Book of Common Prayer
A Nation Asks for Forgiveness
1 (A) We will celebrate
and praise you, Lord!
You are good to us,
and your love never fails.
2 No one can praise you enough
for all the mighty things
you have done.
3 You bless those people
who are honest and fair
in everything they do.
4 Remember me, Lord,
when you show kindness
by saving your people.
5 Let me prosper with the rest
of your chosen ones,
as they celebrate with pride
because they belong to you.
6 We and our ancestors
have sinned terribly.
7 (B) When they were in Egypt,
they paid no attention
to your marvelous deeds
or your wonderful love.
And they turned against you
at the Red Sea.[a]
8 But you were true to your name,
and you rescued them to prove
how mighty you are.
9 (C) You said to the Red Sea,[b]
“Dry up!”
Then you led your people across
on land as dry as a desert.
10 You saved all of them
11 and drowned every one
of their enemies.
12 (D) Then your people trusted you
and sang your praises.
13 But they soon forgot
what you had done
and rejected your advice.
14 (E) They became greedy for food
and tested you there
in the desert.
15 So you gave them
what they wanted,
but later you destroyed them
with a horrible disease.
16 (F) Everyone in camp was jealous
of Moses and of Aaron,
your chosen priest.
17 Dathan and Abiram rebelled,
and the earth opened up
and swallowed them.
18 Then fire broke out
and destroyed all
of their followers.
19 (G) At Horeb your people
made and worshiped the statue
20 of a bull, instead of you,
their glorious God.
21 You worked powerful miracles
to save them from Egypt,
but they forgot about you
22 and the fearsome things
you did at the Red Sea.[c]
23 You were angry and started
to destroy them,
but Moses, your chosen leader,
begged you not to do it.
24 (H) They would not trust
you, Lord,
and they did not like
the promised land.
25 They would not obey you,
and they grumbled
in their tents.
26 So you threatened them
by saying, “I'll kill you
out here in the desert!
27 (I) I'll scatter your children
everywhere in the world.”
28 (J) Your people became followers
of a god named Baal Peor,
and they ate sacrifices
offered to the dead.[d]
29 They did such terrible things
that you punished them
with a deadly disease.
30 But Phinehas[e] helped them,
and the sickness stopped.
31 Now he will always
be highly honored.
32 (K) At Meribah Spring[f]
they turned against you
and made you furious.
33 Then Moses got into trouble
for speaking in anger.
34 (L) Our Lord, they disobeyed you
by refusing to destroy
the nations.
35 Instead they were friendly
with those foreigners
and followed their customs.
36 Then they fell into the trap
of worshiping idols.
37 (M) They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons
38 (N) and to the gods of Canaan.
Then they poured out the blood
of these innocent children
and made the land filthy.
39 By doing such gruesome things,
they also became filthy.
40 (O) Finally, Lord, you were angry
and terribly disgusted
with your people.
41 So you put them in the power
of nations that hated them.
42 They were mistreated and abused
by their enemies,
43 but you saved them
time after time.
They were determined to rebel,
and their sins caused
their downfall.
44 You answered their prayers
when they were in trouble.
45 You kept your agreement
and were so merciful
46 that their enemies
had pity on them.
47 (P) Save us, Lord God!
Bring us back
from among the nations.
Let us celebrate and shout
in praise of your holy name.
48 Lord God of Israel,
you deserve to be praised
forever and ever.
Let everyone say, “Amen!
Shout praises to the Lord!”
King Manasseh of Judah
(2 Chronicles 33.1-20)
21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled 55 years from Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah. 2 (A) Manasseh disobeyed the Lord by following the disgusting customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel. 3 He rebuilt the local shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He built altars for the god Baal and set up a sacred pole for worshiping the goddess Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. And he faithfully worshiped the stars in heaven.
4 (B) In the temple, where only the Lord was supposed to be worshiped, Manasseh built altars for the worship of pagan gods 5 and the stars. He placed these altars in both courts of the temple, 6-7 (C) and even set up the pole for Asherah there. Manasseh practiced magic and witchcraft; he asked fortunetellers for advice and sacrificed his own son. He did many sinful things and made the Lord very angry.
Years ago the Lord had told David and his son Solomon:
Jerusalem is the place I prefer above all others in Israel. It belongs to me, and there I will be worshiped forever. 8 If my people will faithfully obey all the commands in the Law of my servant Moses, I will never make them leave the land I gave to their ancestors.
9 But the people of Judah disobeyed the Lord. They listened to Manasseh and did even more sinful things than the nations the Lord had wiped out.
10 One day the Lord said to some of his prophets:
11 King Manasseh has done more disgusting things than the Amorites,[a] and he has led my people to sin by forcing them to worship his idols. 12 Now I, the Lord God of Israel, will destroy both Jerusalem and Judah! People will hear about it but won't believe it. 13 Jerusalem is as sinful as Ahab and the people of Samaria were. So I will wipe out Jerusalem and be done with it, just as someone wipes water off a plate and turns it over to dry.
14 I will even get rid of my people who survive. They will be defeated and robbed by their enemies. 15 My people have done what I hate and have not stopped making me angry since their ancestors left Egypt.
16 Manasseh was guilty of causing the people of Judah to sin and disobey the Lord. He also refused to protect innocent people—he even let so many of them be killed[b] that their blood filled the streets of Jerusalem.
17 Everything else Manasseh did while he was king, including his terrible sins, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah. 18 He died and was buried in Uzza Garden near his palace, and his son Amon became king.
14 My friends, you must keep away from idols. 15 I am speaking to you as people who have enough sense to know what I am talking about. 16 (A) When we drink from the cup we ask God to bless, isn't that sharing in the blood of Christ? When we eat the bread we break, isn't that sharing in the body of Christ? 17 By sharing in the same loaf of bread, we become one body, even though there are many of us.
18 (B)(C) Aren't the people of Israel sharing in the worship when they gather around the altar and eat the sacrifices offered there? 19 Am I saying that either the idols or the food sacrificed to them is anything at all? 20 (D) No, I am not! This food is really sacrificed to demons and not to God. I don't want you to have anything to do with demons. 21 You cannot drink from the cup of demons and still drink from the Lord's cup. You cannot eat at the table of demons and still eat at the Lord's table. 22 (E) We would make the Lord jealous if we did this. And we are not stronger than the Lord.
Always Honor God
23 (F) Some of you say, “We can do whatever we want to!” But I tell you not everything may be good or helpful. 24 We should think about others and not about ourselves. 25 However, when you buy meat in the market, go ahead and eat it. Keep your conscience clear by not asking where the meat came from. 26 (G) The Scriptures say, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, and you want to go, then go. Eat whatever you are served. Don't cause a problem for someone's conscience by asking where the food came from. 28-29 But if you are told it has been sacrificed to idols, don't cause a problem by eating it. I don't mean a problem for yourself, but for the one who told you. Why should my freedom be limited by someone else's conscience? 30 If I give thanks for what I eat, why should anyone accuse me of doing wrong?
31 When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God. 32 Don't cause problems for Jews or Greeks or anyone else who belongs to God's church. 33 I always try to please others instead of myself, in the hope that many of them will be saved. 11 1 (H) You must follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Two Men with Demons in Them
(Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39)
28 After Jesus had crossed the lake, he came to shore near the town of Gadara[a] and started down the road. Two men with demons in them came to him from the tombs.[b] They were so fierce that no one could travel that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “Jesus, Son of God, what do you want with us? Have you come to punish us before our time?”
30 Not far from there a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 So the demons begged Jesus, “If you force us out, please send us into those pigs!” 32 Jesus told them to go, and they went out of the men and into the pigs. All at once the pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
33 The people taking care of the pigs ran to the town and told everything, especially what had happened to the two men. 34 Everyone in town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their part of the country.
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.