Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 20

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

Psalm 21

For the music leader. A psalm of David.

Psalm 110

Of David. A psalm.

Psalm 116

Psalm 117

⁹ These are Noah’s descendants. In his generation, Noah was a moral and exemplary man; he^[a] walked with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ In God’s sight, the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. ¹² God saw that the earth was corrupt, because all creatures behaved corruptly on the earth.

¹³ God said to Noah, “The end has come for all creatures, since they have filled the earth with violence. I am now about to destroy them along with the earth, ¹⁴ so make a wooden ark.^[b] Make the ark with nesting places and cover it inside and out with tar. ¹⁵ This is how you should make it: four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. ¹⁶ Make a roof^[c] for the ark and complete it one foot from the top.^[d] Put a door in its side. In the hold below, make the second and third decks.

¹⁷ “I am now bringing the floodwaters over the earth to destroy everything under the sky that breathes. Everything on earth is about to take its last breath. ¹⁸ But I will set up my covenant with you. You will go into the ark together with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. ¹⁹ From all living things—from all creatures—you are to bring a pair, male and female, into the ark with you to keep them alive. ²⁰ From each kind of bird, from each kind of livestock, and from each kind of everything that crawls on the ground—a pair from each will go in with you to stay alive. ²¹ Take some from every kind of food and stow it as food for you and for the animals.”

²² Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.

Enter the rest

4 Therefore, since the promise that we can enter into rest is still open, let’s be careful so that none of you will appear to miss it. ² We also had the good news preached to us, just as the Israelites did. However, the message they heard didn’t help them because they weren’t united in faith with the ones who listened to it. ³ We who have faith are entering the rest. As God said,

And yet God’s works were completed at the foundation of the world. ⁴ Then somewhere he said this about the seventh day of creation: God rested on the seventh day from all his works.^{[b] 5} But again, in the passage above, God said, They will never enter my rest!^{[c] 6} Therefore, it’s left open for some to enter it, and the ones who had the good news preached to them before didn’t enter because of disobedience. ⁷ Just as it says in the passage above, God designates a certain day as “today,” when he says through David much later,

⁸ If Joshua gave the Israelites rest, God wouldn’t have spoken about another day later on. ⁹ So you see that a sabbath rest is left open for God’s people. ¹⁰ The one who entered God’s rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own.

First summary of the message

¹¹ Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience, ¹² because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. ¹³ No creature is hidden from it, but rather everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we have to give an answer.

Jesus in Jerusalem at Passover

¹³ It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. ¹⁶ He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written, Passion for your house consumes me.^[a]

¹⁸ Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.”

²⁰ The Jewish leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But the temple Jesus was talking about was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he had said, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.