Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into dry ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salty waste,
due to the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 There he settled the hungry,
where they built a city to live in.
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a productive harvest.
38 Then he blessed them, and they became numerous;
he multiplied their cattle.[a]
39 But they became few in number, and humiliated
by continued oppression, agony, and sorrow.
40 Having poured contempt on their nobles,
causing them to err aimlessly in the way.
41 Yet he lifted the needy from affliction
and made them families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
but the mouth of an evil person is shut.
43 Let whoever is wise observe these things,
that they may comprehend the gracious love of the Lord.
A song. A Davidic psalm.
A Plea for Victory
108 My heart is firm, God;
I will sing and praise you with my whole being.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will wake up at dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you among the peoples, Lord!
I will sing praise to you among the nations.
4 For your gracious love extends to the sky,[b]
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 May you be exalted above the heavens, God,
and your glory be over all the earth.
6 In order that those you love may be rescued,
deliver with your power[c] and answer me!
7 God had promised in his sanctuary:
“I will triumph and divide Shechem,
then I will measure the valley of Succoth!
8 Gilead and Manasseh belong to me,
while Ephraim is my chief stronghold
and Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
I will fling my shoe on Edom
and shout over Philistia.”
10 Who will lead me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me as far as Edom?
11 God, you have rejected us, have you not,
since you did not march out with our army, God?
12 Give us help against the enemy,
because human help is useless.[d]
13 I will find strength in God,
for he will trample on our foes.
Praise to the Creator and Deliverer
33 Rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones;
for the praise of the upright is beautiful.
2 With the lyre, give thanks to the Lord;
with the ten stringed harp, play music to him;
3 with a new song, sing to him;
with shouts of joy, play skillfully.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright;
and all his works are done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the world is filled with the gracious love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made;
all the heavenly bodies[a] by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the oceans into a single place;
he put the deep water into storehouses.
8 Let all the world fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him;
9 because he spoke and it came to be,
because he commanded, it stood firm.
10 The Lord makes void the counsel of nations;
he frustrates the plans of peoples.
11 But the Lord’s counsel stands firm forever,
the plans in his mind for all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
13 When the Lord looks down from heaven,
he observes every human being.
14 From his dwelling place,
he looks down on all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He formed the hearts of them all;
he understands everything they do.
16 A king is not saved by a large army;
a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength.
17 It is vain to trust in a horse for deliverance,
even with its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Indeed, the Lord watches those who fear him;
those who trust in his gracious love
19 to deliver them from death;
to keep them alive in times of famine.
20 We wait on the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart will rejoice in him,
because we have placed our trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, may your gracious love be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
God’s Seventh Complaint: Against His People—Slandering God
13 “You have spoken arrogant words against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What did we say against you?’ 14 You said, ‘It is futile to serve God,’ and, ‘What did we get out of it[a] when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies?’ 15 and, ‘Now we call the arrogant one blessed. Those who do evil prosper and those who challenge God escape the consequences.’”[b]
The Repentance of the Righteous
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other. The Lord listened and took note,[c] and a scroll of remembrance was written in his presence about those who fear the Lord and honor His name. 17 “They’ll be mine,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, “in the day when I prepare my treasured possession. I’ll spare them, just as a man spares his own son who serves him. 18 When you return, you will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and between the one who serves God and the one who does not.”
The Great Day of the Lord
4 [d]“The coming day[e] is certainly going to burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and all who practice evil will be stubble—the coming day will set them on fire,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in its light[f] for those who fear my name. You will go out and leap like calves released[g] from their stalls 3 and trample down the wicked. Indeed, they will become ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I do this,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
The Coming of Elijah the Prophet
4 “Remember the Law of Moses my servant that I gave him at Horeb for all Israel—both the decrees and laws.
5 “Pay attention! I’m sending Elijah the prophet to you before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord comes, 6 and he will turn the hearts of fathers to children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I’ll come, strike the land, and utterly destroy it.”
The Power of Prayer
13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying. Is anyone cheerful? He should keep reciting psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith[a] will save the person who is sick. The Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a person just like us, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to the land for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the skies poured out rain, and the ground produced its crops.
19 My brothers, if one of you wanders away from the truth and somebody brings him back, 20 you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his wrong path will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
The Parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 Jesus[a] also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, thinking they were righteous, but who looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘O God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven. Instead, he continued to beat his chest and said, ‘O God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am!’[b] 14 I tell you, this man, rather than the other one, went down to his home justified, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the person who humbles himself will be exalted.”
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