Book of Common Prayer
Childlike Trust in the Lord
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
131 Lord, my heart is not proud;
I don’t look down on others.
I don’t do great things,
and I can’t do miracles.
2 But I am calm and quiet,
like a baby with its mother.
I am at peace, like a baby with its mother.
3 People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord
now and forever.
In Praise of the Temple
A song for going up to worship.
132 Lord, remember David
and all his suffering.
2 He made an oath to the Lord,
a promise to the Mighty God of Jacob.
3 He said, “I will not go home to my house,
or lie down on my bed,
4 or close my eyes,
or let myself sleep
5 until I find a place for the Lord.
I want to provide a home for the Mighty God of Jacob.”
6 We heard about the Ark in Bethlehem.
We found it at Kiriath Jearim.
7 Let’s go to the Lord’s house.
Let’s worship at his footstool.
8 Rise, Lord, and come to your resting place;
come with the Ark that shows your strength.
9 May your priests do what is right.
May your people sing for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not reject your appointed king.
11 The Lord made a promise to David,
a sure promise that he will not take back.
He promised, “I will make one of your descendants
rule as king after you.
12 If your sons keep my agreement
and the rules that I teach them,
then their sons after them will rule
on your throne forever and ever.”
13 The Lord has chosen Jerusalem;
he wants it for his home.
14 He says, “This is my resting place forever.
Here is where I want to stay.
15 I will bless her with plenty;
I will fill her poor with food.
16 I will cover her priests with salvation,
and those who worship me will really sing for joy.
17 “I will make a king come from the family of David.
I will provide my appointed one descendants to rule after him.
18 I will cover his enemies with shame,
but his crown will shine.”
The Love of God’s People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
133 It is good and pleasant
when God’s people live together in peace!
2 It is like perfumed oil poured on the priest’s head
and running down his beard.
It ran down Aaron’s beard
and on to the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Mount Hermon
falling on the hills of Jerusalem.
There the Lord gives his blessing
of life forever.
A Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
140 Lord, rescue me from evil people;
protect me from cruel people
2 who make evil plans,
who always start fights.
3 They make their tongues sharp as a snake’s;
their words are like snake poison. Selah
4 Lord, guard me from the power of wicked people;
protect me from cruel people
who plan to trip me up.
5 The proud hid a trap for me.
They spread out a net beside the road;
they set traps for me. Selah
6 I said to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Lord, listen to my prayer for help.
7 Lord God, my mighty savior,
you protect me in battle.
8 Lord, do not give the wicked what they want.
Don’t let their plans succeed,
or they will become proud. Selah
9 Those around me have planned trouble.
Now let it come to them.
10 Let burning coals fall on them.
Throw them into the fire
or into pits from which they cannot escape.
11 Don’t let liars settle in the land.
Let evil quickly hunt down cruel people.
12 I know the Lord will get justice for the poor
and will defend the needy in court.
13 Good people will praise his name;
honest people will live in his presence.
A Prayer for Safety
A maskil of David when he was in the cave. A prayer.
142 I cry out to the Lord;
I pray to the Lord for mercy.
2 I pour out my problems to him;
I tell him my troubles.
3 When I am afraid,
you, Lord, know the way out.
In the path where I walk,
a trap is hidden for me.
4 Look around me and see.
No one cares about me.
I have no place of safety;
no one cares if I live.
5 Lord, I cry out to you.
I say, “You are my protection.
You are all I want in this life.”
6 Listen to my cry,
because I am helpless.
Save me from those who are chasing me,
because they are too strong for me.
7 Free me from my prison,
and then I will praise your name.
Then good people will surround me,
because you have taken care of me.
Jeremiah’s Lesson at the Temple
26 This message came from the Lord soon after Jehoiakim son of Josiah became king of Judah. 2 This is what the Lord said: “Jeremiah, stand in the courtyard of the Temple of the Lord. Give this message to all the people of the towns of Judah who are coming to worship at the Temple of the Lord. Tell them everything I tell you to say; don’t leave out a word. 3 Maybe they will listen and stop their evil ways. If they will, I will change my mind about bringing on them the disaster that I am planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord says: You must obey me and follow my teachings that I gave you. 5 You must listen to what my servants the prophets say to you. I have sent them to you again and again, but you did not listen. 6 If you don’t obey me, I will destroy my Temple in Jerusalem as I destroyed my Holy Tent at Shiloh. When I do, people all over the world will curse Jerusalem.’”
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the Temple of the Lord. 8 When Jeremiah finished speaking everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, prophets, and all the people grabbed Jeremiah. They said, “You must die! 9 How dare you prophesy in the name of the Lord that this Temple will be destroyed like the one at Shiloh! How dare you say that Jerusalem will become a desert without anyone to live in it!” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the Temple of the Lord.
10 Now when the officers of Judah heard about what was happening, they came out of the king’s palace and went up to the Temple of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate. 11 Then the priests and prophets said to the officers and all the other people, “Jeremiah should be killed. He prophesied against Jerusalem, and you heard him yourselves.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke these words to all the officers of Judah and all the other people: “The Lord sent me to say everything you have heard about this Temple and this city. 13 Now change your lives and start doing good and obey the Lord your God. Then he will change his mind and not bring on you the disaster he has told you about. 14 As for me, I am in your power. Do to me what you think is good and right. 15 But be sure of one thing. If you kill me, you will be guilty of killing an innocent person. You will make this city and everyone who lives in it guilty, too! The Lord truly sent me to you to give you this message.”
16 Then the officers and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “Jeremiah must not be killed. What he told us comes from the Lord our God.”
God Shows Mercy to All People
11 So I ask: Did God throw out his people? No! I myself am an Israelite from the family of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God chose the Israelites to be his people before they were born, and he has not thrown his people out. Surely you know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he prayed to God against the people of Israel. 3 “Lord,” he said, “they have killed your prophets, and they have destroyed your altars. I am the only prophet left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”[a] 4 But what answer did God give Elijah? He said, “But I have left seven thousand people in Israel who have never bowed down before Baal.”[b] 5 It is the same now. There are a few people that God has chosen by his grace. 6 And if he chose them by grace, it is not for the things they have done. If they could be made God’s people by what they did, God’s gift of grace would not really be a gift.
7 So this is what has happened: Although the Israelites tried to be right with God, they did not succeed, but the ones God chose did become right with him. The others were made stubborn and refused to listen to God. 8 As it is written in the Scriptures:
“God gave the people a dull mind so they could not understand.” Isaiah 29:10
“He closed their eyes so they could not see
and their ears so they could not hear.
This continues until today.” Deuteronomy 29:4
9 And David says:
“Let their own feasts trap them and cause their ruin;
let their feasts cause them to stumble and be paid back.
10 Let their eyes be closed so they cannot see
and their backs be forever weak from troubles.” Psalm 69:22–23
11 So I ask: When the Jews fell, did that fall destroy them? No! But their failure brought salvation to those who are not Jews, in order to make the Jews jealous. 12 The Jews’ failure brought rich blessings for the world, and the Jews’ loss brought rich blessings for the non-Jewish people. So surely the world will receive much richer blessings when enough Jews become the kind of people God wants.
19 Again the leaders did not agree with each other because of these words of Jesus. 20 Many of them said, “A demon has come into him and made him crazy. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “A man who is crazy with a demon does not say things like this. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Jesus Is Rejected
22 The time came for the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the Temple in Solomon’s Porch. 24 Some people gathered around him and said, “How long will you make us wonder about you? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I told you already, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name show who I am. 26 But you don’t believe, because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. 29 My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
31 Again some of the people picked up stones to kill Jesus. 32 But he said to them, “I have done many good works from the Father. Which of these good works are you killing me for?”
33 They answered, “We are not killing you because of any good work you did, but because you speak against God. You are only a human, but you say you are the same as God!”
34 Jesus answered, “It is written in your law that God said, ‘I said, you are gods.’[a] 35 This Scripture called those people gods who received God’s message, and Scripture is always true. 36 So why do you say that I speak against God because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? I am the one God chose and sent into the world. 37 If I don’t do what my Father does, then don’t believe me. 38 But if I do what my Father does, even though you don’t believe in me, believe what I do. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 They tried to take Jesus again, but he escaped from them.
40 Then he went back across the Jordan River to the place where John had first baptized. Jesus stayed there, 41 and many people came to him and said, “John never did a miracle, but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.