Book of Common Prayer
33 He changes rivers into a desert and wells of water into a thirsty ground. 34 He changes a land of much fruit into a salt waste because of the sin of those who live in it. 35 He changes a desert into a pool of water and makes water flow out of dry ground. 36 And He makes the hungry go there so they may build a city to live in. 37 They plant seeds in the fields and plant grape-vines and gather much fruit. 38 He lets good come to them and they become many in number. And He does not let the number of their cattle become less.
39 When the number of people becomes less and they are put to shame under a bad power and trouble and sorrow, 40 He pours anger on rulers. He makes them walk in the waste places where there is no path. 41 But He lifts those in need out of their troubles. He makes their families grow like flocks. 42 Those who are right see it and are glad. But all the sinful shut their mouths. 43 Let the wise man think about these things. And may he think about the loving-kindness of the Lord.
A Song of Praise
108 My heart will not be moved, O God. I will sing. Yes, I will sing praises with my soul. 2 Wake up, different kinds of harps. I will wake up the new day. 3 I will give thanks to You among the people, O Lord. I will sing praises to You among the nations. 4 For Your loving-kindness is great above the heavens. And Your truth can touch the sky. 5 Be lifted up high above the heavens, O God. Let Your shining-greatness be over all the earth. 6 Save us with Your right hand and answer me. Let Your loved ones be set free.
7 God has said in His holy place: “I will be full of joy. I will divide Shechem and the valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is Mine. Manasseh is Mine. Ephraim is the covering for My head. Judah is My law giver. 9 Moab is where I wash My hands. I will throw My shoe over Edom. I will call out over Philistia that I have won.”
10 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? 11 Have You not turned away from us, O God? And will You not go out with our armies, O God? 12 O give us help against those who hate us. For the help of man is worth nothing. 13 With God’s help we will do great things. And He will break under His feet those who fight against us.
Song of Praise
33 Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with harps. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. 3 Sing to Him a new song. Play well with loud sounds of joy. 4 For the Word of the Lord is right. He is faithful in all He does. 5 He loves what is right and good and what is fair. The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
6 The heavens were made by the Word of the Lord. All the stars were made by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a bag. He places the waters in store-houses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world honor Him. 9 For He spoke, and it was done. He spoke with strong words, and it stood strong. 10 The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. 11 The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people. 12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own.
13 The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. 14 From where He sits He looks upon all who live on the earth. 15 He made the hearts of them all. And He understands whatever they do. 16 No king is saved by the power of his strong army. A soldier is not saved by great strength. 17 A horse cannot be trusted to win a battle. Its great strength cannot save anyone.
18 See, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, and on those who hope for His loving-kindness, 19 to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive when there is nothing to eat. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our safe cover. 21 For our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name. 22 O Lord, let Your loving-kindness be upon us as we put our hope in You.
The People Complain
13 “Your words have been spoken in pride against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we said against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is of no worth to serve God. What do we get by doing what He says, or by walking in sorrow before the Lord of All? 15 So now we say that it is good to be proud. Not only are sinners doing well, but they put God to the test and get away with it.’”
The Book to Be Remembered
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke often to one another, and the Lord listened to them. And the names of those who worshiped the Lord and honored Him were written down before Him in a Book to be remembered. 17 “They will be Mine says the Lord of All, “on that day that I gather My special people. I will have loving-pity on them as a man has loving-pity on his own son who serves him.” 18 Then you will again see the difference between those who are right and good, and those who are sinful. You will see the difference between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
The Great Day of the Lord
4 “See, the day is coming. It is burning like a hot fire. And all those who are proud and those who do wrong will be like dry grass. The day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord of All. “Not a root or branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who fear My name, the sun of what is right and good will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and dance like calves from the cattle-house. 3 You will crush the sinful under foot. They will be ashes under your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the Lord of All.
4 “Remember the Law of My servant Moses. Remember all the Laws I gave him in Horeb for all Israel. 5 See, I will send you Elijah the man of God before the day of the Lord comes, that great day that will be full of much trouble. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Or else I will come and destroy the land with a curse.”
The Power of Prayer in Healing
13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone happy? He should sing songs of thanks to God. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should send for the church leaders and they should pray for him. They should pour oil on him in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer given in faith will heal the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Tell your sins to each other. And pray for each other so you may be healed. The prayer from the heart of a man right with God has much power. 17 Elijah was a man as we are. He prayed that it might not rain. It did not rain on the earth for three and one-half years. 18 Then he prayed again that it would rain. It rained much and the fields of the earth gave fruit.
Bring Back Those Who Are Lost in Sin
19 My Christian brothers, if any of you should be led away from the truth, let someone turn him back again. 20 That person should know that if he turns a sinner from the wrong way, he will save the sinner’s soul from death and many sins will be forgiven.
The Picture-Story of the Proud Religious Law-Keepers and the Tax-Gatherers
9 Jesus told another picture-story to some people who trusted in themselves and thought they were right with God. These people did not think well of other men. 10 Jesus said, “Two men went up to the house of God to pray. One of them was a proud religious law-keeper. The other was a man who gathered taxes. 11 The proud religious law-keeper stood and prayed to himself like this, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men. I am not like those who steal. I am not like those who do things that are wrong. I am not like those who do sex sins. I am not even like this tax-gatherer. 12 I go without food two times a week so I can pray better. I give one-tenth part of the money I earn.’ 13 But the man who gathered taxes stood a long way off. He would not even lift his eyes to heaven. But he hit himself on his chest and said, ‘God, have pity on me! I am a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went back to his house forgiven, and not the other man. For whoever makes himself look more important than he is will find out how little he is worth. Whoever does not try to honor himself will be made important.”
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