Book of Common Prayer
33 If you start doing wrong,
the Lord will turn rivers
into deserts,
34 (A) flowing streams
into scorched land,
and fruitful fields
into beds of salt.
35 But the Lord can also turn
deserts into lakes
and scorched land
into flowing streams.
36 If you are hungry,
you can settle there
and build a town.
37 You can plant fields
and vineyards that produce
a good harvest.
38 The Lord will bless you
with many children
and with herds of cattle.
39 Sometimes you may be crushed
by troubles and sorrows,
until only a few of you
are left to survive.
40 But the Lord will take revenge
on those who conquer you,
and he will make them wander
across desert sands.
41 When you are suffering
and in need,
he will come to your rescue,
and your families will grow
as fast as a herd of sheep.
42 You will see this because
you obey the Lord,
but everyone who is wicked
will be silenced.
43 Be wise! Remember this
and think about the kindness
of the Lord.
(A song and a psalm by David.)
With God on Our Side
1 Our God, I am faithful to you
with all my heart,
and you can trust me.
I will sing
and play music for you
with all that I am.
2 I will start playing my harps
before the sun rises.
3 I will praise you, Lord,
for everyone to hear;
I will sing hymns to you
in every nation.
4 Your love reaches higher
than the heavens,
and your loyalty extends
beyond the clouds.
5 Our God, may you be honored
above the heavens;
may your glory be seen
everywhere on earth.
6 Answer my prayers
and use your powerful arm
to give us victory.
Then the people you love
will be safe.
7 Our God, from your holy place
you made this promise:
“I will gladly divide up
the city of Shechem
and give away Succoth Valley
piece by piece.
8 The lands of Gilead
and Manasseh are mine.
Ephraim is my war helmet,
and Judah is my symbol
of royal power.
9 Moab is merely my washbasin,
and Edom belongs to me.
I shout with victory
over the Philistines.”
10 Our God, who will bring me
to the fortress
or lead me to Edom?
11 Have you rejected us?
You don't lead our armies.
12 Help us defeat our enemies!
No one else can rescue us.
13 Only you give us victory
and crush our enemies.
Sing Praises to the Lord
1 You are the Lord's people.
Obey him and celebrate!
He deserves your praise.
2 Praise the Lord with harps!
Use harps with ten strings
to make music for him.
3 Sing a new song. Shout!
Play beautiful music.
4 The Lord is truthful;
he can be trusted.
5 He loves justice and fairness,
and he is kind to everyone
everywhere on earth.
6 The Lord made the heavens
and everything in them
by his word.
7 He scooped up the ocean
and stored the water.
8 Everyone in this world
should worship and honor
the Lord!
9 As soon as he spoke
the world was created;
at his command,
the earth was formed.
10 The Lord destroys the plans
and spoils the schemes
of the nations.
11 But what the Lord has planned
will stand forever.
His thoughts never change.
12 The Lord blesses each nation
that worships only him.
He blesses his chosen ones.
13 The Lord looks at the world
14 from his throne in heaven,
and he watches us all.
15 The Lord gave us each a mind,
and nothing we do
can be hidden from him.
16 (A) Mighty armies alone
cannot win wars for a king;
great strength by itself
cannot keep a soldier safe.
17 In war the strength of a horse
cannot be trusted
to take you to safety.
18 But the Lord watches over
all
who honor him
and trust his kindness.
19 He protects them from death
and starvation.
20 We depend on you, Lord,
to help and protect us.
21 You make our hearts glad
because we trust you,
the only God.
22 Be kind and bless us!
We depend on you.
21 Now this is what I say to that king:
The people of Jerusalem
hate and make fun of you;
they laugh
behind your back.
22 Sennacherib, you cursed,
shouted, and sneered at me,
the holy God of Israel.
23 You let your officials
insult me, the Lord.
And this is how you
bragged about yourself:
“I led my chariots
to the highest heights
of Lebanon's mountains.
I went deep into its forest,
cutting down the best cedar
and cypress trees.
24 I dried up every stream
in the land of Egypt,
and I drank water
from wells I had dug.”
25 Sennacherib, now listen
to me, the Lord.
I planned all this long ago.
And you don't even realize
that I alone am the one
who decided that you
would do these things.
I let you make ruins
of fortified cities.
26 Their people became weak,
terribly confused.
They were like wild flowers
or tender young grass
growing on a flat roof,
scorched before it matures.[a]
27 I know all about you,
even how fiercely angry
you are with me.
28 I have seen your pride
and the tremendous hatred
you have for me.
Now I will put a hook
in your nose,
a bit in your mouth,[b]
then I will send you back
to where you came from.
29 Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. 30 Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. 31 I, the Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.
32 I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. 33 As surely as I am the Lord, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. 34 I will protect it for myself and for my servant David.
The Death of King Sennacherib
(Isaiah 37.36-38)
35 (A) That same night the Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them. And so the next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. 36 After this King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh.
Don't Worship Idols
10 (A) Friends, I want to remind you that all our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. 2 This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. 3 (B) All of them also ate the same spiritual food 4 (C) and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. 5 (D) But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert.
6 What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things. 7 (E) They worshiped idols, just as the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance around.” So don't worship idols. 8 (F) Some of those people did shameful things, and in a single day about 23,000 died. Don't do shameful things as they did. 9 (G) And don't try to test Christ,[a] as some of them did and were later bitten by poisonous snakes. 10 (H) Don't even grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.
12 Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. 13 (I) You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.
Some Who Wanted To Go with Jesus
(Luke 9.57-62)
18 When Jesus saw the crowd,[a] he went across Lake Galilee. 19 A teacher of the Law of Moses came up to him and said, “Teacher, I'll go anywhere with you!”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, and birds have nests. But the Son of Man doesn't have a place to call his own.”
21 (A) Another disciple said to Jesus, “Lord, let me wait till I bury my father.”
22 Jesus answered, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”[b]
A Storm
(Mark 4.35-41; Luke 8.22-25)
23 After Jesus left in a boat with his disciples, 24 a terrible storm suddenly struck the lake, and waves started splashing into their boat.
Jesus was sound asleep, 25 so the disciples went over to him and woke him up. They said, “Lord, wake up! Save us before we drown!”
26 But Jesus replied, “Why are you so afraid? You surely don't have much faith.” Then he got up and ordered the wind and the waves to calm down. And everything was calm.
27 The men in the boat were amazed and said, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.”
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