Book of Common Prayer
God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History
A maskil of Asaph.[a]
78 Listen, O my people, to my teaching.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will offer[b] a parable with my mouth.
I will pour out riddles from long ago,
3 that we have heard and known,
and our ancestors[c] have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,[d]
telling the next generation the praises of Yahweh,
and his power and his wonders that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a law[e] in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors[f]
to teach to their children,
6 so that the next generation might know—
children yet to be born—
that they might rise up and tell their children,
7 that they might set their confidence in God,
and not forget the deeds of God,
but keep his commandments,
8 and not be like their ancestors,[g]
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not make ready its heart,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The sons of Ephraim, armed with archers,[h]
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to go in his law.[i]
11 They also forgot his deeds,
and his wonders that he had shown them.
12 In front of their ancestors[j] he did a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and caused them to go over,
and he caused waters to stand like a heap.
14 And he led them with the cloud by day,
and all night with a fiery light.
15 He caused rocks to split in the wilderness
and provided drink abundantly as from the depths.
16 And he brought streams out of the rock
and caused water to flow down like rivers.
17 But they sinned still further against him
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 And they tested God in their heart
by asking food for their craving.[k]
19 And they spoke against God.
They said, “Is God able
to prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Yes, he struck the rock and water flowed
and streams gushed out,
but can he also give food
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore Yahweh heard
and he was very angry,
and a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and his anger also rose up against Israel,
22 because they did not believe God,
and they did not trust his salvation.
23 Nevertheless, he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Humankind ate the bread of angels.[l]
He sent them food enough to be satisfied.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
and drove along the south wind by his strength.
27 Then he rained meat on them like dust,
even winged birds[m] like the sand of the seas.
28 He caused them to fall in the midst of his camp,
all around his dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled,
and he brought about what they craved.
30 They had not yet turned aside from their craving,
while their food was still in their mouth,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed some of the stoutest of them,
even the young men of Israel he caused to bow down in death.
32 In spite of all this they sinned further
and did not believe his wonders.
33 And he consumed their days with futility [n]
their years with terror.[o]
34 When he killed some of them, then they sought him,
and repented and earnestly sought God.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock,
and God Most High their redeemer.
36 But they enticed him with their mouth
and lied to him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not steadfast with him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was compassionate; he pardoned[p] their guilt
and did not destroy them.
And many times he turned back his anger
and did not stir up all his wrath,
39 for he remembered that they were flesh,
a passing wind that does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and vexed him in the wasteland!
41 So they again tested God
and distressed[q] the Holy One of Israel.
42 And they did not remember his power[r]
when[s] he redeemed them from the enemy,
43 how he performed[t] his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the region of Zoan,
44 when he turned their rivers[u] to blood
so they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent among them flies that devoured them
and frogs that destroyed them.
46 And he gave their crop to the locusts
and their labor to the locust.[v]
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with sleet.[w]
48 He also handed their cattle over to the hail
and their livestock to the lightning bolts.
49 He sent against them his fierce anger,
rage and indignation and trouble,
a band of destroying[x] angels.
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them[y] from death
but handed their life over to the plague.
51 And he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52 Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them like a herd in the wilderness.
53 And he led them safely and they were not afraid,
but the sea covered their enemies.
54 So he brought them to his holy territory,[z]
this mountain his right hand acquired.[aa]
55 And he drove out nations before them
and allocated them for an inheritance by boundary line,
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 But they tested and rebelled against God Most High
and did not keep his statutes.
57 And they turned and were treacherous like their ancestors.[ab]
They twisted like a crooked[ac] bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
and made him jealous with their images.
59 God heard and he was very angry
and rejected Israel utterly.
60 So he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh,
the tent he had placed among humankind.
61 And he gave his strength into captivity
and his splendor into the hand of the enemy.
62 He also handed his people over to the sword,
and he was very angry with his inheritance.
63 Fire devoured his young men,
and his young women[ad] were not praised.
64 His priests fell by the sword,
and his widows did not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke like one who had been asleep,
awoke like a warrior who had been drunk with wine.[ae]
66 And he beat back his enemies;
he gave them over to perpetual scorn.
67 And he rejected the tent of Joseph,
and did not chose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion[af] that he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that he established forever.
70 And he chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds.
71 He brought him from following nursing ewes
to shepherd Jacob, his people,
and Israel, his inheritance.
72 And he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.
21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For I did not speak with your ancestors,[a] nor did I command them in the day of bringing them out from the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offering and sacrifice. 23 But I only commanded them this word, saying,[b] ‘Obey my voice, and I will be to you God, and you will be to me people, and you must walk in all of the way that I command you, so that it goes well with you.’ 24 Yet they did not obey, and they did not incline their ear, but they walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they became worse instead of better.[c] 25 From the day that your ancestors[d] came out from the land of Egypt until this day I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, day after day, sending again and again.[e] 26 Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.[f] 27 So you shall speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you, and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
The Valley of the Slaughter
28 “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the voice of Yahweh their God, and they have not accepted discipline. The truth has perished, and it is cut off from their mouths.[g] 29 Shear your hair and throw it[h] away, and lift up a lament on the barren heights, for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’ 30 For the people [i] of Judah have done evil in my eyes,” declares[j] Yahweh, “They have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name,[k] to defile it. 31 And they built the high place of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.[l] 32 Therefore look, days are about to come,” declares[m] Yahweh, “and it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, and they will bury in Topheth until there is no more place.[n] 33 And the dead bodies[o] of this people will be as food for the birds[p] of the heavens,[q] and for the animals[r] of the earth, without anyone to scare them[s] away. 34 And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.
The Promise to Abraham Secured through Faith
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith. 14 For if those of the law are heirs, faith is rendered void and the promise is nullified. 15 For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16 Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)[a] before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, 18 who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.”[b] 19 And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, [c] because he[d] was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God 21 and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore[e] it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him, 24 but also for the sake of us to whom it is going to be credited, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over on account of our trespasses, and was raised up in the interest of our justification.[f]
The Promise of the Spirit
37 Now on the last day of the feast—the great day—Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let him drink, 38 the one who believes in me.[a] Just as the scripture said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’”[b] 39 Now he said this concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given,[c] because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
Different Opinions About Jesus
40 Then, when they[d] heard these words, some from the crowd began to say,[e] “This man is truly the Prophet!” 41 Others were saying, “This man is the Christ!” But others were saying, “No, for the Christ does not come from Galilee, does he?[f] 42 Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 And some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 So the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said to them, “Why[g] did you not bring him?” 46 The officers replied, “Never has a man spoken like this!” 47 Then the Pharisees replied to them, “You have not also been deceived, have you?[h] 48 None[i] of the rulers or of the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?[j] 49 But this crowd who does not know the law is accursed!”
50 Nicodemus, the one who came to him previously—who was one of them—said to them, 51 “Our law does not condemn a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?”[k] 52 They answered and said to him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you?[l] Investigate and see that a prophet does not arise from Galilee!”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software