Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for God to Be Near
For the director of music. A song of David.
13 How long will you forget me, Lord?
How long will you hide from me? Forever?
2 How long must I worry?
How long must I feel sad in my heart?
How long will my enemy win over me?
3 Lord, look at me.
Answer me, my God.
Tell me, or I will die.
4 Otherwise my enemy will say, “I have won!”
Those against me will rejoice that I’ve been defeated.
5 I trust in your love.
My heart is happy because you saved me.
6 I sing to the Lord
because he has taken care of me.
18 There is no God like you.
You forgive people who are guilty of sin.
You don’t look at the sins of your people
who are left alive.
You, Lord, will not stay angry forever.
You enjoy being kind.
19 Lord, you will have mercy on us again.
You will conquer our sins.
You will throw away all our sins
into the deepest sea.
20 You will be true to the people of Jacob!
You will be kind to the people of Abraham.
You will do what you promised
to our ancestors long ago.
2 Listen! I am Paul. I tell you that if you go back to the law by being circumcised, then Christ is no good for you. 3 Again, I warn every man: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, then you must follow all the law. 4 If you try to be made right with God through the law, then your life with Christ is over—you have left God’s grace. 5 But we hope to be made right with God through faith, and we wait for this hope anxiously with the Spirit’s help. 6 When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.