Book of Common Prayer
Asaph wrote this special song.
God has been good to his people[a]
78 My people, listen to what I am teaching you.
Listen to the words that I speak.
2 I will tell you something to make you wise.
Then you will understand
things that happened long ago.
3 We have heard about these things
and we know them.
Our ancestors have told them to us,
4 and we will not hide them from our children.
We will tell our children and our grandchildren
why they should praise the Lord.
We will tell them about his strength,
and about the great things that he has done.
5 He gave his laws to Jacob's descendants,
the Israelite people.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
6 Then the children would know about them,
even the children still to be born.
When the time came,
they too would tell their children.
7 Then their family would trust in God.
They would not forget what God had done.
They would obey his commands.
8 So they would not be like their ancestors,
who turned against God.
Those people refused to obey God,
and they did not trust him to be their guide.
9 The soldiers of Ephraim had bows and arrows,
but they ran away when the battle started![b]
10 They did not obey the covenant
that God had made with them.
They refused to obey his laws.
11 They forgot about what he had done for them.
They forgot the miracles that he had shown them.
12 He did miracles for their ancestors to see,
in the region of Egypt that is called Zoan.
13 He cut the sea into two separate parts,
and he led them through it.
He made a path between two walls of water.[c]
14 He showed them the way with a cloud in the day
and with light from a fire all night.[d]
15 He broke rocks into pieces in the wilderness
so that his people had plenty of water.
Springs of water came from deep in the earth.
16 He caused streams to pour from the rocks
so that the waters ran like rivers.[e]
17 But his people continued to do bad things against him.
In the wilderness,
they turned against the Most High God.
18 They decided to test God,
to see what he would do.
They demanded to have the food that they liked best.
19 They spoke against God, and they said,
‘Can God give us food to eat here in the wilderness?
20 Yes, water did come out when he hit the rock.
There were streams of water that poured out like a river.
But can he also give us food to eat?
Can he supply meat for his people?’
21 When the Lord heard this,
he was very angry.
So he sent fire to punish his people.
He became very angry against the Israelites.
22 They did not trust God,
that he had the power to save them.
23 So God commanded the clouds high above
to give food to his people.
He caused the skies to open like a door.
24 He poured down manna like rain,
so that they could eat grain that came from heaven.[f]
25 In that way, people ate the special bread of angels!
God gave them all the food that they could eat.
26 Then God caused a wind to blow from the east.
He used his power to send a south wind too.
27 He caused meat to pour down on them,
like dust from the sky.
The birds covered all the ground
like sand on the shore of the sea.[g]
28 God made the birds fall near the tents
where his people were living.
29 They ate as much as they could eat.
Yes, God gave them what they had demanded!
30-31 But God became very angry with them,
even before they had finished eating.
While the food was still in their mouths,
he killed the strongest men among them.
Many of the best young Israelite men died.
32 Even when this happened,
the people continued to do bad things.
When God had done these miracles,
they still did not trust him to help them.
33 So he made their lives end quickly, like a breath.
They became very afraid.
34 When God killed some of them,
the other people turned to God.
They were sorry and they prayed to him.
35 They remembered that God
was their strong Rock.
They remembered that the Most High God
was their Redeemer.
36 But they deceived him with their words.
What they said to him was lies.
37 They did not really trust him.
They did not obey the covenant
that he had made with them.
38 But God was kind to them,
and he forgave them for their sins.
He did not destroy them.
Many times he was patient,
and he did not become angry with them.
39 He remembered that they were weak and human,
like a wind that blows away and does not return.
40 When the Israelite people were in the wilderness,
they often turned against God.
That caused God to be very sad.
41 Many times they tested God, the Holy One of Israel,
so that he was very upset.
42 They forgot about his great power,
and how he rescued them from their enemies.
43 He did powerful miracles in Egypt,
in the region of Zoan.
44 He caused the Egyptians' rivers to become blood,
so that they could not drink water from them.[h]
45 He sent large numbers of flies to bite them.[i]
He sent frogs that destroyed their land.[j]
46 He caused locusts to eat their crops,
and everything that grew in their fields.[k]
47 He destroyed their vines with hail.
He destroyed their fig trees with frost.
48 He sent hail to kill their cows.
He sent lightning to kill their other animals.[l]
49 He was so angry with them,
that he sent terrible things to punish them.
Great trouble came to them,
like an army of his angels that bring death.
50 Nothing could stop his anger.
He did not save them from death.
He let bad disease kill them.
51 He killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
The strongest men of Ham's descendants died.[m]
52 But God led his own people safely out of Egypt.
But took them through the wilderness,
like a shepherd leads his sheep.[n]
53 They were safe with him as their guide,
and they were not afraid.
But their enemies drowned in the sea.[o]
54 He brought his people to the edge of his holy land.
It was land with the mountain
that he had taken with his power.[p]
55 He chased away the nations that were living there.
He gave to each tribe their own piece of land,
so that Israel's tribes could live there.[q]
56 But the Israelites continued to test the Most High God,
and they turned against him.
They did not obey his commands.[r]
57 They turned away from him and they deceived him,
as their ancestors had done.
They were useless,
like a bow that would not shoot straight!
58 The places where they worshipped their idols
made God very angry.
59 God heard what they were doing,
and he became very angry.
He turned against the Israelite people.
60 He went away from his home at Shiloh.
That was the tent where he lived among people.[s]
61 He let Israel's enemies take away the Covenant Box,
that showed his power and his glory.[t]
62 He was so angry with his own people,
he let their enemies kill them in battle.
63 Fire killed their young men in war.
There was nobody for the young women to marry.
64 Their priests died in battle.
Their widows had no chance to weep.
65 Then the Lord woke up,
like someone had woken him from sleep.
He shouted loudly,
like a soldier who has drunk a lot of wine.
66 He chased his enemies away.
He caused them to be ashamed for ever.
67 He chose not to live among Joseph's descendants.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah.
He chose Mount Zion,
the place which he loves.
69 There he built a temple for himself,
to be like his home in heaven.
He made it to be strong, like the earth itself,
so that it would always be there.
70 Also, he chose his servant, David.
He took David away from the fields,
71 so that he no longer took care of his father's sheep.
He became like a shepherd,
to lead his people, Jacob's descendants.
He ruled the people that belonged to God,
the Israelite people.[u]
72 David took care of them with an honest heart.
He was wise in the way that he led them.
Hannah gives Samuel to serve God
21 Next year, Elkanah went to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the Lord, as he had promised to do. His family went with him. 22 But Hannah did not go as well. She said to her husband, ‘I will not go until the boy is older. When he can eat proper food, I will take him to Shiloh to give him to the Lord. Then he will live there for all his life.’
23 Elkanah said to Hannah, ‘You must do what seems right to you. Stay here at home until the boy begins to eat proper food. May the Lord help you, as he has promised.’
So Hannah stayed at home with her son while he continued to drink milk from her breasts.
24 When Samuel started to eat proper food, Hannah took him to Shiloh. She took him to the Lord's house there when he was still a young boy. She took with her a bull that was three years old. She also took a big bag of flour and a leather bag full of wine. 25 They killed the bull for the sacrifice. Then Hannah took Samuel to Eli. 26 Hannah said to Eli, ‘Please believe me sir. I am the woman who stood here before. You saw me when I was praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed that the Lord would give me a son and he answered my prayer. 28 Now I will give this child to serve the Lord. He will be the Lord's servant for his whole life.’
Then Elkanah's family worshipped the Lord there.
Hannah praises the Lord
2 Hannah prayed and she said,
‘I am very happy when I think about what the Lord has done.
The Lord has made me very strong.
I can laugh at my enemies because you, Lord, have saved me.
That makes me very happy.
2 Nobody else is holy like the Lord.
There is no other God except you, our God.
You are the only Rock where we can be safe.[a]
3 Do not boast or speak proud words!
The Lord is a God who knows everything.
He judges everything that people do.
4 The weapons of brave soldiers may break.
But weak people who fall become strong again.
5 People who had plenty of food to eat have to work for it now.
But the people who were hungry have enough food now.
Women who could not have any children have now given birth to seven children.
But those who had many children are now alone.
6 The Lord gives both life and death.
He sends some people to their graves,
and he raises other people up.
7 The Lord makes some people poor
and he makes other people rich.
He causes some people to be important
and he puts other people low down.
8 He raises up weak people from the ground.
He lifts poor people up out of the dirt.
He makes them become friends of princes.
He puts them in places of honour.
The deep places of the earth belong to the Lord.
He built the world on a strong foundation.
9 He takes care of his faithful people.
But he puts wicked people in a dark place where they can do nothing.
It is not a person's own strength that makes him great.
10 The Lord will destroy his enemies.
He will shout against them from heaven like loud thunder.
The Lord will judge everyone on earth.
He will make his king strong.
He will give power to the king that he has chosen to rule.’
11 Then Elkanah went back to his home at Ramah with his family. But the young boy, Samuel, stayed in Shiloh. He served the Lord there, while Eli the priest took care of him.
15 One day, about 120 people who believed in Jesus were meeting together. Peter stood up and he said to them, 16 ‘My friends, long ago, the Holy Spirit gave King David a message to speak from God.[a] He spoke about the things that Judas would do. Judas was the one who showed the soldiers how to catch Jesus. These things had to happen in the way that David wrote in the Bible long ago.[b] 17 Judas belonged to our group of disciples. Jesus chose him to work together with us.’
18 Judas received some money for the bad thing that he did. He bought a field with that money. But he fell down in that field and he died. His body broke open and the inside parts of his body poured out. 19 All the people who lived in Jerusalem heard about his death. So they called that field ‘Akeldama’ in their own language. ‘Akeldama’ means ‘The Field of Blood’.[c]
20 Peter then said, ‘This is what King David wrote in the book of Psalms:
“Let the house that he lived in become empty,
so that nobody lives in it.”[d]
David also wrote:
“Let somebody else do the job which he did.” ’[e]
21 Peter then said, ‘Because of this, we must choose another man instead of Judas. That man must have been one of our group all the time that the Lord Jesus was with us. 22 That is, from the time when John was baptizing people until the time when Jesus went up to heaven. He must be someone who saw Jesus become alive again after he died, as we did.’
23 So the apostles agreed the names of two men. One of them was Joseph. People also called him Barsabbas and sometimes people called him Justus. The other man was called Matthias. 24 Then the whole group prayed, ‘Lord, you know what everybody is really like. Please show us which man you have chosen. 25 Which of these two men do you want to be an apostle instead of Judas? Judas left his work as an apostle. He has now gone to the place where he belongs.’
26 Then the group used lots to choose the name of one man. It happened that they chose Matthias. So Matthias now became the 12th apostle, together with the other 11 men.
The leaders ask Jesus a question
19 The teachers of God's Law and the leaders of the priests knew that Jesus had told this story about them. They were the bad farmers in the story. So they wanted to take hold of Jesus immediately. But they did not do it, because they were afraid of the people.
20 So this is what they did to catch Jesus. They sent people to ask him difficult questions. These people pretended to be honest, but they wanted to deceive Jesus. They wanted to make him say something wrong. Then they would take him to the ruler of the city to punish him. 21 So these people went to Jesus. They said, ‘Teacher, everything that you say and everything that you teach is right. We know that. You teach everyone the same true message about what God wants us to do. You do not say something different to an important person to make him happy. 22 So tell us your answer to this question: Should we pay our taxes to the Roman ruler, Caesar? Is it right to give that money to him, or not?’
23 Jesus knew that those men were not really honest. They wanted to make him say the wrong thing. 24 So he said to them, ‘Show me a coin. Tell me, whose picture is on this coin? Whose name is on it?’ 25 The men replied, ‘It is Caesar's picture and Caesar's name.’ Jesus then said to them, ‘So you should give to Caesar the things that belong to him. And give to God the things that belong to God.’
26 So the Jewish leaders could not make Jesus say anything wrong. They were very surprised at his answer to their question. They could not say anything more against him. All the people who were there saw this.
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