Book of Common Prayer
89 Forever and ever I will sing about the tender kindness of the Lord! Young and old shall hear about your blessings. 2 Your love and kindness are forever; your truth is as enduring as the heavens.
3-4 The Lord God says,[a] “I have made a solemn agreement with my chosen servant David. I have taken an oath to establish his descendants as kings forever on his throne, from now until eternity!”
5 All heaven shall praise your miracles, O Lord; myriads of angels[b] will praise you for your faithfulness. 6 For who in all of heaven can be compared with God? What mightiest angel[c] is anything like him? 7 The highest of angelic powers[d] stand in dread and awe of him. Who is as revered as he by those surrounding him? 8 O Jehovah, Commander of the heavenly armies, where is there any other Mighty One like you? Faithfulness is your very character.
9 You rule the oceans when their waves arise in fearful storms; you speak, and they lie still. 10 You have cut haughty Egypt[e] to pieces. Your enemies are scattered by your awesome power. 11 The heavens are yours, the world, everything—for you created them all. 12 You created north and south! Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon rejoice to be signed by your name as their maker! 13 Strong is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength.
14-15 Your throne is founded on two strong pillars—the one is Justice and the other Righteousness. Mercy and Truth walk before you as your attendants. Blessed are those who hear the joyful blast of the trumpet, for they shall walk in the light of your presence. 16 They rejoice all day long in your wonderful reputation and in your perfect righteousness. 17 You are their strength. What glory! Our power is based on your favor! 18 Yes, our protection is from the Lord himself and he, the Holy One of Israel, has given us our king.
19 In a vision you spoke to your prophet[f] and said, “I have chosen a splendid young man from the common people to be the king— 20 he is my servant David! I have anointed him with my holy oil. 21 I will steady him and make him strong. 22 His enemies shall not outwit him, nor shall the wicked overpower him. 23 I will beat down his adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him. 24 I will protect and bless him constantly and surround him with my love; he will be great because of me. 25 He will hold sway from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 26 And he will cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and my Rock of Salvation.’
27 “I will treat him as my firstborn son and make him the mightiest king in all the earth. 28 I will love him forever and be kind to him always; my covenant with him will never end. 29 He will always have an heir; his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven. 30-32 If his children forsake my laws and don’t obey them, then I will punish them, 33 but I will never completely take away my loving-kindness from them, nor let my promise fail. 34 No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back one word of what I said. 35-36 For I have sworn to David (and a holy God can never lie) that his dynasty will go on forever, and his throne will continue to the end of time.[g] 37 It shall be eternal as the moon, my faithful witness in the sky!”
38 Then why cast me off, rejected? Why be so angry with the one you chose as king? 39 Have you renounced your covenant with him? For you have thrown his crown in the dust. 40 You have broken down the walls protecting him and laid in ruins every fort defending him. 41 Everyone who comes along has robbed him while his neighbors mock. 42 You have strengthened his enemies against him and made them rejoice. 43 You have struck down his sword and refused to help him in battle. 44 You have ended his splendor and overturned his throne. 45 You have made him old before his time and publicly disgraced him.
46 O Jehovah, how long will this go on? Will you hide yourself from me forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Oh, remember how short you have made man’s lifespan. Is it an empty, futile life you give the sons of men? 48 No man can live forever. All will die. Who can rescue his life from the power of the grave?
49 Lord, where is the love you used to have for me? Where is your kindness that you promised to David with a faithful pledge? 50 Lord, see how all the people are despising me. 51 Your enemies joke about me, the one you anointed as their king.
52 And yet—blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and amen!
24 And the king of Assyria transported colonies of people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the cities of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. So the Assyrians took over Samaria and the other cities of Israel. 25 But since these Assyrian colonists did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them to kill some of them.
26 Then they sent a message to the king of Assyria: “We colonists here in Israel don’t know the laws of the god of the land, and he has sent lions among us to destroy us because we have not worshiped him.”
27-28 The king of Assyria then decreed that one of the exiled priests from Samaria should return to Israel and teach the new residents the laws of the god of the land. So one of them returned to Bethel and taught the colonists from Babylon how to worship the Lord.
29 But these foreigners also worshiped their own gods. They placed them in the shrines on the hills near their cities. 30 Those from Babylon worshiped idols of their god Succoth-benoth; those from Cuth worshiped their god Nergal; and the men of Hamath worshiped Ashima. 31 The gods Nibhaz and Tartak were worshiped by the Avvites, and the people from Sephar even burned their own children on the altars of their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.
32 They also worshiped the Lord, and they appointed from among themselves priests to sacrifice to the Lord on the hilltop altars. 33 But they continued to follow the religious customs of the nations from which they came. 34 And this is still going on among them today—they follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the Lord or obeying the laws he gave to the descendants of Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel). 35-36 For the Lord had made a contract with them—that they were never to worship or make sacrifices to any heathen gods. They were to worship only the Lord who had brought them out of the land of Egypt with such tremendous miracles and power. 37 The descendants of Jacob were to obey all of God’s laws and never worship other gods.
38 For God had said, “You must never forget the covenant I made with you; never worship other gods. 39 You must worship only the Lord; he will save you from all your enemies.”
40 But Israel didn’t listen, and the people continued to worship other gods. 41 These colonists from Babylon worshiped the Lord, yes—but they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same thing.
25 Now I will try to answer your other question. What about girls who are not yet married? Should they be permitted to do so? In answer to this question, I have no special command for them from the Lord. But the Lord in his kindness has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will be glad to tell you what I think.
26 Here is the problem: We Christians are facing great dangers to our lives at present. In times like these I think it is best for a person to remain unmarried. 27 Of course, if you already are married, don’t separate because of this. But if you aren’t, don’t rush into it at this time. 28 But if you men decide to go ahead anyway and get married now, it is all right; and if a girl gets married in times like these, it is no sin. However, marriage will bring extra problems that I wish you didn’t have to face right now.
29 The important thing to remember is that our remaining time is very short, and so are our opportunities for doing the Lord’s work.[a] For that reason those who have wives should stay as free as possible for the Lord; 30 happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God’s work. 31 Those in frequent contact with the exciting things the world offers should make good use of their opportunities without stopping to enjoy them; for the world in its present form will soon be gone.
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28 “And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They don’t worry about theirs. 29 Yet King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as beautifully as they. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you, O men of little faith?
31-32 “So don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, 33 and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to.
34 “So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.[a]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.