Book of Common Prayer

¹³ God made a promise to Abraham. God did not have anyone greater than himself to hear his promise.

¹⁴ So he promised to himself when he said, `I will surely bless you and you will have many children.'

¹⁵ Abraham kept on believing God. And so he got what God had promised him.

¹⁶ When men make a promise, they ask someone to hear it who is greater than they are. When someone great has heard a promise, it stops any quarrel about it.

¹⁷ God made a promise to people. He wanted to show them that he would surely do as he said. So he promised to himself to keep the promise.

¹⁸ These two things cannot be changed and God cannot lie about them. So we can trust him. We have run to him to get what he has promised us.

¹⁹ This promise gives our hearts something to hold on to. It keeps our hearts strong and steady. It will take us into the Holy Place right inside God's house.

²⁰ Jesus has gone there ahead of us. He has been made high priest for ever like Melchizedek.

10 After this the Lord chose seventy other men. He sent them ahead of him, two by two. He sent them to every town and village that he was going to visit.

² He said to them, `The harvest is much, but there are not many people to gather it. So talk to the Lord of this harvest and ask him to send out people to his harvest.

³ Go on your way now. I am sending you out among people. You will be like sheep among bad animals.

⁴ Do not take money, or a bag, or shoes. And do not stop to talk with anyone on the road.

⁵ When you go into a house, first say, "May God give peace to this family."

⁶ If a man of peace is there, your blessing will stay with him. If not, your blessing will come back to you.

⁷ Stay in that house. Eat and drink what the people give you. The one who works should have his pay for it. Do not move from one house to another house.

⁸ `When you go into a town and they take you in, eat what is put before you.

⁹ Heal the sick people in the town. Tell the people, "The kingdom of God has come to you."

¹⁰ But when you go into a town and they do not take you in, then go out into the streets of the town.

¹¹ Say to the people, "We wipe off even the dust of the town that is on our feet. This will be a sign to you. But remember this, the kingdom of God has come."

¹² I tell you this. On the day when people are judged, they will be punished more than the people in the city of Sodom.

¹³ `Chorazin, you will have trouble! Bethsaida, you will have trouble! If the big works I did in you had been done in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have stopped doing bad things long ago. They would wear the clothes people wear to show they are sad, and would sit in ashes.

¹⁴ But on the day when people are judged you will be punished more than the people in the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

¹⁵ Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the sky? No, you will go down to the place of the dead.

¹⁶ `Anyone who listens to you listens to me. Anyone who does not believe you does not believe me. Anyone who does not believe me does not believe the one who sent me.'

¹⁷ The seventy men Jesus had sent out came back very happy. They said, `Lord, even the bad spirits obey us when we talk to them in your name!'