Book of Common Prayer
105 Thank the Lord for all the glorious things he does; proclaim them to the nations. 2 Sing his praises and tell everyone about his miracles. 3 Glory in the Lord; O worshipers of God, rejoice.
4 Search for him and for his strength, and keep on searching!
5-6 Think of the mighty deeds he did for us, his chosen ones—descendants of God’s servant Abraham, and of Jacob. Remember how he destroyed our enemies. 7 He is the Lord our God. His goodness[a] is seen everywhere throughout the land. 8-9 Though a thousand generations pass he never forgets his promise, his covenant with Abraham and Isaac 10-11 and confirmed with Jacob. This is his never-ending treaty with the people of Israel: “I will give you the land of Canaan as your inheritance.” 12 He said this when they were but few in number, very few, and were only visitors in Canaan. 13 Later they were dispersed among the nations and were driven from one kingdom to another; 14 but through it all he would not let one thing be done to them apart from his decision.[b] He destroyed many a king who tried! 15 “Touch not these chosen ones of mine,” he warned, “and do not hurt my prophets.”
16 He called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply. 17 Then he sent Joseph as a slave to Egypt to save his people from starvation. 18 There in prison they hurt his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar 19 until God’s time finally came—how God tested his patience! 20 Then the king sent for him and set him free. 21 He was put in charge of all the king’s possessions. 22 At his pleasure he could imprison the king’s aides and teach the king’s advisors.
23 Then Jacob (Israel) arrived in Egypt and lived there with his sons. 24 In the years that followed, the people of Israel multiplied explosively until they were a greater nation than their rulers. 25 At that point God turned the Egyptians against the Israelis; they hated and enslaved them.
26 But God sent Moses as his representative, and Aaron with him, 27 to call down miracles of terror upon the land of Egypt. 28 They[c] followed his instructions. He sent thick darkness through the land 29 and turned the nation’s water into blood, poisoning the fish. 30 Then frogs invaded in enormous numbers; they were found even in the king’s private rooms. 31 When Moses spoke, the flies and other insects swarmed in vast clouds from one end of Egypt to the other. 32 Instead of rain he sent down murderous hail, and lightning flashes overwhelmed the nation. 33 Their grapevines and fig trees were ruined; all the trees lay broken on the ground. 34 He spoke, and hordes of locusts came 35 and ate up everything green, destroying all the crops. 36 Then he killed the oldest child in each Egyptian home, their pride and joy— 37 and brought his people safely out from Egypt, loaded with silver and gold; there were no sick and feeble folk among them then. 38 Egypt was glad when they were gone, for the dread of them was great.
39 He spread out a cloud above them to shield them from the burning sun and gave them a pillar of flame at night to give them light. 40 They asked for meat, and he sent them quail and gave them manna—bread from heaven. 41 He opened up a rock, and water gushed out to form a river through the dry and barren land; 42 for he remembered his sacred promises to Abraham his servant.
43 So he brought his chosen ones singing into the Promised Land. 44 He gave them the lands of the Gentiles, complete with their growing crops; they ate what others planted. 45 This was done to make them faithful and obedient to his laws. Hallelujah!
15 Absalom then bought a magnificent chariot and chariot horses, and hired fifty footmen to run ahead of him. 2 He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city; and when anyone came to bring a case to the king for trial, Absalom called him over and expressed interest in his problem.
3 He would say, “I can see that you are right in this matter; it’s unfortunate that the king doesn’t have anyone to assist him in hearing these cases. 4 I surely wish I were the judge; then anyone with a lawsuit could come to me, and I would give him justice!”
5 And when anyone came to bow to him, Absalom wouldn’t let him, but shook his hand instead![a] 6 So in this way Absalom stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.
7-8 After four years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron to sacrifice to the Lord in fulfillment of a vow I made to him while I was at Geshur—that if he would bring me back to Jerusalem, I would sacrifice to him.”
9 “All right,” the king told him, “go and fulfill your vow.”
So Absalom went to Hebron.[b] 10 But while he was there, he sent spies to every part of Israel to incite rebellion against the king. “As soon as you hear the trumpets,” his message read, “you will know that Absalom has been crowned in Hebron.” 11 He took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. 12 While he was offering the sacrifice, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David’s counselors who lived in Giloh. Ahithophel declared for Absalom, as did more and more others. So the conspiracy became very strong.
13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell King David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!”
14 “Then we must flee at once or it will be too late!” was David’s instant response to his men. “If we get out of the city before he arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be saved.”
15 “We are with you,” his aides replied. “Do as you think best.”
16 So the king and his household set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his young wives to keep the palace in order. 17-18 David paused at the edge of the city to let his troops move past him to lead the way—six hundred Gittites who had come with him from Gath, and the Cherethites and Pelethites.
26-27 So Paul agreed to their request and the next day went with the men to the Temple for the ceremony, thus publicizing his vow to offer a sacrifice seven days later with the others.
The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from Turkey saw him in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him, 28 yelling, “Men of Israel! Help! Help! This is the man who preaches against our people and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He even talks against the Temple and defiles it by bringing Gentiles in!” 29 (For down in the city earlier that day, they had seen him with Trophimus, a Gentile[a] from Ephesus in Turkey, and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30 The whole population of the city was electrified by these accusations and a great riot followed. Paul was dragged out of the Temple, and immediately the gates were closed behind him. 31 As they were killing him, word reached the commander of the Roman garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He quickly ordered out his soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the troops coming, they quit beating Paul. 33 The commander arrested him and ordered him bound with double chains. Then he asked the crowd who he was and what he had done. 34 Some shouted one thing and some another. When he couldn’t find out anything in all the uproar and confusion, he ordered Paul to be taken to the armory.[b] 35 As they reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent that the soldiers lifted Paul to their shoulders to protect him, 36 and the crowd surged behind shouting, “Away with him, away with him!”
32 Now they were on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking along ahead; and as the disciples were following they were filled with terror and dread.
Taking them aside, Jesus once more began describing all that was going to happen to him when they arrived at Jerusalem.
33 “When we get there,” he told them, “I, the Messiah,[a] will be arrested and taken before the chief priests and the Jewish leaders, who will sentence me to die and hand me over to the Romans to be killed. 34 They will mock me and spit on me and flog me with their whips and kill me; but after three days I will come back to life again.”
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him in a low voice.[b] “Master,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”
36 “What is it?” he asked.
37 “We want to sit on the thrones next to yours in your Kingdom,” they said, “one at your right and the other at your left!”
38 But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I must drink from? Or to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
39 “Oh, yes,” they said, “we are!”
And Jesus said, “You shall indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism, 40 but I do not have the right to place you on thrones next to mine. Those appointments have already been made.”
41 When the other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were very indignant. 42 So Jesus called them to him and said, “As you know, the kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people; 43 but among you it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. 44 And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all. 45 For even I, the Messiah,[c] am not here to be served, but to help others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.