Book of Common Prayer
137 We sat by the rivers in Babylon
and cried as we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps nearby, there on the willow trees.[a]
3 There in Babylon, those who captured us told us to sing.
Our enemies told us to entertain them.
They said, “Sing us one of your songs about Zion.”
4 But we cannot sing the Lord’s songs
in a foreign country!
5 Jerusalem, if I ever forget you,
may I never play a song again.
6 If I fail to remember you,
may I never sing again.
I will always remember Jerusalem
as my greatest joy!
7 Lord, be sure to punish the Edomites for what they did
when Jerusalem was captured.
They shouted, “Destroy its buildings!
Pull them down to the ground!”
8 Babylon, you will be destroyed!
Bless the one who pays you back for what you did to us.
9 Bless the one who grabs your babies
and smashes them against a rock.
A song of David.
144 Praise the Lord!
He is my Rock.
He prepares me for war.
He trains me for battle.
2 He loves me and protects me.
He is my safe place high on the mountain.
He rescues me.
He is my shield.
I trust in him.
He helps me rule my people.
3 Lord, why are people important to you?
Why do you even notice us?
4 Our life is like a puff of air.
It is like a passing shadow.
5 Lord, tear open the skies and come down.
Touch the mountains, and smoke will rise from them.
6 Send the lightning and make my enemies run away.
Shoot your “arrows” and make them run away.
7 Reach down from heaven and save me!
Don’t let me drown in this sea of enemies.
Save me from these foreigners.
8 They are all liars,
even when they swear to tell the truth.
9 God, I will sing a new song[a] for you.
I will play a ten-stringed harp and sing praise to you.
10 You are the one who gives victory to kings.
You saved your servant David from the sword of his enemy.
11 Save me from these foreigners.
They are all liars,
even when they swear to tell the truth.
12 May our sons be as strong as trees
and our daughters as beautiful as the carved columns of a palace.
13 May our barns be filled
with crops of all kinds.
May our sheep produce so many lambs,
that thousands of sheep will fill our fields.
14 And may our cows be heavy with calves.
May no enemy break through our walls
or carry away any of our people.
May there be no cries of pain in our streets.
15 How wonderful to have such blessings!
Yes, great blessings belong to those who have the Lord as their God.
104 My soul, praise the Lord!
Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with glory and honor.
2 You wear light like a robe.
You spread out the skies like a curtain.
3 You built your home above them.[a]
You use the thick clouds like a chariot
and ride across the sky on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers
and flames of fire your servants.[b]
5 You built the earth on its foundations,
so it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with water like a blanket.
The water covered even the mountains.
7 But you gave the command, and the water turned back.
You shouted at the water, and it rushed away.
8 The water flowed down from the mountains into the valleys,
to the places you made for it.
9 You set the limits for the seas,
and the water will never again rise to cover the earth.
10 Lord, you cause water to flow from springs into the streams
that flow down between the mountains.
11 The streams provide water for all the wild animals.
Even the wild donkeys come there to drink.
12 Wild birds come to live by the pools;
they sing in the branches of nearby trees.
13 You send rain down on the mountains.
The earth gets everything it needs from what you have made.
14 You make the grass grow to feed the animals.
You provide plants for the crops we grow—
the plants that give us food from the earth.
15 You give us the wine that makes us happy,
the oil that makes our skin soft,[c]
and the food that makes us strong.
16 The great cedar trees of Lebanon belong to the Lord.
He planted them and gives them the water they need.
17 That’s where the birds make their nests,
and the storks live in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are a home for wild goats.
The large rocks are hiding places for rock badgers.
19 Lord, you made the moon to show us when the festivals begin.
And the sun always knows when to set.
20 You made darkness to be the night—
the time when wild animals come out and roam around.
21 Lions roar as they attack,
as if they are asking God for the food he gives them.
22 When the sun rises, they leave
and go back to their dens to rest.
23 Then people go out to do their work,
and they work until evening.
24 Lord, you created so many things!
With your wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of the living things you made.
25 Look at the ocean, so big and wide!
It is filled with all kinds of sea life.
There are creatures large and small—too many to count!
26 Ships sail over the ocean,
and playing there is Leviathan,[d]
the great sea creature you made.
27 Lord, all living things depend on you.
You give them food at the right time.
28 You give it, and they eat it.
They are filled with good food from your open hands.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become frightened.
When you take away their breath,[e]
they die, and their bodies return to the dust.
30 But when you send out your life-giving breath,[f]
things come alive, and the world is like new again!
31 May the Lord’s glory continue forever!
May the Lord enjoy what he made.
32 He just looks at the earth, and it trembles.
He just touches the mountains, and smoke rises from them.
33 I will sing to the Lord for the rest of my life.
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.
34 May my words be pleasing to him.
The Lord is the one who makes me happy.
35 I wish sinners would disappear from the earth.
I wish the wicked would be gone forever.
My soul, praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
12 Balaam said to Balak, “You sent men to ask me to come. Don’t you remember what I told them? I said, 13 ‘Even if Balak gives me his most beautiful house filled with silver and gold, I can still say only what the Lord commands me to say. I cannot do anything myself, good or bad. I must say what the Lord commands.’ 14 Now I am going back to my own people. But I will give you this warning. I will tell you what these Israelites will do to you and your people in the future.”
Balaam’s Last Message
15 Then Balaam gave this message:
“This message is from Balaam son of Beor.
I am speaking about things I see clearly.
16 I heard this message from God.
I learned what God Most High taught me.
I saw what God All-Powerful showed me.
I humbly tell what I clearly see.
17 “I see him coming, but not now.
I see him coming, but not soon.
A star will come from the family of Jacob.
A new ruler will come from the Israelites.
He will smash the heads of the Moabites
and crush the heads of all the sons of Sheth.[a]
18 Israel will grow strong!
He will get the land of Edom.
He will get the land of Seir,[b] his enemy.
19 “A new ruler will come from the family of Jacob.
That ruler will destroy the people left alive in that city.”
20 Then Balaam saw the Amalekites and said this:
“Amalek is the strongest of all nations,
but even Amalek will be destroyed!”
21 Then Balaam saw the Kenites and said this:
“You believe that your country is safe,
like a bird’s nest[c] high on a mountain.
22 But you Kenites will be destroyed,
just as the Lord destroyed Cain.
Assyria will make you prisoners.”
23 Then Balaam said this:
“No one can live when God does this.
24 Ships will come from Cyprus.[d]
They will defeat Assyria and Eber,[e]
but those ships will also be destroyed.”
25 Then Balaam got up and went back home, and Balak went his own way.
We Will Have Glory in the Future
18 We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when he will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20 Everything God made was allowed to become like something that cannot fulfill its purpose. That was not its choice, but God made it happen with this hope in view: 21 That the creation would be made free from ruin—that everything God made would have the same freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain like a woman ready to give birth to a child. 23 Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free. 24 We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have. 25 But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.
Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus(A)
23 That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that no one will rise from death.) The Sadducees asked Jesus a question. 24 They said, “Teacher, Moses told us that if a married man dies and had no children, his brother must marry the woman. Then they will have children for the dead brother.[a] 25 There were seven brothers among us. The first brother married but died. He had no children. So his brother married the woman. 26 Then the second brother also died. The same thing happened to the third brother and all the other brothers. 27 The woman was the last to die. 28 But all seven men had married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will she be?”
29 Jesus answered, “You are so wrong! You don’t know what the Scriptures say. And you don’t know anything about God’s power. 30 At the time when people rise from death, there will be no marriage. People will not be married to each other. Everyone will be like the angels in heaven. 31 Surely you have read what God said to you about people rising from death. 32 God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[b] So they were not still dead, because he is the God only of living people.”
33 When the people heard this, they were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.
Which Command Is the Most Important?(B)
34 The Pharisees learned that Jesus had made the Sadducees look so foolish that they stopped trying to argue with him. So the Pharisees had a meeting. 35 Then one of them, an expert in the Law of Moses, asked Jesus a question to test him. 36 He said, “Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?”
37 Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and most important command. 39 And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor[d] the same as you love yourself.’[e] 40 All of the law and the writings of the prophets take their meaning from these two commands.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International