Book of Common Prayer

10 My brothers, here is something you should know. Long ago, all our fathers were led by the cloud of God over them. They all went through the Red Sea.

² It was as if they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³ They all ate the same food from the Spirit.

⁴ They all drank the same water sent by the Spirit. The water they drank came from a Rock of the Spirit which went with them. That Rock was Christ.

⁵ But God was not pleased with most of them. They died in the wilderness.

⁶ This teaches us not to want wrong things as they did.

⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The holy writings say, `The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and danced.'

⁸ We must not use sex the wrong way as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand people died in one day!

⁹ We must not test the Lord, as some of them did. They were bitten by bad snakes and died!

¹⁰ Do not grumble, as some of them did. They were killed by the Angel of Death!

¹¹ These things happened to them to teach other people. They were written in the holy writings to teach us who are living in the last days of the world.

¹² Therefore, when a person thinks, `I am strong; I can stand,' let that person be careful, or he will fall.

¹³ No testing has come to you that other people do not have. But God will not fail you. He will not allow the testing to be too hard for you. No. When the testing comes, God will make a way out for you, so that you can go through the testing.

¹⁸ Jesus saw many people around him. So he said, `Let us cross over to the other side of the sea.'

¹⁹ A scribe came and said to him, `Teacher, I will go anywhere you go.'

²⁰ Jesus said, `Foxes have holes to live in. Birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lie down to rest.'

²¹ Another man who was a follower of Jesus, said to Jesus, `Lord, let me go first and bury my father.'

²² But Jesus said to him, `Come with me. Let those who are dead bury their own dead people.'

²³ Jesus got in the boat and his disciples got in with him.

²⁴ A bad storm came on the sea. The waves were high. Water came into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

²⁵ The disciples came to Jesus and woke him. `Lord, save us!' they shouted. `We will die!'

²⁶ Jesus said to them, `Why do you fear? You do not believe in God very much!' Then Jesus got up. He said to the winds and the sea, `Stop!' Then all was quiet.

²⁷ The disciples were surprised. They said `What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him.'