Book of Common Prayer
מ mem
97 I love your Instruction!
I think about it constantly.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies
because it is always with me.
99 I have greater insight than all my teachers
because I contemplate your laws.
100 I have more understanding than the elders
because I guard your precepts.
101 I haven’t set my feet on any evil path
so I can make sure to keep your word.
102 I haven’t deviated from any of your rules
because you are the one who has taught me.
103 Your word is so pleasing to my taste buds—
it’s sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 I’m studying your precepts—
that’s why I hate every false path.
נ nun
105 Your word is a lamp before my feet
and a light for my journey.
106 I have sworn, and I fully mean it:
I will keep your righteous rules.
107 I have been suffering so much—
Lord, make me live again according to your promise.
108 Please, Lord, accept my spontaneous gifts of praise.
Teach me your rules!
109 Though my life is constantly in danger,
I won’t forget your Instruction.
110 Though the wicked have set a trap for me,
I won’t stray from your precepts.
111 Your laws are my possession forever
because they are my heart’s joy.
112 I have decided to keep your statutes forever, every last one.
ס samek
113 I hate fickle people,
but I love your Instruction.
114 You are my shelter and my shield—
I wait for your promise.
115 Get away from me, you evildoers;
I want to guard my God’s commandments!
116 Sustain me according to your word so I can live!
Don’t let me be put to shame because of hope.
117 Support me so I can be saved
and so I can focus constantly on your statutes.
118 You discard everyone who strays from your statutes
because they are dishonest and false.
119 You dispose of all the wicked people on earth like waste—
that’s why I love your laws.
120 My body shudders because I fear you;
I’m in awe of your rules.
Psalm 81
For the music leader. According to the Gittith. Of Asaph.
81 Rejoice out loud to God, our strength!
Shout for joy to Jacob’s God!
2 Take up a song and strike the drum!
Sweet lyre along with harp!
3 Blow the horn on the new moon,
at the full moon, for our day of celebration!
4 Because this is the law for Israel;
this is a rule of Jacob’s God.
5 He made it a decree for Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt,
when I heard a language I did not yet know:
6 “I lifted the burden off your shoulders;
your hands are free of the brick basket!
7 In distress you cried out, so I rescued you.
I answered you in the secret of thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Listen, my people, I’m warning you!
If only you would listen to me, Israel.
9 There must be no foreign god among you.
You must not bow down to any strange deity.
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from Egypt’s land.
Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!
11 But my people wouldn’t listen to my voice.
Israel simply wasn’t agreeable toward me.
12 So I sent them off to follow their willful hearts;
they followed their own advice.
13 How I wish my people would listen to me!
How I wish Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would subdue their enemies in a second;
I would turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would grovel before me,
and their doom would last forever!
16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”
Psalm 82
A psalm of Asaph.
82 God takes his stand in the divine council;
he gives judgment among the gods:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
by granting favor to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the lowly and the orphan;
maintain the right of the poor and the destitute!
4 Rescue the lowly and the needy.
Deliver them from the power of the wicked!
5 They don’t know; they don’t understand;
they wander around in the dark.
All the earth’s foundations shake.
6 I hereby declare, “You are gods,
children of the Most High—all of you!
7 But you will die like mortals;
you will fall down like any prince.”
8 Rise up, God! Judge the earth
because you hold all nations in your possession!
24 So Moses went out and told the people the Lord’s words. He assembled seventy men from the people’s elders and placed them around the tent. 25 The Lord descended in a cloud, spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and placed it on the seventy elders. When the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but only this once. 26 Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the second named Medad, and the spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they hadn’t gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua, Nun’s son and Moses’ assistant since his youth, responded, “My master Moses, stop them!”
29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets with the Lord placing his spirit on them!”
Quail from the sea
30 Moses and Israel’s elders were assembled in the camp. 31 A wind from the Lord blew up and brought quails from the sea. It let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey all around the camp and about three feet deep on the ground. 32 Then the people arose and gathered the quail all that day, all night, and all the next day. The least collected was ten homers,[a] and they laid them out around the camp. 33 While the meat was still between their teeth and not yet consumed, the Lord’s anger blazed against the people. The Lord struck the people with a very great punishment. 34 The name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,[b] because there they buried the people who had the craving.
Miriam and Aaron challenge Moses
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people marched to Hazeroth.
28 Since they didn’t think it was worthwhile to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to a defective mind to do inappropriate things. 29 So they were filled with all injustice, wicked behavior, greed, and evil behavior. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deception, and malice. They are gossips, 30 they slander people, and they hate God. They are rude and proud, and they brag. They invent ways to be evil, and they are disobedient to their parents. 31 They are without understanding, disloyal, without affection, and without mercy. 32 Though they know God’s decision that those who persist in such practices deserve death, they not only keep doing these things but also approve others who practice them.
Jews are without excuse
2 So every single one of you who judge others is without any excuse. You condemn yourself when you judge another person because the one who is judging is doing the same things. 2 We know that God’s judgment agrees with the truth, and his judgment is against those who do these kinds of things. 3 If you judge those who do these kinds of things while you do the same things yourself, think about this: Do you believe that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the riches of God’s generosity, tolerance, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is supposed to lead you to change your heart and life? 5 You are storing up wrath for yourself because of your stubbornness and your heart that refuses to change. God’s just judgment will be revealed on the day of wrath. 6 God will repay everyone based on their works.[a] 7 On the one hand, he will give eternal life to those who look for glory, honor, and immortality based on their patient good work. 8 But on the other hand, there will be wrath and anger for those who obey wickedness instead of the truth because they are acting out of selfishness and disobedience. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 10 But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 11 God does not have favorites.
Greatest in the kingdom
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Then he called a little child over to sit among the disciples, 3 and said, “I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Those who humble themselves like this little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Falling into sin
6 “As for whoever causes these little ones who believe in me to trip and fall into sin, it would be better for them to have a huge stone hung around their necks and be drowned in the bottom of the lake. 7 How terrible it is for the world because of the things that cause people to trip and fall into sin! Such things have to happen, but how terrible it is for the person who causes those things to happen! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to fall into sin, chop it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life crippled or lame than to be thrown into the eternal fire with two hands or two feet. 9 If your eye causes you to fall into sin, tear it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life with one eye than to be cast into a burning hell with two eyes.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible