Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Faith in Troubled Times
For the director of music. A song of David.
31 Lord, I trust in you.
Let me never be disgraced.
Save me because you do what is right.
2 Listen to me.
Save me quickly.
Be my rock of protection,
a strong city to save me.
3 You are my rock and my protection.
For the good of your name, lead me and guide me.
4 Set me free from the trap they set for me.
You are my protection.
5 I give you my life.
Save me, Lord, God of truth.
6 I hate those who worship false gods.
I trust only in the Lord.
7 I will be glad because of your love.
You saw my suffering.
You knew my troubles.
8 You have not let my enemies defeat me.
You have set me in a safe place.
9 Lord, have mercy. I am in misery.
My eyes are weak from so much crying.
My whole being is tired from grief.
10 My life is ending in sadness.
My years are spent in crying.
My troubles are using up my strength.
My bones are getting weaker.
11 Because of all my troubles, my enemies hate me.
Even my neighbors look down on me.
When my friends see me,
they are afraid and run.
12 I am like a piece of a broken pot.
I am forgotten as if I were dead.
13 I have heard many insults.
Terror is all around me.
They make plans against me.
They want to kill me.
14 Lord, I trust you.
I have said, “You are my God.”
15 My life is in your hands.
Save me from my enemies’ grasp.
Save me from those who are chasing me.
16 Show your kindness to me, your servant.
Save me because of your love.
17 Lord, I called to you.
So do not let me be disgraced.
Let the wicked be disgraced.
Let them lie silent in the grave.
18 With pride and hatred
they speak against the righteous.
So shut their lying lips.
19 How great is your goodness!
You have stored it up for those who fear you.
You do good things for those who trust you.
You do this for all to see.
20 You protect them by your presence
from what people plan against them.
You keep them safe in your shelter
from evil words.
21 Praise the Lord.
His love to me was wonderful
when my city was attacked.
22 In my distress, I said,
“God cannot see me!”
But you heard my prayer
when I cried out to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you who belong to him.
The Lord protects those who truly believe.
But he punishes the proud as much as they have sinned.
24 All you who put your hope in the Lord
be strong and brave.
A Prayer for Help
Of David.
35 Lord, battle with those who battle with me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
2 Pick up the shield and armor.
Rise up and help me.
3 Lift up your spears, both large and small,
against those who chase me.
Tell me, “I will save you.”
4 Make those who want to kill me
be ashamed and disgraced.
Make those who plan to harm me
turn back and run away.
5 Make them like chaff blown by the wind.
Let the angel of the Lord chase them away.
6 Let their road be dark and slippery
as the angel of the Lord chases them.
7 For no reason they spread out their net to trap me.
For no reason they dug a pit for me.
8 So let ruin strike them suddenly.
Let them be caught in their own nets.
Let them fall into the pit and die.
9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will be happy when he saves me.
10 Even my bones will say,
“Lord, who is like you?
You save the weak from the strong.
You save the weak and poor from robbers.”
11 Men without mercy stand up to testify.
They ask me things I do not know.
12 They repay me with evil for the good I have done.
They make me very sad.
13 Yet when they were sick, I put on rough cloth to show my sadness.
I showed my sorrow by going without food.
But my prayers were not answered.
14 I acted as if they were my friends or brothers.
I bowed in sadness as if I were crying for my mother.
15 But when I was in trouble, they gathered and laughed.
They gathered to attack before I knew it.
They insulted me without stopping.
16 They made fun of me and were cruel to me.
They ground their teeth at me in anger.
17 Lord, how long will you watch this happen?
Save my life from their attacks.
Save me from these people who are like lions.
18 I will praise you in the great meeting.
I will praise you among crowds of people.
19 Do not let my enemies laugh at me.
They hate me for no reason.
Do not let them make fun of me.
They have no reason to hate me.
20 Their words are not friendly.
They think up lies about peace-loving people.
21 They speak against me.
They say, “Aha! We saw what you did!”
22 Lord, you have been watching. Do not keep quiet.
Lord, do not leave me alone.
23 Wake up! Come and defend me!
My God and Lord, fight for me!
24 Lord my God, defend me with your justice.
Don’t let them laugh at me.
25 Don’t let them think, “Aha! We got what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say, “We destroyed him.”
26 Let them be ashamed and embarrassed.
They were happy when I hurt.
Cover them with shame and disgrace.
They thought they were better than I was.
27 May my friends sing and shout for joy.
May they always say, “Praise the greatness of the Lord.
He loves to see his servants do well.”
28 I will tell of your goodness.
I will praise you every day.
David Goes to See Ahimelech
21 David went to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech shook with fear when he saw David. He asked David, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 David answered him, “The king gave me a special order. He told me, ‘No one must know about the work I am sending you to do. And no one must know what I told you to do.’ I told my men where to meet me. 3 Now, what food do you have with you? Give me five loaves of bread or anything you find.”
4 The priest said to David, “I don’t have any plain bread here. But I do have some holy bread[a] here. You may eat it if your men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David answered, “Women have been kept from us. My men always keep their bodies holy, even when we do ordinary work. And this is especially true when the work is holy.”
6 There was no bread except the bread made holy for the Lord. So the priest gave David the bread that showed the people were in the presence of God. This was the bread the priests had taken from the holy table before the Lord. Each day they took this bread away and put hot bread in its place.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day. He had been held there before the Lord. He was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword here? The king’s business was very important. I had to leave quickly, and I didn’t bring my sword or any other weapon.”
9 The priest answered, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine is here. He is the one you killed in the Valley of Elah. His sword is wrapped in a cloth. It is behind the holy vest. If you want it, you may take it. There’s no other sword here but that one.”
David said, “There is no other sword like Goliath’s. Give it to me.”
David Goes to Gath
10 That day David ran away from Saul. He went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “This is David king of the Israelites. He’s the man the Israelite women sing about when they dance. They sing:
‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies.
But David has killed tens of thousands.’”
12 David paid attention to these words. And he was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in front of Achish and his servants. While he was with them, he acted like a madman. He made marks on the doors of the gate. He let spit run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He’s insane! Why do you bring him to me? 15 I have enough madmen. I don’t need you to bring him here to act like this in front of me! Don’t leave him in my house!”
Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus
13 Paul and those with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, in Pamphylia. But John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any message that will encourage the people, please speak!”
16 Paul stood up. He raised his hand and said, “Men of Israel and you other people who worship God, please listen! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt. He brought them out of that country with great power. 18 And he was patient with them[a] for 40 years in the desert. 19 God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. 20 All this happened in about 450 years.
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. 22 After God took him away, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse. He is the kind of man I want. He will do all that I want him to do.’ 23 So God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. And God promised to do this. 24 Before Jesus came, John[b] preached to all the people of Israel. He told them about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. 25 When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later. I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’
Many People Follow Jesus
7 Jesus left with his followers for the lake. A large crowd from Galilee followed him. 8 Also many people came from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from the lands across the Jordan River, and from the area of Tyre and Sidon. They came because they had heard about all the things Jesus was doing. 9 Jesus saw the crowds. So he told his followers to get a boat ready for him. He wanted the boat so that the many people would not crowd themselves against him. 10 He had healed many people. So all the sick were pushing toward him to touch him. 11 Some had evil spirits in them. When the evil spirits saw Jesus, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But Jesus strongly commanded the spirits not to tell who he was.
Jesus Chooses His 12 Apostles
13 Then Jesus went up on a hill and called some men to come to him. These were the men Jesus wanted, and they went up to him. 14 Jesus chose 12 men and called them apostles.[a] He wanted these 12 to be with him, and he wanted to send them to other places to preach. 15 He also wanted them to have the power to force demons out of people. 16 These are the 12 men he chose: Simon (Jesus gave him the name Peter); 17 James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder”); 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot. Judas is the one who gave Jesus to his enemies.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.