Book of Common Prayer
God and His People[a]
78 Listen, my people, to my teaching,
and pay attention to what I say.
2 (A)I am going to use wise sayings
and explain mysteries from the past,
3 things we have heard and known,
things that our ancestors told us.
4 We will not keep them from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the Lord's power and his great deeds
and the wonderful things he has done.
5 He gave laws to the people of Israel
and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.
He instructed our ancestors
to teach his laws to their children,
6 so that the next generation might learn them
and in turn should tell their children.
7 In this way they also will put their trust in God
and not forget what he has done,
but always obey his commandments.
8 They will not be like their ancestors,
a rebellious and disobedient people,
whose trust in God was never firm
and who did not remain faithful to him.
9 The Ephraimites, armed with bows and arrows,
ran away on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep their covenant with God;
they refused to obey his law.
11 They forgot what he had done,
the miracles they had seen him perform.
12 (B)While their ancestors watched, God performed miracles
in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13 (C)He divided the sea and took them through it;
he made the waters stand like walls.
14 (D)By day he led them with a cloud
and all night long with the light of a fire.
15 He split rocks open in the desert
and gave them water from the depths.
16 (E)He caused a stream to come out of the rock
and made water flow like a river.
17 But they continued to sin against God,
and in the desert they rebelled against the Most High.
18 (F)They deliberately put God to the test
by demanding the food they wanted.
19 They spoke against God and said,
“Can God supply food in the desert?
20 It is true that he struck the rock,
and water flowed out in a torrent;
but can he also provide us with bread
and give his people meat?”
21 And so the Lord was angry when he heard them;
he attacked his people with fire,
and his anger against them grew,
22 because they had no faith in him
and did not believe that he would save them.
23 But he spoke to the sky above
and commanded its doors to open;
24 (G)he gave them grain from heaven,
by sending down manna for them to eat.
25 So they ate the food of angels,
and God gave them all they wanted.
26 He also caused the east wind to blow,
and by his power he stirred up the south wind;
27 and to his people he sent down birds,
as many as the grains of sand on the shore;
28 they fell in the middle of the camp
all around the tents.
29 So the people ate and were satisfied;
God gave them what they wanted.
30 But they had not yet satisfied their craving
and were still eating,
31 when God became angry with them
and killed their strongest men,
the best young men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this the people kept sinning;
in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
33 So he ended their days like a breath
and their lives with sudden disaster.
34 Whenever he killed some of them,
the rest would turn to him;
they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
35 They remembered that God was their protector,
that the Almighty came to their aid.
36 But their words were all lies;
nothing they said was sincere.
37 (H)They were not loyal to him;
they were not faithful to their covenant with him.
38 But God was merciful to his people.
He forgave their sin
and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger
and restrained his fury.
39 He remembered that they were only mortal beings,
like a wind that blows by and is gone.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert;
how many times they made him sad!
41 Again and again they put God to the test
and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
42 They forgot his great power
and the day when he saved them from their enemies
43 and performed his mighty acts and miracles
in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
44 (I)He turned the rivers into blood,
and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
45 (J)He sent flies among them, that tormented them,
and frogs that ruined their land.
46 (K)He sent locusts to eat their crops
and to destroy their fields.
47 (L)He killed their grapevines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
48 He killed their cattle with hail
and their flocks with lightning.[b]
49 He caused them great distress
by pouring out his anger and fierce rage,
which came as messengers of death.
50 He did not restrain his anger
or spare their lives,
but killed them with a plague.
51 (M)He killed the first-born sons
of all the families of Egypt.
52 (N)Then he led his people out like a shepherd
and guided them through the desert.
53 (O)He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
54 (P)He brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains which he himself conquered.
55 (Q)He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;
he divided their land among the tribes of Israel
and gave their homes to his people.
56 (R)But they rebelled against Almighty God
and put him to the test.
They did not obey his commandments,
57 but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors,
unreliable as a crooked arrow.
58 They angered him with their heathen places of worship,
and with their idols they made him furious.
59 God was angry when he saw it,
so he rejected his people completely.
60 (S)He abandoned his tent in Shiloh,[c]
the home where he had lived among us.
61 (T)He allowed our enemies to capture the Covenant Box,
the symbol of his power and glory.
62 He was angry with his own people
and let them be killed by their enemies.
63 Young men were killed in war,
and young women had no one to marry.
64 Priests died by violence,
and their widows were not allowed to mourn.
65 At last the Lord woke up as though from sleep;
he was like a strong man excited by wine.
66 He drove his enemies back
in lasting and shameful defeat.
67 But he rejected the descendants of Joseph;
he did not select the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead he chose the tribe of Judah
and Mount Zion, which he dearly loves.
69 There he built his Temple
like his home in heaven;
he made it firm like the earth itself,
secure for all time.
70 (U)He chose his servant David;
he took him from the pastures,
71 where he looked after his flocks,
and he made him king of Israel,
the shepherd of the people of God.
72 David took care of them with unselfish devotion
and led them with skill.
Esther Invites the King and Haman to a Banquet
5 On the third day of her fast Esther put on her royal robes and went and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace, facing the throne room. The king was inside, seated on the royal throne, facing the entrance. 2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing outside, she won his favor, and he held out to her the gold scepter. She then came up and touched the tip of it. 3 “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked. “Tell me what you want, and you shall have it—even if it is half my empire.”
4 Esther replied, “If it please Your Majesty, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tonight at a banquet I am preparing for you.”
5 The king then ordered Haman to come quickly, so that they could be Esther's guests. So the king and Haman went to Esther's banquet. 6 Over the wine the king asked her, “Tell me what you want, and you shall have it. I will grant your request, even if you ask for half my empire.”
7 Esther replied, 8 “If Your Majesty is kind enough to grant my request, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tomorrow at another banquet that I will prepare for you. At that time I will tell you what I want.”
Haman Plots to Kill Mordecai
9 When Haman left the banquet he was happy and in a good mood. But then he saw Mordecai at the entrance of the palace, and when Mordecai did not rise or show any sign of respect as he passed, Haman was furious with him. 10 But he controlled himself and went on home. Then he invited his friends to his house and asked his wife Zeresh to join them. 11 He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the king's other officials. 12 “What is more,” Haman went on, “Queen Esther gave a banquet for no one but the king and me, and we are invited back tomorrow. 13 But none of this means a thing to me as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the entrance of the palace.”
14 So his wife and all his friends suggested, “Why don't you have a gallows built, seventy-five feet tall? Tomorrow morning you can ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it, and then you can go to the banquet happy.”
Haman thought this was a good idea, so he had the gallows built.
12 When Gallio was made the Roman governor of Achaia, Jews there got together, seized Paul, and took him into court. 13 “This man,” they said, “is trying to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law!”
14 Paul was about to speak when Gallio said to the Jews, “If this were a matter of some evil crime or wrong that has been committed, it would be reasonable for me to be patient with you Jews. 15 But since it is an argument about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must settle it. I will not be the judge of such things!” 16 And he drove them out of the court. 17 They all grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But that did not bother Gallio a bit.
The Return to Antioch
18 (A)Paul stayed on with the believers in Corinth for many days, then left them and sailed off with Priscilla and Aquila for Syria. Before sailing from Cenchreae he had his head shaved because of a vow he had taken.[a] 19 They arrived in Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He went into the synagogue and held discussions with the Jews. 20 The people asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. 21 Instead, he told them as he left, “If it is the will of God, I will come back to you.” And so he sailed from Ephesus.
22 When he arrived at Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the believers.
Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth
24 At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he proclaimed and taught correctly the facts about Jesus. However, he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God. 27 Apollos then decided to go to Achaia, so the believers in Ephesus helped him by writing to the believers in Achaia, urging them to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who through God's grace had become believers. 28 For with his strong arguments he defeated the Jews in public debates by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
15 People's hopes began to rise, and they began to wonder whether John perhaps might be the Messiah. 16 So John said to all of them, “I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 He has his winnowing shovel with him, to thresh out all the grain and gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out.”
18 In many different ways John preached the Good News to the people and urged them to change their ways. 19 (A)But John reprimanded Governor Herod, because he had married Herodias, his brother's wife, and had done many other evil things. 20 Then Herod did an even worse thing by putting John in prison.
The Baptism of Jesus(B)
21 After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened, 22 (C)and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.