].
12 I will ·forgive them for [be merciful with regard to] ·the wicked things they did [their unrighteousness/wickedness],
and I will not remember their sins anymore [Jer. 31:31–34; Luke 22:20].”
13 God called this a new ·agreement [covenant; contract], so he has made ·the first agreement [L the first one] ·old [obsolete; outdated]. And anything that is ·old [obsolete; outdated] and worn out is ready to disappear.
Jesus Heals an Officer’s Son(A)
43 Two days later, Jesus left [L from there] and went to Galilee [C the northern region of Israel]. 44 (Jesus had ·said [testified; witnessed] before that a prophet ·is not respected [L has no honor] in his own ·country [or hometown; C probably a reference to Galilee, but some think Judea].) 45 When [L therefore] Jesus arrived in Galilee, the ·people there [L Galileans] ·welcomed [received] him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, because they had been there, too.
46 Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine [2:1–11]. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and ·begged [urged; asked] him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. 48 Jesus said to him, “·You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me [L Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe; 2:23–25; 6:26].”
49 The [royal] officer said, “Sir, ·come [L come down] before my child dies.”
50 Jesus ·answered [said to him], “Go. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus told him [C he did not need “signs” and miracles] and went home. 51 On the way the man’s ·servants [slaves; bond-servants] came and met him and told him, “Your son is alive.”
52 [L So/Then] The man asked, “What ·time [hour] did my son begin to get well?”
They answered, “Yesterday at ·one o’clock [L the seventh hour; C hours were counted from dawn, about 6 AM] the fever left him.”
53 [L So/Then] The father knew that ·one o’clock was the exact time that [L in that hour] Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all ·the people who lived in his house [his household] believed in Jesus.
54 That was the second ·miracle [L sign; C the first sign was turning water into wine; 2:1–11] Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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