Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness
and springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 a fruitful land into a salty place,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a wilderness into a pool of water
and a dry land into springs of water.
36 And he settles the hungry there,
so that they may establish a city to inhabit,
37 and sow fields and plant vineyards,
that they may yield fruit at harvest.[a]
38 And he blesses them and they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their cattle become few.
39 When they become few and they are bent down
from the oppression of calamity and grief,
40 he pours contempt on princes
and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
41 But he protects[b] the needy from misery,
and he makes their families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, then let him observe these things,
and let them consider Yahweh’s acts of loyal love.
Prayer to Yahweh for Victory over Enemies
A song. A psalm of David.[c]
108 My heart is steadfast, O God.
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, harp and lyre.
I will awake the dawn.[d]
3 I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Yahweh;
I will give you praise among the nations,
4 because your loyal love is great above the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God,
and let your glory be above all the earth,
6 so that your beloved ones may be rescued.
Save by your right hand and answer me.
7 God has spoken in his holiness,
“I will exult, I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine.
And Ephraim is the helmet for[e] my head.
Judah is my scepter;[f]
9 Moab is my washing pot.
Over Edom I will cast my sandal;
Over Philistia I will shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God,
and not gone out with our armies, O God?
12 Give us help against the enemy,
for the help of humankind is futile.
13 Through God we will do valiantly,[g]
and it is he who will tread down our enemies.
Praise to Yahweh for His Character and Creation
33 Exult in Yahweh, O you righteous,
for praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre;
with a harp of ten strings play to him.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully with jubilant shout.
4 For the word of Yahweh is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loyal love of Yahweh.
6 By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea like a heap.
He put the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he himself spoke[a] and it came to pass.
He himself commanded[b] and it stood firm.
10 Yahweh brings to nothing[c] the plan of nations;
he frustrates[d] the intents of peoples.
11 The plan of Yahweh stands firm forever,
the intents of his heart from one generation to the next.[e]
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people he has chosen for his inheritance.
13 From heaven Yahweh looks;
he sees all the children of humankind.
14 From his dwelling place[f] he gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions altogether their heart,
he who understands all their works.
16 The king is not saved by the greatness of an army.
The warrior is not delivered by the greatness of strength.
17 The horse is a false hope for victory,
nor can it save by the greatness of its power.
18 Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him,
on those who hope[g] for his loyal love
19 to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for Yahweh;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For in him our heart rejoices
because in his holy name we trust.
22 Let your loyal love, O Yahweh, be upon us,
even as[h] we hope in you.
23 And then[a] during those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites[b] groaned because of the work, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of the work went up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, 25 and God saw the Israelites,[c] and God took notice.[d]
Yahweh’s Plan to Rescue the Israelites
3 And Moses was a shepherd with the flock[e] of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west of the desert, and he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked, and there was the bush burning with fire, but the bush was not being consumed. 3 And Moses said, “Let me turn aside and see this great sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” 4 And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him from the midst of the bush, and he said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 And he said, “You must not come near to here. Take off your sandals from on your feet, because the place on which you are standing, it is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face because he was afraid of looking at God.
7 And Yahweh said, “Surely I have seen the misery of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry of distress because of their oppressors, for I know their sufferings. 8 And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from this land to a good and wide land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites[f] and the Hittites[g] and the Amorites[h] and the Perizzites[i] and the Hivites[j] and the Jebusites.[k] 9 And now, look, the cry of distress of the Israelites[l] has come to me, and also I see the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and you must bring my people, the Israelites,[m] out from Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites[n] out from Egypt?” 12 And he said, “Because I am with you, and this will be the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.” 13 But Moses said to God, “Look, if I go to the Israelites[o] and I say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors[p] has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ then what shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “So you must say to the Israelites,[q] ‘I am sent me to you.’”
15 And God said again to Moses, “So you must say to the Israelites,[r] ‘Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,[s] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my remembrance from generation to generation.’
Love, the More Excellent Way
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a ringing brass gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I parcel out all my possessions, and if I hand over my body in order that I will be burned,[a] but do not have love, it benefits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, it does not boast, it does not become conceited, 5 it does not behave dishonorably, it is not selfish[b], it does not become angry, it does not keep a record of wrongs, 6 it does not rejoice at unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will pass away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but whenever the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside the things of a child. 12 For now we see through a mirror indirectly[c], but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know completely, just as I have also been completely known. 13 And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
A Demon-possessed Boy Healed
14 And when they[a] came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately the whole crowd, when they[b] saw him, were amazed, and ran up to him[c] and[d] greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And one individual from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought to you my son who has a spirit that makes him mute.[e] 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams at the mouth and grinds his[f] teeth and becomes paralyzed. And I told your disciples that they should expel it, and they were not able to do so.[g] 19 And he answered them and[h] said, “O unbelieving generation! How long[i] will I be with you? How long[j] must I put up with you? Bring him to me!” 20 And they brought him to him. And when he[k] saw him, the spirit immediately convulsed him, and falling on the ground, he began to roll around, foaming at the mouth. 21 And he asked his father how long it was since this had been happening to him. And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often it has thrown him both into fire and into water, in order that it could destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and[l] help us!” 23 But Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things are possible for the one who believes!” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and[m] said, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” 25 Now when[n] Jesus saw that a crowd was running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter into him no more!” 26 And it came out, screaming and convulsing him[o] greatly, and he became as if he were dead, so that most of them said, “He has died!” 27 But Jesus took hold of his hand and[p] raised him up, and he stood up. 28 And after[q] he had entered into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why were we not able to expel it?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer.”[r]
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