Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 87
By Korah’s descendants; a psalm; a song.
1 The city Yahweh has founded stands on holy mountains.
2 Yahweh loves the city of Zion
more than any other place in Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said about you, O city of Elohim! Selah
4 The Lord says, “I will add Egypt and Babylon
as well as Philistia, Tyre, and Sudan
to the list of those who acknowledge me.
Each nation will claim that it was born there.”
5 But it will be said of Zion,
“Every race is born in it.
Elyon will make it secure.”
6 Yahweh will record this in the Book of Nations:
“Every race claims that it was born there.” Selah
7 Singers and dancers will sing,
“Zion is the source of all our blessings.”
BOOK FOUR
(Psalms 90–106)
Psalm 90
A prayer by Moses, the man of Elohim.
1 O Adonay, you have been our refuge throughout every generation.
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world, you were El.
You are El from everlasting to everlasting.
3 You turn mortals back into dust
and say, “Return, descendants of Adam.”
4 Indeed, in your sight a thousand years are like a single day,
like yesterday—already past—
like an hour in the night.
5 You sweep mortals away.
They are a dream.
They sprout again in the morning like cut grass.
6 In the morning they blossom and sprout.
In the evening they wither and dry up.
7 Indeed, your anger consumes us.
Your rage terrifies us.
8 You have set our sins in front of you.
You have put our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 Indeed, all our days slip away because of your fury.
We live out our years like one long sigh.
10 Each of us lives for 70 years—
or even 80 if we are in good health.
But the best of them[a] bring trouble and misery.
Indeed, they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who fully understands the power of your anger?
A person fears you more when he better understands your fury.[b]
12 Teach us to number each of our days
so that we may grow in wisdom.
13 Return, Yahweh! How long . . . ?
Change your plans about us, your servants.
14 Satisfy us every morning with your mercy
so that we may sing joyfully and rejoice all our days.
15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have made us suffer,
for as many years as we have experienced evil.
16 Let us, your servants, see what you can do.
Let our children see your glorious power.
17 Let the kindness of Adonay our Elohim be with us.
Make us successful in everything we do.
Yes, make us successful in everything we do.
Psalm 136
1 Give thanks to Yahweh because he is good,
because his mercy endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the Elohim of gods
because his mercy endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Adonay of lords
because his mercy endures forever.
4 Give thanks to the only one who does miraculous things—
because his mercy endures forever.
5 to the one who made the heavens by his understanding—
because his mercy endures forever.
6 to the one who spread out the earth on the water—
because his mercy endures forever.
7 to the one who made the great lights—
because his mercy endures forever.
8 the sun to rule the day—
because his mercy endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to rule the night—
because his mercy endures forever.
10 Give thanks to the one who killed the firstborn males in Egypt—
because his mercy endures forever.
11 He brought Israel out from among them—
because his mercy endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and a powerful arm—
because his mercy endures forever.
13 Give thanks to one who divided the Red Sea—
because his mercy endures forever.
14 He led Israel through the middle of it—
because his mercy endures forever.
15 He swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea—
because his mercy endures forever.
16 Give thanks to the one who led his people through the desert—
because his mercy endures forever.
17 Give thanks to the one who defeated powerful kings—
because his mercy endures forever.
18 He killed mighty kings—
because his mercy endures forever.
19 King Sihon of the Amorites—
because his mercy endures forever.
20 and King Og of Bashan—
because his mercy endures forever.
21 He gave their land as an inheritance—
because his mercy endures forever.
22 as an inheritance for his servant Israel—
because his mercy endures forever.
23 He remembered us when we were humiliated—
because his mercy endures forever.
24 He snatched us from the grasp of our enemies—
because his mercy endures forever.
25 He gives food to every living creature—
because his mercy endures forever.
26 Give thanks to El of heaven
because his mercy endures forever.
31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” 32 So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. 33 We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.”
The People Rebel against the Lord
14 Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. 2 They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there. 6 At the same time, two of those who had explored the land, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), tore their clothes in despair. 7 They said to the whole community of Israel, “The land we explored is very good. 8 If Yahweh is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! 9 Don’t rebel against Yahweh, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and Yahweh is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”
10 But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of Yahweh shining at the tent of meeting. 11 Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? 12 I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them,[a] and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”
13 But Moses said to Yahweh, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) 14 What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Yahweh, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. 15 But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, 16 ‘Yahweh wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
17 “Adonay, let your power be as great as when you said, 18 ‘Yahweh . . . patient, forever loving. . . . He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience. . . . He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children . . . for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation. . . .’ 19 By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
20 Yahweh said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. 21 But as I live and as the glory of Yahweh fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that 22 none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.[b] 23 None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. 25 (The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”
9 What, then, is the situation? Do we have any advantage? Not at all. We have already accused everyone (both Jews and Greeks) of being under the power of sin, 10 as Scripture says,
“Not one person has God’s approval.
11 No one understands.
No one searches for God.
12 Everyone has turned away.
Together they have become rotten to the core.
No one does anything good,
not even one person.
13 Their throats are open graves.
Their tongues practice deception.
Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes.
14 Their mouths are full of curses and bitter resentment.
15 They run quickly to murder people.
16 There is ruin and suffering wherever they go.
17 They have not learned to live in peace.
18 They are not terrified of God.”
19 We know that whatever the Scriptures say applies to everyone under their influence, and no one can say a thing. The whole world is brought under the judgment of God. 20 Not one person can have God’s approval by any effort to follow the laws in the Scriptures. These laws show what sin is.
A Discussion about Divorce and Celibacy(A)
19 When Yeshua finished speaking, he left Galilee and traveled along the other side of the Jordan River to the territory of Judea. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, “Can a man divorce his wife for any reason?”
4 Yeshua answered, “Haven’t you read that the Creator made them male and female in the beginning 5 and that he said, ‘That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and will remain united with his wife, and the two will be one’? 6 So they are no longer two but one. Therefore, don’t let anyone separate what God has joined together.”
7 The Pharisees asked him, “Why, then, did Moses order a man to give his wife a written notice to divorce her?”
8 Yeshua answered them, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because you’re heartless. It was never this way in the beginning. 9 I can guarantee that whoever divorces his wife for any reason other than her unfaithfulness is committing adultery if he marries another woman.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If that is the only reason a man can use to divorce his wife, it’s better not to get married.”
11 He answered them, “Not everyone can do what you suggest. Only those who have that gift can. 12 For example, some men are celibate because they were born that way. Others are celibate because they were castrated. Still others have decided to be celibate because of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone can do what you’ve suggested, then he should do it.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.