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.
6 You are holy people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth ·to be his very own [as his treasured/special possession; Ex. 19:5].
7 The Lord did not ·care [have affection] for you and choose you because there were many of you—you are the smallest nation of all. 8 But the Lord chose you because he loved you, and he kept his promise to your ·ancestors [fathers; Gen. 12:1–3; 15:17–20]. So he brought you out of Egypt by his ·great power [L strong hand] and ·freed [ransomed; redeemed] you from the ·land of slavery [L house of bondage], from the ·power [L hand] of the king of Egypt. 9 So know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He will ·keep [guard] his ·agreement [covenant; treaty] of love for a thousand ·lifetimes for people [generations] who love him and obey his commands. 10 But he will pay back those people who hate him. He will destroy them, and he will not be slow to pay back those who hate him. 11 So be careful to obey the commands, ·rules [statutes; ordinances; requirements], and laws I give you today.
1 From Paul, a ·servant [slave; bondservant] of God and an ·apostle [messenger] of Jesus Christ. I was sent ·to help [or in the service of; or to bring about] the faith of God’s ·chosen people [elect] and to help them know the truth that ·shows people how to serve God [or leads to godliness/piety]. 2 That faith and that knowledge ·come from [or lead to] the ·hope for [confidence/certainty of] ·life forever [eternal life], which God, who never lies, promised to us before ·time began [L eternal times]. 3 At ·the right [the appointed; his own] time God ·let the world know about that life [L revealed/manifested his word/message] through preaching. He ·trusted [entrusted] me with that work by the command of God our Savior.
4 To Titus [2 Cor. 2:13; 7:6; 8:16; Gal. 2:1–3], my ·true [genuine] child in the faith we share:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus’ Work in Crete
5 I left you in Crete [C an island in the Mediterranean southeast of Greece] so you could ·finish doing [organize; straighten out] the things that still needed to be done and so you could appoint elders in every ·town [city], as I directed you. 6 An elder [1 Tim. 3:1–7] must ·not be guilty of doing wrong [be blameless], must ·have only one wife [or be faithful to his wife], and must have ·believing [or faithful] children. They must not be ·known as children who are [accused of being] ·wild [reckless] and ·do not cooperate [unruly; undisciplined; rebellious]. 7 As God’s ·managers [stewards], overseers [C probably the same church office as elder; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 7; 5:17] must be ·innocent of wrongdoing [blameless], ·unselfish [not arrogant/self-willed], not ·quick-tempered [easily angered]. They must not ·drink too much wine [be a drunkard], ·like to fight [be violent/a brawler], or ·try to get rich by cheating others [be greedy for gain/dishonest in business]. 8 Overseers must be ·ready to welcome guests [hospitable], love what is good, be ·wise [self-controlled; sensible], ·live right [upright; just], and be ·holy [devout] and ·self-controlled [disciplined]. 9 By holding ·on [firmly] to the ·trustworthy [faithful] ·word [message] just as it was taught to them, overseers can ·encourage [exhort] people with ·true [sound; healthy] teaching, and they can ·correct [reprove; refute] those who are against it.
10 There are many ·people who refuse to cooperate [unruly/rebellious people], who talk about ·worthless [empty; useless] things and ·lead others into the wrong way [deceive others]—·mainly [especially] those ·who insist on circumcision to be saved [or among the Jewish Christians; L of the circumcision]. 11 These people must be ·stopped [L silenced], because they are ·upsetting [misleading; ruining; overthrowing] whole families by teaching things they should not teach, which they do ·to get rich by cheating people [for dishonest gain]. 12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil ·animals [beasts], and lazy ·people who do nothing but eat [gluttons; C a quote from Epimenides, a poet from Crete (sixth century bc)].” 13 ·The words that prophet said are [L This testimony is] true. So ·firmly [severely; sharply] ·tell those people they are wrong [rebuke/admonish them] so they may become ·strong [sound; healthy] in the faith, 14 not ·accepting [paying attention to; wasting time with] Jewish ·false stories [myths; 1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4] and the commands of people who ·reject [turn their backs on] the truth. 15 To those who are pure, all things are pure, but to those who are ·full of sin [defiled; polluted (with sin)] and ·do not believe [unfaithful], nothing is pure. Both their minds and their consciences have been ·ruined [defiled; polluted]. 16 They ·say [claim; confess] they know God, but their actions show they ·do not accept [deny] him. They are ·hateful people [detestable; abominable], they refuse to obey, and they are ·useless [unfit; disqualified] for doing anything good.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look, the Lamb of God [C lambs were used for sacrifice; Gen. 22:8], who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the One I was talking about [1:15] when I said, ‘A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he ·was living [existed] before me.’ 31 Even I did not ·know [recognize] who he was, although I came baptizing with water so that ·the people of Israel would know who he is [he might be revealed to Israel].”
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