Book of Common Prayer
God’s Work with Israel
105 O give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Make His works known among the people. 2 Sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Tell of all His great works. 3 Honor His holy name. Let the heart of those who look to the Lord be glad. 4 Look for the Lord and His strength. Look for His face all the time. 5 Remember the great and powerful works that He has done. Keep in mind what He has decided and told us, 6 O children of His servant Abraham, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! 7 He is the Lord our God. What He has decided is in all the earth.
8 He has remembered His agreement forever, the promise He made to last through a thousand families-to-come, 9 the agreement that He made with Abraham, and His promise to Isaac. 10 He gave it to Jacob as a Law, to Israel as an agreement that will last forever. 11 He said, “I will give the land of Canaan to you as your share,” 12 when they were only a few men in number and were strangers in it. 13 They went from nation to nation, from the people under one king to the people under another. 14 He did not allow anyone to hold power over them. And He spoke sharp words to kings because of them. 15 He said, “Do not touch My chosen ones. And do not hurt those who speak for Me.”
16 Then He called for a time of no food on the land. He cut off all their bread. 17 He sent a man, Joseph, before them who was sold as a servant. 18 They hurt his feet with chains. He was put in irons, 19 until what he had said would happen came to pass. The Word of the Lord tested him. 20 The king sent and had him taken out of prison. The ruler of many people set him free. 21 He made him the lord of his house and ruler over all he had. 22 He could punish the rulers as he pleased. And he taught wisdom to the wise. 23 Then Israel also came into Egypt. So Jacob stayed in the land of Ham. 24 And He made the number of His people grow until they were stronger than those who held power over them.
25 He turned their hearts to hate His people and to make plans against His servants. 26 He sent Moses, His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. 27 They did His great works for them to see, powerful works in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made the land dark. They did not fight against what He told them to do. 29 He changed their water into blood, so their fish died. 30 Their land became covered with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. 31 He spoke and there came many flies all over their land. 32 He gave them hail instead of rain, and lightning like fire in their land. 33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees and the trees of their country. 34 He spoke and the locusts came. There were too many to number. 35 They ate up all the plants in their country. They ate all the fruit of their land. 36 He killed all the first-born in their land, the first fruits of all their strength.
37 Then He brought Israel out with silver and gold. And there was not one weak person among their families. 38 Egypt was glad when they left. For they had become afraid of Israel. 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light at night. 40 They asked, and He brought them quails for meat. And He filled them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock and water flowed out. It flowed in the desert like a river. 42 For He remembered His holy Word with Abraham His servant. 43 And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with singing. 44 He gave them the lands of the nations. They were given what others had worked for, 45 so that they might do what He told them and keep His Law. Praise the Lord!
Sinful Religious Leaders
2 “And now, this word is for you, O religious leaders. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor My name,” says the Lord of All, “then I will send the curse on you. I will destroy the good things you have been given. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you have not set your heart to honor Me. 3 I will speak sharp words to your children. I will spread animal waste on your faces, the waste of your special suppers. And you will be taken away with it. 4 Then you will know that I have sent this word to you, so that My agreement with Levi may be kept,” says the Lord of All. 5 “My agreement with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might honor Me with fear. So he honored Me with fear. My name filled him with fear and wonder. 6 True teaching was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and was right and good. And he turned many from sin. 7 For the lips of a religious leader should have much learning. Men should listen for teaching from his mouth, for he is sent by the Lord of All. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have made many fall by your teaching. You have sinned against the agreement of Levi,” says the Lord of All. 9 “So I have made you hated and ashamed in front of all the people, for you are not keeping My ways. You have shown favor to certain people when you teach them.”
The People Are Not Faithful to God
10 “Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God made us? Why can we not be trusted by one another? Why do we sin against the agreement of our fathers? 11 Judah has not been faithful. A very sinful thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord, which He loves. And he has married the daughter of a strange god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob every man who does this, even if he brings a gift in worship to the Lord of All. 13 This is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears from much crying, because He no longer cares about the gift or receives it with favor from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord has seen how you have not been faithful to the wife you married when you were young, even when she stays with you and is your wife by agreement. 15 Has not the Lord made them one in flesh and spirit? And what does He desire but God-like children? Be careful then in your spirit, and stay faithful to the wife you married when you were young. 16 “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “And I hate the man who does wrong to his wife,” says the Lord of All. “So be careful in your spirit, and be one who can be trusted.”
13 Listen! You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money.” 14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? It is like fog. You see it and soon it is gone. 15 What you should say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But instead you are proud. You talk loud and big about yourselves. All such pride is sin. 17 If you know what is right to do but you do not do it, you sin.
5 Listen, you rich men! Cry about the troubles that will come to you. 2 Your riches are worth nothing. Your fine clothes are full of moth holes. 3 Your gold and silver have rusted. Their rust will speak against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have saved riches for yourselves for the last days. 4 See! The men working in your fields are crying against you because you have kept back part of their pay. Their cries have been heard by the Lord Who hears His people. 5 You have had everything while you lived on the earth and have enjoyed its fun. You have made your hearts fat and are ready to be killed as an animal is killed. 6 You have killed men who are right with God who were not making it hard for you.
Jesus Teaches about the Holy Nation of God
20 The proud religious law-keepers asked when the holy nation of God would come. Jesus said to them, “The holy nation of God is not coming in such a way that can be seen with the eyes. 21 It will not be said, ‘See, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For the holy nation of God is in you.”
Jesus Tells of His Second Coming
22 Jesus said to His followers, “The time will come when you will wish you could see the Son of Man for one day. But you will not be able to. 23 They will say to you, ‘He is here,’ or, ‘He is there,’ but do not follow them. 24 When the Son of Man comes, He will be as lightning that shines from one part of the sky to the other. 25 But before that, He must suffer many hard things. The people of this day will have nothing to do with Him.
26 “As it was in the time of Noah, so will it be when the Son of Man comes back. 27 People ate and drank. They married and were given in marriage. They did these things until the day Noah went into the large boat. Then the flood came and killed all the people on earth. 28 It was the same in the time of Lot. People ate and drank. They bought and sold. They planted and built. 29 But the day Lot left the city of Sodom, fire and sulphur came down from heaven like rain. It killed all the people of Sodom.
30 “It will be the same on the day when the Son of Man comes again. 31 In that day the man who is on top of a house should not come down to take his things out of the house. In the same way, the man who is in the field should not go back to his house. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!
33 “He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life will have it given back to him. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two men in the same bed. One of them will be taken. The other will be left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together. One of them will be taken. The other will be left. 36 *Two men will be working in a field. One will be taken. The other will be left.”
37 Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this happen?” He said to them, “Birds also gather where there is a dead body.”
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