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.
The Call of the Deliverer
23 [a] During[b] that long period of time[c] the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites[d] groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry[e] because of their slave labor went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning;[f] God remembered[g] his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw[h] the Israelites, and God understood.[i]
3 Now Moses[j] was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert[k] and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.[l] 2 The angel of the Lord[m] appeared[n] to him in[o] a flame of fire from within a bush.[p] He looked,[q] and[r] the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed![s] 3 So Moses thought,[t] “I will turn aside to see[u] this amazing[v] sight. Why does the bush not burn up?”[w] 4 When the Lord[x] saw that[y] he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”[z] And Moses[aa] said, “Here I am.” 5 God[ab] said, “Do not approach any closer![ac] Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy[ad] ground.”[ae] 6 He added, “I am the God of your father,[af] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look[ag] at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen[ah] the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.[ai] 8 I have come down[aj] to deliver them[ak] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious,[al] to a land flowing with milk and honey,[am] to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.[an] 9 And now indeed[ao] the cry[ap] of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.[aq] 10 So now go, and I will send you[ar] to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said[as] to God,[at] “Who am I that I should go[au] to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He replied,[av] “Surely I will be with you,[aw] and this will be the sign[ax] to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve[ay] God at[az] this mountain.”
13 Moses said[ba] to God, “If[bb] I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’[bc]—what should I say[bd] to them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.”[be] And he said, “You must say this[bf] to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord[bg]—the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name[bh] forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’[bi]
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast,[a] but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect[b] comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult,[c] I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly,[d] but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The Disciples’ Failure to Heal
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law[a] arguing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran[b] at once and greeted him. 16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but[c] they were not able to do so.”[d] 19 He answered them,[e] “You[f] unbelieving[g] generation! How much longer[h] must I be with you? How much longer must I endure[i] you?[j] Bring him to me.” 20 So they brought the boy[k] to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He[l] fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus[m] asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’[n] All things are possible for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked[o] the unclean spirit,[p] saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 It shrieked, threw him into terrible convulsions, and came out. The boy[q] looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.
28 Then,[r] after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” 29 He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”[s]
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.