Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer in Time of Sickness
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
41 Happy are those who think about the poor.
When trouble comes, the Lord will save them.
2 The Lord will protect them and spare their life
and will bless them in the land.
He will not let their enemies take them.
3 The Lord will give them strength when they are sick,
and he will make them well again.
4 I said, “Lord, have mercy 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?”
6 Some people come to see me,
but they lie.
They just come to get bad news.
Then they go and gossip.
7 All my enemies whisper about me
and think the worst about me.
8 They say, “He has a terrible disease.
He will never get out of bed again.”
9 My best and truest friend, who ate at my table,
has even turned against me.
10 Lord, have mercy on me.
Give me strength so I can pay them back.
11 Because my enemies do not defeat me,
I know you are pleased with me.
12 Because I am innocent, you support me
and will let me be with you forever.
13 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He has always been,
and he will always be.
Amen and amen.
God Will Punish the Proud
For the director of music. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David is in Ahimelech’s house.”
52 Mighty warrior, why do you brag about the evil you do?
God’s love will continue forever.
2 You think up evil plans.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
making up lies.
3 You love wrong more than right
and lies more than truth. Selah
4 You love words that bite
and tongues that lie.
5 But God will ruin you forever.
He will grab you and throw you out of your tent;
he will tear you away from the land of the living. Selah
6 Those who do right will see this and fear God.
They will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look what happened to the man
who did not depend on God
but depended on his money.
He grew strong by his evil plans.”
8 But I am like an olive tree
growing in God’s Temple.
I trust God’s love
forever and ever.
9 God, I will thank you forever for what you have done.
With those who worship you, I will trust you because you are good.
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our ancestors told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land
and placed our ancestors here.
You destroyed those other nations,
but you made our ancestors grow strong.
3 It wasn’t their swords that took the land.
It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.
But it was your great power and strength.
You were with them because you loved them.
4 My God, you are my King.
Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.
5 With your help we pushed back our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who came against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t save me.
7 You saved us from our foes,
and you made our enemies ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you have rejected us and shamed us.
You don’t march with our armies anymore.
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have taken our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten
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 to our neighbors;
those around us laugh and make fun of us.
14 You made us a joke to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and I am covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting even
with insults and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or failed to keep our agreement with you.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away from you,
and we haven’t stopped following you.
19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live,
and you covered us with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten our God
or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would have known,
because he knows what is in our hearts.
22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt;
we are flat on the ground.
26 Get up and help us.
Because of your love, save us.
David Shames Saul
24 After Saul returned from chasing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So he took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and began looking for David and his men near the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
3 Saul came to the sheep pens beside the road. A cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were hiding far back in the cave. 4 The men said to David, “Today is the day the Lord spoke of when he said, ‘I will give your enemy over to you. Do anything you want with him.’”
Then David crept up to Saul and quietly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Later David felt guilty because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me from doing such a thing to my master! Saul is the Lord’s appointed king. I should not do anything against him, because he is the Lord’s appointed king!” 7 David used these words to stop his men; he did not let them attack Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went his way.
8 When David came out of the cave, he shouted to Saul, “My master and king!” Saul looked back, and David bowed facedown on the ground. 9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when people say, ‘David wants to harm you’? 10 You have seen something with your own eyes today. The Lord put you in my power in the cave. They said I should kill you, but I was merciful. I said, ‘I won’t harm my master, because he is the Lord’s appointed king.’ 11 My father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn’t kill you. Now understand and know I am not planning any evil against you. I did nothing wrong to you, but you are hunting me to kill me. 12 May the Lord judge between us, and may he punish you for the wrong you have done to me! But I am not against you. 13 There is an old saying: ‘Evil things come from evil people.’ But I am not against you. 14 Whom is the king of Israel coming out against? Whom are you chasing? It’s as if you are chasing a dead dog or a flea. 15 May the Lord be our judge and decide between you and me. May he support me and show that I am right. May he save me from you!”
16 When David finished saying these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he cried loudly. 17 He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have been good to me, but I have done wrong to you. 18 You told me what good things you did. The Lord handed me over to you, but you did not kill me. 19 People don’t normally let an enemy get away like this, do they? May the Lord reward you because you were good to me today. 20 I know you will surely be king, and you will rule the kingdom of Israel. 21 Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill my descendants and that you won’t wipe out my name from my father’s family.”
22 So David made the promise to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to their hideout.
44 On the next Sabbath day, almost everyone in the city came to hear the word of the Lord. 45 Seeing the crowd, the Jewish people became very jealous and said insulting things and argued against what Paul said. 46 But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly, saying, “We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations. 47 This is what the Lord told us to do, saying:
‘I have made you a light for the nations;
you will show people all over the world the way to be saved.’” Isaiah 49:6
48 When those who were not Jewish heard Paul say this, they were happy and gave honor to the message of the Lord. And the people who were chosen to have life forever believed the message.
49 So the message of the Lord was spreading through the whole country. 50 But the Jewish people stirred up some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city. They started trouble against Paul and Barnabas and forced them out of their area. 51 So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet[a] and went to Iconium. 52 But the followers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
A Story About Planting Seed
4 Again Jesus began teaching by the lake. A great crowd gathered around him, so he sat down in a boat near the shore. All the people stayed on the shore close to the water. 2 Jesus taught them many things, using stories. He said, 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to plant his seed. 4 While he was planting, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some seed fell on rocky ground where there wasn’t much dirt. That seed grew very fast, because the ground was not deep. 6 But when the sun rose, the plants dried up because they did not have deep roots. 7 Some other seed fell among thorny weeds, which grew and choked the good plants. So those plants did not produce a crop. 8 Some other seed fell on good ground and began to grow. It got taller and produced a crop. Some plants made thirty times more, some made sixty times more, and some made a hundred times more.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Let those with ears use them and listen!”
Jesus Tells Why He Used Stories
10 Later, when Jesus was alone, the twelve apostles and others around him asked him about the stories.
11 Jesus said, “You can know the secret about the kingdom of God. But to other people I tell everything by using stories 12 so that:
‘They will look and look, but they will not learn.
They will listen and listen, but they will not understand.
If they did learn and understand,
they would come back to me and be forgiven.’” Isaiah 6:9–10
Jesus Explains the Seed Story
13 Then Jesus said to his followers, “Don’t you understand this story? If you don’t, how will you understand any story? 14 The farmer is like a person who plants God’s message in people. 15 Sometimes the teaching falls on the road. This is like the people who hear the teaching of God, but Satan quickly comes and takes away the teaching that was planted in them. 16 Others are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching and quickly accept it with joy. 17 But since they don’t allow the teaching to go deep into their lives, they keep it only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they quickly give up. 18 Others are like the seed planted among the thorny weeds. They hear the teaching, 19 but the worries of this life, the temptation of wealth, and many other evil desires keep the teaching from growing and producing fruit[a] in their lives. 20 Others are like the seed planted in the good ground. They hear the teaching and accept it. Then they grow and produce fruit—sometimes thirty times more, sometimes sixty times more, and sometimes a hundred times more.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.