Book of Common Prayer

God Reigns

Give Glory to the Lord

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away. So David^[a] left.

Learning about God’s Deliverance

Sabbatical Years

25 The Lord told Moses on Mount Sinai, ² “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you, you are to let the land observe a Sabbath to the Lord. ³ For six years you may plant your fields, and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce. ⁴ But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of rest for the land—a Sabbath for the Lord. You are not to plant your field or prune your vineyard. ⁵ You are not to gather what grows from the spilled kernels of your crops. You are not to pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. Let it be a year of Sabbath for the land. ⁶ You may take the Sabbath produce^[a] of the land for your food—you, your male and maid servants, your hired laborers, and the resident alien with you. ⁷ The cattle and the wild animals in your land—everything it produces—are for your food.

⁸ “Count for yourselves seven years of Sabbaths—seven times seven years. This set of seven weeks of years total 49 years for you. ⁹ Sound a horn on the tenth day of the seventh month of this fiftieth year.^[b] Likewise, on the Day of Atonement, sound the horn throughout your land. ¹⁰ Set aside and consecrate the fiftieth year to declare liberty throughout the land for all of its inhabitants. It is to be a jubilee for you. Every person^[c] is to return to his own land that he has inherited. Likewise, every person is to return to his tribe. ¹¹ The fiftieth year is to be a year of jubilee for you. You are not to sow or harvest the spilled kernels that grow of themselves or pick grapes from the untrimmed vines ¹² because it’s the jubilee—it’s sacred for you. But you may eat its produce from the field.

¹³ “During this year of jubilee, each person is to return to his own land that he has inherited. ¹⁴ So if you had sold property^[d] to a neighbor or had acquired land from your neighbor, you are not to cheat one another. ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the jubilee, you may buy from your neighbor. And according to the number of years with crops, he may sell to you. ¹⁶ If the number of years after the jubilee^[e] is more, increase the selling price. If the number of years after the jubilee^[f] is few, decrease its selling price, because he’s selling to you according to the potential production volume^[g] of the land.^{[h] 17} No one is to cheat his neighbor. Instead, you are to fear your God, because I am the Lord your God.

Responding Wisely to Life

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ But you must let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to everyone generously without a rebuke, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But he must ask in faith, without any doubts, for the one who has doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he undertakes.^[a]

Practical Christian Living

¹⁶ Do not be^[a] deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights,^[b] in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In accordance with his will he made us his children by the word of truth, so that we might become the most important of his creatures.^[c]

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Then someone in the crowd told him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But Jesus^[a] asked him, “Mister,^[b] who appointed me to be a judge or arbitrator over you people?” ¹⁵ Then he told them, “Be careful to guard yourselves against every kind of greed, because a person’s life doesn’t consist of the amount of possessions he has.”

¹⁶ Then he told them a parable. He said, “The land of a certain rich man produced good crops. ¹⁷ So he began to think to himself, ‘What should I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I’ll store all my grain and goods in them. ¹⁹ Then I’ll say to myself, “You’ve stored up plenty of good things for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’ ²⁰ But God told him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you. Now who will get the things you’ve accumulated?’ ²¹ That’s how it is with the person who stores up treasures for himself rather than with God.”