Book of Common Prayer
33 He changed rivers into a desert.
He stopped springs from flowing.
34 He made the fertile land become salty,
because the people living there did such evil things.
35 He changed the desert into a land with pools of water.
He caused springs to flow from dry ground.
36 He led the hungry to that good land,
and they built a city to live in.
37 They planted seeds in their fields and grapes in their vineyards,
and they had a good harvest.
38 God blessed them with many children
and plenty of animals.
39 But because of disaster and troubles,
their families became small and weak.
40 God shames even great leaders
and makes them wander through empty deserts.
41 But he rescues the poor from their misery.
He makes their families large like flocks of sheep.
42 Good people see this and are happy.
But the wicked see it and don’t know what to say.
43 Whoever is wise will remember these things
and begin to understand the Lord’s faithful love.
A praise song of David.
108 God, I am ready, heart and soul,
to sing songs of praise.
Wake up, my soul!
2 Harps and lyres, wake up,
and let’s wake the dawn!
3 Lord, I will praise you before all people.
I will sing praises about you to every nation.
4 Your faithful love is higher
than the highest clouds in the sky!
5 Rise above the heavens, God.
Let all the world see your glory.
6 Use your great power and help us!
Answer my prayer and save the people you love.
7 God has made this promise in his Temple[a]:
“I will win the war and rejoice in victory!
I will divide this land among my people.
I will give them Shechem.
I will give them Succoth Valley.
8 Gilead and Manasseh will be mine.
Ephraim will be my helmet.
Judah will be my royal scepter.
9 Moab will be the bowl for washing my feet.
Edom will be the slave who carries my sandals.
I will defeat the Philistines and shout in victory!”
10-11 But, God, it seems that you have left us!
You do not go out with our army.
So who will lead me into the strong, protected city?
Who will lead me into battle against Edom?
12 Help us defeat the enemy!
No one on earth can rescue us.
13 Only God can make us strong.
Only God can defeat our enemies!
33 Rejoice in the Lord, good people!
It is only right for good people to praise him.
2 Play the lyre and praise the Lord.
Play the ten-stringed harp for him.
3 Sing a new song[a] to him.
Play it well and sing it loud!
4 The Lord’s word is true,
and he is faithful in everything he does.
5 He loves goodness and justice.
The Lord’s faithful love fills the earth.
6 The Lord spoke the command, and the world was made.
The breath from his mouth created everything in the heavens.
7 He gathered together the water of the sea.
He put the ocean in its place.
8 Everyone on earth should fear and respect the Lord.
All the people in the world should fear him,
9 because when he speaks, things happen.
And if he says, “Stop!”—then it stops.[b]
10 The Lord can ruin every decision the nations make.
He can spoil all their plans.
11 But the Lord’s decisions are good forever.
His plans are good for generation after generation.
12 Great blessings belong to those who have the Lord as their God!
He chose them to be his own special people.
13 The Lord looked down from heaven
and saw all the people.
14 From his high throne he looked down
at all the people living on earth.
15 He created every person’s mind,
and he knows what each one is doing.
16 A king is not saved by the power of his army.
A soldier does not survive by his own great strength.
17 Horses don’t really bring victory in war.
Their strength cannot help you escape.
18 The Lord watches over his followers,
those who wait for him to show his faithful love.
19 He saves them from death.
He gives them strength when they are hungry.
20 So we will wait for the Lord.
He helps us and protects us.
21 He makes us happy.
We trust his holy name.
22 Lord, we worship you,
so show your great love for us.
21 “This is the Lord’s message against Sennacherib:
‘The virgin daughter Zion[a] does not think you are important.
She makes fun of you.
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head at you
and laughs behind your back.
22 But who did you insult and make fun of?
Who did you speak against?
You were against the Holy One of Israel.
You acted like you were better than he was!
23 You sent your messengers to insult the Lord.
You said, “I came with my many chariots to the high mountains deep inside Lebanon.
I cut down the tallest cedar trees and the best fir trees of Lebanon.
I went to its highest mountains, its thickest forests.
24 I dug wells, and drank water from new places.
I dried up the rivers of Egypt
and walked on the land there.”
25 That is what you said, but haven’t you heard what I said?
I planned it long ago;
from ancient times I planned it.
And now I have made it happen.
I let you tear down the strong cities
and change them into piles of rocks.
26 The people in the cities had no power.
They were afraid and confused.
They were about to be cut down
like grass and plants in the field.
They were like grass growing on the housetops,
dying before it grows tall.
27 I know all about your battles;
I know when you rested,
when you went out to war,
and when you came home.
I also know when you got upset at me.
28 Yes, you were upset at me.
I heard your proud insults.
So I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
Then I will turn you around
and lead you back the way you came.’”
The Lord’s Message for Hezekiah
29 Then the Lord said, “I will give you a sign to show that these words are true. You were not able to plant seeds this year, so next year you will eat grain that grows wild from the previous year’s crop. But in the third year, you will eat grain from seeds that you planted. You will harvest your crops and have plenty to eat. You will plant grapevines and eat their fruit. You will plant vineyards and eat the grapes from them. 30 The people from the family of Judah who have escaped and are left alive will be like plants that send their roots deep into the ground and produce fruit above the ground. 31 That is because a few people will come out of Jerusalem alive. There will be survivors coming from Mount Zion. The strong love[b] of the Lord All-Powerful will do this.
32 “So the Lord says this about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not come into this city
or shoot an arrow at this city.
He will not bring his shields up against this city
or build up a hill of dirt to attack its walls.
33 He will go back the way he came,
and he will not come into this city.
The Lord says this.
34 I will protect this city and save it.
I will do this for myself and for my servant David.’”
The Assyrian Army Is Destroyed
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp. When the others got up in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.
36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh where he stayed.
Warning From History
10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who were with Moses. They were all under the cloud,[a] and they all walked through the sea. 2 They were all baptized[b] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.
6 And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did. 7 Don’t worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to have a wild party.”[c] 8 We should not commit sexual sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sin. 9 We should not test Christ[d] as some of them did. Because of that, they were killed by snakes. 10 And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys.
11 The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to. 12 So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall. 13 The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.
Following Jesus(A)
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he told his followers to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you any place you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to rest.”
21 Another of Jesus’ followers said to him, “Lord, I will follow you too, but let me go and bury my father first.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let those who are dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus’ Followers See His Power(B)
23 Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. 24 After the boat left the shore, a very bad storm began on the lake. The waves covered the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The followers went to him and woke him. They said, “Lord, save us! We will drown!”
26 Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You don’t have enough faith.” Then he stood up and gave a command to the wind and the water. The wind stopped, and the lake became very calm.
27 The men were amazed. They said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International