Book of Common Prayer
33
He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And springs of water into a thirsty ground;(A)
34
A productive land into a [barren] salt waste,
Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.(B)
35
He turns a wilderness into a pool of water
And a dry land into springs of water;(C)
36
And there He has the hungry dwell,
So that they may establish an inhabited city,
37
And sow fields and plant vineyards,
And produce an abundant harvest.
38
Also He blesses them so that they multiply greatly,
And He does not let [the number of] their cattle decrease.
39
When they are diminished and bowed down (humbled)
Through oppression, misery, and sorrow,
40
He pours contempt on princes
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
41
Yet He sets the needy securely on high, away from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
42
The upright see it and rejoice;
But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth.
43
Who is wise? Let him observe and heed these things;
And [thoughtfully] consider the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Praise and Supplication to God for Victory.
A Song. A Psalm of David.
108 O God, my heart is steadfast [with confident faith];
I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.
2
Awake, harp and lyre;
I will awaken the dawn!
3
I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the people;
And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4
For Your lovingkindness is great and higher than the heavens;
Your truth reaches to the skies.(D)
5
Be exalted [in majesty], O God, above the heavens,
And Your glory above all the earth.
6
That Your beloved [ones] may be rescued,
Save with Your right hand, and answer me!
7
God has spoken in His [a]holiness:
“I will rejoice, I will portion out Shechem [as I divide Canaan among My people],
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
8
“Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet of My head [My stronghold, My defense];
Judah is My [b]scepter.(E)
9
“Moab is My washbowl;
Over Edom I will throw My shoe [to show Edom is Mine];
Over Philistia I will shout [in triumph].”
10
Who will bring me into the fortified city [of Petra]?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11
Have You not rejected us, O God?
And will You not go out, O God, with our armies?
12
Give us help against the adversary,
For deliverance by man is in vain [a worthless hope].
13
[c]With God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who will trample down our enemies.(F)
Praise to the Creator and Preserver.
33 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart—those with moral integrity and godly character].
2
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
Sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings.
3
Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully [on the strings] with a loud and joyful sound.
4
For the word of the Lord is right;
And all His work is done in faithfulness.
5
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
6
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
And all their host by the breath of His mouth.(A)
7
He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a wineskin;
He puts the deeps in storehouses.
8
Let all the earth fear and worship the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9
For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.
10
The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations;
He makes the thoughts and plans of the people ineffective.
11
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The thoughts and plans of His heart through all generations.
12
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.(B)
13
The Lord looks [down] from heaven;
He sees all the sons of man;
14
From His dwelling place He looks closely
Upon all the inhabitants of the earth—
15
He who fashions the hearts of them all,
Who considers and understands all that they do.
16
The king is not saved by the great size of his army;
A warrior is not rescued by his great strength.
17
A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.
18
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],
On those who hope [confidently] in His compassion and lovingkindness,
19
To rescue their lives from death
And keep them alive in famine.
20
We wait [expectantly] for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21
For in Him our heart rejoices,
Because we trust [lean on, rely on, and are confident] in His holy name.
22
Let Your [steadfast] lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us,
In proportion as we have [a]hoped in You.
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of [a]Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel, ‘You know all the hardship that has come upon us [as a nation]; 15 that our fathers (ancestors) went down to Egypt, and we lived there for a long time, and the Egyptians treated [both] us and our fathers badly. 16 But when we cried out to the Lord [for help], He heard us and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through a field or through a vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the [b]king’s highway, not turning [off-course] to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’”
18 But [the king of] Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my territory, or I will come out against you with the sword.” 19 Again, the Israelites said to him, “We will go by the highway [trade route], and if I and my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it. Only let me pass through on foot, nothing else.” 20 But the king of Edom said, “You shall not pass through [my territory].” And Edom came out against Israel with many people and a strong hand. 21 Thus [the king of] Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.
22 Now when they set out from Kadesh, the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
Death of Aaron
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people [in death]; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you [both] rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.(A) 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26 and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. So Aaron will be gathered to his fathers, and will die there.” 27 So Moses did just as the Lord had commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 After Moses stripped Aaron of his [priestly] garments and put them on Eleazar his son, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel wept (mourned) for him thirty days.
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 What shall we say [to all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s gift of] [a]grace may increase and overflow? 2 Certainly not! How can we, the very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer? 3 Or are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been [b]baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways]. 5 For if we have become one with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [one with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 We know that our old [c]self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the person who has died [with Christ] has been freed from [the power of] sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him, 9 because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11 Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
The Triumphal Entry
21 When they approached Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples [ahead],(A) 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you should say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and without delay the owner will send them [with you].” 4 This happened so that what was spoken by the prophet would be fulfilled, saying:
5
“Tell the daughter of Zion (the people of Jerusalem),
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Gentle and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”(B)
6 Then the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and they brought the donkey and [a]the colt, and [b]placed their coats on them; and Jesus sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road [as before a king], while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of Him, and those that followed Him, were shouting [in praise and adoration],
“[c]Hosanna to the Son of David (Messiah);
Blessed [praised, glorified] is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!”(C)
10 When He entered Jerusalem, all the city was trembling [with excitement], saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
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