Book of Common Prayer

⁴ Remember me, O Eternal One, when You show kindness to Your people;
    don’t forget me when You are saving them.
⁵ That way I can know how good it is to be Your chosen people;
    that way I can celebrate the joy of Your nation;
    that way I can join those who belong to You in unending praise.

⁶ Like our ancestors, we have sinned;
    we have done wicked things.
⁷ When our ancestors were leaving Egypt,
    they did not consider Your marvelous acts.
They forgot Your overwhelming kindness to them
    and instead rebelled at the Red Sea.^[a]
8 Nevertheless, God saved them for the honor of His name
    so He could show His power to the world.
⁹ He gave the order, and the waters of the Red Sea dried up,
    and He led the people across the sea floor as though it were the wilderness.
¹⁰ That’s how He liberated them from their enemies
    and rescued them from the hand of their oppressors.
¹¹ After that the sea surged and covered their foes,
    and every one of them drowned in its waters.
¹² When God’s people saw what He did, they believed what He said
    and they sang praises to Him.

¹³ But it didn’t take long for them to forget what He had done.
    They moved on without waiting for His instructions,
¹⁴ So our ancestors became very hungry in the wilderness
    and the rabble grumbled and complained, testing God’s patience in the desert.
¹⁵ Although He granted their request,
    He also sent a disease that caused them to waste away.

¹⁶ While they were camped in the desert, some began to be jealous of Moses
    and Aaron, the holy priest of the Eternal.
¹⁷ The earth opened up, and a deep fissure swallowed Dathan
    and buried Abiram’s group.
¹⁸ A blaze ignited where they were gathered;
    the fire consumed the wicked mob.

¹⁹ The people made a golden calf in Horeb
    and bowed to worship an image they had made.
²⁰ They traded the glory of God
    for the likeness of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They forgot about God, their True Savior,
    who had done great things for them in Egypt—
²² Miracles in the land of Ham
    and amazing deeds at the Red Sea.
²³ Therefore, He declared in His anger that He would wipe them away.
    If Moses, His chosen one,
Had not pleaded for the people,
    His anger would have destroyed them.

²⁴ At the edge of the beautiful land God had promised them,
    they didn’t trust His words, so they refused to enter.
²⁵ They complained when they were gathered in their tents;
    they ignored the voice of the Eternal.
²⁶ Because of their attitude, He swore,
    “I’ll leave you where you fall in the desert.
²⁷ I’ll scatter your children—whoever is left—
    throughout the nations all over the earth.”

²⁸ Then they aligned themselves with the god of Peor,
    and they ate sacrifices that had been made to lifeless gods.
²⁹ Through their actions, they stirred up His anger,
    and a plague broke out in their midst.
³⁰ Then Phinehas took a stand and intervened,
    so the plague was stopped.
³¹ And God saw what he did and considered him righteous,
    a man to be honored by all generations forever.

³² Again they stirred up His anger at the waters of Meribah,
    and serious trouble came to Moses because of them;
³³ Because they stood against the Spirit,
    Moses spoke rashly with them.

³⁴ Later, after they entered the promised land, they did not eradicate the peoples,
    as the Eternal had ordered them to do,
³⁵ But they mixed and married with the outsider nations,
    adopted their practices,
³⁶ And worshiped their idols,
    which entrapped them.
³⁷ They even offered their sons
    and daughters as sacrifices to the demons.
³⁸ The promised land was corrupted by the innocent blood
    they offered to the idols of Canaan,
The blood of their very own sons and daughters.
³⁹ They became impure because of their unfaithful works;
    by their actions, they prostituted themselves to other gods.

⁴⁰ Therefore the Eternal’s anger was ignited against His people;
    He came to despise the people of His inheritance.
⁴¹ So He handed them over to the control of foreign nations,
    to be ruled by people who hated them.
⁴² Their enemies exploited them, victimized them,
    and restrained them by abusive power.
⁴³ He delivered them over and over again;
    however, they were slow to learn and deliberately rebelled.
    Their sins humbled them and nearly destroyed them.
⁴⁴ Nevertheless, He saw their great struggle, took pity on them,
    and heard their prayers;
⁴⁵ He did not forget His covenant promises to them
    but reversed their fortune and released them from their punishment
    because of His loyal love.
⁴⁶ He changed the hearts of all who held them captive
    so that they would show compassion on them.

⁴⁷ Save us, O Eternal One our God,
    and gather us who are scattered among all the nations,
That we may give thanks to Your holy name
    and celebrate Your amazing greatness with praise.

⁴⁸ Blessed be the Eternal, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting.
And let everyone say, “Amen!”
    Praise the Eternal!

10 Pray to the Eternal, asking for rain in the spring;
    He is the One bringing the storm clouds.
He fills them with heavy rain,
    showers of rain for the plants of the field for everyone.
² For household gods^[a] speak nothing but tricks,
    diviners see deceptions, dreamers tell lies,
And all offer useless comfort.
    And so, the people wander without purpose,
Suffering like sheep because they have no shepherd.

³ Eternal One: My anger burns against these imitation shepherds,
        and I will bring punishment to those goats.

The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
    brings caring to His flock, the people of Judah,
And will make them like His brave royal steed, arrayed for battle.
⁴ The people of Judah will supply the leadership:
    the stable cornerstone, the secure tent peg, the powerful battle bow.
Every commander will come from there.
⁵ Together they will be like a formidable force of champions in battle,
    trampling the enemy in the muck and mire of the roads.
They will fight on because the Eternal fights with them;
    they will bring shame and defeat to riders on horseback.

⁶ Eternal One: I will give strength to the people of Judah
        and liberate the northern descendants of Joseph.
    I will restore their standing because I care for them,
        and they will live as if I never sent them away,
    For I am the Eternal their God, and I will answer their call.

⁷ The Ephraimites, too, will grow strong like warriors
    and feel deep joy as if they were warmed by wine.
Their children will see all this and be happy;
    their hearts will celebrate what the Eternal has done.

⁸ Eternal One: I will whistle for My people and gather them in,
        for I will redeem them, rescue them, ransom them,
    And restore their numbers to what they were before I turned My back on them.
⁹     Even though I will scatter them among the nations,
        they will remember Me in faraway lands.
    They will make sure their children will survive to return one day.
¹⁰     From the lands of Egypt and Assyria I will restore them.
        I will gather them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon
    Until no room remains in this good land for them.
¹¹     An ocean of trouble will meet Him, but He will pass safely through;
        sea waves will be quieted, and the Nile will dry up.
    Assyria’s prideful domination will be reduced to nothing,
        and Egypt’s rule of other nations will end.
¹²     I will give strength to My people,
        and in My name will they live.