Book of Common Prayer
Israel’s Failure to Trust God
106 Praise the Lord!
Thank the Lord because he is good.
His love continues forever.
2 No one can tell all the mighty things the Lord has done;
no one can speak all his praise.
3 Happy are those who do right,
who do what is fair at all times.
4 Lord, remember me when you are kind to your people;
help me when you save them.
5 Let me see the good things you do for your chosen people.
Let me be happy along with your happy nation;
let me join your own people in praising you.
6 We have sinned just as our ancestors did.
We have done wrong; we have done evil.
7 Our ancestors in Egypt
did not learn from your miracles.
They did not remember all your kindnesses,
so they turned against you at the Red Sea.
8 But the Lord saved them for his own sake,
to show his great power.
9 He commanded the Red Sea, and it dried up.
He led them through the deep sea as if it were a desert.
10 He saved them from those who hated them.
He saved them from their enemies,
11 and the water covered their foes.
Not one of them escaped.
12 Then the people believed what the Lord said,
and they sang praises to him.
13 But they quickly forgot what he had done;
they did not wait for his advice.
14 They became greedy for food in the desert,
and they tested God there.
15 So he gave them what they wanted,
but he also sent a terrible disease among them.
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses
and of Aaron, the holy priest of the Lord.
17 Then the ground opened up and swallowed Dathan
and closed over Abiram’s group.
18 A fire burned among their followers,
and flames burned up the wicked.
19 The people made a gold calf at Mount Sinai
and worshiped a metal statue.
20 They exchanged their glorious God
for a statue of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 who had done miracles in Egypt[a]
and amazing things by the Red Sea.
23 So God said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one, stood before him
and stopped God’s anger from destroying them.
24 Then they refused to go into the beautiful land of Canaan;
they did not believe what God promised.
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not obey the Lord.
26 So he swore to them
that they would die in the desert.
27 He said their children would be killed by other nations
and that they would be scattered among other countries.
28 They joined in worshiping Baal at Peor
and ate meat that had been sacrificed to lifeless statues.
29 They made the Lord angry by what they did,
so many people became sick with a terrible disease.
30 But Phinehas prayed to the Lord,
and the disease stopped.
31 Phinehas did what was right,
and it will be remembered from now on.
32 The people also made the Lord angry at Meribah,
and Moses was in trouble because of them.
33 The people turned against the Spirit of God,
so Moses spoke without stopping to think.
34 The people did not destroy the other nations
as the Lord had told them to do.
35 Instead, they mixed with the other nations
and learned their customs.
36 They worshiped other nations’ idols
and were trapped by them.
37 They even killed their sons and daughters
as sacrifices to demons.
38 They killed innocent people,
their own sons and daughters,
as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.
So the land was made unholy by their blood.
39 The people became unholy by their sins;
they were unfaithful to God in what they did.
40 So the Lord became angry with his people
and hated his own children.
41 He handed them over to other nations
and let their enemies rule over them.
42 Their enemies were cruel to them
and kept them under their power.
43 The Lord saved his people many times,
but they continued to turn against him.
So they became even more wicked.
44 But God saw their misery
when he heard their cry.
45 He remembered his agreement with them,
and he felt sorry for them because of his great love.
46 He caused them to be pitied
by those who held them captive.
47 Lord our God, save us
and bring us back from other nations.
Then we will thank you
and will gladly praise you.
48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
He always was and always will be.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
War Between David and Absalom
24 David arrived at Mahanaim. And Absalom and all his Israelites crossed over the Jordan River. 25 Absalom had made Amasa captain of the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Jether the Ishmaelite. Amasa’s mother was Abigail daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 Absalom and the Israelites camped in the land of Gilead.
27 Shobi, Makir, and Barzillai were at Mahanaim when David arrived. Shobi son of Nahash was from the Ammonite town of Rabbah. Makir son of Ammiel was from Lo Debar, and Barzillai was from Rogelim in Gilead. 28 They brought beds, bowls, clay pots, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, small peas, 29 honey, milk curds, sheep, and cheese made from cows’ milk for David and his people. They said, “The people are hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert.”
18 David counted his men and placed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 He sent the troops out in three groups. Joab commanded one-third of the men. Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah commanded another third. And Ittai from Gath commanded the last third. King David said to them, “I will also go with you.”
3 But the men said, “You must not go with us! If we run away in the battle, Absalom’s men won’t care. Even if half of us are killed, Absalom’s men won’t care. But you’re worth ten thousand of us! You can help us most by staying in the city.”
4 The king said to his people, “I will do what you think is best.” So the king stood at the side of the gate as the army went out in groups of a hundred and a thousand.
5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Be gentle with young Absalom for my sake.” Everyone heard the king’s orders to the commanders about Absalom.
6 David’s army went out into the field against Absalom’s Israelites, and they fought in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There David’s army defeated the Israelites. Many died that day—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread through all the country, but that day more men died in the forest than in the fighting.
Paul Speaks to Leaders
30 The next day the commander decided to learn why the Jews were accusing Paul. So he ordered the leading priests and the council to meet. The commander took Paul’s chains off. Then he brought Paul out and stood him before their meeting.
23 Paul looked at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life without guilt feelings before God up to this day.” 2 Ananias,[a] the high priest, heard this and told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. 3 Paul said to Ananias, “God will hit you, too! You are like a wall that has been painted white. You sit there and judge me, using the law of Moses, but you are telling them to hit me, and that is against the law.”
4 The men standing near Paul said to him, “You cannot insult God’s high priest like that!”
5 Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must not curse a leader of your people.’”[b]
6 Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. Knowing this, Paul shouted to them, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, and my father was a Pharisee. I am on trial here because I believe that people will rise from the dead.”
7 When Paul said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the group was divided. 8 (The Sadducees do not believe in angels or spirits or that people will rise from the dead. But the Pharisees believe in them all.) 9 So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, stood up and argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe an angel or a spirit did speak to him.”
10 The argument was beginning to turn into such a fight that the commander was afraid some evil people would tear Paul to pieces. So he told the soldiers to go down and take Paul away and put him in the army building.
11 The next night the Lord came and stood by Paul. He said, “Be brave! You have told people in Jerusalem about me. You must do the same in Rome.”
12 The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. 13 Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. 14 So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.
Jesus Goes to the Temple
15 When Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. 16 Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods through the Temple courts. 17 Then he taught the people, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.’[a] But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’”[b]
18 The leading priests and the teachers of the law heard all this and began trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his teaching. 19 That evening, Jesus and his followers[c] left the city.
The Power of Faith
20 The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. 21 Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”
22 Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. 24 So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. 25 When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. [ 26 But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.]”[d]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.