Book of Common Prayer

God’s Work with Israel

105 O give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make His works known among the people. ² Sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Tell of all His great works. ³ Honor His holy name. Let the heart of those who look to the Lord be glad. ⁴ Look for the Lord and His strength. Look for His face all the time. ⁵ Remember the great and powerful works that He has done. Keep in mind what He has decided and told us, ⁶ O children of His servant Abraham, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! ⁷ He is the Lord our God. What He has decided is in all the earth.

⁸ He has remembered His agreement forever, the promise He made to last through a thousand families-to-come, ⁹ the agreement that He made with Abraham, and His promise to Isaac. ¹⁰ He gave it to Jacob as a Law, to Israel as an agreement that will last forever. ¹¹ He said, “I will give the land of Canaan to you as your share,” ¹² when they were only a few men in number and were strangers in it. ¹³ They went from nation to nation, from the people under one king to the people under another. ¹⁴ He did not allow anyone to hold power over them. And He spoke sharp words to kings because of them. ¹⁵ He said, “Do not touch My chosen ones. And do not hurt those who speak for Me.”

¹⁶ Then He called for a time of no food on the land. He cut off all their bread. ¹⁷ He sent a man, Joseph, before them who was sold as a servant. ¹⁸ They hurt his feet with chains. He was put in irons, ¹⁹ until what he had said would happen came to pass. The Word of the Lord tested him. ²⁰ The king sent and had him taken out of prison. The ruler of many people set him free. ²¹ He made him the lord of his house and ruler over all he had. ²² He could punish the rulers as he pleased. And he taught wisdom to the wise. ²³ Then Israel also came into Egypt. So Jacob stayed in the land of Ham. ²⁴ And He made the number of His people grow until they were stronger than those who held power over them.

²⁵ He turned their hearts to hate His people and to make plans against His servants. ²⁶ He sent Moses, His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. ²⁷ They did His great works for them to see, powerful works in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness and made the land dark. They did not fight against what He told them to do. ²⁹ He changed their water into blood, so their fish died. ³⁰ Their land became covered with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. ³¹ He spoke and there came many flies all over their land. ³² He gave them hail instead of rain, and lightning like fire in their land. ³³ He destroyed their vines and fig trees and the trees of their country. ³⁴ He spoke and the locusts came. There were too many to number. ³⁵ They ate up all the plants in their country. They ate all the fruit of their land. ³⁶ He killed all the first-born in their land, the first fruits of all their strength.

³⁷ Then He brought Israel out with silver and gold. And there was not one weak person among their families. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they left. For they had become afraid of Israel. ³⁹ He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light at night. ⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought them quails for meat. And He filled them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹ He opened the rock and water flowed out. It flowed in the desert like a river. ⁴² For He remembered His holy Word with Abraham His servant. ⁴³ And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing. ⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations. They were given what others had worked for, ⁴⁵ so that they might do what He told them and keep His Law. Praise the Lord!

²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in the language of Judah, saying, “Hear the word of the great king of Assyria. ²⁹ The king says, ‘Do not let Hezekiah lie to you. For he will not be able to save you from my power. ³⁰ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will save us for sure. And this city will not be given to the king of Assyria.” ³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria says, “Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat of his own vine and fig tree. And every one of you will drink the water of his own well. ³² Then I will come and take you away to a land like your own land. It is a land of grain and new wine. It is a land of bread and grape-fields and olive trees and honey. There you will live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he lies to you, saying, “The Lord will save us.” ³³ Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they saved Samaria from my power? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of the lands have saved their land from my power? So how should the Lord save Jerusalem from my power?’” ³⁶ But the people were quiet. They did not answer him a word. For Hezekiah had told them, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was the head of the house, and Shebna the writer, and Joah the son of Asaph who wrote down the things of the nation, came to Hezekiah. They came with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

A Missionary’s Rights

9 Am I not a missionary? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not Christians because of the work I have done for the Lord? ² Other people may not think of me as a missionary, but you do. It proves I am a missionary because you are Christians now. ³ When people ask questions about me, I say this: ⁴ Do we not have the right to have food and drink when we are working for the Lord? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take a Christian wife along with us? The other missionaries do. The Lord’s brothers do and Peter does. ⁶ Are Barnabas and I the only ones who should keep working for a living so we can preach?

⁷ Have you ever heard of a soldier who goes to war and pays for what he needs himself? Have you ever heard of a man planting a field of grapes and not eating some of the fruit? Have you ever heard of a farmer who feeds cattle and does not drink some of the milk? ⁸ These things are not just what men think are right to do. God’s Law speaks about this. ⁹ God gave Moses the Law. It says, “When the cow is made to walk on the grain to break it open, do not stop it from eating some.” ^(A) Does God care about the cow? ¹⁰ Did not God speak about this because of us. For sure, this was written for us. The man who gets the fields ready and the man who gathers in the grain should expect some of the grain. ¹¹ We have planted God’s Word among you. Is it too much to expect you to give us what we need to live each day? ¹² If other people have the right to expect this from you, do we not have more right? But we have not asked this of you. We have suffered many things. We did this so the Good News of Christ would not be held back.

¹³ You must know that those who work in the house of God get their food there. Those who work at the altar in the house of God get a part of the food that is given there. ¹⁴ The Lord has said also that those who preach the Good News should get their living from those who hear it.

¹⁵ I have not used any of these things. I am not writing now to get anything. I would rather die than lose the joy of preaching to you without you paying me.

²² Many people will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not preach in Your Name? Did we not put out demons in Your Name? Did we not do many powerful works in Your Name?’ ²³ Then I will say to them in plain words, ‘I never knew you. Go away from Me, you who do wrong!’

Jesus Teaches about Houses Built on Rock or Sand

²⁴ “Whoever hears these words of Mine and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵ The rain came down. The water came up. The wind blew and hit the house. The house did not fall because it was built on rock. ²⁶ Whoever hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down. The water came up. The wind blew and hit the house. The house fell and broke apart.” ²⁸ Then Jesus finished talking. The people were surprised and wondered about His teaching. ²⁹ He was teaching them as One Who has the right and the power to teach. He did not teach as the teachers of the Law.