Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80
Hear, O Shepherd of Israel
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For the choir director. To “Lilies.”[a] A Testimony.[b] By Asaph. A psalm.
Opening Plea
1 O Shepherd of Israel, give ear,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are seated above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might.
Come with salvation for us.
Refrain
3 God, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
The Problem
4 Lord God of Armies, how long will your anger smoke
against the prayer of your people?
5 You make them eat bread with tears,
and you make them drink tears by the quart.[c]
6 You create strife between us and our neighbors,
so our enemies join together in mocking us.
Refrain
7 God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Past Blessing
8 You brought a vine out from Egypt.
You drove out the nations, and you planted it.
9 You cleared a place for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
the cedars of God with its branches.
11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea,[d]
its shoots as far as the River.[e]
Present Judgment
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?
13 A wild boar from the forest tears it up,
and the wild animals[f] feed on it.
Prayer for the King
14 God of Armies, return now!
Look down from heaven and see,
and take care of this vine,
15 the shoot that your right hand has planted,
the son that you made strong for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire like garbage.[g]
Because of the rebuke from your face they perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
on the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself.[h]
18 Then we will not turn away from you.
Cause us to live, and we will call on your name.
Refrain
19 Lord God of Armies, restore us, and make your face shine,
so we will be saved.
Psalm 77
Will the Lord Reject Forever?
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For the choir director. According to Jeduthun.[a] By Asaph. A psalm.
The Question
1 With my voice to God—
with my voice I cried out to God,
and he listened to me.
2 In the day when I was distressed I sought the Lord.
At night my hand was stretched out,
and it never grew tired,
but my soul refused to be comforted.
3 God, I remembered and I groaned. Interlude
I pondered, and my spirit became weak.
4 You propped my eyelids open.
I was troubled but did not speak.
5 I thought about the days of long ago, the years long past.
6 During the night I remembered my music.
With my heart I pondered, and my spirit asked,
7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never again show favor?
8 Has his mercy vanished to the end?
Has what he said failed for all generations?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Interlude
Has he really shut up his compassion in anger?”
The Answer
10 Then I said, “This is what hurts me:
the change of the right hand of the Most High.”[b]
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord.[c]
Yes, I will remember your wonderful work from long ago.
12 I will meditate on all your work,
and I will ponder all your deeds.
13 O God, your way is carried out in holiness.
What god is as great as God?
14 You are the God who performs a wonderful deed.
You made known your power among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude
16 The waters saw you, O God.
The waters saw you and swirled.
Even the depths were turbulent.
17 The clouds poured down water.
The skies echoed with thunder.
Indeed, your arrows shot back and forth.
18 The sound of your thunder was heard in the tornado.
Lightning lit up the world.
The earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your route led through the sea.
Your trail went through the mighty waters,
but your footprints were not detected.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 79
They Have Reduced Jerusalem to Rubble
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A psalm by Asaph.
The Destruction and the Disgrace
1 God, the nations have invaded your possession.
They have profaned your holy temple.
They have reduced Jerusalem to a heap of ruins.
2 They have left the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds of the sky.
They have given the flesh of your favored ones to the wild animals.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all over Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
4 We are subjected to contempt by our neighbors,
to mockery and ridicule by those around us.
The Prayer for Justice
5 How long, O Lord? Will you stay angry forever?
How long will your jealous anger burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that do not call on your name,
7 because they have devoured Jacob,
and they have destroyed his pastureland.[a]
8 Do not charge the guilt of our fathers against us.
Hurry, let your compassion come to meet us,
for we are very weak.
9 God, who saves us, help us for the glory of your name.
Deliver us and make atonement for our sins for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes, display to the nations
vengeance for the poured-out blood of your servants.
11 May the groaning of the prisoner come before you.
According to the great strength of your arm
preserve those doomed to death.
12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times as much scorn
as the scorn that they directed at you, Lord.
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will praise you forever.
From generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Elisha Cures Na’aman’s Leprosy
5 Na’aman,[a] the commander of the king of Aram’s army, was a great man in the opinion of his master. He was highly honored because the Lord had provided victory for Aram through him. Although he was a powerful warrior, he had leprosy.[b]
2 Raiding parties had once gone out from Aram and brought back a young girl. She served Na’aman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish my master stood before the prophet who is in Samaria, because he would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 So Na’aman went and told his master what the servant girl from the land of Israel had said.
5 Then the king of Aram said, “Go there. I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Na’aman went, and he took ten talents[c] of silver and six thousand shekels[d] of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 Then he took the letter to the king of Israel. The letter said, “Now, when you receive this letter, you will know that I am sending my officer Na’aman to you so that you can cure him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothing and said, “Am I God that I can kill and make alive? Why is he sending a man to me for me to heal him from his leprosy? See how he is looking for a pretext to fight against me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Na’aman went with his horses and chariots and stopped in front of the door of Elisha’s house. 10 But Elisha sent a messenger out to him to say, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan. Then your flesh will be restored and you will be clean.”
11 But Na’aman was angry and he left, saying, “Look, I said to myself, ‘He will certainly come out and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place, and I will be cured of the leprosy!’ 12 Aren’t the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a burning rage.
13 But his servants approached and spoke to him. They said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not do it? How much more when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had said. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a small child, and he was clean. 15 Then he and his whole escort went back to the man of God. He stood in front of Elisha and said, “To be sure, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now accept a gift from your servant.”
16 But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives, in whose presence I stand, I will not take anything.” Even though Na’aman urged him to accept something, he refused.
17 Then Na’aman said, “If you do not want anything, please give me, your servant, as much dirt as two donkeys can carry, for your servant will never again burn incense or sacrifice to other gods, but only to the Lord. 18 But may the Lord forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there and he supports himself on my arm, then I too have to bow down in the house of Rimmon. When I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant this one thing.”
19 Then Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”
Gehazi’s Sin
When Na’aman had gone some distance from him,
8 Oh, you are already filled! You have already become rich! You have begun to reign without us! If only that were really true, so that we could reign with you!
9 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, in the lowliest position, like men sentenced to death, because we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak—but you are so strong! You are honored! But we are despised. 11 At the present we still hunger and thirst and lack proper clothing. We are treated roughly, and we have no settled place to live in. 12 We toil, working with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. 13 When slandered, we speak kind words. We have been treated like the world’s garbage, like everyone’s trash, right up to the present time.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my dear children. 15 Indeed, even if you would have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you would not have many fathers. I say this, because in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 I urge you, therefore, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways in Christ,[a] just as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out about the power, not the talk, of those who are arrogant. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. 21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
Sinful Anger
21 “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause[b] will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’[c] will have to answer to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of hell[d] fire.
23 “So if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift.
25 “If someone accuses you, reach an agreement with him quickly, while you are with him on the way. Otherwise your accuser may bring you to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Amen I tell you: You will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.