Book of Common Prayer
33 He dries up rivers 34 and turns the good land of the wicked into deserts of salt. 35 Again, he turns deserts into fertile, watered valleys. 36 He brings the hungry to settle there and build their cities, 37 to sow their fields and plant their vineyards, and reap their bumper crops! 38 How he blesses them! They raise big families there and many cattle.
39 But others become poor through oppression, trouble, and sorrow. 40 For God pours contempt upon the haughty and causes princes to wander among ruins; 41 but he rescues the poor who are godly and gives them many children and much prosperity. 42 Good men everywhere will see it and be glad, while evil men are stricken silent.
43 Listen, if you are wise, to what I am saying. Think about the loving-kindness of the Lord!
108 O God, my heart is ready to praise you! I will sing and rejoice before you.
2 Wake up, O harp and lyre! We will meet the dawn with song. 3 I will praise you everywhere around the world, in every nation. 4 For your loving-kindness is great beyond measure, high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches the skies. 5 His glory is far more vast than the heavens. It towers above the earth. 6 Hear the cry of your beloved child—come with mighty power and rescue me.
7 God has given sacred promises; no wonder I exult! He has promised to give us all the land of Shechem and also Succoth Valley. 8 “Gilead is mine to give to you,” he says, “and Manasseh as well; the land of Ephraim is the helmet on my head. Judah is my scepter. 9 But Moab and Edom are despised;[a] and I will shout in triumph over the Philistines.”
10 Who but God can give me strength to conquer these fortified cities? Who else can lead me into Edom?
11 Lord, have you thrown us away? Have you deserted our army? 12 Oh, help us fight against our enemies, for men are useless allies. 13 But with the help of God we shall do mighty acts of valor. For he treads down our foes.
33 Let all the joys of the godly well up in praise to the Lord, for it is right to praise him. 2 Play joyous melodies of praise upon the lyre and on the harp. 3 Compose new songs of praise to him, accompanied skillfully on the harp; sing joyfully.
4 For all God’s words are right, and everything he does is worthy of our trust. 5 He loves whatever is just and good; the earth is filled with his tender love. 6 He merely spoke, and the heavens were formed and all the galaxies of stars. 7 He made the oceans, pouring them into his vast reservoirs.
8 Let everyone in all the world—men, women, and children—fear the Lord and stand in awe of him. 9 For when he but spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command! 10 And with a breath he can scatter the plans of all the nations who oppose him, 11 but his own plan stands forever. His intentions are the same for every generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his own. 13-15 The Lord gazes down upon mankind from heaven where he lives. He has made their hearts and closely watches everything they do.
16-17 The best-equipped army cannot save a king—for great strength is not enough to save anyone. A war horse is a poor risk for winning victories—it is strong, but it cannot save.
18-19 But the eyes of the Lord are watching over those who fear him, who rely upon his steady love. He will keep them from death even in times of famine! 20 We depend upon the Lord alone to save us. Only he can help us; he protects us like a shield. 21 No wonder we are happy in the Lord! For we are trusting him. We trust his holy name. 22 Yes, Lord, let your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in you alone.
14 While Moses was at Kadesh he sent messengers to the king of Edom: “We are the descendants of your brother, Israel,”[a] he declared. “You know our sad history, 15 how our ancestors went down to visit Egypt and stayed there so long, and became slaves of the Egyptians. 16 But when we cried to the Lord he heard us and sent an Angel who brought us out of Egypt, and now we are here at Kadesh, encamped on the borders of your land. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will be careful not to go through your planted fields, nor through your vineyards; we won’t even drink water from your wells, but will stay on the main road and not leave it until we have crossed your border on the other side.”
18 But the king of Edom said, “Stay out! If you attempt to enter my land, I will meet you with an army!”
19 “But, sir,” protested the Israeli ambassadors, “we will stay on the main road and will not even drink your water unless we pay whatever you demand for it. We only want to pass through and nothing else.”
20 But the king of Edom was adamant. “Stay out!” he warned, and, mobilizing his army, he marched to the frontier with a great force. 21-22 Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel turned back and journeyed from Kadesh to Mount Hor.
23 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at the border of the land of Edom, 24 “The time has come for Aaron to die—for he shall not enter the land I have given the people of Israel, for the two of you rebelled against my instructions concerning the water at Meribah. 25 Now take Aaron and his son Eleazar and lead them up onto Mount Hor. 26 There you shall remove Aaron’s priestly garments from him and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall die there.”
27 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. The three[b] of them went up together into Mount Hor as all the people watched. 28 When they reached the summit, Moses removed the priestly garments from Aaron and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar returned, 29 and when the people were informed of Aaron’s death, they mourned for him for thirty days.
6 Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness?
2-3 Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don’t have to? For sin’s power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ; through his death the power of your sinful nature was shattered. 4 Your old sin-loving nature was buried with him by baptism when he died; and when God the Father, with glorious power, brought him back to life again, you were given his wonderful new life to enjoy.
5 For you have become a part of him, and so you died with him, so to speak, when he died;[a] and now you share his new life and shall rise as he did. 6 Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with him; that part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin’s control, no longer needs to be a slave to sin; 7 for when you are deadened to sin you are freed from all its allure and its power over you. 8 And since your old sin-loving nature “died” with Christ, we know that you will share his new life. 9 Christ rose from the dead and will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 He died once for all to end sin’s power, but now he lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God. 11 So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
21 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, and were near the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of them into the village ahead.
2 “Just as you enter,” he said, “you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. 3 If anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, ‘The Master needs them,’ and there will be no trouble.”
4 This was done to fulfill the ancient prophecy, 5 “Tell Jerusalem her King is coming to her, riding humbly on a donkey’s colt!”
6 The two disciples did as Jesus said, 7 and brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt[a] for him to ride on. 8 And some in the crowd threw down their coats along the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them out before him.
9 Then the crowds surged on ahead and pressed along behind, shouting, “God bless King David’s Son!” . . . “God’s Man is here!”[b] . . . “Bless him, Lord!” . . . “Praise God in highest heaven!”
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.