Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness
and springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty place,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a wilderness into a pool of water
and a dry land into springs of water.
36 And he settles the hungry there,
so that they may establish a city to inhabit,
37 and sow fields and plant vineyards,
that they may yield fruit at harvest.[a]
38 And he blesses them and they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their cattle become few.
39 When they become few and they are bent down
from the oppression of calamity and grief,
40 he pours contempt on princes
and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
41 But he protects[b] the needy from misery,
and he makes their families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, then let him observe these things,
and let them consider Yahweh’s acts of loyal love.
Prayer to Yahweh for Victory over Enemies
A song. A psalm of David.[c]
108 My heart is steadfast, O God.
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, harp and lyre.
I will awake the dawn.[d]
3 I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Yahweh;
I will give you praise among the nations,
4 because your loyal love is great above the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God,
and let your glory be above all the earth,
6 so that your beloved ones may be rescued.
Save by your right hand and answer me.
7 God has spoken in his holiness,
“I will exult, I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine.
And Ephraim is the helmet for[e] my head.
Judah is my scepter;[f]
9 Moab is my washing pot.
Over Edom I will cast my sandal;
Over Philistia I will shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God,
and not gone out with our armies, O God?
12 Give us help against the enemy,
for the help of humankind is futile.
13 Through God we will do valiantly,[g]
and it is he who will tread down our enemies.
Praise to Yahweh for His Character and Creation
33 Exult in Yahweh, O you righteous,
for praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre;
with a harp of ten strings play to him.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully with jubilant shout.
4 For the word of Yahweh is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loyal love of Yahweh.
6 By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea like a heap.
He put the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he himself spoke[a] and it came to pass.
He himself commanded[b] and it stood firm.
10 Yahweh brings to nothing[c] the plan of nations;
he frustrates[d] the intents of peoples.
11 The plan of Yahweh stands firm forever,
the intents of his heart from one generation to the next.[e]
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
13 From heaven Yahweh looks;
he sees all the children of humankind.
14 From his dwelling place[f] he gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions altogether their heart,
he who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the greatness of an army.
The warrior is not delivered by the greatness of strength.
17 The horse is a false hope for victory,
nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
18 Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him,
on those who hope[g] for his loyal love
19 to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for Yahweh;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For in him our heart rejoices
because in his holy name we trust.
22 Let your loyal love, O Yahweh, be upon us,
even as[h] we hope in you.
21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:
She despises you, she scorns you,
the virgin daughter of Zion.
Behind you the daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head.
22 Whom have you mocked and reviled?
And against whom have you have raised your voice
and have haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By the hand of your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said,
‘With my many chariots I have gone up
to the height of the mountains.
To the remote areas of Lebanon,
I have felled the tallest of its cedars,
the choicest of its cypresses.
I have entered the place of overnight lodging.
Even to the edge of forest of its fertile land.
24 I dug wells and I drank foreign water,
and I dried up with the sole of my steps
all the canals of Egypt.’
25 Have you not heard?
From long ago I have determined it,
from the days of old I have planned it,
and now I am bringing it to pass.
It shall be turned into a pile of rocks;
fortified cities are ruined.
26 Their inhabitants, short of hand, shall be dismayed;
and they shall be ashamed.
They have become green plants of the open field,
and tender grass,
green grass of the roof
and blight before the standing grain.
27 Your sitting, your going out, and your coming in I know,
and your raging against me.
28 Because you are raging against me,
and your arrogance has come up in my ears,
I will put my nose ring in your nose
and my bridle in your mouth.
And I will turn you back
on the way that you have come.
29 “‘This will be the sign for you: Eat the volunteer plants for the year, and in the second year, the volunteer plants that spring up from that. But in the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 The remainder of the house of Judah which survives will again take root below and bear fruit above. 31 For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and survivors from Mount Zion; the zeal of Yahweh will do this.
32 “‘Therefore thus says Yahweh to the king of Assyria, “He shall not come to this city, nor shall he shoot an arrow there, nor shall he bring a small shield near her, nor shall he cast a siege ramp against her. 33 By the way that he came to her he shall return; but to this city, he shall not come,” declares Yahweh. 34 And I will defend this city to save her for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
An Angel Neutralizes the Assyrian Army
35 It happened in that night that an angel of Yahweh went out, and he struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria. When they got up early in the morning, look! All of them were dead corpses. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria set out and went and returned and lived in Nineveh.
A History Lesson from Israel
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with the majority of them, for they were struck down in the desert.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we should not be desirers of evil things, just as those also desired them, 7 and not become idolaters, as some of them did, just as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play,”[a] 8 nor commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed sexual immorality, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day, 9 nor put Christ to the test, as some of them tested him, and were destroyed by snakes, 10 nor grumble, just as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to those people as an example, but are written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore, the one who thinks that he stands must watch out lest he fall. 13 Temptation has not come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will also make a way out together with the temptation, so that you may be able to endure it.
Would-be Followers
18 Now when[a] Jesus saw many crowds[b] around him, he gave orders to depart to the other side.[c] 19 And a scribe approached and[d] said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go!” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 And another of the disciples[e] said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead!”
Calming of a Storm
23 And as[f] he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being inundated by the waves, but he himself was asleep. 25 And they came and[g] woke him, saying, “Lord, save us![h] We are perishing!” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you fearful, you of little faith?” Then he got up and[i] rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. 27 And the men were astonished, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software