Book of Common Prayer
God Will Reward Fairly
Of David.
37 Don’t be ·upset [worried; angry] because of evil people.
Don’t be jealous of those who do wrong [Prov. 24:1, 19],
2 because like the grass, they will ·soon [quickly] ·dry up [wither].
Like green plants, they will soon ·die [fade] away.
3 ·Trust [L Have confidence in] the Lord [Prov. 3:5] and do good.
·Live [Reside; Settle] in the land and ·feed on truth [or find reliable pastureland].
4 Enjoy serving the Lord,
and he will give you ·what you want [L the requests of your heart].
5 ·Depend on [L Commit your way to] the Lord;
·trust [have confidence in] him, and he will take care of you [Prov. 16:3; 1 Pet. 5:7].
6 Then your ·goodness [righteousness] will shine like the ·sun [L light],
and your ·fairness [justice] like the noonday sun.
7 ·Wait [L Be quiet before] and ·trust [L wait for] the Lord.
Don’t be ·upset [worried; angry] ·when others get rich [L with the prosperity/success of their way]
or when ·someone else’s plans succeed [or they do evil deeds].
8 ·Don’t get angry [L Hold back from anger; Abandon wrath].
Don’t be ·upset [worried; angry]; it only leads to ·trouble [or evil].
9 Evil people will be ·sent away [L cut off],
but those who ·trust [wait/pin their hope on] the Lord will inherit the land.
10 In a little while the wicked will be no more.
You may look for them, but they will be ·gone [or no more].
11 ·People who are not proud [L The humble/meek] will inherit the land [Matt. 5:5]
and will enjoy ·complete peace [or much prosperity].
12 The wicked make evil plans against ·good [righteous] people.
They ·grind [gnash] their teeth at them [C in anger].
13 But the Lord laughs at the wicked,
because he sees that their day [C of judgment] is coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords
and ·bend [string] their bows
to ·kill [L fell] the poor and helpless,
to ·kill [slaughter] those ·who are honest [L whose way is straight].
15 But their swords will ·stab [L enter] their own hearts,
and their bows will break.
16 It is better to have little and be ·right [or righteous]
than to have much and be ·wrong [or wicked; Prov. 15:16; 16:8, 19].
17 The ·power [L arm] of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord ·supports [upholds] those who ·do right [are righteous].
18 The Lord ·watches over [L knows] the ·lives [L days] of the ·innocent [blameless],
and their ·reward [inheritance] will last forever.
19 They will not be ashamed ·when trouble comes [L in the day of evil/trouble].
They will be ·full [satisfied; satiated] in times of ·hunger [famine].
20 But the wicked will ·die [perish].
The Lord’s enemies will be like the ·beauty [best] of the ·fields [L pastures; C flowers or animals];
·they will disappear [L vanishing, they will vanish] ·like [or in] smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and don’t pay back,
but ·those who do right [the righteous] give freely to others.
22 Those whom ·the Lord [L he] blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be ·sent away [L cut off].
23 When people’s steps ·follow [L are made firm/established by] the Lord [Prov. 24:16],
God ·is pleased with [delights in] their ways.
24 If they stumble, they will not fall,
because the Lord ·holds [upholds] their hand.
25 I was young, and now I am old,
but I have never seen ·good [righteous] people ·left helpless [abandoned; forsaken; Gen. 28:15; Matt. 28:20]
or their ·children [seed] ·begging for [seeking] food [Prov. 10:3].
26 Good people always lend freely to others,
and their ·children [seed] are a blessing.
27 ·Stop doing [Turn aside from] evil and do good,
so you will ·live [dwell] forever.
28 The Lord loves ·justice [judgment]
and will not ·leave [abandon; forsake] ·those who worship him [his loyal ones/saints].
He will always ·protect [keep; guard] them,
but the ·children [seed] of the wicked will ·die [L be cut off].
29 ·Good [Righteous] people will inherit the land
and will ·live [dwell] in it forever.
30 ·Good people speak with [L The mouth of the righteous mutters] wisdom,
and ·they say what is fair [L their tongue speaks justice/judgment].
31 The ·teachings [instructions; laws] of their God are in their heart [Jer. 31:33],
so ·they do not fail to keep them [L their steps do not slip/slide/totter].
32 The wicked watch for ·good [righteous] people
·so that they may [L to seek to] kill them [Prov. 1:8–19].
33 But the Lord will not ·take away his protection [L abandon/forsake them to their hand/power/control]
or let ·good people be judged guilty [them be condemned when brought to trial].
34 ·Wait for [Hope in] the Lord
and ·follow him [L keep/guard his way].
He will ·honor [exalt] you and ·give you [you will inherit] the land,
and you will see the wicked ·sent away [or destroyed].
35 I saw a wicked and ·cruel [oppressive] man
who ·looked [flourished] like a luxurious cedar tree [C strong and healthy].
36 But he ·died [passed on] and was ·gone [no more];
I ·looked for [sought] him, but he couldn’t be found.
37 ·Think of [Observe] the ·innocent [blameless] person,
and watch the ·honest [upright; virtuous] one.
The man who has peace
will have ·children to live after him [posterity].
38 But sinners will be destroyed;
·in the end [or the posterity of] the wicked will ·die [L be cut off].
39 The Lord ·saves [rescues; T delivers] ·good [righteous] people;
he is their strength in times of ·trouble [distress].
40 The Lord helps them and ·saves [rescues; T delivers] them;
he ·saves [rescues; T delivers] them from the wicked,
because they ·trust [take refuge] in him for protection.
9 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from ·the sky [or heaven] to the earth. The star was given the key to the ·deep hole [shaft] ·that leads to the bottomless pit [L of the Abyss; C the place of the dead and/or a prison for fallen angels; Luke 8:31; Rom. 10:7]. 2 Then ·it [or he] opened up the ·hole that leads to the bottomless pit [shaft of the Abyss], and smoke came up from the ·hole [shaft] like smoke from a ·big [great; giant] furnace. Then the sun and ·sky [air] became dark because of the smoke from the ·hole [shaft]. 3 Then locusts came down to the earth out of the smoke [C similar to the eighth Egyptian plague; Ex. 10:1–20; see also Joel 1:2—2:10], and they were given the power ·to sting like [L like the power of] scorpions [L of the earth]. 4 They were told not to ·harm [damage] the grass on the earth or any ·plant [greenery] or tree. They could ·harm [damage] only the people who did not have the ·sign [seal] of God on their foreheads [7:3]. 5 These locusts were not ·given the power [permitted] to kill anyone, but to ·cause pain to [torture; torment] the people for five months [C perhaps referring to the limited life span of a locust]. And ·the pain they felt was like the pain a scorpion gives [L their torture/torment was like the torture/torment of a scorpion] when it stings someone. 6 During those days people will ·look for a way to die [L seek death], but they will not find it. They will ·want [long; desire] to die, but death will ·run away [flee] from them.
7 The locusts looked like horses ·prepared [equipped; trained] for battle [Joel 2:4]. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns of gold [C indicating their victory; 2:10], and their faces looked like human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth [Joel 1:6]. 9 Their chests looked like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horses and chariots ·hurrying [charging; running] into battle [Joel 2:5]. 10 The locusts had tails with stingers like scorpions, and in their tails was their ·power [authority] to ·hurt [damage; harm] people for five months. 11 The locusts had a king who was the ·angel [or messenger] of the ·bottomless pit [L Abyss; 9:1]. His name in the Hebrew language is Abaddon and in the Greek language is Apollyon [C both mean “Destroyer”; perhaps a reference to Satan].
12 The first ·trouble [L woe] is past; there are still two other ·troubles [L woes] that will come [8:13].
The Good Samaritan(A)
25 Then an expert on the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to ·get life forever [L inherit eternal life]?”
26 Jesus said, “What is written in the law? ·What do you read there [or How do you interpret it]?”
27 The man answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind [Deut. 6:5].” Also, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself [Lev. 19:18].”
28 Jesus said to him, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will live.”
29 But the man, wanting to ·show the importance of his question [or justify his question; or justify himself/his own actions], said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus answered, “As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho [C a dangerous 17-mile trek through desolate territory], some robbers attacked him. They tore off his clothes, beat him, and left him lying there, almost dead. 31 ·It happened that [or By chance] a priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he ·walked [passed] by on the other side. 32 ·Next [L Likewise; So too], a Levite [C Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who helped the priests in the temple; 1 Chr. 23:24–32] came there, and ·after he went over and looked at the man [L seeing him], he ·walked [passed] by on the other side of the road. 33 Then a Samaritan [C a people disliked by the Jews because they were only part Jewish and worshiped differently] traveling down the road came to where the hurt man was. When he saw the man, he felt ·very sorry [compassion] for him. 34 The Samaritan went to him, poured olive oil and wine on his wounds [C to soothe and clean them], and bandaged them. Then he put the hurt man on his own ·donkey [L animal] and took him to an inn where he cared for him. 35 The next day, the Samaritan brought out two ·coins [L denarii; C each equivalent to a day’s wage], gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of this man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’”
36 Then Jesus said, “Which one of these three men do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by the robbers?”
37 The expert on the law answered, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Then go and do ·what he did [the same; likewise].”
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