Book of Common Prayer

God is good, so thank him^[a]

This is a song that David wrote to praise God.

An alphabet of praise^[a]

¹⁶ Go and call the leaders of Israel to meet together. Say to them, “The Lord God has appeared to me. He is the God that your ancestors worshipped. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said to me, ‘I have been carefully watching my people in Egypt. I have seen the bad things that the Egyptians have done to you. ¹⁷ I promise that I will bring you out of your troubles in Egypt. I will lead you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. It is a land that will give you plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone.’ ”

¹⁸ When you say that, the leaders of the Israelites will listen to you. Then you must go with them to the king of Egypt. Say to him, “The Lord God has met with us. He is the God that we, the Israelite people, worship. So let us go on a journey into the wilderness. That will be a journey of three days. We must offer sacrifices to the Lord our God there.” ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Only some great power will make him agree. ²⁰ So I will show him my power! I will do powerful miracles to punish the Egyptians. When they see that, Pharaoh will let you go free.

²¹ More than that, I will cause the Egyptians to think well of you, my own people. So when you leave Egypt, they will give you many gifts. ²² All the Israelite women will ask their Egyptian friends to give them things. They will ask the women who live near them and those who live with them in their houses. They will ask for silver things, gold things and beautiful clothes. Then you will take those things and you will dress your sons and your daughters with them. In that way, you will take many valuable things away from the Egyptians.’

God shows Moses some strange things

4 Then Moses replied, ‘Perhaps the leaders of Israel will not believe me. Perhaps they will not listen to my message. Perhaps they will say, “The Lord did not really appear to you.” ’

² Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘What is that thing in your hand?’ Moses answered, ‘It is a stick.’

³ The Lord said, ‘Throw it down on the ground.’ So Moses threw it on the ground. Then the stick became a snake! Moses ran away from the snake. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take hold of the snake's tail with your hand.’ So Moses caught the snake with his hand. Then it became a stick in his hand again. ⁵ God said, ‘Do this in front of them. Then they will believe you. They will believe that I, the Lord God, have appeared to you. I am the God that their ancestors worshipped. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’

⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put your hand inside your robe.’ So Moses did this. When he took his hand out again, the skin had become white, like snow. It was the bad disease called leprosy.

⁷ Then God said, ‘Put your hand back inside your robe again.’ So Moses did that. And when he took his hand out, it was well again, like the rest of his skin!

⁸ God said, ‘The leaders may not believe you. They may not think that the miracle with the stick shows anything. But they may believe you when you do the second miracle. ⁹ But they may still not listen to your message. If they will not even believe those two miracles, do this: Take some water from the River Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water that you take from the river will become blood on the ground.’^[a]

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘My Lord, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and I speak with difficulty. I never could speak well. And even now, when you have spoken to me, I still cannot speak well.’

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Who has made human mouths? Who makes a person that cannot speak? Who makes a person that cannot hear? Who makes a person who can see, or who cannot see? It is I, the Lord God! ¹² Now go! I will help you to speak well. I will teach you what you must say.’

How to serve God

12 My Christian friends, God has been very kind to us. Because of that, I really want you to serve God with your whole life. Offer your bodies to him like a sacrifice that continues to live. Serve him with everything that you have and that will please him. That is the true way to worship God. ² Do not become like the people who belong to this world. But let God completely change the way that you think, so that you live differently. Then you will understand what God wants you to do. You will know what is good. You will know what pleases God. You will know what is completely right.

³ God has been kind to me so that I can serve him. Because of that, I say this to every one of you: Do not think that you are better than you really are. Instead, think about yourself carefully. Decide how much God has helped you to trust him. Then you will know how to serve him well. ⁴ Each part of our body works in a different way. But all the parts belong to our one body. ⁵ In the same way, we are many people, but we all belong to Christ, like one body. We also belong to each other, like the different parts of one body belong to each other.

⁶ God has been kind to us. He has given to each of us different gifts so that we can serve him. God helps some people to speak his messages clearly. Those people should trust God to tell them what to say. ⁷ God helps some people to serve others. They should do that well. God helps some people to be able to teach others. Those people should teach well.

⁸ If God has helped you to make others strong, then you should do that. If God has helped you to share your things with others, do that seriously. If God has helped you to be a leader, do that carefully. If God has helped you to be kind to others, do that happily.

Love people and help them

⁹ Really love other people, not like a hypocrite. Hate anything that is bad. Continue to do things that are good. ¹⁰ Love each other truly like brothers and sisters. Be really happy to respect other Christians. ¹¹ Do not be lazy, but always work hard. Serve the Lord well because you enjoy it. ¹² Be happy, because you can trust God to do what he says. Be patient when you have troubles. Always continue to pray. ¹³ If any of God's people need anything, then help them with what you have. Always be happy to let people stay in your home.

¹⁴ Ask God to bless people who cause trouble for you. Yes, ask him to be kind to them. Do not ask him to do bad things to them. ¹⁵ If you are with someone who is happy, you should also be happy. If you are with someone who is sad, you should also be sad. ¹⁶ Always try to agree and to be friends with each other. Do not be proud. Be friends with people who are not important. Do not think that you know everything.

¹⁷ If someone has done bad things against you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to live in a good way so that people will respect you. They will see that you do good things. ¹⁸ If it is possible, try always to be friends with other people.

¹⁹ My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Instead, let God be angry and punish them. This is what is written in the Bible:^[a]

²¹ Do not let evil things win against you! Instead, do good things. Then you will win against the evil things that people do.

⁴⁶ None of you can show that I have done anything wrong. You should believe me, because I am telling you God's true message. ⁴⁷ Someone who belongs to God accepts God's message. But you do not belong to God. That is why you do not accept his message.’

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, ‘What we say about you is right! You are from Samaria and you have a demon in you!’^{[a] 49} Jesus replied, ‘There is no demon in me. I want people to know how great my Father is. But you want people to think bad things about me. ⁵⁰ I myself do not want people to praise me. But there is someone who wants people to praise me. He is the one who decides if I am right. ⁵¹ I tell you this: Anyone who obeys my words will never die.’ ⁵² The Jews said, ‘Now we know that a demon lives in you! Abraham and all the prophets died. But you say, “Anyone who obeys my words will never know death!” ⁵³ You cannot be greater than our father Abraham, and he died! You cannot be greater than the prophets, and they all died! Who do you think that you are?’

⁵⁴ Jesus replied, ‘If I myself wanted people to praise me, that would be worth nothing. But it is my Father who wants that. And you say that he is your God. ⁵⁵ You have never known him, but I know him. I might say, “I do not know him.” But then I would be telling a lie. So I would be like you. But I do know him, and I obey his words. ⁵⁶ Your ancestor Abraham knew that I would come at some time. He was happy to know that he would see that time. He did see that time, and he was very happy.’

⁵⁷ The Jews said, ‘You are not 50 years old yet. But you say that you have seen Abraham!’ ⁵⁸ Jesus said, ‘I tell you this: Before Abraham was even born, “I am”.’^{[b] 59} Then they picked up stones. They wanted to throw them at him and kill him. But Jesus hid himself from them. He went away from the temple.