Book of Common Prayer
A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.
With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
You established the heavens.
Your faithfulness is in them.”
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.
5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh,
your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
to be feared above all those who are around him?
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
Yah, your faithfulness is around you.
9 You rule the pride of the sea.
When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours.
The earth also is yours,
the world and its fullness.
You have founded them.
12 You have created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
16 In your name they rejoice all day.
In your righteousness, they are exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength.
In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.
I have exalted a young man from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21 with whom my hand shall be established.
My arm will also strengthen him.
22 No enemy will tax him.
No wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him,
and strike those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
29 I will also make his offspring endure forever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
and don’t walk in my ordinances;
31 if they break my statutes,
and don’t keep my commandments;
32 then I will punish their sin with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I will not break my covenant,
nor alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once I have sworn by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring will endure forever,
his throne like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
38 But you have rejected and spurned.
You have been angry with your anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant of your servant.
You have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken down all his hedges.
You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way rob him.
He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.
You have made all of his enemies rejoice.
43 Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,
and haven’t supported him in battle.
44 You have ended his splendor,
and thrown his throne down to the ground.
45 You have shortened the days of his youth.
You have covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, Yahweh?
Will you hide yourself forever?
Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is,
for what vanity you have created all the children of men!
48 What man is he who shall live and not see death,
who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?[a] Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses,
which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants,
how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
51 With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh,
with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
52 Blessed be Yahweh forever more.
Amen, and Amen.
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. 25 So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn’t fear Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria don’t know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them; and behold, they kill them, because they don’t know the law of the god of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him[a] go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”
28 So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.
29 However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared Yahweh, and also made from among themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33 They feared Yahweh, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. 34 To this day they do what they did before. They don’t fear Yahweh, and they do not follow the statutes, or the ordinances, or the law, or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; 35 with whom Yahweh had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them; 36 but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him. 37 The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods. 38 You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods. 39 But you shall fear Yahweh your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However they didn’t listen, but they did what they did before. 41 So these nations feared Yahweh, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.
25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy. 26 Therefore I think that because of the distress that is on us, it’s good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you. 29 But I say this, brothers: the time is short. From now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess; 31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
27 “Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment[a] to his lifespan? 28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
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