Book of Common Prayer
33 He (A)turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A (B)fruitful land into [a]barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 (C)He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 (D)He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle (E)decrease.
39 When they are (F)diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
40 (G)He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 (H)Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And (I)makes their families like a flock.
42 (J)The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all (K)iniquity stops its mouth.
43 (L)Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies(M)
A Song. A Psalm of David.
108 O (N)God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 (O)Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples,
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the [b]heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 (P)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth;
6 (Q)That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and [c]hear me.
7 God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the [d]helmet for My head;
(R)Judah is My lawgiver.
9 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Over Philistia I will triumph.”
10 (S)Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
12 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
13 (T)Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
The Sovereignty of the Lord in Creation and History
33 Rejoice (A)in the Lord, O you righteous!
For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
[a]Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4 For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
6 (B)By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the (C)host of them (D)by the breath of His mouth.
7 (E)He gathers the waters of the sea together [b]as a heap;
He lays up the deep in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For (F)He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 (G)The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
11 (H)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has (I)chosen as His own inheritance.
13 (J)The Lord looks from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks
On all the inhabitants of the earth;
15 He fashions their hearts individually;
(K)He [c]considers all their works.
16 (L)No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17 (M)A horse is a [d]vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.
18 (N)Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
19 To deliver their soul from death,
And (O)to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.
21 This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:
‘The virgin, (A)the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
(B)Has shaken her head behind your back!
22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against (C)the Holy One of Israel.
23 (D)By your messengers you have reproached the Lord,
And said: (E)“By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter the extremity of its borders,
To its fruitful forest.
24 I have dug and drunk strange water,
And with the soles of my feet I have (F)dried up
All the brooks of defense.”
25 ‘Did you not hear long ago
How (G)I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That (H)you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field
And the green herb,
As (I)the grass on the housetops
And grain blighted before it is grown.
27 ‘But (J)I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore (K)I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back
(L)By the way which you came.
29 ‘This shall be a (M)sign to you:
‘You shall eat this year such as grows [a]of itself,
And in the second year what springs from the same;
Also in the third year sow and reap,
Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
30 (N)And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward,
And bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,
And those who escape from Mount Zion.
(O)The zeal of the Lord [b]of hosts will do this.’
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall (P)not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says the Lord.
34 ‘For (Q)I will (R)defend this city, to save it
For My own sake and (S)for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death(T)
35 And (U)it came to pass on a certain night that the [c]angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at (V)Nineveh.
Old Testament Examples
10 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under (A)the cloud, all passed through (B)the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same (C)spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same (D)spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies (E)were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as (F)they also lusted. 7 (G)And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, (H)“The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 (I)Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as (J)some of them did, and (K)in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us [a]tempt Christ, as (L)some of them also tempted, and (M)were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as (N)some of them also complained, and (O)were destroyed by (P)the destroyer. 11 Now [b]all these things happened to them as examples, and (Q)they were written for our [c]admonition, (R)upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore (S)let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but (T)God is faithful, (U)who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to [d]bear it.
The Cost of Discipleship(A)
18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 (B)Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
21 (C)Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, (D)let me first go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Wind and Wave Obey Jesus(E)
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. 24 (F)And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then (G)He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 So the men marveled, saying, [a]“Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.