Book of Common Prayer

David wrote this psalm when he was in the Judah wilderness.

A morning song^[a]

God rules the world^[a]

This is a song that David wrote.

The love of God^[a]

Love and obey the Lord

11 Love the Lord your God. Do what he tells you to do. Always obey his rules, his laws and his commands. ² Remember that today I am speaking to you who have seen his powerful acts! Your children did not see the great things that the Lord your God did to teach you. You saw for yourselves how great, strong and powerful he is. ³ But your children did not see the great miracles that he did in Egypt. He punished Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his people. ⁴ You saw how God destroyed Egypt's army, with all their horses and chariots. They were chasing after you to catch you. But God caused the water of the Red Sea to cover them, so that they drowned. ⁵ Your children did not see all the things that the Lord did in the desert as he brought you here. ⁶ They did not see how he punished Dathan and Abiram, Eliab's sons, from Reuben's tribe. God caused the earth to open up in the middle of the Israelites' camp. These men fell down into the hole and they disappeared. Their families, their tents and everything that they had all disappeared in the hole. ⁷ Remember that I am speaking to you, the people who have seen the Lord's powerful acts.

God's blessings in Canaan

⁸ So you must obey all the commands that I am giving to you today. If you do that, you will be able to go across the Jordan River into Canaan. You will be strong enough to take the land for yourselves and live there. ⁹ Then you will enjoy a long life in that land. It is the land that the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and to their descendants. It is a land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone.

¹⁰ The land that you are going into is not like the land of Egypt, where you lived before. There, when you planted seeds, you had to take water to them. It was like a garden where you grow vegetables. ¹¹ But now you are going across the Jordan River into a different kind of land. It has hills and valleys. Rain falls from the sky and makes the ground wet. ¹² The Lord your God takes care of the land there. He watches over it every day, through the whole year.

The angel and the little book

10 Then I saw another powerful angel. He was coming down from heaven. He had a cloud all round him, like his clothes. There was a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun and his legs shone like fire. ² He had a little book in his hand and it was open. He put his right foot on the sea and he put his left foot on the land. ³ Then he shouted with a loud voice, like a lion that roars. When he shouted, seven loud voices answered him. They were like the noise of thunder. ⁴ When the seven voices of thunder spoke, I was ready to write. But I heard a voice that came from heaven. The voice said to me, ‘Keep secret what the seven voices of thunder have said. Do not write it down.’

⁵ Then I looked again at the angel who stood with one foot on the sea and his other foot on the land. He raised his right hand towards heaven. ⁶ He made a strong promise by the name of God, who lives for ever. He created heaven, the earth and the sea, as well as everything that is in them. The angel said, ‘There is no more time to wait! ⁷ Now is the time when the seventh angel will make a sound with his trumpet. Then God will quickly finish what he wants to do. This has been a secret, but he told it long ago to the prophets who were his servants.’

⁸ Then I heard again the voice that spoke to me from heaven. He said, ‘Go to the angel who is standing with one foot on the sea and his other foot on the land. Go and take the book that is open in his hand.’ ⁹ So I went to the angel. I asked him to give me the little book. He said to me, ‘Take the book and then eat it. It will be very sweet like honey in your mouth. But it will hurt your stomach like bad food.’ ¹⁰ So I took the little book from the angel's hand and I ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten the book, it hurt my stomach. ¹¹ Then the voice said to me, ‘You must continue to tell God's message to people. You must say what will happen to people from everywhere in the world. They are the people of many nations, and people who speak many languages, and also their kings.’^[a]

Jesus tells a story about a man who found valuable things in the ground

⁴⁴ ‘I can tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like,’ Jesus said. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like some valuable things that a man buried in a field. Another man found it, but then he covered it over again with dirt. The second man was very happy and he went away. He sold everything that he had. Then he went and bought the field with the valuable things in it.’^[a]

Jesus tells a story about some valuable stones

⁴⁵ ‘I will tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like,’ Jesus said. ‘A trader looks for beautiful stones that he can buy. ⁴⁶ One day he found a very valuable stone that someone wanted to sell. So he went away and he sold everything that he had. Then he went and he bought that very valuable stone.’

⁴⁷ Jesus also said, ‘I can tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like. Some men had nets to catch fish in. They threw their nets into the lake and they caught many different kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When the net was full of fish, the men pulled it up onto the shore. Then they sat down. Some of the fish were good to eat, and they put these fish into baskets. Some of the fish were not good to eat, and they threw these fish away. ⁴⁹ This is what will happen when the world's time comes to an end. God will send his angels. They will put wicked people in one place. And they will put God's righteous people in a separate place. ⁵⁰ The angels will throw the wicked people into the great fire. There those people will weep and they will bite their teeth together.’^[b]

⁵¹ Then Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Have you understood all these things?’ They replied, ‘Yes, we have.’

⁵² Jesus said to them, ‘Some teachers of God's Law have now learned about the kingdom of heaven. These men are like the master of a house who takes things out of the room where he keeps them. Some of the valuable things he brings out are new and some of them are old.’

⁵³ When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he went away from that place.

Jesus goes to Nazareth

⁵⁴ Jesus returned to his own town. He taught the Jewish people in their meeting room there. The people were very surprised about the things that he taught them. They said to each other, ‘We do not know how this man learned all these things. And we do not know how he does all these powerful things. ⁵⁵ We know who he is. He is the son of the carpenter here.^[c] Mary is his mother. We also know his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. ⁵⁶ All his sisters also live here in the town among us. So then, where did he learn all these things?’ ⁵⁷ So the people there did not accept Jesus.

Jesus said to them, ‘If a man is a prophet from God, people everywhere will say good things about him. But the people in his own town will not accept him. Even the people of his own house will not say good things about him.’

⁵⁸ Jesus did not do many powerful things in that town because the people would not believe in him.