Book of Common Prayer
33 He changes rivers into a desert,
springs into thirsty ground,
34 and fertile ground into a layer of salt
because of the wickedness of the people living there.
35 He changes deserts into lakes
and dry ground into springs.
36 There he settles those who are hungry,
and they build cities to live in.
37 They plant in fields and vineyards
that produce crops.
38 He blesses them, and their numbers multiply,
and he does not allow a shortage of cattle.
39 They became few in number and were humiliated
because of oppression, disaster, and sorrow.
40 He poured contempt on their influential people
and made them stumble around in a pathless desert.
41 But now he lifts needy people high above suffering
and makes their families like flocks.
42 Decent people will see this and rejoice,
but all the wicked people will shut their mouths.
43 Let those who ⌞think⌟ they are wise
pay attention to these things
so that they may understand the Lord’s blessings.
A song; a psalm by David.
108 My heart is confident, O God.
I want to sing and make music even with my soul.[a]
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I want to wake up at dawn.
3 I want to give thanks to you among the people, O Lord.
I want to make music to praise you among the nations
4 because your mercy is higher than the heavens.
Your truth reaches the skies.
5 May you be honored above the heavens, O God.
Let your glory extend over the whole earth.
6 Save ⌞us⌟ with your powerful hand, and answer us
so that those who are dear to you may be rescued.
7 God has promised the following through his holiness:
“I will triumph!
I will divide Shechem.
I will measure the valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine.
Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim is the helmet on my head.
Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washtub.
I will throw my shoe over Edom.
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
10 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Isn’t it you, O God, who rejected us?
Isn’t it you, O God, who refused to accompany our armies?
12 Give us help against the enemy
because human assistance is worthless.
13 With God we will display great strength.
He will trample our enemies.
33 Joyfully sing to the Lord, you righteous people.
Praising ⌞the Lord⌟ is proper for decent people.
2 Give thanks with a lyre to the Lord.
Make music for him on a ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing a new song to him.
Play beautifully and joyfully on stringed instruments.
4 The Lord’s word is correct,
and everything he does is trustworthy.
5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice.
His mercy fills the earth.
6 The heavens were made by the Lord’s word
and all the stars by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the water in the sea like a dam
and puts the oceans in his storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 He spoke, and it came into being.
He gave the order, and there it stood.
10 The Lord blocks the plans of the nations.
He frustrates the schemes of the people of the world.
11 The Lord’s plan stands firm forever.
His thoughts stand firm in every generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Blessed are the people he has chosen as his own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees all of Adam’s descendants.
14 From the place where he sits enthroned,
he looks down upon all who live on earth.
15 The one who formed their hearts
understands everything they do.
16 No king achieves a victory with a large army.
No warrior rescues himself by his own great strength.
17 Horses are not a guarantee for victory.
Their great strength cannot help someone escape.
18 The Lord’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy
19 to rescue their souls from death
and keep them alive during a famine.
20 We wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts find joy.
In his holy name we trust.
22 Let your mercy rest on us, O Lord,
since we wait with hope for you.
16 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and slept with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson’s here!” So they surrounded the place and waited all night at the city gate to ambush him. They were quiet all night. They thought, “We’ll kill him at dawn.”
3 But Samson was in bed ⌞with the prostitute⌟ only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors, door posts, and bar of the city gate and pulled them out. He carried them on his shoulders to the top of the hill facing Hebron.
Samson and Delilah
4 After ⌞leaving Gaza⌟, he fell in love with a woman in the Sorek Valley. Her name was Delilah. 5 The Philistine rulers came to her and said, “Trick him, and find out what makes him so strong. Find out how we can overpower him. We want to tie him up in order to torture him. Each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong. How can you be tied up so that someone could torture you?”
7 Samson told her, “If someone ties me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I will be like any other man.”
8 The Philistine rulers brought her seven new bowstrings that were not dried out. She tied Samson up with them. 9 Some men were hiding in the bedroom waiting for her ⌞to tie him up⌟. Then she said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!” Samson snapped the bowstrings as a thread snaps when it touches fire. So no one found out why he was so strong.
10 Delilah told Samson, “Look, you’re making fun of me by telling me lies. Now, tell me how you can be tied up.”
11 Samson told her, “If someone ties me up tightly with new ropes that have never been used, I will be like any other man.”
12 So Delilah took some new ropes and tied him up with them. Then she said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!” Some men were in her bedroom waiting to ambush him. But Samson tore the ropes off his arms as though they were strings.
13 Delilah told Samson, “You’re still making fun of me by telling me lies. Tell me how you can be tied up.”
Samson replied, “Just weave the seven braids of my hair with the other threads in the loom.”
14 So Delilah tied his braids to the loom shuttle. Then she said to him, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!” But Samson woke up and tore his braids and the threads out of the loom shuttle.
30 “Forty years later, a Messenger appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert of Mount Sinai. 31 Moses was surprised when he saw this. As he went closer to look at the bush, the voice of the Lord said to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and didn’t dare to look at the bush. 33 The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals. The place where you’re standing is holy ground. 34 I’ve seen how my people are mistreated in Egypt. I’ve heard their groaning and have come to rescue them. So now I’m sending you to Egypt.’
35 “This is the Moses whom the Israelites rejected by saying, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’ This is the one God sent to free them and to rule them with the help of the Messenger who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This is the man who led our ancestors out of Egypt. He is the person who did amazing things and worked miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years. 37 This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me.’ 38 This is the Moses who was in the assembly in the desert. Our ancestors and the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai were there with him. Moses received life-giving messages to give to us, 39 but our ancestors were not willing to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘We don’t know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. So make gods who will lead us.’ 41 That was the time they made a calf. They offered a sacrifice to that false god and delighted in what they had made.
42 “So God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. This is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel? 43 You carried along the shrine of Moloch, the star of the god Rephan, and the statues you made for yourselves to worship. I will send you into exile beyond the city of Babylon.’
Jesus Cures a Man at the Bethesda Pool
5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a Jewish festival.
2 Near Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew. It had five porches. 3 Under these porches a large number of sick people—people who were blind, lame, or paralyzed—used to lie.[a] 5 One man, who had been sick for 38 years, was lying there. 6 Jesus saw the man lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time. So Jesus asked the man, “Would you like to get well?”
7 The sick man answered Jesus, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.”
8 Jesus told the man, “Get up, pick up your cot, and walk.” 9 The man immediately became well, picked up his cot, and walked.
That happened on a day of rest—a holy day. 10 So the Jews told the man who had been healed, “This is a day of rest—a holy day. You’re not allowed to carry your cot today.”
11 The man replied, “The man who made me well told me to pick up my cot and walk.”
12 The Jews asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 But the man who had been healed didn’t know who Jesus was. (Jesus had withdrawn from the crowd.)
14 Later, Jesus met the man in the temple courtyard and told him, “You’re well now. Stop sinning so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”
15 The man went back to the Jews and told them that Jesus was the man who had made him well.
The Son Is Equal to the Father
16 The Jews began to persecute Jesus because he kept healing people on the day of rest—a holy day. 17 Jesus replied to them, “My Father is working right now, and so am I.”
18 His reply made the Jews more intent on killing him. Not only did he break the laws about the day of rest—a holy day, but also he made himself equal to God when he said repeatedly that God was his Father.
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