Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into dry ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salty waste,
due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 There he settled the hungry,
where they built a city to live in.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a productive harvest.
38 Then he blessed them, and they became numerous;
he multiplied their cattle.[a]
39 But they became few in number, and humiliated
by continued oppression, agony, and sorrow.
40 Having poured contempt on their nobles,
causing them to err aimlessly in the way.
41 Yet he lifted the needy from affliction
and made them families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
but the mouth of an evil person is shut.
43 Let whoever is wise observe these things,
that they may comprehend the gracious love of the Lord.
A song. A Davidic psalm.
A Plea for Victory
108 My heart is firm, God;
I will sing and praise you with my whole being.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will wake up at dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you among the peoples, Lord!
I will sing praise to you among the nations.
4 For your gracious love extends to the sky,[b]
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 May you be exalted above the heavens, God,
and your glory be over all the earth.
6 In order that those you love may be rescued,
deliver with your power[c] and answer me!
7 God had promised in his sanctuary:
“I will triumph and divide Shechem,
then I will measure the valley of Succoth!
8 Gilead and Manasseh belong to me,
while Ephraim is my chief stronghold
and Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
I will fling my shoe on Edom
and shout over Philistia.”
10 Who will lead me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me as far as Edom?
11 God, you have rejected us, have you not,
since you did not march out with our army, God?
12 Give us help against the enemy,
because human help is useless.[d]
13 I will find strength in God,
for he will trample on our foes.
Praise to the Creator and Deliverer
33 Rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones;
for the praise of the upright is beautiful.
2 With the lyre, give thanks to the Lord;
with the ten stringed harp, play music to him;
3 with a new song, sing to him;
with shouts of joy, play skillfully.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright;
and all his works are done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the world is filled with the gracious love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made;
all the heavenly bodies[a] by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the oceans into a single place;
he put the deep water into storehouses.
8 Let all the world fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him;
9 because he spoke and it came to be,
because he commanded, it stood firm.
10 The Lord makes void the counsel of nations;
he frustrates the plans of peoples.
11 But the Lord’s counsel stands firm forever,
the plans in his mind for all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
13 When the Lord looks down from heaven,
he observes every human being.
14 From his dwelling place,
he looks down on all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He formed the hearts of them all;
he understands everything they do.
16 A king is not saved by a large army;
a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength.
17 It is vain to trust in a horse for deliverance,
even with its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Indeed, the Lord watches those who fear him;
those who trust in his gracious love
19 to deliver them from death;
to keep them alive in times of famine.
20 We wait on the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart will rejoice in him,
because we have placed our trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, may your gracious love be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
The Israelis Approach Edom
14 Later, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: “This is what your relative Israel says: ‘You know all the hardships we’ve encountered.[a] 15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt, where we lived for many[b] years. But the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors viciously. 16 Then we cried to the Lord and he heard our voice, sending us a messenger who brought us out of Egypt. Now look! We’ve arrived in Kadesh, a city at the extreme end of your territory. 17 Permit us now to pass through your land. We won’t pass through your fields or vineyards, and we won’t drink water[c] from your wells. We’ll keep to the King’s Highway without turning either right or left until we have passed through your territory.’”
18 But Edom replied, “You are not to pass through my land.[d] If you do, I’ll come out and start a war with you.”
19 Then the Israelis replied, “Permit us to travel on the highway. If we and our cattle drink your water, we’ll pay the price you ask. Only please let us walk through, and nothing more.”[e]
20 But still he replied, “No. You’re not to pass through.” Then Edom went out to meet Moses with a vast army and a lot of military might.[f] 21 That’s how Edom refused Israel passage through their territory. So Israel turned away from there.[g]
The Death of Aaron
22 They traveled from Kadesh, and then the entire community of the Israelis arrived at Mount Hor. 23 Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, near the territory of Edom, 24 “Aaron is to be gathered to his people, since he is not to enter the land that I’m about to give the Israelis. After all, you both rebelled against my command[h] at the Meribah Springs. 25 So take Aaron and his son Eleazar and ascend Mount Hor. 26 Remove Aaron’s vestments and place them on his son Eleazar, because Aaron is to be gathered to his people[i] and die there.”
27 So Moses did just what the Lord had commanded. They ascended Mount Hor right in front of the entire community. 28 As Moses was stripping Aaron’s garments from him and clothing Aaron’s son Eleazar with them, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Afterwards, Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When the entire community saw that Aaron had died, they mourned in memory of Aaron for 30 days.
No Longer Sin’s Slaves, but God’s Slaves
6 What should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 Of course not! How can we who died as far as sin is concerned go on living in it?
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into union with the Messiah[a] Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah[b] was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too may live an entirely new life. 5 For if we have become united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the person who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with the Messiah,[c] we believe that we will also live with him, 9 for we know that the Messiah,[d] who was raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 For when he died, he died once and for all as far as sin is concerned. But now that he is alive, he lives for God. 11 In the same way, you too must continuously consider yourselves dead as far as sin is concerned, but living for God through the Messiah[e] Jesus.[f]
The King Enters Jerusalem(A)
21 When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead and 2 told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them, and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and that person will send them at once.”
4 Now this happened to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet when he said,
5 “Tell the daughter[a] of Zion,
‘Look, your king is coming to you![b]
He is humble and mounted on a donkey,
even on a colt of a donkey.’”[c]
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them, and he sat upon them. 8 Many people in the crowd spread their own coats on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting,
“Hosanna[d] to the Son of David!
How blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord![e]
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”[f]
10 When he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was trembling with excitement. The people[g] were asking, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the man from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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