Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105
105 Give thanks to the Lord;
call upon his name;
make his deeds known to all people!
2 Sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord;
dwell on all his wondrous works!
3 Give praise to God’s holy name!
Let the hearts rejoice of all those seeking the Lord!
4 Pursue the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always!
5 Remember the wondrous works he has done,
all his marvelous works, and the justice he declared—
6 you who are the offspring of Abraham, his servant,
and the children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 The Lord—he is our God.
His justice is everywhere throughout the whole world.
8 God remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded to a thousand generations,
9 which he made with Abraham,
the solemn pledge he swore to Isaac.
10 God set it up as binding law for Jacob,
as an eternal covenant for Israel,
11 promising, “I hereby give you the land of Canaan
as your allotted inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number—
insignificant, just immigrants—
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to the next,
14 God didn’t let anyone oppress them.
God punished kings for their sake:
15 “Don’t touch my anointed ones;
don’t harm my prophets!”
16 When God called for a famine in the land,
destroying every source of food,
17 he sent a man ahead of them,
who was sold as a slave: it was Joseph.
18 Joseph’s feet hurt in his shackles;
his neck was in an iron collar,
19 until what he predicted actually happened,
until what the Lord had said proved him true.[a]
20 The king sent for Joseph and set him free;
the ruler of many people released him.
21 The king made Joseph master of his house and ruler over everything he owned,
22 to make sure his princes acted according to his will,
and to teach wisdom to his advisors.
23 That’s how Israel came to Egypt,
how Jacob became an immigrant in the land of Ham.
24 God made his people very fruitful,
more powerful than their enemies,
25 whose hearts God changed so they hated his people
and dealt shrewdly with his servants.
26 God sent Moses his servant
and the one he chose, Aaron.
27 They put God’s signs on Egypt,[b]
his marvelous works on the land of Ham.
28 God sent darkness, and it became dark,
but the Egyptians rejected his word.
29 God turned their waters into blood
and killed their fish.
30 God made their land swarm with frogs[c]—
even in the bedrooms of their king!
31 God spoke, and the insects came—
gnats throughout their whole country!
32 God turned their rain into hail
along with lightning flashes throughout their land.
33 God destroyed their vines and their fig trees;
shattered the trees of their countryside.
34 God spoke, and the locusts came—
countless grasshoppers came!
35 They devoured all the plants in their land;
they devoured the fruit of their soil.
36 God struck down all the oldest sons throughout their land;
struck down their very pride and joy.
37 Then God brought Israel out, filled with silver and gold;
not one of its tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt celebrated when they left,
because the dread of Israel had come upon them.
39 God spread out clouds as a covering;
gave lightning to provide light at night.
40 The people asked, and God brought quail;
God filled them full with food from heaven.
41 God opened the rock and out gushed water—
flowing like a river through the desert!
42 Because God remembered his holy promise
to Abraham his servant,
43 God brought his people out with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with songs of joy.
44 God gave them the lands of other nations;
they inherited the wealth of many peoples—
45 all so that they would keep his laws
and observe his instructions.
Praise the Lord!
2 But now, this command is for you, priests:
2 If you don’t listen,
or don’t intend to glorify my name,
says the Lord of heavenly forces,
then I will send a curse among you.
I will curse your blessings,
and I mean really curse them,
because none of you intend to do it.
3 I am about to denounce your offspring;
I will scatter feces on your faces,
the feces of your festivals.
Then I will lift you up to me,[a]
4 and you will know that I have sent this command to you
so that my covenant with Levi can continue to exist,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
5 My covenant with him involved life and peace, which I gave him,
and also fear so that he honored me.
He was in awe of my name.
6 True Instruction was in his mouth;
injustice wasn’t found on his lips.
He walked with me in peace and did the right thing;
he made many turn from iniquity.
7 The lips of the priest should guard knowledge;
everyone[b] should seek Instruction from his mouth,
for he is the messenger from the Lord of heavenly forces.
8 But you have turned from the path.
You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
9 Moreover, I have made you despised and humiliated in the view of all the people,
since none of you keep my ways
or show respect for Instruction.
Judah’s dishonesty
10 Isn’t there one father for all of us,
one God who created us?
Why does everyone cheat each other
to make the covenant
of our ancestors impure?
11 Judah cheated—
a detestable thing was done in Israel and Jerusalem.
Judah made the Lord’s holy place impure, which God loved,
and married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord eliminate anyone who does so from the tents of Jacob,
anyone awaking, testifying,[c]
and making an offering to the Lord of heavenly forces.
13 You should do this as well:
cover the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping, and groaning
because there is still no divine favor for your offering or favorable regard
for anything from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why?”
Because the Lord testifies about you
and the wife of your youth against whom you cheated.
She is your partner,
the wife of your covenant.
15 Didn’t he make her[d] the one[e]
and the remnant of his spirit?[f]
What is the one?
The one seeking godly offspring.
You should guard your own spirit.
Don’t cheat on the wife of your youth
16 because he hates divorce,
says the Lord God of Israel,
and he also hates the one covering his garment with violence,[g]
says the Lord of heavenly forces.
Guard your own life, and don’t cheat.
Warning the proud and wealthy
13 Pay attention, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and making a profit.” 14 You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes. 15 Here’s what you ought to say: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast and brag, and all such boasting is evil. 17 It is a sin when someone knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it.
5 Pay attention, you wealthy people! Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted. Moths have destroyed your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you. It will eat your flesh like fire. Consider the treasure you have hoarded in the last days. 4 Listen! Hear the cries of the wages of your field hands. These are the wages you stole from those who harvested your fields. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of heavenly forces. 5 You have lived a self-satisfying life on this earth, a life of luxury. You have stuffed your hearts in preparation for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who doesn’t oppose you.
The kingdom is coming
20 Pharisees asked Jesus when God’s kingdom was coming. He replied, “God’s kingdom isn’t coming with signs that are easily noticed. 21 Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ Don’t you see? God’s kingdom is already among you.”
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “The time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Human One,[a] and you won’t see it. 23 People will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Don’t leave or go chasing after them. 24 The Human One[b] will appear on his day in the same way that a flash of lightning lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 However, first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be during the days of the Human One.[c] 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. 29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 That’s the way it will be on the day the Human One[d] is revealed. 31 On that day, those on the roof, whose possessions are in the house, shouldn’t come down to grab them. Likewise, those in the field shouldn’t turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in the same bed: one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together: one will be taken and the other left.”[e]
37 The disciples asked, “Where, Lord?”
Jesus said, “The vultures gather wherever there’s a dead body.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible