Book of Common Prayer
33 God turns rivers into desert,
watery springs into thirsty ground,
34 fruitful land into unproductive dirt,
when its inhabitants are wicked.
35 But God can also turn the desert into watery pools,
thirsty ground into watery springs,
36 where he settles the hungry.
They even build a city and live there!
37 They plant fields and vineyards
and obtain a fruitful harvest.
38 God blesses them, and they become many.
God won’t even let their cattle diminish.
39 But when they do diminish—
when they’re brought down by oppression, trouble, and grief—
40 God pours contempt on their leaders,
making them wander aimlessly in the wastelands.
41 But God raises the needy from their suffering;
he makes their families as numerous as sheep!
42 Those who do right see it and celebrate,
but every wicked person shuts their mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things,
carefully considering the Lord’s faithful love.
Psalm 108[a]
A song. A psalm of David.
108 My heart is unwavering, God.
I will sing and make music—
yes, with my whole being!
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn itself!
3 I will give thanks to you, Lord, among all the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations,
4 because your faithful love is higher than heaven;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
5 Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 Save me by your power and answer me
so that the people you love might be rescued.
7 God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem
and portion out the Succoth Valley.
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet, Judah is my scepter.
9 But Moab is my washbowl;
I’ll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia!
10 I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!”
11 But you have rejected us, God, haven’t you?
You, God, no longer accompany our armies.
12 Give us help against the enemy—
human help is worthless.
13 With God we will triumph:
God is the one who will trample our adversaries.
Psalm 33
33 All you who are righteous,
shout joyfully to the Lord!
It’s right for those who do right to praise God.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre!
Sing praises to him with the ten-stringed harp!
3 Sing to him a new song!
Play your best with joyful shouts!
4 Because the Lord’s word is right,
his every act is done in good faith.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the Lord’s faithful love fills the whole earth.
6 The skies were made by the Lord’s word,
all their starry multitude by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the ocean waters into a heap;
he put the deep seas into storerooms.
8 All the earth honors the Lord;
all the earth’s inhabitants stand in awe of him.
9 Because when he spoke, it happened!
When he commanded, there it was!
10 The Lord overrules what the nations plan;
he frustrates what the peoples intend to do.
11 But the Lord’s plan stands forever;
what he intends to do lasts from one generation to the next.
12 The nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom God has chosen as his possession,
is truly happy!
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees every human being.
14 From his dwelling place God observes
all who live on earth.
15 God is the one who made all their hearts,
the one who knows everything they do.
16 Kings aren’t saved by the strength of their armies;
warriors aren’t rescued by how much power they have.
17 A warhorse is a bad bet for victory;
it can’t save despite its great strength.
18 But look here: the Lord’s eyes watch all who honor him,
all who wait for his faithful love,
19 to deliver their lives[a] from death
and keep them alive during a famine.
20 We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 Our heart rejoices in God
because we trust his holy name.
22 Lord, let your faithful love surround us
because we wait for you.
21 This is the message that the Lord has spoken against him:
The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and mocks you;
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
22 Whom did you insult and ridicule?
Against whom did you raise your voice
and pridefully lift your eyes?
It was against the holy one of Israel!
23 You’ve insulted the Lord with your messengers;
you said, ‘I, with my many chariots,
have gone up to the highest mountains,
to the farthest reaches of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the best of its pine trees.
I have reached its most remote lodging place,
its best forest.
24 I have dug wells,
have drunk waters in foreign lands.[a]
With my own feet, I dried up
all of Egypt’s streams.’
25 Haven’t you heard?
I set this up long ago;
I planned it in the distant past!
Now I have made it happen,
making fortified cities
collapse into piles of rubble.
26 Their citizens have lost their power.
They are frightened and ashamed.
They’ve become like plants in a field,
tender green shoots,
the grass on rooftops,
burned up before it matures.
27 I know where you live,
how you go out and come in,
and how you rage against me.
28 And because you rage against me
and because your pride has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose,
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you go back
the same way you came.
29 “Now this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year, sow seed and harvest it; plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 The survivors of the house of Judah who have escaped will take root below and bear fruit above. 31 Those who remain will go out from Jerusalem, and those who survive will go out from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of heavenly forces[b] will do this.
32 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Assyria’s king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow there. He won’t come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it. 33 He will go back by the same way he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the Lord. 34 I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 That night the Lord’s messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere. 36 So Assyria’s King Sennacherib departed, returning to Nineveh, where he stayed.
Warning from the wilderness generation
10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to be sure of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all went through the sea. 2 All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 All ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 However, God was unhappy with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. 7 Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play.[a] 8 Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. 9 Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. 10 Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come. 12 So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. 13 No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.
Discussions about following
18 Now when Jesus saw the crowd, he ordered his disciples to go over to the other side of the lake. 19 A legal expert came and said to him, “Teacher, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One[a] has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Calming a storm
23 When Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A huge storm arose on the lake so that waves were sloshing over the boat. But Jesus was asleep. 25 They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, rescue us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you people of weak faith?” Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the lake, and there was a great calm.
27 The people were amazed and said, “What kind of person is this? Even the winds and the lake obey him!”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible