Book of Common Prayer
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s love.
I will tell of his loyalty from now on.
2 I will say, “Your love continues forever.
Your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with the man of my choice.
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will make your family continue forever.
Your kingdom will continue from now on.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for your miracles
and for your loyalty in the meeting of your holy ones.
6 Who in heaven is equal to the Lord?
None of the angels is like the Lord.
7 When the holy ones meet, it is God they fear.
He is more frightening than all who surround him.
8 Lord God of heaven’s armies, who is like you?
Lord, you are powerful and completely to be trusted.
9 You rule the mighty sea.
You calm the stormy waves.
10 You crushed the sea monster Rahab.
By your power you scattered your enemies.
11 The skies and the earth belong to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm has great power.
Your hand is strong. Your right hand is lifted up.
14 Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
Love and truth are in all you do.
15 Happy are the people who know how to praise you.
Lord, let them live in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all the time.
They praise your goodness.
17 You are their glorious strength.
In your kindness you honor our king.
18 Our king, our shield, belongs to the Lord.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once, in a vision, you spoke
to those who worship you.
You said, “I have given strength to a warrior.
I have selected a young man from my people.
20 I have found my servant David.
I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him.
21 I will steady him with my hand.
I will strengthen him with my arm.
22 No enemy will make him give forced payments.
Wicked people will not defeat him.
23 I will crush his enemies in front of him.
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 My loyalty and love will be with him.
Through me he will be strong.
25 I will give him power over the sea
and control over the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, the one who saves me.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son.
He will be the greatest king on earth.
28 My love will watch over him forever.
My agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue.
His kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 “But his descendants might reject my teachings
and not follow my rules.
31 They might break my laws
and disobey my commands.
32 Then I will punish their sins with a rod
and their wrongs with a whip.
33 But I will not hold back my love from David.
I will not stop being loyal.
34 I will not break my agreement.
I will not change what I have said.
35 It is certain that I am a holy God.
So it is certain I will not lie to David.
36 His family will continue forever.
His kingdom will continue before me like the sun.
37 It will last forever, like the moon,
like a lasting witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But now, you have rejected your appointed king.
You have been angry with him.
39 You have broken the agreement with your servant.
You threw his crown to the ground.
40 You have torn down all the city walls.
You have turned his strong, walled cities into ruins.
41 Everyone who passes by steals from him.
His neighbors insult him.
42 You have given strength to his enemies.
You have made them all happy.
43 You have made his sword useless.
You did not help him stand in battle.
44 You have kept him from winning.
You threw his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut his life short.
You have covered him with shame. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this go on?
Will you ignore us forever?
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Why did you create us anyway?
48 What man alive will not die?
Can he escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is your love from times past?
With loyalty you promised it to David.
50 Lord, remember how they insulted your servant.
Remember how I have suffered the insults of the nations.
51 Lord, remember how your enemies insulted you.
Remember how they insulted your appointed king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and amen.
The Map of Jerusalem
4 “Now, human being, get yourself a brick. Put it in front of you and draw a map of Jerusalem on it. 2 Then surround it with an army. Build battle works against the city. Build a road of earth to the top of the city walls. Set up camps around it. Put heavy logs in place to break down the walls. 3 Then get yourself an iron plate. Put it up like an iron wall between you and the city. Turn your face toward the city as if to attack it. Then surround it and attack it. This is a sign to Israel.
4 “Then lie down on your left side. Take the guilt of Israel on yourself. Their guilt will be on you for the number of days you lie on your left side. 5 I have given you the same number of days as the years of the people’s sin. So you will have the guilt of Israel’s sin on you for 390 days.
6 “When you have finished these 390 days, lie down a second time. This time lie on your right side. You will then have the guilt of Judah on you. I have given it to you for 40 days. This is a day for each year of their sin. 7 Then you will turn your face toward the army attacking Jerusalem. With your arm bare, you will prophesy against Jerusalem. 8 I will put ropes on you so you cannot turn from one side to the other. This will last until you have finished the days of your attack on Jerusalem.
9 “Take wheat, barley, beans, small peas and millet seeds. And put them in one bowl. Make them into bread for yourself. You will eat it the 390 days you lie on your side. 10 You will eat eight ounces of food every day. You will eat it at set times. 11 You will drink about two-thirds of a quart of water every day. Drink it at set times. 12 Eat your food as you would eat a barley cake. Bake it over human dung where the people can see.” 13 Then the Lord said, “In the same way Israel will eat unclean food. They will eat it among the nations where I force them to go.”
14 But I said, “No, Lord God! I have never been made unclean. From the time I was young until now I’ve never eaten anything that died by itself. And I’ve never eaten anything torn by animals. Unclean meat has never entered my mouth.”
15 “Very well,” he said. “Then I will give you cow’s dung instead of human dung. You may use it for your fire to bake your bread.”
16 Then the Lord said to me, “Human being, look! I am going to cut off the supply of bread to Jerusalem. They will eat the bread that is measured out to them. And they will worry as they eat it. They will drink water that is measured out to them. And they will be in shock as they drink it. 17 This is because bread and water will be hard to find. And the people will be shocked at the sight of each other. They will become weak because of their sin.
6 So let us go on to grown-up teaching. Let us not go back over the beginning lessons we learned about Christ. We should not start over again with teaching about turning from acts that lead to death and about believing in God. 2 We should not return to the teaching of baptisms,[a] of laying on of hands,[b] of the raising of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And we will go on to grown-up teaching if God allows.
4 Some people cannot be brought back again to a changed life. They were once in God’s light. They enjoyed heaven’s gift, and they shared in the Holy Spirit. 5 They found out how good God’s word is, and they received the powers of his new world. 6 And then they fell away from Christ! It is not possible to keep on bringing them back to a changed life again. For they are nailing the Son of God to a cross again and are shaming him in front of others.
7 Some people are like land that gets plenty of rain. The land produces a good crop for those who work it, and it receives God’s blessings. 8 Other people are like land that grows thorns and weeds and is worthless. It is about to be cursed by God. It will be destroyed by fire.
9 Dear friends, we are saying this to you. But we really expect better things from you that will lead to your salvation. 10 God is fair. He will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them. 11 We want each of you to go on with the same hard work all your lives. Then you will surely get what you hope for. 12 We do not want you to become lazy. Be like those who have faith and patience. They will receive what God has promised.
A Samaritan Town
51 The time was coming near when Jesus would leave and be taken to heaven. He was determined to go to Jerusalem 52 and sent some men ahead of him. The men went into a town in Samaria to make everything ready for Jesus. 53 But the people there would not welcome him because he was going toward Jerusalem. 54 James and John, the followers of Jesus, saw this. They said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?”[a]
55 But Jesus turned and scolded them. [And Jesus said, “You don’t know what kind of spirit you belong to. 56 The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men but to save them.”][b] Then he and his followers went to another town.
Following Jesus
57 They were all going along the road. Someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you any place you go.”
58 Jesus answered, “The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in. But the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.”
59 Jesus said to another man, “Follow me!”
But the man said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the people who are dead bury their own dead! You must go and tell about the kingdom of God.”
61 Another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.”
62 Jesus said, “Anyone who begins to plow a field but keeps looking back is of no use in the kingdom of God.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.