Book of Common Prayer
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
31 Lord, I have come to you for safety.
Don’t let me ever be put to shame.
Save me, because you do what is right.
2 Pay attention to me.
Come quickly to help me.
Be the rock I go to for safety.
Be the strong fort that saves me.
3 You are my rock and my fort.
Lead me and guide me for the honor of your name.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me.
You are my place of safety.
5 Into your hands I commit my very life.
Lord, set me free. You are my faithful God.
6 I hate those who worship worthless statues of gods.
But I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and full of joy because you love me.
You saw that I was hurting.
You took note of my great pain.
8 You have not handed me over to the enemy.
You have put me in a wide and safe place.
9 Lord, have mercy on me. I’m in deep trouble.
I’m so sad I can hardly see.
My whole body grows weak with sadness.
10 Pain has taken over my life.
My years are spent in groaning.
I have no strength because I’m hurting so much.
My body is getting weaker and weaker.
11 My neighbors make fun of me
because I have so many enemies.
My closest friends are afraid of me.
People who see me on the street run away from me.
12 No one remembers me. I might as well be dead.
I have become like broken pottery.
13 I hear many people whispering,
“There is terror all around him!”
Many have joined together against me.
They plan to kill me.
14 But I trust in you, Lord.
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My whole life is in your hands.
Save me from the hands of my enemies.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
16 May you look on me with favor.
Save me because your love is faithful.
17 Lord, I have cried out to you.
Don’t let me be put to shame.
But let sinners be put to shame.
Let them lie silent in the place of the dead.
18 Their lips tell lies. Let them be silenced.
They speak with pride against those who do right.
They make fun of them.
19 You have stored up so many good things.
You have stored them up for those who have respect for you.
You give those things while everyone watches.
You give them to people who run to you for safety.
20 They are safe because you are with them.
You hide them from the evil plans of their enemies.
In your house you keep them safe
from those who bring charges against them.
21 Give praise to the Lord.
He showed me his wonderful love
when my enemies attacked the city I was in.
22 I was afraid and said,
“I’ve been cut off from you!”
But you heard my cry for your favor.
You heard me when I called out to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you who are faithful to him!
The Lord keeps safe those who are faithful to him.
But he completely pays back those who are proud.
24 Be strong, all you who put your hope in the Lord.
Never give up.
A psalm of David.
35 Lord, stand up against those who stand up against me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Pick up your shield and your armor.
Rise up and help me.
3 Get your spear and javelin ready to fight
against those who are chasing me.
Say to me, “I will save you.”
4 Let those who are trying to kill me
be brought down in dishonor.
Let those who plan to destroy me
be turned back in terror.
5 Let them be like straw blowing in the wind,
while the angel of the Lord drives them away.
6 Let their path be dark and slippery,
while the angel of the Lord chases them.
7 They set a trap for me without any reason.
Without any reason they dug a pit to catch me.
8 So let them be destroyed without warning.
Let the trap they set for me catch them.
Let them fall into the pit and be destroyed.
9 Then I will be full of joy because of what the Lord has done.
I will be glad because he has saved me.
10 My whole being will cry out,
“Who is like you, Lord?
You save poor people from those who are too strong for them.
You save poor and needy people from those who rob them.”
11 Mean people come forward to speak against me.
They ask me things I don’t know anything about.
12 They pay me back with evil, even though I was good to them.
They leave me like someone who has lost a family member.
13 But when they were sick, I put on the clothing of sadness.
I made myself humble by going without food.
My prayers for them weren’t always answered.
14 So I went around crying
as if I were mourning over my friend or relative.
I bowed my head in sadness
as if I were weeping over my mother.
15 But when I tripped and fell, they were all very happy.
Attackers gathered against me when I didn’t even know it.
They kept on telling lies about me.
16 Like ungodly people, they were mean and made fun of me.
They ground their teeth at me in hate.
17 Lord, how much longer will you just look on?
Save me from their deadly attacks.
Save the only life I have.
Save me from these lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the whole community.
Among all your people I will praise you.
19 Don’t let those who are my enemies without any reason
laugh at me and make fun of me.
Don’t let those who hate me without any reason
wink at me with an evil purpose.
20 They don’t speak words of peace.
They make up false charges
against those who live quietly in the land.
21 They make fun of me.
They say, “With our own eyes we have seen what you did.”
22 Lord, you have seen this. Don’t be silent.
Lord, don’t be far away from me.
23 Wake up! Rise up to help me!
My God and Lord, stand up for me.
24 Lord my God, when you hand down your sentence, let it be in my favor.
You always do what is right.
Don’t let my enemies have the joy of seeing me fall.
25 Don’t let them think, “That’s exactly what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let all those who laugh at me because I’m in trouble
be ashamed and bewildered.
Let all who think they are better than I am
put on shame and dishonor as if they were clothes.
27 Let those who are happy when my name is cleared
shout with joy and gladness.
Let them always say, “May the Lord be honored.
He is pleased when everything goes well with the one who serves him.”
28 You always do what is right. My tongue will speak about it
and praise you all day long.
Judah Is Like Two Baskets of Figs
24 King Jehoiachin was forced to leave Jerusalem. He was the son of Jehoiakim. Jehoiachin was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. The officials and all the skilled workers were forced to leave with him. After they left, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs. They were in front of his temple. 2 One basket had very good figs in it. They were like figs that ripen early. The other basket had very bad figs in it. In fact, they were so bad they couldn’t even be eaten.
3 Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good. But the others are so bad they can’t be eaten.”
4 Then a message from the Lord came to me. The Lord said, 5 “I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I say, ‘I consider the people who were forced to leave Judah to be like these good figs. I sent them away from this place. I forced them to go to Babylon. 6 My eyes will watch over them. I will be good to them. And I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up. I will not tear them down. I will plant them. I will not pull them up by the roots. 7 I will change their hearts. Then they will know that I am the Lord. They will be my people. And I will be their God. They will return to me with all their heart.
8 “ ‘But there are also bad figs. In fact, they are so bad they can’t be eaten,’ says the Lord. ‘Zedekiah, the king of Judah, is like these bad figs. So are his officials and the people of Jerusalem who are still left alive. I will punish them whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. 9 I will make all the kingdoms on earth displeased with them. In fact, they will hate them a great deal. They will shake their heads at them. They will curse them and make fun of them. All this will happen no matter where I force them to go. 10 I will send war, hunger and plague against them. They will be destroyed from the land I gave them and their people of long ago.’ ”
19 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still blame us? Who can oppose what he wants to do?” 20 But you are a mere human being. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, “Can what is made say to the one who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9) 21 Isn’t the potter free to make different kinds of pots out of the same lump of clay? Some are for special purposes. Others are for ordinary use.
22 What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? But he put up with the people he was angry with. They were made to be destroyed. 23 What if he put up with them to show the riches of his glory to other people? Those other people are the ones he shows his mercy to. He made them to receive his glory. 24 We are those people. He has chosen us. We do not come only from the Jewish race. Many of us are not Jews. 25 God says in Hosea,
“I will call those who are not my people ‘my people.’
I will call the one who is not my loved one ‘my loved one.’ ” (Hosea 2:23)
26 He also says,
“Once it was said to them,
‘You are not my people.’
In that very place they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” (Hosea 1:10)
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says,
“The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved.
28 The Lord will carry out his sentence.
He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.” (Isaiah 10:22,23)
29 Earlier Isaiah had said,
“The Lord who rules over all
left us children and grandchildren.
If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.
We would have been like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)
Israel Does Not Believe
30 What should we say then? Gentiles did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to obey the law to make themselves right with God. But they didn’t reach their goal of being right with God. 32 Why not? Because they tried to do it without faith. They tried to be right with God by what they did. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall. 33 It is written,
“Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip.
It is a rock that makes them fall.
The one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16)
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As Jesus went along, he saw a man who was blind. He had been blind since he was born. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned? Was this man born blind because he sinned? Or did his parents sin?”
3 “It isn’t because this man sinned,” said Jesus. “It isn’t because his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God’s power could be shown by what’s going to happen. 4 While it is still day, we must do the works of the one who sent me. Night is coming. Then no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After he said this, he spit on the ground. He made some mud with the spit. Then he put the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him. “Wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Siloam means Sent. So the man went and washed. And he came home able to see.
8 His neighbors and people who had seen him earlier begging asked questions. “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” they asked. 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No. He only looks like him.”
But the man who had been blind kept saying, “I am the man.”
10 “Then how were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed. Then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The Pharisees Want to Know How the Blind Man Was Healed
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 The day Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath day. 15 So the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied. “Then I washed. And now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “Jesus has not come from God. He does not keep the Sabbath day.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such signs?” So the Pharisees did not agree with one another.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man. “What do you have to say about him?” they asked. “It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
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