Book of Common Prayer
78 Hear my doctrine, O my people. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will declare high sentences of old
3 which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children; but to the generation to come we will show the praise of the LORD, His power also, and His wonderful works that He has done.
5 How He established a testimony in Jacob and ordained a Law in Israel. Which He commanded our fathers that they should teach their children,
6 so that the posterity might know it and the children which should be born should stand up and declare it to their children.
7 So that they might set their hope on God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His Commandments.
8 So that they not be as their fathers (a disobedient and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God).
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and shooting with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the Covenant of God, but refused to walk in His Law,
11 and forgot His acts and His wonderful works that He had shown them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt (in the field of Zoan).
13 He divided the sea and led them through. He also made the waters to stand as a heap.
14 Also, in the daytime, He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink, as with the great depths.
16 He also brought floods out of the stony rock, making the waters descend like the rivers.
17 But, they still sinned against Him and provoked the Highest in the wilderness
18 and tempted God in their hearts, requiring food for their lust.
19 They also spoke against God, saying, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 “Behold, He struck the rock so that the water gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can He also give bread, or prepare flesh for His people?”
21 Therefore, the LORD heard and was angry, and the fire was kindled in Jacob; and wrath also came upon Israel
22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His help.
23 Still, He had commanded the clouds above, and had opened the doors of Heaven,
24 and had rained down manna upon them to eat and had given them of the wheat of Heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food enough.
26 He caused the east wind to pass in the sky; and through His power He brought in the south wind.
27 He also rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the sea.
28 And He made it fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations.
29 So they ate and were well-filled; for He gave them their desire.
30 They were not turned from their lusts. The food was still in their mouths
31 when the wrath of God came upon them and slew the strongest of them and struck down the chosen men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe His wondrous works.
33 Therefore, He ended their days in futility, and their years in dismay.
34 And when He slew them, they sought Him; and they returned and sought God earnestly.
35 And they remembered that God was their strength, and the Most High God their Redeemer.
36 But they flattered Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not upright with Him; nor were they faithful in His Covenant.
38 Yet, He, being merciful, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; but oftentimes called back His anger and did not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they were flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again.
40 How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert?
41 Indeed, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered neither His hand nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy
43 nor Him Who set His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan.
44 Who turned their rivers into blood, and their floods, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent a swarm of flies among them which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them.
46 He also gave their fruits to the caterpillar, and their labor to the grasshopper.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their wild fig trees with the hailstone.
48 He also gave their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to the thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, indignation and wrath, and troubled them by sending out evil angels.
50 He made a path for His anger. He did not spare their soul from death but gave their life to the pestilence.
51 He struck all the firstborn in Egypt, even the beginning of their strength, in the tabernacles of Ham.
52 But, He made His people go out like sheep and led them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 Indeed, He carried them out safely, and they did not fear; and the sea covered their enemies.
54 And He brought them to the borders of His Sanctuary, to this Mountain which His right hand purchased.
55 He also cast out the heathen before them and caused them to fall to the lot of His inheritance; and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tabernacles.
56 Yet, they tempted and provoked the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies.
57 But they turned back and dealt falsely, like their fathers. They turned like a deceitful bow.
58 And they provoked Him to anger with their high places and moved Him to wrath with their graven images.
59 God heard this and was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel;
60 so that He abandoned the habitation of Shiloh, the Tabernacle where He dwelt among men,
61 and delivered His power into captivity, and His beauty into the enemy’s hand.
62 And He gave up His people to the sword and was angry with His inheritance.
63 The fire devoured their chosen men, and their maids were not praised.
64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows did not lament.
65 But the LORD awakened, as one out of sleep, as a strong man who cries out after wine,
66 and drove His enemies backwards and put them to a perpetual shame.
67 Yet, He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 But He chose the tribe of Judah, and Mount Zion, which He loved.
69 And He built His Sanctuary as a high palace, like the Earth, which He established forever.
70 He also chose David, His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 Even from behind the ewes with young. He brought him to feed His people in Jacob, and His inheritance in Israel.
72 So, he fed them according to the simplicity of his heart and guided them by the discretion of his hands. A Psalm committed to Asaph
26 “Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You and cast Your Law behind their backs and killed Your Prophets who protested among them to turn them to You! And they committed great blasphemies!
27 “Therefore, You delivered them into the hand of their enemies who troubled them! Still, in the time of their affliction, when they cried to You, You heard them from Heaven! And through Your great mercies, You gave them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries!
28 “But when they had rest, they returned to do evil before You! Therefore, You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them! Yet, when they returned and cried to You, You heard them from Heaven and delivered them according to Your great mercies, many times,
29 “and testified among them, so that You might bring them back to Your Law! But they behaved proudly and did not listen to Your Commandments, but sinned against Your Judgments (which a man should do and live in them) and pulled away the shoulder and were stiff-necked and would not hear!
30 “Yet, You put up with them for many years, and testified among them by Your Spirit, by the hand of Your Prophets, but they would not hear! Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the people of the lands!
31 “Yet, because of Your great mercies, You have not consumed them or forsaken them! For You are a gracious and merciful God!
32 “Now therefore our God, You, great God, mighty and terrible, Who keeps covenant and mercy, do not let all the affliction that has come to us seem little before You, to our kings, to our princes, to our priests, to our Prophets, to our fathers and to all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day!
33 “Surely, You are just in all that has come upon us! For You have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly!
34 “And our kings and our princes, our priests and our fathers, have neither done Your Law nor regarded Your Commandments nor Your Testimonies with which You have testified among them!
35 “And they have not served You in their kingdom, and in Your great goodness that You showed to them, and in the large and fat land which You set before them and have not turned back from their evil works!
36 “Behold, we are servants this day! And the land that You gave to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its goodness, behold, we are servants in it!
37 “And it yields much fruit to the kings whom You have set over us, because of our sins! And they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure! And we are in great affliction!
38 “Now because of all this, we make a sure covenant and write it! And our princes, our Levites and our priests seal it!”
9 And the kings of the Earth who have committed fornication, and lived in pleasure with her, shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning.
10 And they shall stand at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon; that mighty city! For in one hour has your judgment come!”
11 And the merchants of the Earth shall weep and wail over her. For no one buys their wares anymore.
12 The wares of gold and silver and of precious stone and of pearls and of fine linen and of purple and of silk and of scarlet and of all manner of citron wood and of all vessels of ivory and of all vessels of most precious wood and of brass and of iron and of marble
13 and of cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and servants and souls of man.
14 “And the ripe fruits that your soul lusted after, have departed from you. And all things which were fat and excellent, have departed from you. And you shall find them no more.”
15 The merchants of these things (who had grown rich) shall stand at a distance from her for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.
16 And saying, “Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 “In one hour so great riches have come to desolation!” And every shipmaster, and all the people who occupy ships, and shipmen, and whoever traffics on the sea, shall stand at a distance
18 and cry when they see the smoke of her burning, saying, “What city was like this great city!?”
19 And they shall cast dust on their heads and cry, weeping and wailing, and say, “Alas, alas, that great city wherein were made rich all who had ships on the sea by her coastlines! For in one hour she was made desolate!
20 “O Heaven, rejoice over her; and you, holy Apostles and Prophets! For God has punished her and judged against her for your sakes!”
21 And Jesus left there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And behold, a Gentile woman came out of the same region, and cried, saying to Him, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, the Son of David! My daughter is badly possessed by a demon!”
23 But He did not answer her a word. Then His disciples came to Him and urged Him, saying, “Send her away. For she cries after us.”
24 But He answered, and said, “I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
25 Still, she came and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord help me.”
26 And He answered, and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.”
27 But she said, “Truth, Lord. Yet, even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, and said to her, “O, woman. Great is your faith. Let it be as you desire.” And her daughter was made whole at that hour.
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