Book of Common Prayer
33 He turned[a] streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
34 and a fruitful land into a barren place,[b]
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
35 As for his people,[c] he turned[d] a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into springs of water.
36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
37 They cultivated[e] fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.[f]
38 He blessed[g] them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.[h]
39 As for their enemies,[i] they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress[j] and suffering.
40 He would pour[k] contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
41 Yet he protected[l] the needy from oppression,
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
42 When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner[m] shuts his mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things.
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love.
Psalm 108[n]
A song, a psalm of David.
108 I am determined,[o] O God.
I will sing and praise you with my whole heart.[p]
2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp.
I will wake up at dawn.[q]
3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord.
I will sing praises to you before foreigners.[r]
4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky,[s]
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
5 Rise up[t] above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.[u]
6 Deliver by your power[v] and answer me,
so that the ones you love may be safe.[w]
7 God has spoken in his sanctuary:[x]
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;
the Valley of Sukkoth I will measure off.[y]
8 Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh.[z]
Ephraim is my helmet,[aa]
Judah my royal scepter.[ab]
9 Moab is my washbasin.[ac]
I will make Edom serve me.[ad]
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
10 Who will lead me into the fortified city?
Who will bring me to Edom?[ae]
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.
12 Give us help against the enemy,
for any help men might offer is futile.[af]
13 By God’s power we will conquer;[ag]
he will trample down[ah] our enemies.
Psalm 33[a]
33 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!
It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp.
Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sing to him a new song.[b]
Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him.[c]
4 For the Lord’s decrees[d] are just,[e]
and everything he does is fair.[f]
5 He promotes[g] equity and justice;
the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth.[h]
6 By the Lord’s decree[i] the heavens were made,
and by the breath[j] of his mouth all the starry hosts.
7 He piles up the water of the sea;[k]
he puts the oceans[l] in storehouses.
8 Let the whole earth fear[m] the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it[n] came into existence.
He issued the decree,[o] and it stood firm.
10 The Lord frustrates[p] the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans[q] of the peoples.
11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages.[r]
12 How blessed[s] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[t]
13 The Lord watches[u] from heaven;
he sees all people.[v]
14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully
at all the earth’s inhabitants.
15 He is the one who forms every human heart,[w]
and takes note of all their actions.
16 No king is delivered by his vast army;
a warrior is not saved by his great might.
17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory;[x]
despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers,[y]
those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness[z]
19 by saving their lives from death[aa]
and sustaining them during times of famine.[ab]
20 We[ac] wait for the Lord;
he is our deliverer[ad] and shield.[ae]
21 For our hearts rejoice in him,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May we experience your faithfulness, O Lord,[af]
for[ag] we wait for you.
21 This is what the Lord says about him:[a]
“‘“The virgin daughter Zion[b]
despises you, she makes fun of you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head after you.[c]
22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted,[d]
and looked so arrogantly?[e]
At the Holy One of Israel![f]
23 Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master,[g]
‘With my many chariots[h]
I climbed up the high mountains,
the slopes of Lebanon.
I cut down its tall cedars
and its best evergreens.
I invaded its most remote regions,[i]
its thickest woods.
24 I dug wells and drank
water in foreign lands.[j]
With the soles of my feet I dried up
all the rivers of Egypt.’
25 [k] Certainly you must have heard![l]
Long ago I worked it out.
In ancient times I planned[m] it;
and now I am bringing it to pass.
The plan is this:
Fortified cities will crash
into heaps of ruins.[n]
26 Their residents are powerless,[o]
they are terrified and ashamed.
They are as short-lived as plants in the field,
or green vegetation.[p]
They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops[q]
when it is scorched by the east wind.[r]
27 I know where you live
and everything you do.[s]
28 Because you rage against me,
and the uproar you create has reached my ears,[t]
I will put my hook in your nose,[u]
and my bridle between your lips,
and I will lead you back the way
you came.”
29 [v] “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth:[w] This year you will eat what grows wild,[x] and next year[y] what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.[z] 30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.[aa]
31 “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem;
survivors will come out of Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[ab] will accomplish this.
32 So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city,
nor will he shoot an arrow here.[ac]
He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors,[ad]
nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came.
He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.
34 “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”[ae]
35 That very night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they[af] got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.[ag] 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh.[ah]
Learning from Israel’s Failures
10 For I do not want you to be unaware,[a] brothers and sisters,[b] that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized[c] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”[d] 8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and 23,000 died in a single day.[e] 9 And let us not put Christ[f] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.[g] 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.[h] 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. 13 No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others.[i] And God is faithful: He[j] will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear,[k] but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Challenging Professed Followers
18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd[a] around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake.[b] 19 Then[c] an expert in the law[d] came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”[e] 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky[f] have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”[g] 21 Another[h] of the[i] disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”[j]
Stilling of a Storm
23 As he got into the boat,[k] his disciples followed him.[l] 24 And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat.[m] But he was asleep. 25 So they came[n] and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” 26 But[o] he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked[p] the winds and the sea,[q] and it was dead calm. 27 And the men[r] were amazed and said,[s] “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”[t]
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