Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 131
My Heart Is Not Proud
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A song of the ascents. By David.
Like a Satisfied Baby
1 Lord, my heart is not haughty,
and my eyes are not proud.
So I do not intrude into great matters
or into things too wonderful for me.
2 Instead I have soothed and quieted my soul.
As a nursed child rests with its mother,
like a nursed[a] child my soul rests with me.
3 Wait confidently, O Israel, for the Lord
from now to eternity.
Psalm 132
Remember David and His Son
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A song of the ascents.
David’s Oath
1 Remember for David’s sake, O Lord, all his afflictions.
2 Remember how he swore to the Lord.
He made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter my own house.[b]
I will not get into my own bed.[c]
4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep
or my eyelids to slumber,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Israel’s Response
6 Yes, we heard about it in Ephrathah.
We found it in the fields of Ja’ar.
7 Let us go to his dwelling place.
Let us bow down at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness.
May your favored ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of David your servant,
do not reject the face of your Anointed One.[d]
The Lord’s Oath
11 The Lord swore to David
a truth from which he will not turn back:
“From the fruit of your body
I will place kings on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion.
He has desired it for his dwelling.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live, for I have desired it.
15 I will bless her greatly with food.
I will satisfy Zion’s poor with bread.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her favored ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn shoot up for David.
I will set up a lamp for my Anointed One.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but on him his crown will be beautiful.”
Psalm 133
Pleasant Unity
Heading
A song of the ascents. By David.
Pleasant Unity
1 Look, how good and how pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew from Hermon
running down on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commands this blessing: life to eternity.
Psalm 134
The Pilgrims’ Blessing
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A song of the ascents.
The People
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord at night.
2 Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.
The Priests
3 May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
Psalm 135
Israel, Praise the Lord
Introduction
1 Praise the Lord.[e]
Praise the name of the Lord.
Praise him, you servants of the Lord,
2 who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courtyards of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord,[f] for the Lord is good.
Make music to his name, for it is pleasant.
4 Yes, the Lord chose Jacob for himself.
He chose Israel as his special treasure.
The Superiority of the Lord
5 Yes, I know that the Lord is great.
Our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever he pleases
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and in all the depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the end of the earth.
He sends lightning for the rainstorm.
He releases the wind from his storehouses.
8 He is the one who struck down
the firstborn of Egypt, both men and animals.
9 Egypt! He sent warning signs into your midst,
against Pharaoh and against all his officials.
10 He is the one who struck down many nations.
He killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon king of the Amorites,
and Og king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
12 He gave their land as a possession,
a possession to Israel, his people.
13 Lord, your name stands forever.
Lord, your reputation remains through all generations.
14 For the Lord will judge in favor of his people.
He will have pity on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
16 They have a mouth, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear.
There is not even any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them will be like them.
So will all who trust in them.
Conclusion
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord.
House of Aaron, bless the Lord.
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord.
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.
21 The Lord, who dwells in Jerusalem, will be blessed from Zion.
Praise the Lord.
Josiah Cleanses the Land
4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the lower-ranking priests, and the gatekeepers that they should remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles which had been made for Baal, for Asherah, and for the whole army of the heavens.[a] He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and he took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He removed the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places[b] in the cities of Judah and in the area around Jerusalem, those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to the whole army of the heavens. 6 He took the Asherah pole from the House of the Lord to the Kidron Valley, outside of Jerusalem. He burned it there. He crushed it to dust and scattered the dust on the graves of the common people. 7 He tore down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the House of the Lord, where women were weaving hangings for Asherah.
8 Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had been burning incense, from Gibeah to Beersheba. He tore down the high places by the gates, which were at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, who was the official over the city. This gate was to the left of the main gate to the city. 9 The priests from the high places could not go up to the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers.
10 He defiled Tophet, which was in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire for Molek. 11 He removed the horses, which the kings of Judah had set up for the sun, from the entrance to the Lord’s house. They were near the office of Nathan Melek, the high official, which was in the temple courtyard. Then he burned the chariots of the sun.
12 The king tore down the altars that were on the roof of the chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord. He smashed them and threw the dust into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king defiled the high places which were east of Jerusalem on the south end of the Mount of Corruption,[c] which Solomon king of Israel had made for Ashtarte, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 He smashed the sacred memorial stones to bits, and he cut down the Asherah poles. Then he filled their sites with human bones.
15 Even the altar which was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam son of Nebat had made, which caused Israel to sin—he pulled down even that altar and its high place. Then he burned the high place. He ground the Asherah pole to powder and burned it.
16 Then Josiah turned and saw the graves that were there on the hill. He sent men and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar. So he defiled it in fulfillment of the word of the Lord, which the man of God ⎣proclaimed, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast.
Then he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God⎦ who proclaimed these things,[d] 17 and he asked, “What is that gravestone which I see over there?”
The men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you are doing against the altar of Bethel.”
18 Then he said, “Leave him alone. Let no one disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones along with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19 Josiah removed all the shrines of the high places which the kings of Israel had made in the cities of Samaria, which provoked the Lord[e] to anger. He did to them just as he did in Bethel. 20 On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were present there, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
Josiah Celebrates the Passover
21 Then the king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover to the Lord your God just as it is written in the Book of the Covenant.” 22 For they had not observed a Passover like this during the days of the judges who led Israel or during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in King Josiah’s eighteenth year, this Passover to the Lord was observed in Jerusalem. 24 Josiah destroyed[f] the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the filthy idols, and all the detestable idols which were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, in order to comply with the words of the law, which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the House of the Lord.
Summary
25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses, and after him no one like him arose.
All the Gifts of the Spirit Are Beneficial
12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were deceived and somehow led away to mute idols. 3 Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, “A curse be upon Jesus,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of ministries, and yet the same Lord. 6 There are various kinds of activity, but the same God, who produces all of them in everyone.
7 Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one person a message of wisdom is given by the Spirit; to another, a message of knowledge, as the same Spirit provides it; 9 by the same Spirit, faith is given to someone else; and to another, the same[a] Spirit gives healing gifts. 10 Another is given powers to do miracles; another, the gift of prophecy; another, the evaluating of spirits; someone else, different kinds of tongues;[b] and another, the interpretation of tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them to each one individually as he desires.
The Daughter of Jairus
18 As he was saying these things to them, there was a ruler who came, bowed down to him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, place your hand on her, and she will live.”
19 Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples. 20 Just then, a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. 21 For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.”
22 When Jesus turned around and saw her, he said, “Take heart, daughter! Your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said to them, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but is sleeping.”
But they laughed at him.
25 When the crowd was sent out of the house, Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand, and she was raised. 26 News of this went out through the entire region.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.