Book of Common Prayer
33-34 In places where people are wicked,
God makes the streams and rivers become dry,
so that the land becomes a desert.
He makes good land
become a salty wilderness.
35 But for his people, he changes deserts
to become pools of water.
He makes springs of water in dry land.
36 He lets hungry people live there safely.
They can build a city for themselves.
37 They plant crops in their fields,
and they plant vines to grow grapes.
They have plenty of food to eat.
38 He blesses them,
so that they have many children.
Their animals also grow in number.
39 But they may become weak and few in number,
because of cruel enemies who give them trouble.
40 Then God causes the enemy's leaders to become ashamed.
He makes them travel on roads that go nowhere.
41 But for people who are poor and weak,
he rescues them from their trouble.
He gives them many children,
so that they have big families.
42 Good people see what God has done,
and it makes them happy.
Wicked people have nothing to say!
43 Wise people should think about these things.
They should understand the Lord's faithful love for his people.
This psalm is a song that David wrote.
A prayer for help[a]
108 God, I have decided to trust you always.
I will sing songs to praise you,
with all that I am.
2 I will pick up my harp and my lyre.
I will make music as the sun rises!
3 Lord, I will thank you in front of all the people.
I will sing to praise you,
so that all nations hear.
4 Your faithful love is great.
It is higher than the skies.
Your truth reaches beyond the clouds.
5 God, show how great you are,
high above the sky!
Let everybody on the earth see your glory.
6 Use your power to rescue us!
Answer our prayers!
Then the people that you love will be safe.
7 God has spoken from his holy place![b]
He has promised:
‘I will show my power!
I will make Shechem into separate pieces.
I will measure Succoth Valley.
8 Gilead belongs to me,
and so does Manasseh.
Ephraim is like my helmet for war.
Judah has the authority of my royal sceptre.[c]
9 But Moab is the place where I wash my hands.
Edom is my servant.
I can throw my shoes at him!
I will shout aloud,
because I have won against the Philistines.’[d]
10 Who will lead me into the strong city?
Who will take me to fight and win against Edom?[e]
11 God, have you really turned against us?
Will you not lead our armies into battle?
12 Help us to fight against our enemies,
because help from men is useless!
13 With God's help, we will win!
He will beat down our enemies for us.
Praise the Lord![a]
33 You righteous people,
sing to praise the Lord,
and be happy!
It is right for good, honest people to do that.
2 Pick up your harp
and praise the Lord!
Make music for him
with a lyre that has ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song!
Make beautiful music,
as you sing aloud to praise him.
4 Yes! The Lord's message is true.
We can always trust him to do what is right.
5 He loves everything that is right and fair.
The world is full of his faithful love.
6 The word of the Lord made the heavens.
When he spoke,
all the stars in the sky appeared.
7 He put the water of the sea together in a heap.
He made the deep seas stay in their right places.
8 Everyone who lives on the earth should respect the Lord.
They should bend down to worship him.
9 The Lord spoke,
and the world began!
He spoke his command,
and everything became fixed in its place.[b]
10 Nations decide what they want to do,
but the Lord causes their plans to be useless.
11 But whatever the Lord decides to do
will always happen.
His thoughts will not change
from one century to the next.
12 The Lord blesses the nation
that has him as their God.
He has chosen them to belong to him,
as his own special people.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees every man, woman and child.
14 From the place where he lives,
he watches everyone that lives on the earth.
15 He made each person and all their thoughts.
He knows everything that they do.
16 A great army will not save their king.
A soldier does not stay alive because he is strong.
17 In war, do not hope that even a strong horse will help you to win.
You can not trust it to save you.
18 Remember, the Lord takes care of people who respect him.
Those people trust him for his faithful love.
19 They trust him to keep them safe from death,
and to keep them alive during a time of famine.
20 Yes! We will trust the Lord to come and help us.
He is our helper who keeps us safe,
like a soldier's shield.
21 We are happy because he loves us.
We trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, help us to know your faithful love,
because we are trusting in you.
23 After a long time had passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were still slaves of the Egyptians. That made them very sad and they complained loudly. God heard them when they cried for help. 24 He thought about his promise to take care of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. 25 God saw what was happening to the Israelites. He knew that he must help them.[a]
Moses and the burning bush
3 Moses worked as a shepherd and he took care of Jethro's sheep. Jethro was his wife's father and he was the priest of Midian.[b] Moses led the sheep to the far side of the desert. He came to Sinai, the mountain of God.
2 The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses there.[c] The angel looked like a fire that was burning in the middle of a bush. Moses looked at the bush. He saw that it was on fire, but the fire still did not destroy it. 3 Moses said to himself, ‘I will go nearer and see this strange thing. I want to see why the bush is not completely burned.’
4 The Lord saw that Moses came near to look at the bush. God spoke to Moses from inside the bush. He said, ‘Moses! Moses!’ Moses answered, ‘Here I am.’
5 God said to Moses, ‘Do not come nearer! Remove your shoes from your feet. The ground that you are standing on is holy.’ 6 Then God said, ‘I am the God that your father worshipped. I am also the God of your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Then Moses covered his face. He was afraid to look at God.[d]
7 The Lord said, ‘I have certainly seen the troubles of my people in Egypt. I have heard them when they cry for help because of their cruel masters. I know that they are very sad. 8 So now I have come down to save them from the power of the Egyptians. I will bring them out from Egypt to go to another land. That will be a good land and a big land. The land will give them plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone. These are the nations who live there now: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Yes, I have heard that my Israelite people are crying for help. I have seen that the Egyptians do bad things to hurt them. 10 So now you must go! I will send you to speak to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’
11 But Moses said to God, ‘I am not an important person. I cannot go to Pharaoh. I cannot lead the Israelites out of Egypt!’
12 God said to Moses, ‘Be sure of this: I will be with you. After you have led the people out of Egypt you will all worship me here, on this mountain. That will show you that I myself have sent you to do this.’[e]
13 Then Moses said to God, ‘If I go to the Israelites, they may not believe me. I will say, “The God that your ancestors worshipped has sent me to you.” But then they will ask me, “What is his name?” Then what will I say to them?’
14 God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am! Say this to the Israelite people: “I AM has sent me to you.” ’[f]
15 God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the Israelite people: “It is the Lord God who has sent me to you.[g] He is the God that your ancestors worshipped. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” That is my name for all time. All generations of my people must call me by that name.
Love is most important
13 I may be able to speak many different languages that people or angels speak. But that is worth nothing if I do not love other people. I would only be making a loud noise, like someone who hits a piece of metal. 2 I may be able to speak messages from God. I may understand all God's secret things, and know all the facts. I may have great faith so that I trust God enough to move mountains. But I am nothing if I do not love others. 3 I may give all my things to help poor people. I may let other people take my body to burn it.[a] But that would not help me if I do not love others.
4 If I love people, I will be patient. I will be kind. I will not be jealous of other people. I will not be proud and say that I am great. 5 If I love people, I will be polite. I will not just want to please myself. I will not quickly become angry. If someone does a wrong thing against me, I will not keep it in my thoughts. 6 If I love people, I will not be happy when bad things happen. Instead, I will be happy when things happen that are right and true. 7 If I love people, I will always accept their problems. I will always believe them. I will always hope for what is best. I will always be patient in troubles.
8 Love will always continue. The gift to speak messages from God will not always be necessary. The gift to speak in different languages will stop one day. The gift to know special things will not always be necessary. 9 At this time, we know only a part of everything. We can only speak a part of God's whole message. 10 But a time will come when everything becomes complete. When God does that, we will not need the small parts that we have now.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. My thoughts were a child's thoughts. I understood things in a way that a child understands. But now that I have become a man, I have stopped being like a child. 12 At this time, we see things as if we were looking at them in a mirror. What we see now is not clear. But the time will come when we do not need a mirror. We will see everything clearly. Now we know only a part of what is true. But then we will know everything completely. We will understand completely, just as God understands us completely.
13 At this time there are three things that continue. We continue to trust God. We continue to hope for his good things. We continue to love other people. But the most important of these things is love.
Jesus helps a boy who has a bad spirit
14 They reached the place where the other disciples were. They saw that there was a large crowd there with them. Some teachers of God's Law were arguing with the disciples. 15 The people in the crowd saw Jesus and immediately they were very surprised. They ran to say ‘hello’ to Jesus.
16 Jesus asked his disciples, ‘What are you arguing about with the teachers of God's Law?’
17 A man in the crowd answered. He said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you. He is not able to speak because he has a bad spirit. 18 When the bad spirit takes hold of him, it throws him to the ground. Water comes out of his mouth and he bites his teeth together. Then his body stops moving. I asked your disciples to send the spirit out of him. But they were not able to do it.’
19 Jesus replied, ‘You people today still do not believe in God. I have been with you for a long time and still you do not believe. It is difficult for me to be patient with you. Bring the boy to me.’
20 So the people brought the boy to Jesus. When the bad spirit saw Jesus, it immediately caused the boy's body to shake strongly. The boy fell onto the ground and he rolled about. Water was coming from his mouth.
21 Jesus asked the boy's father, ‘How long has he been like this?’
‘He has been like this since he was a small boy,’ the father replied. 22 ‘Often the spirit has caused him to fall into the fire or into water. It is trying to kill him. Please be kind to us. If you can do anything, help us!’
23 Jesus said to the father, ‘You should not say, “If you can do anything.” Everything is possible for those people who believe.’
24 Immediately, the boy's father shouted, ‘Oh! I believe! Help me to believe more!’
25 Jesus saw that the crowd of people was quickly becoming bigger. So he told the bad spirit to stop. Jesus said to it, ‘Spirit, I am telling you that you must leave this boy. He cannot hear or speak because of you. I tell you to come out of him! You must never go into him again.’
26 The spirit screamed. It caused the boy's body to shake many times. Then it came out of him. The boy seemed to be dead, so many people said, ‘He is dead.’ 27 But Jesus held the boy's hand and he helped the boy to stand up.
28 Jesus went into a house and the disciples were alone with him. Then they asked him, ‘Why could we not cause the bad spirit to leave the boy?’
29 Jesus said to them, ‘You must pray. This kind of spirit will not leave a person unless you pray.’
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