Book of Common Prayer
(A song by David for worship.)
Trust the Lord!
1 I am not conceited, Lord,
and I don't waste my time
on impossible schemes.
2 But I have learned to feel safe
and satisfied,
like a young child
in its mother's arms.
3 People of Israel,
you must trust the Lord
now and forever.
(A song for worship.)
The Lord Is Always with His People
1 Our Lord, don't forget David
and how he suffered.
2 Mighty God of Jacob,
remember how he promised:
3 “I won't go home
or crawl into bed
4 or close my eyelids,
5 until I find a home for you,
the mighty Lord God of Jacob.”
6 (A) When we were in Ephrath,
we heard that the sacred chest
was somewhere near Jaar.
7 Then we said, “Let's go
to the throne of the Lord
and worship at his feet.”
8 Come to your new home, Lord,
you and the sacred chest
with all its power.
9 Let victory be like robes
for the priests;
let your faithful people
celebrate and shout.
10 David is your chosen one,
so don't reject him.
11 (B) You made a solemn promise
to David, when you said,
“I, the Lord, promise
that someone in your family
will always be king.
12 If they keep our agreement
and follow my teachings,
then someone in your family
will rule forever.”
13 You have gladly chosen Zion
as your home, our Lord.
14 You said, “This is my home!
I will live here forever.
15 I will bless Zion with food,
and even the poor will eat
until they are full.
16 Victory will be like robes
for the priests,
and its faithful people
will celebrate and shout.
17 (C) I will give mighty power
to the kingdom of David.
Each of my chosen kings
will shine like a lamp
18 and wear a sparkling crown.
But I will disgrace
their enemies.”
(A song for worship.)
Living Together in Peace
1 It is truly wonderful
when the people of God
live together in peace.
2 It is as beautiful as olive oil
poured on Aaron's head[a]
and running down his beard
and the collar of his robe.
3 It is like the dew
from Mount Hermon,
falling on Zion's mountains,
where the Lord has promised
to bless his people
with life forevermore.
(A song for worship.)
Praising the Lord at Night
1 Everyone who serves the Lord,
come and offer praises.
Everyone who has gathered
in his temple tonight,
2 lift your hands in prayer
toward his holy place
and praise the Lord.
3 The Lord is the Creator
of heaven and earth,
and I pray that the Lord
will bless you from Zion.
In Praise of the Lord's Kindness
1 Shout praises to the Lord!
You are his servants,
so praise his name.
2 All who serve in the temple
of the Lord our God,
3 come and shout praises.
Praise the name of the Lord!
He is kind and good.
4 He chose the family of Jacob
and the people of Israel
for his very own.
5 The Lord is much greater
than any other god.
6 He does as he chooses
in heaven and on earth
and deep in the sea.
7 The Lord makes the clouds rise
from far across the earth,
and he makes lightning
to go with the rain.
Then from his secret place
he sends out the wind.
8 The Lord killed the first-born
of people and animals
in the land of Egypt.
9 God used miracles and wonders
to fight the king of Egypt
and all of his officials.
10 He destroyed many nations
and killed powerful kings,
11 including King Sihon
of the Amorites
and King Og of Bashan.
He conquered every kingdom
in the land of Canaan
12 and gave their property
to his people Israel.
13 The name of the Lord
will be remembered forever,
and he will be famous
for all time to come.
14 The Lord will bring justice
and show mercy to all
who serve him.
15 (D) Idols of silver and gold
are made and worshiped
in other nations.
16 They have a mouth and eyes,
but they can't speak or see.
17 They are completely deaf,
and they can't breathe.
18 Everyone who makes idols
and all who trust them
will end up as helpless
as their idols.
19 Everyone in Israel,
come praise the Lord!
All the family of Aaron
20 and all the tribe of Levi,[b]
come praise the Lord!
All of his worshipers,
come praise the Lord.
21 Praise the Lord from Zion!
He lives here in Jerusalem.
Shout praises to the Lord!
Josiah Follows the Teachings of God's Law
(2 Chronicles 34.3-7)
4 (A) Josiah told Hilkiah the priest, the assistant priests, and the guards at the temple door to go into the temple and bring out the things used to worship Baal, Asherah, and the stars. Josiah had these things burned in Kidron Valley just outside Jerusalem, and he had the ashes carried away to the town of Bethel.
5 Josiah also got rid of the pagan priests at the local shrines in Judah and around Jerusalem. These were the men that the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices to Baal and to the sun, moon, and stars. 6 Josiah had the sacred pole[a] for Asherah brought out of the temple and taken to Kidron Valley, where it was burned. He then had its ashes ground into dust and scattered over the public cemetery there. 7 He had the buildings torn down where the male prostitutes[b] lived next to the temple, and where the women wove sacred robes[c] for the idol of Asherah.
8 In almost every town in Judah, priests had been offering sacrifices to the Lord at local shrines.[d] Josiah brought these priests to Jerusalem and had their shrines made unfit for worship—every shrine from Geba just north of Jerusalem to Beersheba in the south. He even tore down the shrine at Beersheba that was just to the left of Joshua Gate, which was named after the highest official of the city. 9 Those local priests could not serve at the Lord's altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat sacred bread,[e] just like the priests from Jerusalem.
10 (B) Josiah sent some men to Hinnom Valley just outside Jerusalem with orders to make the altar there unfit for worship. That way, people could no longer use it for sacrificing their children to the god Molech. 11 He also got rid of the horses that the kings of Judah used in their ceremonies to worship the sun, and he destroyed the chariots along with them. The horses had been kept near the entrance to the Lord's temple, in a courtyard[f] close to where an official named Nathan-Melech lived.
12 (C) Some of the kings of Judah, especially Manasseh, had built altars in the two courts of the temple and in the room that Ahaz had built on the palace roof. Josiah had these altars torn down and smashed to pieces, and he had the pieces thrown into Kidron Valley, just outside Jerusalem. 13 (D) After that, he closed down the shrines that Solomon had built east of Jerusalem and south of Spoil Hill to honor Astarte the disgusting goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon.[g] 14 He tore down the stone images of foreign gods and cut down the sacred pole used in the worship of Asherah. Then he had the whole area covered with human bones.[h]
15 (E) But Josiah was not finished yet. At Bethel he destroyed the shrine and the altar that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built and that had caused the Israelites to sin. Josiah had the shrine and the Asherah pole burned and ground into dust. 16 (F) As he looked around, he saw graves on the hillside. He had the bones in them dug up and burned on the altar, so that it could no longer be used. This happened just as God's prophet had said when Jeroboam was standing at the altar, celebrating a festival.[i]
Then Josiah saw the grave of the prophet who had said this would happen 17 (G) and he asked,[j] “Whose grave is that?”
Some people who lived nearby answered, “It belongs to the prophet from Judah who told what would happen to this altar.”
18 Josiah replied, “Then leave it alone. Don't dig up his bones.” So they did not disturb his bones or the bones of the old prophet from Israel who had also been buried there.[k]
19 Some of the Israelite kings had made the Lord angry by building pagan shrines all over Israel. So Josiah sent troops to destroy these shrines just as he had done to the one in Bethel. 20 He killed the priests who served at them and burned their bones on the altars.
After all that, Josiah went back to Jerusalem.
Josiah and the People of Judah Celebrate Passover
(2 Chronicles 35.1-19)
21 Josiah told the people of Judah, “Celebrate Passover in honor of the Lord your God, just as it says in The Book of God's Law.”[l]
22 This festival had not been celebrated in this way since the time that tribal leaders ruled Israel or the kings ruled Israel and Judah. 23 But in Josiah's eighteenth year as king of Judah, everyone came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
The Lord Is Still Angry with the People of Judah
24 Josiah got rid of every disgusting person and thing in Judah and Jerusalem—including magicians, fortunetellers, and idols. He did his best to obey every law written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord's temple. 25 No other king before or after Josiah tried as hard as he did to obey the Law of Moses.
Spiritual Gifts
12 My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2 I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3 Now I want you to know that if you are led by God's Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.
4 (A) There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5 There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6 and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.
7 The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. 8 Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. 9 To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick 10 or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present.[a] Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. 11 But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.
A Dying Girl and a Sick Woman
(Mark 5.21-43; Luke 8.40-56)
18 While Jesus was still speaking, an official came and knelt in front of him. The man said, “My daughter has just now died! Please come and place your hand on her. Then she will live again.”
19 Jesus and his disciples got up and went with the man.
20 A woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and barely touched his clothes. 21 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
22 Jesus turned. He saw the woman and said, “Don't worry! You are now healed because of your faith.” At that moment she was healed.
23 When Jesus went into the home of the official and saw the musicians and the crowd of mourners,[a] 24 he said, “Get out of here! The little girl isn't dead. She is just asleep.” Everyone started laughing at Jesus. 25 But after the crowd had been sent out of the house, Jesus went to the girl's bedside. He took her by the hand and helped her up.
26 News about this spread all over that part of the country.
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