Book of Common Prayer

God’s Promise to David

89 I will sing of the loving-kindness of the Lord forever. I will make known with my mouth how faithful You are to all people. ² For I said, “Loving-kindness will be built up forever. You will make known how faithful You are in the heavens.”

³ You said, “I have made an agreement with My chosen one. I have promised to David, Your servant. ⁴ I will make your seed last forever. I will build up your throne for all the children-to-come.”

⁵ O Lord, the heavens will praise Your great works and how faithful You are in the meeting of the holy ones. ⁶ For who in the heavens is like the Lord? Who among the sons of the powerful is like the Lord? ⁷ God is honored with fear in the meeting of the holy ones. He is honored with fear more than all who are around Him. ⁸ Lord God of all, powerful Lord, who is like You? All around You we see how faithful You are. ⁹ You rule over the rising sea. When its waves rise, You quiet them. ¹⁰ You have crushed Rahab like one who is killed. You have destroyed those who hate You with Your powerful arm.

¹¹ The heavens are Yours; and the earth is Yours. You have made the world and all that is in it. ¹² You have made from nothing the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon call out for joy at Your name. ¹³ You have a strong arm. Your hand is powerful. Your right hand is honored. ¹⁴ Your throne stands on what is right and fair. Loving-kindness and truth go before You. ¹⁵ How happy are the people who know the sound of joy! They walk in the light of Your face, O Lord. ¹⁶ They are full of joy in Your name all day long. And by being right with You, they are honored. ¹⁷ For You are the shining-greatness of their strength. And our horn is lifted high by Your favor. ¹⁸ For our safe-covering belongs to the Lord. And our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹ Once You spoke in a special dream to Your faithful ones, saying: “I have given help to a powerful one. I have honored a chosen one from among the people. ²⁰ I have found David, Your servant. I have poured My holy oil upon him. ²¹ My hand will stay with him. And My arm will give him strength. ²² Those who hate him will not fool him. No sinful man will bring trouble to him. ²³ But he will see Me crush those who fight against him. I will kill those who hate him. ²⁴ I will be faithful and My loving-kindness will be with him. And in My name he will become great. ²⁵ I will set his hand on the sea also, and his right hand on the rivers. ²⁶ He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock that saves me.’ ²⁷ I will make him My first-born also, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸ I will keep My loving-kindness for him forever. And My agreement with him will be made strong. ²⁹ I will make his seed last forever. And his throne will last as long as heaven.

³⁰ “If his sons leave My Law and do not do what I say, ³¹ and if they break My Laws and do not obey My Word, ³² then I will punish their sin with the stick, and their wrong-doing with the whip. ³³ But I will not take my loving-kindness from him. I will always be faithful to him. ³⁴ I will not break My agreement, or change what was spoken by My lips. ³⁵ Once I have promised by My holy name, I will not lie to David. ³⁶ His seed will last forever. And his throne will last before Me like the sun. ³⁷ It will last forever like the moon, which may always be seen in the sky.”

³⁸ But You have thrown off and turned away from Your chosen one. You have been full of anger against him. ³⁹ You have hated the agreement with Your servant. You have made his crown dirty in the dust. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls. You have destroyed his strong places. ⁴¹ All who pass on the road rob him. He has become a shame to his neighbors. ⁴² You have honored the right hand of those who fight against him. You have made all who hate him glad. ⁴³ You have turned away the sharp part of his sword. And You have not made him stand in a fight. ⁴⁴ You have put an end to what shows of his greatness, and have thrown his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵ You have made him old before his time, and have covered him with shame.

⁴⁶ How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your anger burn like fire? ⁴⁷ Remember how fast my life is passing. You have made all men for nothing. ⁴⁸ What man can live and not see death? Can he save himself from the power of the grave?

⁴⁹ O Lord, where is the loving-kindness You used to have, that You promised in faith to David? ⁵⁰ O Lord, remember the shame of those who work for You. Remember how I carry near my heart the shame of all the nations. ⁵¹ Those who hate You have put us to shame, O Lord. They have put to shame the footsteps of Your chosen one.

⁵² Praise the Lord forever! Let it be so.

God Tells Joshua to Go and Take the Land

1 After the death of the Lord’s servant Moses, the Lord said to Moses’ helper, Joshua the son of Nun, ² “My servant Moses is dead. So you and all these people get up and cross the Jordan River to the land I am giving to the people of Israel. ³ I have given you every place where the bottom of your foot steps, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your land will be from the desert and from Lebanon as far as the big Euphrates River. It will be all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea on the west. ⁵ No man will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. I will be with you just as I have been with Moses. I will be faithful to you and will not leave you alone. ⁶ Be strong and have strength of heart. For you will bring the people in to take this land which I promised to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and have much strength of heart. Be careful to obey all the Law which My servant Moses told you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left. Then all will go well with you everywhere you go. ⁸ This book of the Law must not leave your mouth. Think about it day and night, so you may be careful to do all that is written in it. Then all will go well with you. You will receive many good things. ⁹ Have I not told you? Be strong and have strength of heart! Do not be afraid or lose faith. For the Lord your God is with you anywhere you go.”

3 I, Paul, am in prison because I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to you who are not Jews. ² I am sure you have heard that God trusted me with His loving-favor. ³ I wrote a little about this to you before. In a special way, God showed me His secret plan. ⁴ When you read this, you will understand how I know about the things that are not easy to understand about Christ. ⁵ Long ago men did not know these things. But now they have been shown to His missionaries and to the early preachers by the Holy Spirit. ⁶ Let me tell you that the Good News is for the people who are not Jews also. They are able to have life that lasts forever. They are to be a part of His church and family, together with the Jews. And together they are to receive all that God has promised through Christ.

⁷ God asked me to preach this Good News. He gave me the gift of His loving-favor. He gave me His power to preach it. ⁸ Of all those who belong to Christ, I am the least important. But this loving-favor was given to me to preach to the people who are not Jews. I was to tell them of the great riches in Christ which do not come to an end. ⁹ I was to make all men understand the meaning of this secret. God kept this secret to Himself from the beginning of the world. And He is the One Who made all things. ¹⁰ This was done so the great wisdom of God might be shown now to the leaders and powers in the heavenly places. It is being done through the church. ¹¹ This was the plan God had for all time. He did this through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² We can come to God without fear because we have put our trust in Christ. ¹³ So I ask you not to lose heart because of my suffering for you. It is to help you.

Healing of the Captain’s Servant ^(A)

⁵ Jesus came to the city of Capernaum. A captain of the army came to Him. He asked for help, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is sick in bed. He is not able to move his body. He is in much pain.” ⁷ Jesus said to the captain, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸ The captain said, “Lord, I am not good enough for You to come to my house. Only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I am a man who works for someone else and I have men working under me. I say to this man, ‘Go!’ and he goes. I say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, He was surprised and wondered about it. He said to those who followed Him, “For sure, I tell you, I have not found so much faith in the Jewish nation. ¹¹ I say to you, many people will come from the east and from the west. They will sit down with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob in the holy nation of heaven. ¹² But those who should have belonged to the holy nation of heaven will be thrown out into outer darkness, where there will be crying and grinding of teeth.” ¹³ Jesus said to the captain, “Go your way. It is done for you even as you had faith to believe.” The servant was healed at that time.

Peter’s Mother-In-Law Healed ^(B)

¹⁴ Jesus came to Peter’s house. He saw Peter’s wife’s mother in bed. She was very sick. ¹⁵ He touched her hand and the sickness left her. She got up and cared for Jesus.

Many People Are Healed ^(C)

¹⁶ That evening they brought to Jesus many people who had demons in them. The demons were put out when Jesus spoke to them. All the sick people were healed. ¹⁷ It happened as the early preacher Isaiah said it would happen. He said, “He took on Himself our sickness and carried away our diseases.” ^(D)