Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
Perplexity about God’s Promises
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.(A)
1 I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;(B)
I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations
with my mouth.(C)
2 For I will declare,
“Faithful love is built up forever;
You establish Your faithfulness in the heavens.”(D)
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David My servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.’”(E)
5 Lord, the heavens praise Your wonders(F)—
Your faithfulness also—
in the assembly of the holy ones.(G)
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[a] is like the Lord?(H)
7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than[b] all who surround Him.(I)
8 Lord God of Hosts,
who is strong like You, Lord?(J)
Your faithfulness surrounds You.
9 You rule the raging sea;
when its waves surge, You still them.(K)
10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;(L)
You scattered Your enemies with Your powerful arm.(M)
11 The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours.
The world and everything in it—You founded them.(N)
12 North and south—You created them.(O)
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.(P)
13 You have a mighty arm;
Your hand is powerful;
Your right hand is lifted high.(Q)
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation
of Your throne;(R)
faithful love and truth go before You.(S)
15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;(T)
Yahweh, they walk in the light of Your presence.(U)
16 They rejoice in Your name all day long,
and they are exalted by Your righteousness.(V)
17 For You are their magnificent strength;(W)
by Your favor our horn is exalted.(X)
18 Surely our shield[c] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.(Y)
19 You once spoke in a vision to Your loyal ones
and said: “I have granted help to a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen[d] from the people.(Z)
20 I have found David My servant;
I have anointed him with My sacred oil.(AA)
21 My hand will always be with him,
and My arm will strengthen him.(AB)
22 The enemy will not afflict[e] him;
no wicked man will oppress him.(AC)
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike those who hate him.(AD)
24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,
and through My name
his horn will be exalted.(AE)
25 I will extend his power to the sea
and his right hand to the rivers.(AF)
26 He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,(AG)
my God, the rock of my salvation.’(AH)
27 I will also make him My firstborn,
greatest of the kings of the earth.(AI)
28 I will always preserve My faithful love for him,
and My covenant with him will endure.(AJ)
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as heaven lasts.[f](AK)
30 If his sons forsake My instruction
and do not live by My ordinances,(AL)
31 if they dishonor My statutes
and do not keep My commands,(AM)
32 then I will call their rebellion
to account with the rod,
their sin with blows.(AN)
33 But I will not withdraw
My faithful love from him
or betray My faithfulness.(AO)
34 I will not violate My covenant
or change what My lips have said.(AP)
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by My holiness;
I will not lie to David.(AQ)
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before Me,(AR)
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”(AS)
38 But You have spurned and rejected him;
You have become enraged with Your anointed.(AT)
39 You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;
You have completely dishonored his crown.[g](AU)
40 You have broken down all his walls;
You have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.(AV)
41 All who pass by plunder him;(AW)
he has become an object of ridicule
to his neighbors.(AX)
42 You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.(AY)
43 You have also turned back his sharp sword
and have not let him stand in battle.(AZ)
44 You have made his splendor[h] cease
and have overturned his throne.(BA)
45 You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.(BB)
46 How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your anger keep burning like fire?(BC)
47 Remember how short my life is.
Have You created everyone for nothing?(BD)
48 What man can live and never see death?
Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?(BE)
49 Lord, where are the former acts of Your faithful love
that You swore to David in Your faithfulness?(BF)
50 Remember, Lord, the ridicule against Your servants—
in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples—
51 how Your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of Your anointed.(BG)
52 May the Lord be praised forever.
Amen and amen.(BH)
Jerusalem’s Siege Dramatized
4 “Now you, son of man, take a brick, set it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then lay siege against it:(A) construct a siege wall, build a ramp, pitch military camps, and place battering rams against it on all sides. 3 Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign for the house of Israel.(B)
4 “Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity[a] of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side. 5 For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.(C) 6 When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. 7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared, and prophesy against it. 8 Be aware that I will put cords on you so you cannot turn from side to side until you have finished the days of your siege.(D)
9 “Also take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the number of days you lie on your side, 390 days. 10 The food you eat each day will be eight ounces[b] by weight; you will eat it from time to time.[c] 11 You are also to drink water by measure, a sixth of a gallon,[d] which you will drink from time to time. 12 You will eat it as you would a barley cake and bake it over dried human excrement in their sight.” 13 The Lord said, “This is how the Israelites will eat their bread—ceremonially unclean—among the nations where I will banish them.”(E)
14 But I said, “Oh, Lord God, I have never been defiled. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts.(F) And impure meat has never entered my mouth.”(G)
15 He replied to me, “Look, I will let you use cow dung instead of human excrement, and you can make your bread over that.” 16 Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem.(H) They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight and in dread drink water by measure.(I) 17 So they will lack bread and water; everyone will be devastated and waste away because of their iniquity.(J)
Warning against Regression
6 Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,(A) 2 teaching about ritual washings,[a] laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.(B) 3 And we will do this if God permits.
4 For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy Spirit,(C) 5 tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away, because,[b] to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt.(D) 7 For ground that has drunk the rain that has often fallen on it and that produces vegetation useful to those it is cultivated for receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and will be burned at the end.(E)
9 Even though we are speaking this way, dear friends, in your case we are confident of the better things connected with salvation. 10 For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love[c] you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.(F) 11 Now we want each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your hope, 12 so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.(G)
The Journey to Jerusalem
51 When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up,[a](A) He determined[b](B) to journey to Jerusalem.(C) 52 He sent messengers ahead of Him,(D) and on the way they entered a village of the Samaritans(E) to make preparations for Him. 53 But they did not welcome Him, because He determined to journey to Jerusalem.(F) 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”[c](G)
55 But He turned and rebuked them,[d] 56 and they went to another village.
Following Jesus
57 As they were traveling on the road someone said to Him,(H) “I will follow You wherever You go!”
58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky[e] have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”[f]
60 But He told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.”(I)
61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”(J)
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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