Book of Common Prayer

God Loves Jerusalem

A song of the sons of Korah.

Book 4

Psalms 90—106

God Is Eternal, and We Are Not

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

God’s Love Continues Forever

“Don’t Bury Me in Egypt”

²⁷ The Israelites continued to live in the land of Goshen in Egypt. There they got possessions. They had many children and grew in number.

²⁸ Jacob, also called Israel, lived in Egypt 17 years. So he lived to be 147 years old. ²⁹ Israel knew he soon would die. So he called his son Joseph to him. He said to Joseph, “If you love me, put your hand under my leg.^[a] Promise me you will not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ When I die, carry me out of Egypt. Bury me where my ancestors are buried.”

Joseph answered, “I will do as you say.”

³¹ Then Jacob said, “Promise me.” And Joseph promised him that he would do this. Then Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his walking stick.

Blessings for Manasseh and Ephraim

48 Some time later Joseph learned that his father was very sick. So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim and went to his father. ² When Joseph arrived, someone told Jacob, also called Israel, “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” Jacob was weak. So he used all his strength and sat up on his bed.

³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God All-Powerful appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan. God blessed me there. ⁴ He said to me, ‘I will give you many children. I will make you the father of many peoples. And I will give your descendants this land forever.’ ⁵ Your two sons were born here in Egypt before I came. They will be counted as my own sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be my sons just as Reuben and Simeon are my sons. ⁶ But if you have other children, they will be your own. But their land will be part of the land given to Ephraim and Manasseh. ⁷ When I came from Northwest Mesopotamia, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. We were traveling toward Ephrath. This made me very sad. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” (Today Ephrath is Bethlehem.)

Don’t Be Like the Jews

10 Brothers, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the cloud, and they all went through the sea. ² They were all baptized as followers of Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food. ⁴ And they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them. That rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not pleased with most of them. They died in the desert.

⁶ And these things that happened are examples for us. They should stop us from wanting evil things as those people did. ⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. It is written in the Scriptures: “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had wild parties.”^{[a] 8} We should not take part in sexual sin, as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sins. ⁹ We should not test the Lord as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not complain as some of them did. They were killed by the angel that destroys.

¹¹ The things that happened to those people are examples. And they were written down to be warnings for us. For we live in a time when all these things of the past have reached their goal. ¹² So anyone who thinks he is standing strong should be careful not to fall. ¹³ The only temptations that you have are the temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to stand it.

Obey God’s Law Not Men’s

7 Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean. (“Not clean” means that they did not wash their hands in the way the Pharisees said people must. ³ The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in this special way. They do this to follow the teaching given to them by their great people who lived before them. ⁴ And when the Jews buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash it in a special way. They also follow other rules of their great people who lived before them. They follow rules about the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a])

⁵ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Your followers don’t follow the rules given to us by our great people who lived before us. Your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean. Why do they do this?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah wrote,

⁸ You have stopped following the commands of God. Now you only follow the teachings of men.”^[b]

⁹ Then Jesus said to them: “You think you are clever! You ignore the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother.’^[c] Then Moses also said, ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[d] 11} But you teach that a person can say to his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you. But I will not use it for you. I will give it to God.’ ¹² You are telling that person that he does not have to do anything for his father or mother. ¹³ So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow your own rules, which you teach people. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ Jesus called the people to him again. He said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing a person puts into his body that makes him unclean. A person is made unclean by the things that come out of him. ¹⁶ [Let those with ears use them and listen!]”^[e]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the people and went inside, his followers asked him about this story. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean. ¹⁹ Food does not go into a person’s mind. Food goes into his stomach. Then that food goes out of his body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that there is no food that is unclean for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of a man are the things that make him unclean. ²¹ All these evil things begin inside a person, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² selfishness, doing bad things to other people, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, saying bad things about people, pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from within a person. These things make a person unclean.”