Book of Common Prayer
63 A psalm of David when he was hiding in the wilderness of Judea.
O God, my God! How I search for you! How I thirst for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. How I long to find you! 2 How I wish I could go into your sanctuary to see your strength and glory, 3 for your love and kindness are better to me than life itself. How I praise you! 4 I will bless you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5 At last I shall be fully satisfied; I will praise you with great joy.
6 I lie awake at night thinking of you— 7 of how much you have helped me—and how I rejoice through the night beneath the protecting shadow of your wings. 8 I follow close behind you, protected by your strong right arm. 9 But those plotting to destroy me shall go down to the depths of hell. 10 They are doomed to die by the sword, to become the food of jackals. 11 But I[a] will rejoice in God. All who trust in him exult, while liars shall be silenced.
98 Sing a new song to the Lord telling about his mighty deeds! For he has won a mighty victory by his power and holiness. 2-3 He has announced this victory and revealed it to every nation by fulfilling his promise to be kind to Israel. The whole earth has seen God’s salvation of his people. 4 That is why the earth breaks out in praise to God and sings for utter joy!
5 Sing your praise accompanied by music from the harp. 6 Let the cornets and trumpets shout! Make a joyful symphony before the Lord, the King! 7 Let the sea in all its vastness roar with praise! Let the earth and all those living on it shout, “Glory to the Lord.”
8-9 Let the waves clap their hands in glee and the hills sing out their songs of joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the world with perfect justice.
103 I bless the holy name of God with all my heart. 2 Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins. He heals me. 4 He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. 5 He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! 6 He gives justice to all who are treated unfairly. 7 He revealed his will and nature to Moses and the people of Israel.
8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. 9 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. 10 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, 11 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. 14 For he knows we are but dust 15 and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, 16 blown by the wind and gone forever.
17-18 But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence him; his salvation is to children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant and remember to obey him!
19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything there is. 20 Bless the Lord, you mighty angels of his who carry out his orders, listening for each of his commands. 21 Yes, bless the Lord, you armies of his angels who serve him constantly.
22 Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And how I bless him too!
1 The author: Solomon[a] of Jerusalem, King David’s son, “The Preacher.”
2 In my opinion, nothing is worthwhile; everything is futile. 3-7 For what does a man get for all his hard work?
Generations come and go, but it makes no difference.[b] The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere. The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full, and the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea . . . 8-11 everything is unutterably weary and tiresome. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we are not content.
History merely repeats itself. Nothing is truly new; it has all been done or said before. What can you point to that is new? How do you know it didn’t exist long ages ago? We don’t remember what happened in those former times, and in the future generations no one will remember what we have done back here.
26 But as for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go over to the road that runs from Jerusalem through the Gaza Desert, arriving around noon.” 27 So he did, and who should be coming down the road but the Treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was now returning in his chariot, reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the chariot.”
30 Philip ran over and heard what he was reading and asked, “Do you understand it?”
31 “Of course not!” the man replied. “How can I when there is no one to instruct me?” And he begged Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him.
32 The passage of Scripture he had been reading from was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before the shearers, so he opened not his mouth; 33 in his humiliation, justice was denied him; and who can express the wickedness of the people of his generation?[a] For his life is taken from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?”
35 So Philip began with this same Scripture and then used many others to tell him about Jesus.
36 As they rode along, they came to a small body of water, and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! Why can’t I be baptized?”
37 [b]“You can,” Philip answered, “if you believe with all your heart.”
And the eunuch replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 He stopped the chariot, and they went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch never saw him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 Meanwhile, Philip found himself at Azotus! He preached the Good News there and in every city along the way, as he traveled to Caesarea.
11 Once when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, “Lord, teach us a prayer to recite[a] just as John taught one to his disciples.”
2 And this is the prayer he taught them: “Father, may your name be honored for its holiness; send your Kingdom soon. 3 Give us our food day by day. 4 And forgive our sins—for we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And don’t allow us to be tempted.”
5-6 Then, teaching them more about prayer,[b] he used this illustration: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would shout up to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I’ve nothing to give him to eat.’ 7 He would call down from his bedroom, ‘Please don’t ask me to get up. The door is locked for the night and we are all in bed. I just can’t help you this time.’
8 “But I’ll tell you this—though he won’t do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you everything you want—just because of your persistence. 9 And so it is with prayer—keep on asking and you will keep on getting; keep on looking and you will keep on finding; knock and the door will be opened. 10 Everyone who asks, receives; all who seek, find; and the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
11 “You men who are fathers—if your boy asks for bread, do you give him a stone? If he asks for fish, do you give him a snake? 12 If he asks for an egg, do you give him a scorpion? Of course not![c]
13 “And if even sinful persons like yourselves give children what they need, don’t you realize that your heavenly Father will do at least as much, and give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for him?”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.