Book of Common Prayer
God’s Love for Israel
105 Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him.
Tell the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him. Sing praises to him.
Tell about all the wonderful things he has done.
3 Be glad that you are his.
Let those who ask the Lord for help be happy.
4 Depend on the Lord and his strength.
Always go to him for help.
5 Remember the wonderful things he has done.
Remember his miracles and his decisions.
6 You are descendants of his servant Abraham,
the children of Jacob, his chosen people.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His laws are for all the world.
8 He will keep his agreement forever.
He will keep his promises always.
9 He will keep his agreement he made with Abraham.
He will keep the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He made it a law for the people of Jacob.
He made it an agreement with Israel to last forever.
11 The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
The promised land will belong to you.”
12 Then God’s people were few in number.
They were strangers in the land.
13 They went from one nation to another.
They went from one kingdom to another.
14 But the Lord did not let anyone hurt them.
He warned kings not to harm them.
15 He said, “Don’t hurt my chosen people.
Don’t harm my prophets.”
16 God ordered a time of hunger in the land.
And he destroyed all the food.
17 Then he sent a man ahead of them.
It was Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They put chains around his feet
and an iron ring around his neck.
19 Then the time he had spoken of came.
The Lord’s words proved that Joseph was right.
20 The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and freed him.
The ruler of the people set him free.
21 He made him the master of his house.
Joseph was in charge of his riches.
22 He could order the princes as he wished.
He taught the older men to be wise.
23 Then his father Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob, also called Israel, lived in Egypt.[a]
24 The Lord made his people grow in number.
He made them stronger than their enemies.
25 And he caused the Egyptians to hate his people.
They made plans against the Lord’s servants.
26 Then he sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They did many signs among the Egyptians.
They worked miracles in Egypt.
28 The Lord sent darkness and made the land dark.
But the Egyptians turned against what he said.
29 So he changed their water into blood
and made their fish die.
30 Then their country was filled with frogs.
They were even in the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 The Lord spoke, and flies came.
Gnats were everywhere in the country.
32 He made hail fall like rain.
And he sent lightning through their land.
33 He struck down their grapevines and fig trees.
He destroyed every tree in the country.
34 He spoke, and grasshoppers came.
The locusts were too many to count.
35 They ate all the plants in the land.
They ate what the earth produced.
36 The Lord also killed all the firstborn sons in the land,
the oldest son of each family.
37 Then he brought his people out,
and they carried with them silver and gold.
Not one of his people stumbled.
38 The Egyptians were glad when they left
because the Egyptians were afraid of them.
39 The Lord covered them with a cloud
and lit up the night with fire.
40 When they asked, he brought them quail.
He filled them with bread from heaven.
41 God split the rock, and water flowed out.
It ran like a river through the desert.
42 He remembered his holy promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 So God brought his people out with joy.
He brought out his chosen ones with singing.
44 He gave them lands that belonged to other nations.
They received what others had worked for.
45 This was so they would keep his orders
and obey his teachings.
Praise the Lord!
Aaron’s Walking Stick Buds
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel. Get 12 walking sticks from them. Get 1 from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on his stick. 3 On the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be 1 stick for the head of each tribe. 4 Put them in the Meeting Tent. Place them in front of the Ark of the Covenant, where I meet with you. 5 I will choose one man. His stick will begin to grow leaves. And I will stop the Israelites from always complaining against you.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the 12 leaders gave him a walking stick. And Aaron’s walking stick was among them. 7 Moses put them before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent. He saw that Aaron’s stick had grown leaves. (It stood for the family of Levi.) It had even budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 So Moses brought out to the Israelites all the walking sticks from the Lord’s presence. They all looked, and each man took back his stick.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back. Put it in front of the Ark of the Covenant. It will be a sign to these people who are always turning against me. This will stop their complaining against me. Now they won’t die.” 11 So Moses obeyed what the Lord commanded him.
Right with God
5 We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through our faith,[b] Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory. 3 And we also have joy with our troubles because we know that these troubles produce patience. 4 And patience produces character, and character produces hope. 5 And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. God gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.
6 Christ died for us while we were still weak. We were living against God, but at the right time, Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good man someone might possibly die. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners. In this way God shows his great love for us.
9 We have been made right with God by the blood of Christ’s death. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. 10 I mean that while we were God’s enemies, God made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are God’s friends, God will save us through his Son’s life. 11 And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we are now God’s friends again.
Jesus Talks About His Own Death
17 Jesus was going to Jerusalem. His 12 followers were with him. While they were on the way, Jesus gathered the followers together and spoke to them privately. He said to them, 18 “We are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be turned over to the leading priests and the teachers of the law. They will say that he must die. 19 They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people. They will laugh at him and beat him with whips, and then they will kill him on a cross. But on the third day after his death, he will be raised to life again.”
A Mother Asks Jesus a Favor
20 Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus. Her sons were with her. The mother bowed before Jesus and asked him to do something for her.
21 Jesus asked, “What do you want?”
She said, “Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right side in your kingdom. And promise that the other son will sit at your left side.”
22 But Jesus said, “You don’t understand what you are asking. Can you accept the kind of suffering that I must suffer?”[a]
The sons answered, “Yes, we can!”
23 Jesus said to them, “Truly you will suffer the same things that I will suffer. But I cannot choose who will sit at my right side or my left side. Those places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”
24 The other ten followers heard this and were angry with the two brothers.
25 Jesus called all the followers together. He said, “You know that the rulers of the non-Jewish people love to show their power over the people. And their important leaders love to use all their authority. 26 But it should not be that way among you. If one of you wants to become great, then he must serve the rest of you like a servant. 27 If one of you wants to become first, then he must serve the rest of you like a slave. 28 So it is with the Son of Man. The Son of Man did not come for other people to serve him. He came to serve others. The Son of Man came to give his life to save many people.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.