Book of Common Prayer
This psalm is a song that the sons of Korah wrote.
God's holy city[a]
87 The Lord built his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves Zion city,
more than any other place where Jacob's family lives.[b]
3 People say great things about you!
You are God's own city!
Selah.
4 I will speak about the nations that serve God.
Rahab and Babylon are now among them,
also Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia.[c]
They say about themselves,
‘This man was born in Zion.’
5 They say this about Zion:
‘Each one of these people was born there.’
It is the Most High God who makes that city strong.
6 The Lord will write a list of all their names.
For the people from different nations,
he will say, ‘This person was born in Zion.’
Selah.
7 The singers and the musicians will say,
‘All our blessings come from you, Zion.’
A prayer of Moses, God's servant.
God lives for ever![a]
90 Lord, from long ago,
you have always been a safe home for us.[b]
2 From before the mountains began,
and before you made the world,
you were already there, as God.
You have no beginning and no end.
3 People return to dust in the ground when they die.
You say, ‘Become dust again, you people.’[c]
4 For you, a thousand years is only a short time.
They pass as quickly as a day for you,
or just a few hours in the night.
5 You cause people's lives to end,
as a dream finishes when you wake up.
People are like grass that appears in the morning.
6 During the morning, it grows well.
By the evening,
it becomes dry and it dies.
7 Your anger destroys us,
and we become very afraid.
8 All our sins are there for you to see.
You even see the sins that we have tried to hide.
9 Your anger gives us trouble all through our lives.
Then our lives end in a short groan.
10 The number of our days make 70 years,
or maybe 80 years if we are strong enough.
But even in the best years of our lives,
we have trouble and pain.
Our lives quickly pass,
and we hurry towards death.
11 Lord, nobody knows all the power of your anger.
It is your anger that causes people to be afraid of you.
12 Teach us to count carefully the days of our short lives.
Then we will be wise in how we live.
13 Lord, return to help us!
How long will you be angry with us?
Please be kind to us, your servants!
14 Show your faithful love to us every morning.
Then we will sing with joy,
and we will be happy for as long as we live.
15 For many years you have sent trouble to us.
Now, please make us happy
for as many years as you have given us pain.
16 Do great things again,
so that we, your servants, see them!
Let our children see that you rule as King!
17 Yes, may the Lord our God bless us.
May everything that we do go well!
Yes, may everything go well!
The Lord's special love[a]
136 Thank the Lord, because he is good!
His faithful love will always continue.
2 Thank God, who rules all gods.
His faithful love will always continue.
3 Thank the Lord who rules all lords.
His faithful love will always continue.
4-9 The Lord himself does great miracles.
He was wise when he made the skies.
He put the earth across the water of the seas.
He made the great lights to shine in the sky.
He made the sun to rule over the day.
He made the moon and the stars to rule the night.
So thank the Lord!
His faithful love will always continue.[b]
10-16 The Lord destroyed the firstborn sons in Egypt.
He brought the Israelites out from among the Egyptians.
He did this with his great power and strength.
He cut the Red Sea into two separate parts.
He led the Israelites through the middle of the sea.
He threw Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea to drown.
The Lord led his people through the wilderness.
So thank the Lord!
His faithful love will always continue.[c]
17-22 The Lord destroyed great kings.
Yes, he killed powerful kings.
He killed Sihon, king of the Amorites.
He killed Og, the king of Bashan.
He gave their land to his people, the Israelites.
He gave it to them as their own land.
So thank the Lord!
His faithful love will always continue.[d]
23-25 The Lord thought about us when we were upset.
He saved us from the power of our enemies.
He gives food to everything that lives.
So thank the Lord!
His faithful love will always continue.[e]
26 Yes, thank the God of heaven!
His faithful love will always continue.
16 So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Choose 70 leaders of the Israelites and bring them to the Tent of Meeting. You must know that they are leaders and officers that the people respect. Bring them to stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and I will speak with you there. I will take some of the authority of my Spirit that I gave to you. I will share it with them. Then they will help you to lead the people. So you will not be the only man who is doing that job.
24 So Moses went out from God's Tent and he told the people the Lord's message. He chose 70 leaders of the Israelites and he put them round the Tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud to speak to them. He took some of the authority of his Spirit that he had given to Moses. And he shared it with the 70 leaders. While God's Spirit stayed on them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again after that.
26 But two men had stayed in the camp. Their names were Eldad and Medad. They were among the men that Moses had chosen. But they had not gone to meet with God in the special Tent. God's Spirit also came on them. So they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran to Moses and he said, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’
28 Nun's son Joshua was there. Since he was a boy, he had been Moses' servant. Joshua said to Moses, ‘Moses, my master, stop them.’
29 But Moses said to him, ‘Perhaps you think that I might be jealous of them. But I would be happy if the Lord would give his Spirit to all his people. I would like them all to be prophets!’
Christ has brought Jews and Gentiles together
11 So you who were born as Gentiles should remember what you were like before. Jews insulted you because nobody has circumcised you. They themselves are proud that men have circumcised them as God's people. 12 At that time, you did not know about Christ, God's special Messiah. You did not belong to the nation of Israel's people. You did not know about the good things that God had promised to his people. You were living in this world with nothing good to hope for. You were living without God's help. 13 You were far away from God. But now, God has brought you near to himself, because you belong to Christ Jesus. That is possible because of Christ's death on the cross as a sacrifice.
14 It is Christ himself who has brought peace between Jews and Gentiles. He has brought those two groups together, to be one group. He has destroyed the things that made them separate. As a result, they are no longer enemies. 15 When his body died on the cross, Christ took away the power of the Jewish laws and rules. In that way, he made the two groups join together as one new group of people. As a result, he caused them to have peace. 16 As a single group, Christ brought Jews and Gentiles back to God. He stopped them from hating each other. He did this by his death on the cross.
17 When Christ came, he told people God's good news about peace. He told that message to you Gentiles, who were far away from God. He also told it to us Jews, who were near to God.[a] 18 Now we all have received the same Holy Spirit, because of what Christ has done for us. As a result, we can all come near to God the Father.
19 So now, you Gentiles are not strangers among God's people any more. You belong to the group of God's people that he rules. You belong to God's family, as all God's people do. 20 You are like a house that God is building for himself. God's apostles and his prophets are like the foundation under the house. Jesus Christ is like the most important stone in the house. 21 He makes the whole building stand together strongly. In that way, all God's people together become like a special house that belongs to the Lord. 22 Because you belong to Christ, God is building you all together to become his house. That is where God lives by his Spirit.
28 Jesus finished speaking. The crowds of people were very surprised at the things that he taught them. 29 When Jesus taught them, he showed that he had authority. That was not like the way that the teachers of God's Law taught people.
A man who had a disease of the skin comes to meet Jesus
8 Jesus came down from the hill and a large crowd followed him. 2 A man with a bad disease of the skin came to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and he said, ‘Sir, if you want, you can make me well again. Please do it.’
3 Jesus put out his hand towards him and he touched him. ‘I do want to help you. Be clean again,’ Jesus said. Immediately, the man's skin was clean again. 4 Jesus said to the man, ‘Listen. You must not tell anyone about this. Instead, go and show yourself to the priest. Take a gift to him for God. Moses taught the people what gift to take to God after this kind of disease. This will show everyone that you are now well again.’
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