Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
A Contemplative Maskil of Asaph.
1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter insightful sayings of old,
3 which we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
but will tell the coming generation
the praises of the Lord,
and His strength, and the wonderful works that He has done.
5 For He established a rule in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
that they should make them known to their children,
6 that the generation to come might know them,
even the children who are not yet born,
who will arise and declare them to their children:
7 that they might set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments,
8 and they might not be as their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not set their heart steadfast,
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The people of Ephraim, being armed with bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to walk in His law;
11 and they forgot His works
and the wonders that He had shown them.
12 In the sight of their ancestors He did marvelous wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
and He made the waters to stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime He led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them abundance to drink as out of the great depths.
16 He brought streams out of the rock
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 They sinned yet more against Him
by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.
18 They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food that they craved.
19 They spoke against God by saying,
“Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out
and the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread
or provide meat for His people?”
21 Therefore the Lord heard this and was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and anger also came up against Israel,
22 because they did not believe in God
nor trust in His deliverance.
23 Yet He had commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and He rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 Man ate the food of mighty angels;
He sent them bread in abundance.
26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by His power He brought out a south wind.
27 He rained meat on them as dust,
and winged birds as the sand of the sea;
28 and He let them fall in the midst of their camp
all around their habitations.
29 So they ate and were satisfied,
for He gave them their own desire;
30 while they were not yet filled up,
and while the meat was still in their mouths,
31 the wrath of God came upon them,
and He killed the strongest of them
and struck down the young men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still,
and did not believe despite His wondrous works.
33 Therefore He made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in trouble.
34 When He killed them, then they sought Him;
they turned back and longed for God.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
and they lied to Him with their tongues;
37 for their heart was not devoted to Him,
neither were they committed to His covenant.
38 But He being full of compassion
forgave their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He constantly restrained His anger,
and did not stir up all His wrath;
39 for He remembered that they were but flesh,
like a wind that passes away and does not return.
40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert!
41 Yes, they tested God over and over,
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember His power,
nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy,
43 how He had performed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the fields of Zoan:
44 and He turned their rivers into blood,
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crops to the grasshopper
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger,
wrath, indignation, and trouble,
by sending angels bringing disaster.
50 He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague,
51 And struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 Then He led out His own people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53 He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of His holy land,
to the mountain that His right hand had acquired.
55 He cast out the nations also before them,
and divided for them their tribal allotments,
and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
and did not keep His commands,
57 but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
they turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places
and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard this, He was full of wrath
and greatly rejected Israel
60 so that He left the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He lived among people,
61 and delivered His strength to captivity
and His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62 He gave His people over also to the sword;
He was enraged with His inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men,
and their maidens were not given to marriage in song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep,
and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66 He routed His enemies back,
and He made them a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover, He rejected the tent of Joseph,
and He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loves.
69 He built His sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth that He has established perpetually.
70 He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from following the nursing ewes He brought him
to shepherd Jacob His people,
and Israel His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart
and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Joseph Reveals His Identity
45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make every man go out from me.” So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.
4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me,” and they came near. Then he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. 10 And you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, along with your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.” ’
12 “Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that is speaking to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
32 But I prefer that you have no concern. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. 33 But he who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife. 34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
36 If any man thinks that he is behaving improperly toward his virgin,[a] and if she is past the flower of her youth, and passions so require, let him do what he will. He does not sin. Let them marry. 37 Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart without necessity, and has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well. 38 So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who gives her not in marriage does better.
39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, but only in the Lord. 40 But in my judgment she is happier if she so remains as she is. And I think that I have the Spirit of God.
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth(A)
6 He went away from there and came into His own country. And His disciples followed Him. 2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get this? What is this wisdom that is given Him, that even miracles are done by His hands? 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He was amazed because of their unbelief.
The Mission of the Twelve(B)
Then He went to the surrounding villages, teaching. 7 He called to Him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
8 He commanded them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bag, no bread, and no money in their purse, 9 but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, remain there until you depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you or hear you, when you depart from there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that city.”
12 So they went out and preached that men should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.