Book of Common Prayer
The Lord Takes Care of His People
A miktam of David.
16 Protect me, God,
because I trust in you.
2 I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
Every good thing I have comes from you.”
3 As for the godly people in the world,
they are the wonderful ones I enjoy.
4 But those who turn to idols
will have much pain.
I will not offer blood to those idols
or even speak their names.
5 No, the Lord is all I need.
He takes care of me.
6 My share in life has been pleasant;
my part has been beautiful.
7 I praise the Lord because he advises me.
Even at night, I feel his leading.
8 I keep the Lord before me always.
Because he is close by my side,
I will not be hurt.
9 So I rejoice and am glad.
Even my body has hope,
10 because you will not leave me in the grave.
You will not let your holy one rot.
11 You will teach me how to live a holy life.
Being with you will fill me with joy;
at your right hand I will find pleasure forever.
A Prayer for Protection
A prayer of David.
17 Lord, hear me begging for fairness;
listen to my cry for help.
Pay attention to my prayer,
because I speak the truth.
2 You will judge that I am right;
your eyes can see what is true.
3 You have examined my heart;
you have tested me all night.
You questioned me without finding anything wrong;
I have not sinned with my mouth.
4 I have obeyed your commands,
so I have not done what evil people do.
5 I have done what you told me;
I have not failed.
6 I call to you, God,
and you answer me.
Listen to me now,
and hear what I say.
7 Your love is wonderful.
By your power you save those who trust you
from their enemies.
8 Protect me as you would protect your own eye.
Hide me under the shadow of your wings.
9 Keep me from the wicked who attack me,
from my enemies who surround me.
10 They are selfish
and brag about themselves.
11 They have chased me until they have surrounded me.
They plan to throw me to the ground.
12 They are like lions ready to kill;
like lions, they sit in hiding.
13 Lord, rise up, face the enemy, and throw them down.
Save me from the wicked with your sword.
14 Lord, save me by your power
from those whose reward is in this life.
They have plenty of food.
They have many sons
and leave much money to their children.
15 Because I have lived right, I will see your face.
When I wake up, I will see your likeness and be satisfied.
The Prayer of a Suffering Man
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of Dawn.” A psalm of David.
22 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
You seem far from saving me,
far away from my groans.
2 My God, I call to you during the day,
but you do not answer.
I call at night;
I am not silent.
3 You sit as the Holy One.
The praises of Israel are your throne.
4 Our ancestors trusted you;
they trusted, and you saved them.
5 They called to you for help
and were rescued.
They trusted you
and were not disappointed.
6 But I am like a worm instead of a man.
People make fun of me and hate me.
7 Those who look at me laugh.
They stick out their tongues and shake their heads.
8 They say, “Turn to the Lord for help.
Maybe he will save you.
If he likes you,
maybe he will rescue you.”
9 You had my mother give birth to me.
You made me trust you
while I was just a baby.
10 I have leaned on you since the day I was born;
you have been my God since my mother gave me birth.
11 So don’t be far away from me.
Now trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.
12 People have surrounded me like angry bulls.
Like the strong bulls of Bashan, they are on every side.
13 Like hungry, roaring lions
they open their mouths at me.
14 My strength is gone,
like water poured out onto the ground,
and my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
it has melted inside me.
15 My strength has dried up like a clay pot,
and my tongue sticks to the top of my mouth.
You laid me in the dust of death.
16 Evil people have surrounded me;
like dogs they have trapped me.
They have bitten my arms and legs.
17 I can count all my bones;
people look and stare at me.
18 They divided my clothes among them,
and they threw lots for my clothing.
19 But, Lord, don’t be far away.
You are my strength; hurry to help me.
20 Save me from the sword;
save my life from the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the lion’s mouth;
save me from the horns of the bulls.
22 Then I will tell my brothers and sisters about you;
I will praise you in the public meeting.
23 Praise the Lord, all you who respect him.
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him;
fear him, all you Israelites.
24 He does not ignore those in trouble.
He doesn’t hide from them
but listens when they call out to him.
25 Lord, I praise you in the great meeting of your people;
these worshipers will see me do what I promised.
26 Poor people will eat until they are full;
those who look to the Lord will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!
27 People everywhere will remember
and will turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will worship him
28 because the Lord is King,
and he rules the nations.
29 All the powerful people on earth will eat and worship.
Everyone will bow down to him,
all who will one day die.
30 The people in the future will serve him;
they will always be told about the Lord.
31 They will tell that he does what is right.
People who are not yet born
will hear what God has done.
7 Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in front of the people, “Be strong and brave, because you will lead these people into the land the Lord promised to give their ancestors, and help them take it as their own. 8 The Lord himself will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forget you. Don’t be afraid and don’t worry.”
Moses Writes the Teachings
9 So Moses wrote down these teachings and gave them to the priests and all the elders of Israel. (The priests are the sons of Levi, who carry the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord.) 10-11 Then Moses commanded them: “Read these teachings for all Israel to hear at the end of every seven years, which is the year to cancel what people owe. Do it during the Feast of Shelters, when all the Israelites will come to appear before the Lord your God and stand at the place he will choose. 12 Gather all the people: the men, women, children, and foreigners living in your towns so that they can listen and learn to respect the Lord your God and carefully obey everything in this law. 13 Since their children do not know this law, they must hear it. They must learn to respect the Lord your God for as long as they live in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to take for your own.”
24 After Moses finished writing all the words of the teachings in a book, 25 he gave a command to the Levites, who carried the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord. 26 He said, “Take this Book of the Teachings and put it beside the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord your God. It must stay there as a witness against you. 27 I know how stubborn and disobedient you are. You have disobeyed the Lord while I am alive and with you, and you will disobey even more after I die! 28 Gather all the elders of your tribes and all your officers to me so that I may say these things for them to hear, and so that I may ask heaven and earth to testify against them. 29 I know that after I die you will become completely evil. You will turn away from the commands I have given you. Terrible things will happen to you in the future when you do what the Lord says is evil, and you will make him angry with the idols you have made.”
Moses’ Song
30 And Moses spoke this whole song for all the people of Israel to hear:
32 Hear, heavens, and I will speak.
Listen, earth, to what I say.
2 My teaching will drop like rain;
my words will fall like dew.
They will be like showers on the grass;
they will pour down like rain on young plants.
3 I will announce the name of the Lord.
Praise God because he is great!
4 He is like a rock; what he does is perfect,
and he is always fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong,
who is right and fair.
10 Brothers and sisters, the thing I want most is for all the Jews to be saved. That is my prayer to God. 2 I can say this about them: They really try to follow God, but they do not know the right way. 3 Because they did not know the way that God makes people right with him, they tried to make themselves right in their own way. So they did not accept God’s way of making people right. 4 Christ ended the law so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God.
5 Moses writes about being made right by following the law. He says, “A person who obeys these things will live because of them.”[a] 6 But this is what the Scripture says about being made right through faith: “Don’t say to yourself, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’” (That means, “Who will go up to heaven and bring Christ down to earth?”) 7 “And do not say, ‘Who will go down into the world below?’” (That means, “Who will go down and bring Christ up from the dead?”) 8 This is what the Scripture says: “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”[b] That is the teaching of faith that we are telling. 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. 10 We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we declare with our mouths that we believe, and so we are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”[c] 12 That Scripture says “anyone” because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him, 13 as the Scripture says, “Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved.”[d]
15 “Daniel the prophet spoke about ‘a blasphemous object that brings destruction.’[a] You will see this standing in the holy place.” (You who read this should understand what it means.) 16 “At that time, the people in Judea should run away to the mountains. 17 If people are on the roofs[b] of their houses, they must not go down to get anything out of their houses. 18 If people are in the fields, they must not go back to get their coats. 19 At that time, how terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or have nursing babies! 20 Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away, 21 because at that time there will be much trouble. There will be more trouble than there has ever been since the beginning of the world until now, and nothing as bad will ever happen again. 22 God has decided to make that terrible time short. Otherwise, no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen. 23 At that time, someone might say to you, ‘Look, there is the Christ!’ Or another person might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them. 24 False Christs and false prophets will come and perform great wonders and miracles. They will try to fool even the people God has chosen, if that is possible. 25 Now I have warned you about this before it happens.
26 “If people tell you, ‘The Christ is in the desert,’ don’t go there. If they say, ‘The Christ is in the inner room,’ don’t believe it. 27 When the Son of Man comes, he will be seen by everyone, like lightning flashing from the east to the west. 28 Wherever the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Soon after the trouble of those days,
‘the sun will grow dark,
and the moon will not give its light.
The stars will fall from the sky.
And the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ Isaiah 13:10; 34:4
30 “At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the peoples of the world will cry. They will see the Son of Man coming on clouds in the sky with great power and glory. 31 He will use a loud trumpet to send his angels all around the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from every part of the world.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.