Book of Common Prayer
Two Ways to Live
1 Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked,
who don’t go where sinners go,
who don’t do what evil people do.
2 They love the Lord’s teachings,
and they think about those teachings day and night.
3 They are strong, like a tree planted by a river.
The tree produces fruit in season,
and its leaves don’t die.
Everything they do will succeed.
4 But wicked people are not like that.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 So the wicked will not escape God’s punishment.
Sinners will not worship with God’s people.
6 This is because the Lord takes care of his people,
but the wicked will be destroyed.
The Lord’s Chosen King
2 Why are the nations so angry?
Why are the people making useless plans?
2 The kings of the earth prepare to fight,
and their leaders make plans together
against the Lord
and his appointed one.
3 They say, “Let’s break the chains that hold us back
and throw off the ropes that tie us down.”
4 But the one who sits in heaven laughs;
the Lord makes fun of them.
5 Then the Lord warns them
and frightens them with his anger.
6 He says, “I have appointed my own king
to rule in Jerusalem on my holy mountain, Zion.”
7 Now I will tell you what the Lord has declared:
He said to me, “You are my son.
Today I have become your father.
8 If you ask me, I will give you the nations;
all the people on earth will be yours.
9 You will rule over them with an iron rod.
You will break them into pieces like pottery.”
10 So, kings, be wise;
rulers, learn this lesson.
11 Obey the Lord with great fear.
Be happy, but tremble.
12 Show that you are loyal to his son,
or you will be destroyed by his anger,
because he can quickly become angry.
But happy are those who trust him for protection.
A Morning Prayer
David sang this when he ran away from his son Absalom.
3 Lord, I have many enemies!
Many people have turned against me.
2 Many are saying about me,
“God won’t rescue him.” Selah
3 But, Lord, you are my shield,
my wonderful God who gives me courage.
4 I will pray to the Lord,
and he will answer me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I can lie down and go to sleep,
and I will wake up again,
because the Lord gives me strength.
6 Thousands of troops may surround me,
but I am not afraid.
7 Lord, rise up!
My God, come save me!
You have struck my enemies on the cheek;
you have broken the teeth of the wicked.
8 The Lord can save his people.
Lord, bless your people. Selah
An Evening Prayer
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
4 Answer me when I pray to you,
my God who does what is right.
Make things easier for me when I am in trouble.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 People, how long will you turn my honor into shame?
How long will you love what is false and look for new lies? Selah
3 You know that the Lord has chosen for himself those who are loyal to him.
The Lord listens when I pray to him.
4 When you are angry, do not sin.
Think about these things quietly
as you go to bed. Selah
5 Do what is right as a sacrifice to the Lord
and trust the Lord.
6 Many people ask,
“Who will give us anything good?”
Lord, be kind to us.
7 But you have made me very happy,
happier than they are,
even with all their grain and new wine.
8 I go to bed and sleep in peace,
because, Lord, only you keep me safe.
A Prayer for Fairness
A shiggaion of David which he sang to the Lord about Cush, from the tribe of Benjamin.
7 Lord my God, I trust in you for protection.
Save me and rescue me
from those who are chasing me.
2 Otherwise, like a lion they will tear me apart.
They will rip me to pieces, and no one can save me.
3 Lord my God, what have I done?
Have my hands done something wrong?
4 Have I done wrong to my friend
or stolen without reason from my enemy?
5 If I have, let my enemy chase me and capture me.
Let him trample me into the dust
and bury me in the ground. Selah
6 Lord, rise up in your anger;
stand up against my enemies’ anger.
Get up and demand fairness.
7 Gather the nations around you
and rule them from above.
8 Lord, judge the people.
Lord, defend me because I am right,
because I have done no wrong, God Most High.
9 God, you do what is right.
You know our thoughts and feelings.
Stop those wicked actions done by evil people,
and help those who do what is right.
10 God protects me like a shield;
he saves those whose hearts are right.
11 God judges by what is right,
and God is always ready to punish the wicked.
12 If they do not change their lives,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and take aim.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he has made his flaming arrows.
14 There are people who think up evil
and plan trouble and tell lies.
15 They dig a hole to trap others,
but they will fall into it themselves.
16 They will get themselves into trouble;
the violence they cause will hurt only themselves.
17 I praise the Lord because he does what is right.
I sing praises to the Lord Most High.
The Evil That People Do
7 Poor me! I am like a hungry man,
and all the summer fruit has been picked—
there are no grapes left to eat,
none of the early figs I love.
2 All of the faithful people are gone;
there is not one good person left in this country.
Everyone is waiting to kill someone;
everyone is trying to trap someone else.
3 With both hands they are doing evil.
Rulers ask for money,
and judges’ decisions are bought for a price.
Rich people tell what they want,
and they get it.
4 Even the best of them is like a thornbush;
the most honest of them is worse than a prickly plant.
The day that your watchmen[a] warned you about has come.
Now they will be confused.
5 Don’t believe your neighbor
or trust a friend.
Don’t say anything,
even to your wife.
6 A son will not honor his father,
a daughter will turn against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law;
a person’s enemies will be members of his own family.
The Lord’s Kindness
7 Israel says, “I will look to the Lord for help.
I will wait for God to save me;
my God will hear me.
Paul Defends Himself
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak to defend yourself.”
Then Paul raised his hand and began to speak. 2 He said, “King Agrippa, I am very blessed to stand before you and will answer all the charges the evil people make against me. 3 You know so much about all the customs and the things they argue about, so please listen to me patiently.
4 “All my people know about my whole life, how I lived from the beginning in my own country and later in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I was a good Pharisee. And the Pharisees obey the laws of my tradition more carefully than any other group. 6 Now I am on trial because I hope for the promise that God made to our ancestors. 7 This is the promise that the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive as they serve God day and night. My king, they have accused me because I hope for this same promise! 8 Why do any of you people think it is impossible for God to raise people from the dead?
9 “I, too, thought I ought to do many things against Jesus from Nazareth. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. The leading priests gave me the power to put many of God’s people in jail, and when they were being killed, I agreed it was a good thing. 11 In every synagogue, I often punished them and tried to make them speak against Jesus. I was so angry against them I even went to other cities to find them and punish them.
12 “One time the leading priests gave me permission and the power to go to Damascus. 13 On the way there, at noon, I saw a light from heaven. It was brighter than the sun and flashed all around me and those who were traveling with me. 14 We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language,[a] saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting me.’ 15 I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 16 Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant and my witness—you will tell people the things that you have seen and the things that I will show you. This is why I have come to you today. 17 I will keep you safe from your own people and also from the others. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn away from darkness to the light, away from the power of Satan and to God. Then their sins can be forgiven, and they can have a place with those people who have been made holy by believing in me.’
19 “King Agrippa, after I had this vision from heaven, I obeyed it. 20 I began telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God and do things to show they really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and in every part of Judea, and also to the other people. 21 This is why the Jews took me and were trying to kill me in the Temple. 22 But God has helped me, and so I stand here today, telling all people, small and great, what I have seen. But I am saying only what Moses and the prophets said would happen— 23 that the Christ would die, and as the first to rise from the dead, he would bring light to all people.”
A Man with Demons Inside Him
26 Jesus and his followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area of the Gerasene[a] people. 27 When Jesus got out on the land, a man from the town who had demons inside him came to Jesus. For a long time he had worn no clothes and had lived in the burial caves, not in a house. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. He said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 He said this because Jesus was commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had taken hold of him. Though he had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot, he had broken his chains and had been forced by the demon out into a lonely place.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Legion,”[b] because many demons were in him. 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.[c] 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill, and the demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd ran down the hill into the lake and was drowned.
34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and told about this in the town and the countryside. 35 And people went to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. 36 The people who saw this happen told the others how Jesus had made the man well. 37 All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to leave, because they were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back to Galilee.
38 The man whom Jesus had healed begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell people how much God has done for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.