Book of Common Prayer
80 O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory. 2 Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.
3 Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love;[a] only then shall we be saved.
4 O Jehovah, God of heaven’s armies, how long will you be angry and reject our prayers? 5 You have fed us with sorrow and tears 6 and have made us the scorn of the neighboring nations. They laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;[b] only then shall we be saved. 8 You brought us from Egypt as though we were a tender vine and drove away the heathen from your land and planted us. 9 You cleared the ground and tilled the soil, and we took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with our shadow; we were like the mighty cedar trees,[c] 11 covering the entire land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. 12 But now you have broken down our walls, leaving us without protection. 13 The boar from the forest roots around us, and the wild animals feed on us.
14 Come back, we beg of you, O God of the armies of heaven, and bless us. Look down from heaven and see our plight and care for this your vine! 15 Protect what you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. 16 For we are chopped and burned by our enemies. May they perish at your frown. 17 Strengthen the man you love,[d] the son of your choice, 18 and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.
19 Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.
77 I cry to the Lord; I call and call to him. Oh, that he would listen. 2 I am in deep trouble and I need his help so much. All night long I pray, lifting my hands to heaven, pleading. There can be no joy for me until he acts. 3 I think of God and moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. 4 I cannot sleep until you act. I am too distressed even to pray!
5 I keep thinking of the good old days of the past, long since ended. 6 Then my nights were filled with joyous songs. I search my soul and meditate upon the difference now. 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be favorable? 8 Is his loving-kindness gone forever? Has his promise failed? 9 Has he forgotten to be kind to one so undeserving? Has he slammed the door in anger on his love? 10 And I said: This is my fate, that the blessings of God have changed to hate.[a] 11 I recall the many miracles he did for me so long ago. 12 Those wonderful deeds are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about them.
13 O God, your ways are holy. Where is there any other as mighty as you? 14 You are the God of miracles and wonders! You still demonstrate your awesome power.
15 You have redeemed us who are the sons of Jacob and of Joseph by your might. 16 When the Red Sea saw you, how it feared! It trembled to its depths! 17 The clouds poured down their rain, the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky. Your lightning flashed. 18 There was thunder in the whirlwind; the lightning lighted up the world! The earth trembled and shook.
19 Your road led by a pathway through the sea—a pathway no one knew was there! 20 You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.
79 O God, your land has been conquered by the heathen nations. Your Temple is defiled, and Jerusalem is a heap of ruins. 2 The bodies of your people lie exposed—food for birds and animals. 3 The enemy has butchered the entire population of Jerusalem; blood has flowed like water. No one is left even to bury them. 4 The nations all around us scoff. They heap contempt on us.
5 O Jehovah, how long will you be angry with us? Forever? Will your jealousy burn till every hope is gone? 6 Pour out your wrath upon the godless nations—not on us—on kingdoms that refuse to pray, that will not call upon your name! 7 For they have destroyed your people Israel, invading every home. 8 Oh, do not hold us guilty for our former sins! Let your tenderhearted mercies meet our needs, for we are brought low to the dust. 9 Help us, God of our salvation! Help us for the honor of your name. Oh, save us and forgive our sins. 10 Why should the heathen nations be allowed to scoff, “Where is their God?” Publicly avenge this slaughter of your people! 11 Listen to the sighing of the prisoners and those condemned to die. Demonstrate the greatness of your power by saving them. 12 O Lord, take sevenfold vengeance on these nations scorning you.
13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and forever, praising your greatness from generation to generation.
25 That night the Lord told Gideon to hitch his father’s best ox to the family altar of Baal and pull it down, and to cut down the wooden idol of the goddess Asherah that stood nearby.
26 “Replace it with an altar for the Lord your God, built here on this hill, laying the stones carefully. Then sacrifice the ox as a burnt offering to the Lord, using the wooden idol as wood for the fire on the altar.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord had commanded. But he did it at night for fear of the other members of his father’s household, and for fear of the men of the city; for he knew what would happen if they found out who did it! 28 Early the next morning, as the city began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal was knocked apart, the idol beside it was gone, and a new altar had been built instead, with the remains of a sacrifice on it.
29 “Who did this?” everyone demanded. Finally they learned that it was Gideon, the son of Joash.
30 “Bring out your son,” they shouted to Joash. “He must die for insulting the altar of Baal and for cutting down the Asherah idol.”
31 But Joash retorted to the whole mob, “Does Baal need your help? What an insult to a god! You are the ones who should die for insulting Baal! If Baal is really a god, let him take care of himself and destroy the one who broke apart his altar!”
32 From then on Gideon was called “Jerubbaal,” a nickname meaning “Let Baal take care of himself!”[a]
33 Soon afterward the armies of Midian, Amalek, and other neighboring nations united in one vast alliance against Israel. They crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet as a call to arms, and the men of Abiezer came to him. 35 He also sent messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, summoning their fighting forces, and all of them responded.
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you are really going to use me to save Israel as you promised, 37 prove it to me in this way: I’ll put some wool on the threshing floor tonight, and if, in the morning, the fleece is wet and the ground is dry, I will know you are going to help me!”
38 And it happened just that way! When he got up the next morning, he pressed the fleece together and wrung out a whole bowlful of water!
39 Then Gideon said to the Lord, “Please don’t be angry with me, but let me make one more test: this time let the fleece remain dry while the ground around it is wet!”
40 So the Lord did as he asked; that night the fleece stayed dry, but the ground was covered with dew!
37 These words of Peter’s moved them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 And Peter replied, “Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift, the Holy Spirit. 39 For Christ promised him to each one of you who has been called by the Lord our God, and to your children and even to those in distant lands!”
40 Then Peter preached a long sermon, telling about Jesus and strongly urging all his listeners to save themselves from the evils of their nation. 41 And those who believed Peter were baptized—about three thousand in all! 42 They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the apostles’ teaching sessions and at the Communion services[a] and prayer meetings.
43 A deep sense of awe was on them all, and the apostles did many miracles.
44 And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other, 45 selling their possessions and dividing with those in need. 46 They worshiped together regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness, 47 praising God. The whole city was favorable to them, and each day God added to them all who were being saved.
1 1-2 Before anything else existed,[a] there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6-7 God sent John the Baptist as a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the true Light. 8 John himself was not the Light; he was only a witness to identify it.
9 Later on, the one who is the true Light arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world.
10 But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11-12 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.[b] 13 All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth[c] resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.
14 And Christ[d] became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen his glory—the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!
15 John pointed him out to the people, telling the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming who is greater by far than I am—for he existed long before I did!’” 16 We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—blessing upon blessing heaped upon us! 17 For Moses gave us only the Law with its rigid demands and merciless justice, while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well. 18 No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.