Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs into thirsty ground,(A)
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.(B)
35 He turns a desert into a pool,
dry land into springs.(C)
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.(D)
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.(E)
38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;(F)
he does not let their livestock decrease.(G)
39 When they are diminished and are humbled
by cruel oppression and sorrow,(H)
40 he pours contempt on nobles(I)
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.(J)
41 But he lifts the needy out of their suffering(K)
and makes their families multiply like flocks.(L)
42 The upright see it and rejoice,(M)
and all injustice shuts its mouth.(N)
43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.(O)
Psalm 108
A Plea for Victory
A song. A psalm of David.
1 My heart is confident, God;
I will sing; I will sing praises
with the whole of my being.[a](P)
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.(Q)
3 I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.(R)
4 For your faithful love is higher than the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.(S)
5 God, be exalted above the heavens,(T)
and let your glory be over the whole earth.(U)
6 Save with your right hand and answer me
so that those you love may be rescued.(V)
7 God has spoken in his sanctuary:[b]
“I will celebrate!
I will divide up Shechem.(W)
I will apportion the Valley of Succoth.(X)
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine,
and Ephraim is my helmet;(Y)
Judah is my scepter.(Z)
9 Moab is my washbasin;(AA)
I throw my sandal on Edom.(AB)
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”(AC)
Psalm 33
Praise to the Creator
1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones;
praise from the upright is beautiful.(A)
2 Praise the Lord with the lyre;
make music to him with a ten-stringed harp.(B)
3 Sing a new song to him;(C)
play skillfully on the strings, with a joyful shout.(D)
4 For the word of the Lord is right,
and all his work is trustworthy.(E)
5 He loves righteousness and justice;(F)
the earth is full of the Lord’s unfailing love.(G)
6 The heavens were made by the word of the Lord,(H)
and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth.(I)
7 He gathers the water of the sea into a heap;[a]
he puts the depths into storehouses.(J)
8 Let the whole earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.(K)
9 For he spoke, and it came into being;
he commanded, and it came into existence.(L)
10 The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations;
he thwarts the plans of the peoples.(M)
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart from generation to generation.(N)
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord—
the people he has chosen to be his own possession!(O)
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he observes everyone.(P)
14 He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth
from his dwelling place.(Q)
15 He forms the hearts of them all;
he considers all their works.(R)
16 A king is not saved by a large army;
a warrior will not be rescued by great strength.(S)
17 The horse is a false hope for safety;
it provides no escape by its great power.(T)
21 This is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion(A)
despises you and scorns you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head behind your back.(B)
22 Who is it you mocked and blasphemed?(C)
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!(D)
23 You have mocked the Lord[a] through[b] your messengers.(E)
You have said, ‘With my many chariots(F)
I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars,
its choice cypress trees.
I came to its farthest outpost,
its densest forest.
24 I dug wells
and drank water in foreign lands.
I dried up all the streams of Egypt(G)
with the soles of my feet.’
25 Have you not heard?(H)
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.
I have now brought it to pass,(I)
and you have crushed fortified cities
into piles of rubble.
26 Their inhabitants have become powerless,
dismayed, and ashamed.
They are plants of the field,
tender grass,
grass on the rooftops,(J)
blasted by the east wind.[c]
27 But I know your sitting down,(K)
your going out and your coming in,
and your raging against me.
28 Because your raging against me
and your arrogance have reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose(L)
and my bit in your mouth;
I will make you go back
the way you came.
29 “This will be the sign(M) for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 The surviving remnant(N) of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors, from Mount Zion.(O) The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.(P)
32 Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city,
shoot an arrow here,
come before it with a shield,
or build up a siege ramp against it.(Q)
33 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
34 I will defend this city and rescue it
for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”(R)
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!(S) 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.(T)
Warnings from Israel’s Past
10 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors(A) were all under the cloud,(B) all passed through the sea,(C) 2 and all were baptized(D) into Moses(E) in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food,(F) 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock(G) that followed them, and that rock was Christ.(H) 5 Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.(I)
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire(J) evil things as they did.[a](K) 7 Don’t become idolaters(L) as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.[b][c](M) 8 Let us not commit sexual immorality(N) as some of them did,[d] and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.(O) 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did[e] and were destroyed by snakes.(P) 10 And don’t grumble(Q) as some of them did,[f](R) and were killed by the destroyer.[g](S) 11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction,(T) on whom the ends of the ages[h](U) have come.(V) 12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.(W) 13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful;(X) he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out(Y) so that you may be able to bear it.
The Cost of Following Jesus
18 When Jesus saw a large crowd[a](A) around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe approached him and said,(B) “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man(C) has no place to lay his head.”
21 “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Wind and Waves Obey Jesus
23 As he got into the boat,(D) his disciples(E) followed him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. 25 So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea,(F) and there was a great calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey(G) him!”
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