Book of Common Prayer
106 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good!
His faithful love will last forever!
2 No one can describe how great the Lord really is.
No one can praise him enough.
3 Those who obey his commands are happy.
They do good things all the time.
4 Lord, remember me when you show kindness to your people.
Remember to save me too!
5 Let me share in the good things
that you do for your chosen people.
Let me rejoice with your nation.
Let me join with your people in praise.
6 We sinned just as our ancestors did.
We were wrong; we did bad things!
7 Lord, our ancestors learned nothing
from the miracles you did in Egypt.
They forgot your kindness at the Red Sea
and rebelled against you.
8 But the Lord saved our ancestors for the honor of his name.
He saved them to show his great power.
9 He gave the command, and the Red Sea became dry.
He led them through the deep sea on land as dry as the desert.
10 He saved our ancestors
and rescued them from their enemies.
11 He covered their enemies with the sea.
Not one of them escaped!
12 Then our ancestors believed what he had said.
They sang praises to him.
13 But they quickly forgot about what he did.
They did not listen to his advice.
14 They became hungry in the desert,
and they tested him in the wilderness.
15 He gave them what they asked for,
but he also gave them a terrible disease.
16 The people became jealous of Moses.
They became jealous of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
17 The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan.
Then the ground closed up and covered Abiram’s group.
18 Then a fire burned that mob of people.
It burned those wicked people.
19 The people made a golden calf at Mount Horeb.
They worshiped a statue!
20 They traded their glorious God
for a statue of a grass-eating bull!
21 They forgot all about God, the one who saved them,
the one who did the miracles in Egypt.
22 He did amazing things there in Ham’s country[a]!
He did awesome things at the Red Sea!
23 God wanted to destroy those people,
but Moses, the leader he chose, stood in the way.
God was very angry, but Moses begged him to stop,
so God did not destroy the people.[b]
24 But then they refused to go into the wonderful land of Canaan.
They did not believe that God would help them defeat the people there.
25 Our ancestors complained in their tents
and refused to obey the Lord.
26 So he swore that they would die
in the desert.
27 He promised to scatter them among the nations
and to let other people defeat their descendants.
28 At Baal Peor they joined in worshiping Baal
and ate sacrifices to honor the dead.[c]
29 The Lord became angry with his people,
so he made them sick.
30 But Phinehas prayed[d] to God,
and God stopped the sickness.
31 He considered what Phinehas did a good work,
and it will be remembered forever and ever.
32 At Meribah the people made the Lord angry
and created trouble for Moses.
33 They upset Moses,
and he spoke without stopping to think.
34 The Lord told the people to destroy the other nations living in Canaan.
But the Israelites did not obey him.
35 They mixed with the other people
and did what those people were doing.
36 They began worshiping the false gods those people worshiped.
And their idols became a trap.
37 They even offered their own children
as sacrifices to demons.
38 They killed their innocent sons and daughters
and offered them to the false gods of Canaan.
So the land was polluted with the sin of murder.
39 They were unfaithful to him,
and they became dirty with the sins of other nations.
40 So the Lord became angry with his people.
He rejected those who belonged to him.
41 He gave his people to other nations
and let their enemies rule over them.
42 Their enemies controlled them
and made life hard for them.
43 He saved his people many times,
but they turned against him and did what they wanted to do.
His people did many bad things.
44 But whenever they were in trouble,
he listened to their prayers.
45 He always remembered his agreement,
and because of his faithful love, he comforted them.
46 Other nations took them as prisoners,
but the Lord caused them to be kind to his people.
47 Lord our God, save us!
Bring us back together from those nations.
Then we will give thanks to your holy name
and joyfully praise you.
48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel!
He always was and will always be worthy of praise.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
The Lord’s Promises
10 Pray to the Lord for rain in the springtime. The Lord will send the lightning and the rain will fall, and he will make the plants grow in each person’s field.
2 People use their little statues and magic to learn what will happen in the future, but that is useless. They see visions and tell about their dreams, but it is nothing but worthless lies. So the people are like sheep wandering here and there crying for help, but there is no shepherd to lead them.
3 The Lord says, “I am very angry with the shepherds. I made them responsible for what happens to my sheep.” (The people of Judah are his flock, and the Lord All-Powerful really does take care of his flock. He cares for them as a soldier cares for his beautiful war horse.)
4 “The cornerstone, the tent peg, the war bow, and the advancing soldiers will all come from Judah together. 5 They will defeat their enemy—it will be like soldiers marching through mud in the streets. They will fight, and since the Lord is with them, they will defeat even the enemy soldiers riding horses. 6 I will make Judah’s family strong. I will help Joseph’s family win the war. I will bring them back safely and comfort them. It will be as if I never left them. I am the Lord their God, and I will help them. 7 The people of Ephraim will be as happy as soldiers who have too much to drink. Their children will be rejoicing and they, too, will be happy. They will all have a happy time together with the Lord.
8 “I will whistle for them and call them all together. I really will save them. There will be many people. 9 Yes, I have been scattering my people throughout the nations. But in those faraway places, they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will come back. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and Assyria. I will bring them to the area of Gilead. And since there will not be enough room, I will also let them live in nearby Lebanon. 11 They will go through a sea of troubles, but the waves will be stopped. Even the deepest waters of the Nile River will dry up. I will destroy Assyria’s pride and take away Egypt’s power. 12 I, the Lord, will make my people strong, and they will live for me.” This is what the Lord said.
Help Each Other
6 Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too. 2 Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to do this, you are only fooling yourself. 4 Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours.
Never Stop Doing Good
6 Whoever is being taught God’s word should share the good things they have with the one who is teaching them.
7 If you think you can fool God, you are only fooling yourselves. You will harvest what you plant. 8 If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the harvest you will get from that will be eternal death. But if you live to please the Spirit, your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life. 9 We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up. 10 When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.
Jesus Welcomes Children(A)
15 Some people brought their small children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them to bless them. But when the followers saw this, they told the people not to do this. 16 But Jesus called the little children to him and said to his followers, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. 17 The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.”
A Rich Man Refuses to Follow Jesus(B)
18 A religious leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 20 And you know his commands: ‘You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, you must respect your father and mother ….’[a]”
21 But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to the leader, “But there is still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to those who are poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.” 23 But when the man heard Jesus tell him to give away his money, he was sad. He didn’t want to do this, because he was very rich.
24 When Jesus saw that the man was sad, he said, “It will be very hard for rich people to enter God’s kingdom. 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”
Who Can Be Saved?
26 When the people heard this, they said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “God can do things that are not possible for people to do.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we left everything we had and followed you.”
29 Jesus said, “I can promise that everyone who has left their home, wife, brothers, parents, or children for God’s kingdom 30 will get much more than they left. They will get many times more in this life. And in the world that is coming they will get the reward of eternal life.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International