Book of Common Prayer
A miktam of David.
16 My God, keep me safe.
I go to you for safety.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
Without you, I don’t have anything that is good.”
3 I say about God’s people who live in our land, “They are the noble ones.
I take great delight in them.”
4 Those who run after other gods
will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out offerings of blood to those gods.
My lips will not speak their names.
5 Lord, you alone are everything I need.
You make my life secure.
6 I am very pleased with what you have given me.
I am very happy with what I’ve received from you.
7 I will praise the Lord. He gives me good advice.
Even at night my heart teaches me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
He is at my right hand.
So I will always be secure.
9 So my heart is glad. Joy is on my tongue.
My body also will be secure.
10 You will not leave me in the place of the dead.
You will not let your faithful one rot away.
11 You always show me the path of life.
You will fill me with joy when I am with you.
You will make me happy forever at your right hand.
A prayer of David.
17 Lord, hear me, because I ask for what is right.
Listen to my cry for help.
Hear my prayer.
It doesn’t come from lips that tell lies.
2 When you hand down your sentence, may it be in my favor.
May your eyes see what is right.
3 Look deep down into my heart.
Study me carefully at night and test me.
You won’t find anything wrong.
I have planned nothing evil.
My mouth has not said sinful things.
4 Though evil people tried to pay me to do wrong,
I have not done what they wanted.
Instead I have done what you commanded.
5 My steps have stayed on your paths.
My feet have not slipped.
6 My God, I call out to you because you will answer me.
Listen to me. Hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love.
By using your great power,
you save those who go to you for safety from their enemies.
8 Take good care of me, just as you would take care of your own eyes.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings.
9 Save me from the sinful people who want to destroy me.
Save me from my deadly enemies who are all around me.
10 They make their hearts hard and stubborn.
Their mouths speak with pride.
11 They have tracked me down. They are all around me.
Their eyes watch for a chance to throw me to the ground.
12 They are like a hungry lion, waiting to attack.
They are like a powerful lion, hiding in the bushes.
13 Lord, rise up. Oppose them and bring them down.
With your sword, save me from those evil people.
14 Lord, by your power save me from people like that.
They belong to this world. They get their reward in this life.
May what you have stored up for evil people fill their bellies.
May their children’s stomachs be filled with it.
And may there even be leftovers for their little ones.
15 You will show that I am right; I will enjoy your blessing.
When I wake up, I will be satisfied because I will see you.
For the director of music. A psalm of David to the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.”
22 My God, my God, why have you deserted me?
Why do you seem so far away when I need you to save me?
Why do you seem so far away that you can’t hear my groans?
2 My God, I cry out in the daytime. But you don’t answer.
I cry out at night. But you don’t let me sleep.
3 But you rule from your throne as the Holy One.
You are the God Israel praises.
4 Our people of long ago put their trust in you.
They trusted in you, and you saved them.
5 They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you, and you didn’t let them down.
6 Everyone treats me like a worm and not a man.
They hate me and look down on me.
7 All those who see me laugh at me.
They shout at me and make fun of me.
They shake their heads at me.
8 They say, “He trusts in the Lord.
Let the Lord help him.
If the Lord is pleased with him,
let him save him.”
9 But you brought me out of my mother’s body.
You made me trust in you
even when I was at my mother’s breast.
10 From the time I was born, you took good care of me.
Ever since I came out of my mother’s body, you have been my God.
11 Don’t be far away from me.
Trouble is near,
and there is no one to help me.
12 Many enemies are all around me.
They are like strong bulls from the land of Bashan.
13 They are like roaring lions that tear to pieces what they kill.
They open their mouths wide to attack me.
14 My strength is like water that is poured out on the ground.
I feel as if my bones aren’t connected.
My heart has turned to wax.
It has melted away inside me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a piece of broken pottery.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You bring me down to the edge of the grave.
16 A group of sinful people has closed in on me.
They are all around me like a pack of dogs.
They have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 Everyone can see all my bones right through my skin.
People stare at me. They laugh when I suffer.
18 They divide up my clothes among them.
They cast lots for what I am wearing.
19 Lord, don’t be so far away from me.
You give me strength. Come quickly to help me.
20 Save me from being killed by the sword.
Save the only life I have. Save me from the power of those dogs.
21 Save me from the mouths of those lions.
Save me from the horns of those wild oxen.
22 I will announce your name to my people.
I will praise you among those who are gathered to worship you.
23 You who have respect for the Lord, praise him!
All you people of Jacob, honor him!
All you people of Israel, worship him!
24 He has not forgotten the one who is hurting.
He has not turned away from his suffering.
He has not turned his face away from him.
He has listened to his cry for help.
25 Because of what you have done,
I will praise you in the whole community of those who worship you.
In front of those who respect you,
I will keep my promises.
26 Those who are poor will eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek the Lord will praise him.
May their hearts be filled with new hope!
27 People from one end of the earth to the other
will remember and turn to the Lord.
The people of all the nations
will bow down in front of him.
28 The Lord is King.
He rules over the nations.
29 All rich people of the earth will feast and worship God.
All who go down to the grave will kneel in front of him.
Those who cannot keep themselves alive will kneel.
30 Those who are not yet born will serve him.
Those who are born later will be told about the Lord.
31 And they will tell people who have not yet been born,
“The Lord has done what is right!”
Job’s Reply
9 Job replied,
2 “I’m sure that what you have said is true.
But how can human beings prove to God they are not guilty?
3 They might wish to argue with him.
But they couldn’t answer him
even once in a thousand times.
4 His wisdom is deep. His power is great.
No one opposes him and comes away unharmed.
5 He moves mountains, and they don’t even know it.
When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
6 He shakes the earth loose from its place.
He makes its pillars tremble.
7 When he tells the sun not to shine, it doesn’t.
He turns off the light of the stars.
8 He’s the only one who can spread out the heavens.
He alone can walk on the waves of the ocean.
9 He made the Big Dipper and Orion.
He created the Pleiades and the southern stars.
10 He does wonderful things that can’t be understood.
He does miracles that can’t even be counted.
11 When he passes by me, I can’t see him.
When he goes past me, I can’t recognize him.
12 If he takes something, who can stop him?
Who would dare to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God doesn’t hold back his anger.
Even the helpers of the sea monster Rahab
bowed in fear at his feet.
14 “So how can I disagree with God?
How can I possibly argue with him?
15 Even if I hadn’t done anything wrong,
I couldn’t answer him.
I could only beg my Judge to have mercy on me.
32 “God isn’t a mere human being like me. I can’t answer him.
We can’t take each other to court.
33 I wish someone would settle matters between us.
I wish someone would bring us together.
34 I wish someone would keep God from punishing me.
Then his terror wouldn’t frighten me anymore.
35 I would speak up without being afraid of him.
But as things stand now, I can’t do that.
34 Then Peter began to speak. “I now realize how true it is that God treats everyone the same,” he said. 35 “He accepts people from every nation. He accepts anyone who has respect for him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel. It is the good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened all through the area of Judea. It started in Galilee after John preached about baptism. 38 You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went around doing good. He healed all who were under the devil’s power. God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by nailing him to a cross. 40 But on the third day God raised him from the dead. God allowed Jesus to be seen. 41 But he wasn’t seen by all the people. He was seen only by us. We are witnesses whom God had already chosen. We ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people. He told us to tell people that he is the one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets tell about him. They say that all who believe in him have their sins forgiven through his name.”
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 Some Jewish believers had come with Peter. They were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 They heard them speaking in languages they had not known before. They also heard them praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can keep these people from being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
37 It was the last and most important day of the feast. Jesus stood up and spoke in a loud voice. He said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Does anyone believe in me? Then, just as Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from inside them.” 39 When he said this, he meant the Holy Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit later. Up to that time, the Spirit had not been given. This was because Jesus had not yet received glory.
40 The people heard his words. Some of them said, “This man must be the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”
41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the family line of David? Doesn’t it say that he will come from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 So the people did not agree about who Jesus was. 44 Some wanted to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him.
The Jewish Leaders Do Not Believe
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees. They asked the guards, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has fooled you also?” the Pharisees asked. 48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob knows nothing about the law. There is a curse on them.”
50 Then Nicodemus, a Pharisee, spoke. He was the one who had gone to Jesus earlier. He asked, 51 “Does our law find a man guilty without hearing him first? Doesn’t it want to find out what he is doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Look into it. You will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
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