Book of Common Prayer
A sad song[a]
137 When we sat down beside the rivers in Babylon,
we were very upset.
We thought about Zion city that we had left behind,
and we wept.[b]
2 We hung up our harps there
on the branches of the willow trees.
3 Our enemies asked us to sing songs for them there.
They laughed at us as their prisoners.
They asked for a song to make them happy.
They shouted, ‘Sing us a song about Zion!’
4 But we are in a foreign land,
so we cannot sing a song to the Lord.
5 Jerusalem, I never want to forget you.
I would rather lose my right hand!
6 I would rather my tongue could no longer move![c]
Yes, I will always remember you, Jerusalem.
You are the most important thing that I think about,
more than anything else that makes me happy.
7 Lord, remember to punish the people of Edom.[d]
They were happy when Babylon's army won against Jerusalem.
On that day the Edomites said,
‘Knock down the city so that nothing still stands!’
8 People of Babylon, an army will soon destroy you!
They will punish you in the same way that you punished us.
May God bless whoever does that to you!
9 Just like you did to us,
they will hit your babies against a rock.
May God bless whoever does that to you!
This is a song that David wrote.
God is strong and we praise him
144 Lord, I praise you!
You are my strong Rock!
You teach me how to fight well.
You show me how to use my weapons.
2 You always love me.
You are the strong place where I am safe.
You save me from the power of my enemies.
You are like a shield for me.
I know that I am safe with you.
You give me power over nations.[a]
3 Lord, why do you even think about men and women?
Why do you take care of humans?
4 People soon pass away, just like a breath.
Their life is like a shadow that soon goes.
5 Lord, open up the heavens!
Leave your home and come down to earth!
Touch the mountains so that they burn with smoke.
6 Send bright lightning to frighten your enemies.
Shoot your arrows at them
so that they run away.[b]
7 Put your hand down from heaven,
and pick me out from the deep water.[c]
Save me from the power of foreign people.
8 Their mouths speak lies.
Even when they make a promise,
they are deceiving people.
9 I will sing to you a new song, God.
I will make music to you on my harp.[d]
10 You help kings to win against their enemies.
You also save me, your servant David, from my enemies,
when they try to kill me with their dangerous swords.
11 Keep me safe from the power of foreign people.
They speak lies.
Even when they make a promise, it is false.
12 When our sons are young,
may they grow quickly, like strong plants.
May our daughters become tall and beautiful,
like the beautiful pillars in a king's house.
13 May our homes have plenty of different kinds of food.
May our sheep have thousands of lambs,
so that there is no space in our fields.
14 May our cows become fat.[e]
I pray that our enemies will never knock down our city's walls.
I pray that none of us will become their prisoners.
I pray that nobody will cry in our city's streets because they are afraid.
15 When God does that for a nation,
he has surely blessed those people!
If people know that the Lord is their God,
then God has blessed them!
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
12 Balaam said to Balak, ‘I already said this to the men that you sent to bring me. 13 I told them, “I can only speak the message that the Lord tells me. I cannot do good things or bad things just because I want to do them. Even if Balak gives his palace full of silver and gold to me, I cannot do anything different. I have to obey the Lord's command.” 14 So I will now return to my own people. But listen! Before I go, I will tell you what these Israelites will do to your people in the future.’
Balaam's fourth message from God
15 Then Balaam spoke this message from God. He said, ‘This is the message of Balaam, the son of Beor. It is the message of a man who sees clearly. 16 It is the message of a man who hears God's words. The Most High God has shown me things that only he knows. I am a man who sees a vision that God Almighty has shown to him. I lie down on the ground, but my eyes are open! I see this:
17 I see a king who will come from among the Israelites. He will not come now, but at a future time. He will appear as king, like a bright star. He will knock down the leaders of Moab. He will destroy the descendants of Sheth.[a] 18 He will win against his enemies in Edom and Seir. The Israelites will become stronger.
19 A descendant of Jacob will become their ruler. He will destroy all the people who are still alive in the city.’
Balaam's final messages from God
20 Then, in his vision, Balaam saw the Amalekites. He said, ‘Amalek was the most powerful of all the nations. God will destroy it now and for ever.’ 21 Then Balaam saw the Kenites. He spoke this message: ‘The place where you live seems strong and safe, high up among the rocks. 22 But Assyria's army will attack you. They will take you away as prisoners.’
23 Then Balaam spoke this message: ‘It is very bad for you! Nobody can live when God does these things! 24 Ships will come from the coast of Cyprus island. Their soldiers will attack Assyria and Eber. Then God will destroy them too.’
25 After he spoke those messages, Balaam returned to his home. King Balak also left that place.
God has prepared great things for his people
18 During this time now, we have troubles and pain. But I am sure that these troubles are not really very great. One day God will show us all the great things he has prepared for us. That will make the troubles that we have now seem very small. 19 The whole universe that God has made now waits for something great to happen. Everything is waiting with hope to find out who God's children really are.
20 God has caused everything in the universe to lose its purpose. It did not choose to be like that. It was God who decided that it should be like that. Then it could hope for something better in a future time. 21 At that time, the universe will not continue to become worse and worse, as it does now. It will become free from that power. It will be free to enjoy great things from God, as God's children are also free.
22 We know that everything in the universe is still in great pain now. Everything cries together in pain, like a woman who is ready to have a baby. 23 It is the same for us who are believers. We have received God's Spirit as the first of his gifts to us, but we also cry inside ourselves. We are waiting for the time when God will finish his great work. Then we will belong to him completely as his children. Our bodies will be free from the power of sin.
24 Ever since God saved us, we have continued to wait for this to happen. One day, we will receive what we have hoped for. Then we will not need to hope for it any more. Nobody continues to hope for something that he has already. 25 But we continue to hope for what we do not yet see. And so, we wait for it patiently.
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question
23 On that day, some Sadducees also came to Jesus. Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die. They wanted to ask Jesus a question.[a]
24 ‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses said in the Bible: A man may die and leave behind a wife but no children. Then that man's brother must marry the woman. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died. 25 Once, there were seven brothers who lived here. The oldest brother married a woman. Then he died before they had any children. So the second brother married the woman. 26 But then he also died with no children. So a third brother married this woman. And the same thing happened to all the brothers down to the seventh brother. They all died before the woman had any children. 27 After all this, the woman also died. 28 You teach that one day dead people will become alive again. On that day, whose wife will that woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’
29 Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘You are wrong. This is because you do not know the Bible. And you do not know how powerful God is. 30 One day, God will raise people up after they have died. They will become alive again. But then men and women will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 It is true that one day dead people will become alive again. You have read in the Bible about what God said to you: 32 “I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.” God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive.’[b]
33 The crowd heard this. They were very surprised about what Jesus was teaching.
Jesus teaches the Pharisees about the most important Law
34 The Pharisees heard that Jesus had said these things to the Sadducees. Now the Sadducees could not say anything more to him. So the Pharisees met together. They decided what they would say to Jesus.
35 One of the Pharisees had studied God's Law very well. He asked Jesus a question to see how he would answer. 36 He said, ‘Teacher, which of God's Laws is the most important rule for us to obey?’
37 Jesus replied to him, ‘You should love the Lord your God completely: Love him with all your mind. Love him with all that you are. Love him in all that you think. 38 This is the greatest rule and the most important of all God's Laws. 39 The second rule is also important, like the first one. You should love other people as much as you love yourself. 40 All God's Laws that Moses gave us come from these two rules. All the things that the prophets wrote also come from them.’
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