Book of Common Prayer
This is a special song that Ethan the Ezrahite wrote.
God's special love[a]
89 I will always sing about the Lord's faithful love.
I will tell my children and my grandchildren
that you are always faithful.
2 Yes! Your faithful love will always continue to be strong.
You will always be faithful,
as the skies will always be there.
3 The Lord has said,
‘I have made a covenant with the king that I chose.
I have made this strong promise to my servant David:
4 “Someone from your family will always be king.
They will rule for ever.” ’
Selah.
5 Lord, everything in heaven praises you
for the great things that you have done.
Yes, your angels meet together to praise you,
because you are always faithful.
6 In all the heavens,
there is no one like you, Lord!
No angel in heaven is equal to you.
7 When the angels meet together in heaven,
they respect you with fear.
All who meet round your throne in heaven respect you,
as you deserve.
8 Lord God Almighty,
no one is as powerful as you!
You are always faithful in all that you do!
9 You rule over the powerful sea.
When the waves rise up,
you make them quiet again.
10 You caught the monster Rahab
and you killed it!
With your power,
you chased away your enemies.
11 The heavens belong to you
and so does the earth.
You made the world
and everything that is in it.
12 You made everything,
from the north to the south.
Tabor and Hermon are happy to praise your name.[b]
13 You have great strength,
and you can do great things.
You hold up your right hand,
as you win against your enemies.
14 As King, you rule with justice,
and you always do what is right.
You show your faithful love and you are faithful.
15 You have truly blessed the people
who know how to praise you, Lord.
They know that you are pleased with them.
16 They praise your name all the time.
Your justice makes them happy.
17 You give strength and glory to your people.
Because you are kind to us,
we win against our enemies.
18 Yes! Our king belongs to the Lord,
and he protects us like a shield.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
God's covenant with David
19 A long time ago, Lord,
you spoke to your servants.
In a vision, you said to them,
‘I have helped a brave soldier to be strong.
I have chosen as king
a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
I have poured my special oil on him,
to make him king.
21 I will help him with my power,
so that he is strong.
22 No enemy will win against him.
No cruel people will have power to hurt him.
23 I will destroy his enemies in front of him
I will kill those who hate him.
24 I will always be faithful
and show him my faithful love.
By my name he will win against his enemies.
25 I will cause his kingdom to reach
beyond the sea and the rivers.
26 The king will say to me, “You are my Father.
You are my God.
You protect me and you rescue me.”
27 Also, I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will always love him with my faithful love.
I will never change the covenant
that I have made with him.
29 Someone from his family will always be king.
They will rule for ever,
as long as there are skies above us.
30-31 But I will punish his descendants,
if they do not accept my laws.
If they do not obey my teaching, my rules, or my commands,
32 I will punish them.
Because of their sins,
I will give them much pain.
33 But I will not take my faithful love away from David.
I will always be faithful,
and I will do what I have promised to him.
34 I will not spoil the covenant that I have made with him.
I will always keep my promises.
35 I made that promise to David at one time,
and that will not change.
I promised him by my holy name
and I will never deceive him.
36 His descendants will always rule.
His kingdom will continue to be there for ever,
as long as the sun shines.
37 As the moon is always there in the sky,
to show that God is faithful,
David's kingdom will also continue.’
Selah.
A sad song
38 But now you have turned against your king.
You have become angry with the king that you have chosen.
39 You have spoiled the covenant
that you made with your servant.
You have thrown his crown into the dirt.
40 You have knocked down all the walls of his city.
You have destroyed all his strong places.
41 Every stranger robs him of his things.
His neighbours laugh at him.
42 You have made his enemies strong,
so that they win against him and they are happy.
43 You have made his weapons useless,
so that he cannot beat his enemies in war.
44 You have taken away his authority as king.
You have knocked down his throne to the ground.
45 He no longer has the strength of a young man.
You have dressed him in clothes of shame.
Selah.
46 Lord, how long will this continue?
Will you hide yourself from us for ever?
Will your anger continue to burn like a fire?
47 Remember that my life is very short!
People are weak and their lives seem useless.
Why do you make people like that?
48 Nobody can continue to live and never die.
Nobody can escape from the power of death.
49 My Lord, where is the faithful love
that you showed to us in past times?
Where are the blessings that you promised to David?
50 My Lord, look at how people are insulting me!
People from all nations laugh at me, your servant.
51 Lord, your enemies insult the king that you have chosen.
Wherever I go, they insult me!
52 Praise the Lord as he deserves!
Yes! Amen! We agree!
A message about Jerusalem
4 ‘Son of man, take a large brick and put it in front of you.[a] On the brick, draw a picture of the city, Jerusalem. 2 Show that soldiers are ready to attack the city. Build heaps of earth around it so that nobody can escape. Put heavy pieces of wood around the city that the enemy could use to break its walls. 3 Then you must do this. Take a flat plate of iron and put it between you and the brick. It will be like a wall between you and the city. Look towards the city. Show that soldiers are around the city and they are ready to attack it. Nobody can escape. This will be a picture to show Israel's people what will happen to them.[b]
4-5 Then lie down on your left side. Show that you are receiving the punishment for the sins of the Israelites. You will suffer like that for 390 days. It will show the number of years that I have decided to punish Israel's people. Each day that you suffer will show one year of their punishment.
6 After you have finished all those days, lie down again. This time, lie down on your right side for 40 days. You will suffer like that to show the punishment for the sins of Judah's people. Each day will show one year of their punishment. 7 Continue to look towards the brick which has the picture of Jerusalem on it. Show that you are ready to attack it, like soldiers all around it. Speak my message to warn the city. 8 Listen! I will use ropes to tie around you. You will not be able to turn from one side to another. You will lie on one side until you have finished all the days to attack the city.[c]
9 You must take some grains like wheat and barley, and different kinds of beans. Then put them all into a jar. Use them to make bread for yourself. You must eat this for 390 days while you lie on your left side. 10 You should eat 220 grams of food each day. Eat it at the same time each day. 11 You must measure the water that you drink each day. You may drink two cups at the same times each day. 12 Prepare your food like a cake that is made from barley. Bake it on a fire that you have made with human dung. Do this where the people can see you.’[d]
13 The Lord also said, ‘I will send Israel's people away to live in foreign lands. Then they will have to eat unclean food, as you will do now.’[e]
14 Then I said, ‘No, Almighty Lord, I could not use human dung. It would make me unclean. Since I was a child I have never eaten any food that would make me unclean. I have never eaten meat from a dead animal that people have found. I have not eaten meat from an animal that wild animals have killed.’
15 So God said to me, ‘I will allow you to use dung from cows instead of from humans. You may use that to make the fire to cook your bread.’
16 Then God said to me, ‘Son of man, I will soon take away the bread in Jerusalem. The people will have to measure the food that they eat. And they will have to measure the water that they drink. They will worry and be afraid. 17 They will not have enough food or water. Everyone will be very upset. Their bodies will become very thin when I punish them for their sins.’[f]
6 So we must go on from the first lessons that we learned about Christ. We must grow as believers so that we understand more and more. We should not go back to those first lessons again and again. We already know that we must turn away from wrong things that lead to death. We know that we must trust God. 2 We have already learned about how to become clean.[a] We know that leaders put their hands on other Christians to pray for God's help.[b] We know that God will raise dead people to live again. And we know that God will judge every person one day at the end of time.
3 Yes, we must choose to go on from those early lessons! God is ready to help us to do that.
We must not turn away from Jesus
4 That is important, because we must not turn away from Christ, after we have first believed in him. Some people have come into God's light. They have understood God's message. They have started to enjoy the true life that God has given them. They have received the Holy Spirit, like other believers. 5 They have understood that God's message is good for them. They have seen powerful things that belong to the future time. 6 But after all that, they have turned against God. Then it is impossible for anyone to help them to turn away from their sins again. It is like they are killing the Son of God on the cross again for themselves. They show other people that they do not think Christ is important.
7 Think about a field where rain has fallen many times. That ground helps the plants in it to grow well. As a result, the farmer receives good things. It shows that God has blessed that ground. 8 But a field where only weeds and thorn bushes grow is worth nothing. God will very soon speak against that ground. In the end, fire will burn all of it.
9 We are telling you this, our good friends, because we want you to continue well. We are sure that God has saved you and that he will continue to bless you. 10 God is always right and fair. He will not forget all the good things that you have done. You have shown that you love him very much, because you have helped the other believers. And you continue to help them as God's servants. 11 But we very much want each of you to continue to trust God to the end. Show that you really want to serve him. Be sure that, in the end, you will receive all the good things that you hope for. 12 Then you will not be slow to learn. Instead, you will copy the example of those people who continue to trust God. They continue to be patient when trouble happens to them. People like that receive what God has promised to his people.
People in a village in Samaria do not accept Jesus
51 The time came when God would soon take Jesus up to heaven. Jesus knew this, so he began to go towards Jerusalem. 52 He arrived near a village in the country of Samaria. He sent some people into the village with a message. They went to ask for a place to stay for the night. 53 But the people in the village would not let him stay there. This was because he was going to Jerusalem.[a]
54 Then James and John heard about what had happened. They asked Jesus, ‘Master, do you want us to ask God to send fire down from the sky? Do you want us to kill these people?’
55 Jesus turned round. ‘No!’ he said, ‘Do not do that. That would be wrong.’ 56 Then they all went on to another village.
What it costs to obey Jesus
57 They continued on their journey. A man came and spoke to Jesus. He said, ‘I will go with you. And I will go with you everywhere that you go.’
58 Jesus replied, ‘Wild animals and birds have their own places to live. But I, the Son of Man, have no place of my own to lie down and rest.’
59 Then Jesus said to another man, ‘Come with me!’ The man replied, ‘First let me go home and bury my father. Then I will come with you.’
60 ‘No!’ Jesus said, ‘Let people who are dead themselves bury their own dead people. You should go and tell people about the kingdom of God.’[b]
61 Another man said, ‘Sir, I will come with you. But please let me first go home to say “Goodbye” to my family.’
62 Jesus replied, ‘A man that ploughs a field must continue to look straight in front of him. If he looks behind him, he cannot plough well. People that look back behind them cannot work well for the kingdom of God.’
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