Book of Common Prayer
131 Lord, I am not proud and haughty. I don’t think myself better than others. I don’t pretend to “know it all.” 2 I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled.
3 O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord—now, and always.
132 Lord, do you remember that time when my heart[a] was so filled with turmoil? 2-5 I couldn’t rest, I couldn’t sleep, thinking how I ought to build a permanent home for the Ark of the Lord,[b] a Temple for the Mighty One of Israel. Then I vowed that I would do it; I made a solemn promise to the Lord.
6 First the Ark was in Ephrathah,[c] then in the distant countryside of Jaar. 7 But now it will be settled in the Temple, in God’s permanent home here on earth. That is where we will go to worship him.[d] 8 Arise, O Lord, and enter your Temple with the Ark, the symbol of your power.
9 We will clothe the priests in white, the symbol of all purity. May our nation shout for joy.
10 Do not reject your servant David—the king you chose for your people. 11 For you promised me that my son would sit on my throne and succeed me. And surely you will never go back on a promise! 12 You also promised that if my descendants will obey the terms of your contract with me, then the dynasty of David shall never end.
13 O Lord, you have chosen Jerusalem[e] as your home: 14 “This is my permanent home where I shall live,” you said, “for I have always wanted it this way. 15 I will make this city prosperous and satisfy her poor with food. 16 I will clothe her priests with salvation; her saints shall shout for joy. 17 David’s power shall grow, for I have decreed for him a mighty Son.[f] 18 I’ll clothe his enemies with shame, but he shall be a glorious King.”
133 How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony! 2 For harmony is as precious as the fragrant anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head and ran down onto his beard and onto the border of his robe. 3 Harmony is as refreshing as the dew on Mount Hermon, on the mountains of Israel. And God has pronounced this eternal blessing on Jerusalem,[g] even life forevermore.
140 O Lord, deliver me from evil men. Preserve me from the violent, 2 who plot and stir up trouble all day long. 3 Their words sting like poisonous snakes. 4 Keep me out of their power. Preserve me from their violence, for they are plotting against me. 5 These proud men have set a trap to catch me, a noose to yank me up and leave me dangling in the air; they wait in ambush with a net to throw over and hold me helpless in its meshes.
6-8 O Jehovah, my Lord and Savior, my God and my shield—hear me as I pray! Don’t let these wicked men succeed; don’t let them prosper and be proud. 9 Let their plots boomerang! Let them be destroyed by the very evil they have planned for me. 10 Let burning coals fall down upon their heads, or throw them into the fire or into deep pits from which they can’t escape.
11 Don’t let liars prosper here in our land; quickly punish them. 12 But the Lord will surely help those they persecute; he will maintain the rights of the poor. 13 Surely the godly are thanking you, for they shall live in your presence.
142 1-2 How I plead with God, how I implore his mercy, pouring out my troubles before him. 3 For I am overwhelmed and desperate, and you alone know which way I ought to turn to miss the traps my enemies have set for me. 4 (There’s one—just over there to the right!) No one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. 5 Then I prayed to Jehovah. “Lord,” I pled, “you are my only place of refuge. Only you can keep me safe.
6 “Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. 7 Bring me out of prison so that I can thank you. The godly will rejoice with me for all your help.”
26 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the first year of the reign of Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:
2 Stand out in front of the Temple of the Lord and make an announcement to all the people who have come there to worship from many parts of Judah. Give them the entire message; don’t leave out one word of all I have for them to hear. 3 For perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways, and then I can withhold all the punishment I am ready to pour out upon them because of their evil deeds. 4 Tell them the Lord says: If you will not listen to me and obey the laws I have given you, 5 and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets—for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them— 6 then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and I will make Jerusalem a curse word in every nation of the earth.
7-8 When Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to, the priests and false prophets and all the people in the Temple mobbed him, shouting, “Kill him! Kill him! 9 What right do you have to say the Lord will destroy this Temple like the one at Shiloh?” they yelled. “What do you mean—Jerusalem destroyed and not one survivor?”
10 When the high officials of Judah heard what was going on, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the door of the Temple to hold court. 11 Then the priests and the false prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. “This man should die!” they said. “You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke in his defense. “The Lord sent me,” he said, “to prophesy against this Temple and this city. He gave me every word of all that I have spoken. 13 But if you stop your sinning and begin obeying the Lord your God, he will cancel all the punishment he has announced against you. 14 As for me, I am helpless and in your power—do with me as you think best. 15 But there is one thing sure, if you kill me, you will be killing an innocent man, and the responsibility will lie upon you and upon this city and upon every person living in it; for it is absolutely true that the Lord sent me to speak every word that you have heard from me.”
16 Then the officials and people said to the priests and false prophets, “This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
11 I ask then, has God rejected and deserted his people the Jews? Oh no, not at all. Remember that I myself am a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and a member of Benjamin’s family.
2-3 No, God has not discarded his own people whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you remember what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet was complaining to God about the Jews, telling God how they had killed the prophets and torn down God’s altars; Elijah claimed that he was the only one left in all the land who still loved God, and now they were trying to kill him too.
4 And do you remember how God replied? God said, “No, you are not the only one left. I have seven thousand others besides you who still love me and have not bowed down to idols!”[a]
5 It is the same today. Not all the Jews have turned away from God; there are a few being saved as a result of God’s kindness in choosing them. 6 And if it is by God’s kindness, then it is not by their being good enough. For in that case the free gift would no longer be free—it isn’t free when it is earned.
7 So this is the situation: Most of the Jews have not found the favor of God they are looking for. A few have—the ones God has picked out—but the eyes of the others have been blinded. 8 This is what our Scriptures refer to when they say that God has put them to sleep, shutting their eyes and ears so that they do not understand what we are talking about when we tell them of Christ. And so it is to this very day.
9 King David spoke of this same thing when he said, “Let their good food and other blessings trap them into thinking all is well between themselves and God. Let these good things boomerang on them and fall back upon their heads to justly crush them. 10 Let their eyes be dim,” he said, “so that they cannot see, and let them walk bent-backed forever with a heavy load.”
11 Does this mean that God has rejected his Jewish people forever? Of course not! His purpose was to make his salvation available to the Gentiles, and then the Jews would be jealous and begin to want God’s salvation for themselves. 12 Now if the whole world became rich as a result of God’s offer of salvation, when the Jews stumbled over it and turned it down, think how much greater a blessing the world will share in later on when the Jews, too, come to Christ.
19 When he said these things, the Jewish leaders were again divided in their opinions about him. 20 Some of them said, “He has a demon or else is crazy. Why listen to a man like that?”
21 Others said, “This doesn’t sound to us like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of blind men?”
22-23 It was winter,[a] and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of the Dedication Celebration. He was at the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Hall. 24 The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 “I have already told you,[b] and you don’t believe me,” Jesus replied. “The proof is in the miracles I do in the name of my Father. 26 But you don’t believe me because you are not part of my flock. 27 My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else, so no one can kidnap them from me. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Then again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him.
32 Jesus said, “At God’s direction I have done many a miracle to help the people. For which one are you killing me?”
33 They replied, “Not for any good work, but for blasphemy; you, a mere man, have declared yourself to be God.”
34-36 “In your own Law it says that men are gods!” he replied. “So if the Scripture, which cannot be untrue, speaks of those as gods to whom the message of God came, do you call it blasphemy when the one sanctified and sent into the world by the Father says, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 Don’t believe me unless I do miracles of God. 38 But if I do, believe them even if you don’t believe me. Then you will become convinced that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
39 Once again they started to arrest him. But he walked away and left them, 40 and went beyond the Jordan River to stay near the place where John was first baptizing. 41 And many followed him.
“John didn’t do miracles,” they remarked to one another, “but all his predictions concerning this man have come true.” 42 And many came to the decision that he was the Messiah.[c]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.