Book of Common Prayer

The Lord is King!^[a]

Sing a new song!^[a]

David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.^[a]

God is great!^[b]

The Midianites give Israel trouble

6 The Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. So the Lord put them under the power of the Midianites for seven years. ² They used their power to be cruel to the Israelites. The Israelites built huts in the hills to live in. They hid themselves in caves and other safe places. ³ When they planted seeds to grow food, their enemies would attack them. The Midianites, Amalekites and people from the east would come to rob them. ⁴ They made their camps on Israel's land. They took all their crops, as far south as Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat. They took away their sheep, cows and donkeys. ⁵ The groups of enemies came with their animals. They put up their tents all across the land. They came like a cloud of locusts. They were too many to count as they arrived on their camels. They took everything that grew on the land. ⁶ Because of the Midianites, the Israelites became poor and weak. So they called out to the Lord for help.

⁷ When the Israelites asked the Lord to rescue them from the Midianites, ⁸ he sent a prophet to them. The prophet said to them, ‘This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says: “I brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. ⁹ I saved you from the power of the Egyptians and all those who were cruel to you. I chased away your enemies and I gave their land to you. ¹⁰ I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You are now living in the land of the Amorites, but you must not worship their gods.’ But you have not obeyed me.” ’

The Lord chooses Gideon

¹¹ The Lord's angel came to sit under a big oak tree in Ophrah. It belonged to Joash, from Abiezer's clan. When the angel arrived, Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat. He was doing it in a winepress because he wanted to hide his food from the Midianites. ¹² The Lord's angel appeared to Gideon. He said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, brave fighter.’^{[a] 13} Gideon replied, ‘But sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this trouble happened to us? Our ancestors told us about all the great things that the Lord did for them. They told us how he brought them safely out of Egypt. But the Lord has not helped us like that. He has turned away from us. He has put us under the power of the Midianites.’

¹⁴ The Lord himself then said to Gideon, ‘Go now and use the strength that you have. Rescue Israel from the power of the Midianites. I myself am sending you to do this.’

¹⁵ Gideon said, ‘But sir, how can I rescue Israel? Look at me! My clan is the weakest in the tribe of Manasseh. And I am the youngest person in my family.’

¹⁶ The Lord answered him, ‘Understand that I will be with you! You will destroy the Midianites as if they were only one man.’

¹⁷ Gideon replied, ‘If you are pleased with me, please do something special. I want to know that you really are the Lord who is speaking to me. ¹⁸ Please stay here so that I can bring a gift for you.’ The Lord answered, ‘I will stay here until you come back.’

¹⁹ Gideon went home and he cooked a young goat. He also used an ephah of flour to make some flat bread. He put the meat in a basket and he put the soup in a pot. He took the food to the one who was sitting under the oak tree.

²⁰ God's angel said to him, ‘Put the meat and the bread on this rock. Pour the soup over them.’ Gideon did what the angel told him to do. ²¹ Then the Lord's angel touched the meat and the bread with the end of the stick that he held in his hand. Fire came from the rock and it burnt up the meat and the bread. Then the Lord's angel disappeared.

²² Gideon realized that he had been talking to the Lord's angel. He cried out, ‘Oh no! Almighty Lord, I have seen your angel, face to face.’

²³ But the Lord said to him, ‘Do not worry. Do not be afraid. You will not die because of this.’^[b]

²⁴ So Gideon built an altar there to give honour to the Lord. He called it ‘The Lord is Peace’. The altar is still there, in Ophrah, on the land of Abiezer's clan.

It is good to give as much as you can

⁶ Remember this: If a farmer plants only a few seeds, he will not get much as a result. But if he plants plenty of seeds, he will get a big harvest. ⁷ Each of you should think carefully and then decide how much you can give. Then you will not be sad to give that money. Nobody has made you give it. God loves someone who is happy to give help to other people.

⁸ Since God loves you, he is able to give you more than you need. You will always have every good thing that you need for yourselves. And you will have enough to do many good things to help other people. ⁹ The Bible says this about someone who helps other people:

¹⁰ It is God who supplies seeds for the farmer to plant. It is God who supplies bread for food. God will help you in the same way. He will give you plenty of things so that you can help other people. You will be like a farmer who plants many seeds. And God will cause those seeds to grow. There will be many good results from the help that you give to other people. That will be like a great harvest. ¹¹ God will make you rich with many good things. As a result, you will always be able to give plenty to other people. Many people will thank God because of your gifts that we take to them.

¹² This good work that you are doing is helping God's people. It is helping to supply what they need. And it is not only doing that. It is also causing many people to thank God very much. ¹³ Your gift of money will show people that you really want to help. People will say that God is great. They will see that you want to obey God. They will see that you are happy to give to them, and to everyone else. They will see that you really believe the good news about Christ, as you say you do. ¹⁴ They will want to thank you. They will pray to God for you. They will do that because they see how very kind God has been to you.

¹⁵ Yes, we should all thank God for his very great gift.^[b] That gift is too great to describe it with words!

Jesus talks about Satan

²⁰ Then Jesus went into a house. A crowd of people came together there again. There were so many people that Jesus and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹ People told his family what was happening. So they went to take him away with them. They thought that Jesus was crazy.^[a]

²² Some teachers of God's Law came from Jerusalem. They said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit called Beelzebul in him. That is Satan, the one who rules all the bad spirits. This man can send bad spirits out of people because Satan gives him authority.’^[b]

²³ So Jesus spoke to the teachers of God's Law. He said, ‘Come here and listen to me.’ He used stories to explain to them, ‘Satan would not fight against himself! ²⁴ If armies in the same country start to fight each other, then they will destroy their own country. ²⁵ And if the people in one family start to fight against each other, they will destroy their own family. ²⁶ So Satan would not attack himself. If he did that, he would destroy his own power. That would be the end of him. ²⁷ Nobody can easily go into the house of a strong man to rob him. To do that, he must first tie up the strong man. Then he can take away all that man's valuable things. ²⁸ I tell you this: God can forgive all the wrong things that people do. He can also forgive people who say bad things against him. ²⁹ But God will never forgive people who say bad things against the Holy Spirit. Those people will always be guilty of a terrible sin.’

³⁰ Jesus said that to the teachers of God's Law, because they had said, ‘Jesus has a bad spirit in him.’