Book of Common Prayer
An instruction[a] of Asaph
Remembering God in Times of Trouble
78 Listen, my people, to my instruction.
Hear[b] the words of my mouth.
2 I will tell[c] a parable,
speaking riddles from long ago—
3 things that we have heard and known
and that our ancestors related to us.
4 We will not withhold them from their descendants;
we’ll declare to the next generation the praises of the Lord—
his might and awesome deeds that he has performed.
5 He established a decree in Jacob,
and established the Law in Israel,
that he commanded our ancestors
to reveal to their children
6 in order that the next generation—
children yet to be born—
will know them and
in turn teach them to their children.
7 Then they will put their trust in God
and they will not forget his awesome deeds.
Instead, they will keep his commandments.
8 They will not be like the rebellious generation of their ancestors,
a rebellious generation,
whose heart was not steadfast,
and whose spirits were unfaithful to God.
9 The descendants of Ephraim were sharp shooters with the bow,
but they retreated in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant,
and refused to live by his Law.
11 They have forgotten what he has done,
his awesome deeds that they witnessed.
12 He performed marvelous things
in the presence of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt—
in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea so that they were able to cross;
he caused the water to stand in a single location.
14 He led them with a cloud during the day,
and during the night with light from the fire.
15 He caused the rocks to split in the wilderness,
and gave them water[d] as from an abundant sea.
16 He brought streams from rock,
causing water to flow like a river.
17 But time and again, they sinned against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 To test God was in their minds,
when they demanded food to satisfy their cravings.[e]
19 They spoke against God by asking,
“Is God able to prepare a feast[f] in the desert?
20 It’s true that[g] Moses[h] struck the rock so that water flowed forth
and torrents of water gushed out,
but is he also able to give bread
or to supply meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard this, he was angry,
and fire broke out against Jacob.
Moreover, his anger flared against Israel,
22 because they didn’t believe in God
and didn’t trust in his deliverance.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and the doors of the heavens to open,
24 so that manna rained down on them for food
and he sent them the grain of heaven.
25 Mortal men[i] ate the food of angels;
he sent provision to them in abundance.
26 He stirred up the east wind in the heavens
and drove the south wind by his might.
27 He caused meat to rain on them like dust
and winged birds as the sand of the sea.
28 He caused these to fall in the middle of the camp
and all around their tents.
29 So they ate and were very satisfied,
because he granted their desire.
30 However, before they had fulfilled their desire,
while their food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God flared against them,
and he killed the strongest men
and humbled Israel’s young men.
32 In spite of all of this, they kept on sinning
and didn’t believe in his marvelous deeds.
33 So he made their days end in futility,
and their years with sudden terror.
34 When he struck them, they sought him;
they repented, and eagerly sought God.
35 Then they remembered that God was their rock,
and the Most High God was their deliverer.
36 But they deceived him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
37 For their hearts weren’t committed to him,
and they weren’t faithful to his covenant.
38 But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity
and didn’t destroy them;
He restrained his anger
and didn’t vent all his wrath.
39 For he remembered that they were only flesh,
a passing wind that doesn’t return.
40 How they rebelled against him in the desert,
grieving him in the wilderness!
41 They tested God again and again,
provoking the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he delivered them from their adversary,
43 when he set his signs in Egypt
and his wonders in the plain of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood
and made their streams undrinkable.
45 He sent swarms of insects to bite them
and frogs to destroy them.
46 He gave their crops to caterpillars
and what they worked for to locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore[j] trees with frost.
48 He delivered their beasts to hail
and their livestock to lightning bolts.
49 He inflicted his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
sending destroying angels among them.
50 He blazed a path for his anger;
he did not stop short from killing them,
but handed them over to pestilence.
51 He struck every firstborn in Egypt,
the first fruits of their manhood in the tents of Ham.
52 Yet he led out his people like sheep,
guiding them like a flock in the desert.
53 He led them to safety so they would not fear.
As for their enemies, the sea covered them.
54 He brought the people[k] to the border of his holy mountain,
which he acquired by his might.
55 He drove out nations before them
and allotted their tribal inheritance,
settling the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 But they tested the Most High God by rebelling against him,
and they did not obey his statutes.
57 They fell away and were as disloyal as their ancestors.
They became unreliable, like a defective bow;
58 they angered him with their high places
and with their carved images they made him jealous.
59 God heard and became furious,
and he completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned the tent at Shiloh,
the tent that he established among mankind.
61 Then he sent his might[l] into captivity
and his glory into the control of the adversary.
62 He delivered his people over to the sword
and was angry with his possession.
63 The young men were consumed by fire,
and the virgins had no marriage celebrations.[m]
64 The priests fell by the sword,
yet their widows couldn’t weep.
65 The Lord awoke as though from sleep,
like a mighty warrior stimulated by wine.
66 He beat back his adversaries,
permanently disgracing them.
67 He rejected the clan[n] of Joseph;
and the tribe of Ephraim he did not choose.
68 But he chose the tribe of Judah,
the mountain of Zion, which he loves.
69 He built his sanctuary, high as the heavens,
like the earth that he established forever.
70 Then he chose his servant David,
whom he took from the sheepfold.
71 He brought him from birthing sheep
to care for Jacob, his people,
Israel, his possession.
72 David[o] shepherded them with a devoted heart,
and led them with skillful hands.
Sins that Separate from God
59 “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
nor are his ears[a] too dull to hear.
2 Instead, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have concealed his face from you
so that he won’t listen.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your tongue[b] mutters wickedness.
4 No one brings a lawsuit fairly,
and no one goes to law honestly;
they have relied[c] on empty arguments
and they tell lies;
they conceive[d] trouble
and give birth[e] to iniquity.
5 They hatch[f] adders’ eggs[g]
and weave[h] a spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
and any crushed egg hatches out futility.[i]
6 Their cobwebs cannot become clothing,
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are deeds of iniquity,
and acts of violence fill their hands.
7 Their feet rush to evil,
and they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
ruin, destruction, and violence[j] are in their paths.
8 The pathway of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their courses.
They have made their roads crooked;
no one who walks in them will know peace.”
A Commitment to Wait on God
9 “So justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but look—there is darkness;
we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness.[k]
10 Let’s grope[l] along the wall like the blind;
let us grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as if it were twilight,
in desolate places[m] like dead people.
11 We all growl like bears;
we[n] sigh mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
and[o] for deliverance, but it’s far from us.
12 “For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify[p] against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and as for our iniquities,
we acknowledge them:
13 they’ve rebelled[q] in[r] treachery against the Lord,
and are turning away from following our God;
and they’ve spoken[s] oppression and revolt,
and are conceiving[t] lying words from the heart.
14 I’ll drive back justice,[u]
and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth has fallen in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is missing,
and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”
God Brings His Own Salvation
“Then the Lord looked, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
Greetings
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by God’s will in keeping with the promise of life that is in the Messiah[c] Jesus.
2 To: Timothy, my dear child.
May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Messiah[d] Jesus our Lord be yours!
Paul’s Advice for Timothy
3 I constantly thank my God—whom I serve[e] with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 recalling your tears and longing to see you so that I can be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first existed in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that this faith[f] also exists in you. 6 For this reason, I am reminding you to fan into flames the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but one of power, love, and self-discipline.[g] 8 Therefore, never be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the gospel.
9 He saved us
and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own accomplishments,
but according to his own purpose and the grace
that was given to us in the Messiah[h] Jesus
before time began.[i]
10 Now, however, that grace[j] has been revealed
through the coming of our Savior the Messiah[k] Jesus,
who has destroyed death
and through the gospel has brought life
and release from death into full view.
11 For the sake of this gospel[l] I was appointed to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gentiles.[m] 12 That is why I suffer as I do. However, I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I’m convinced that he is able to protect what he has entrusted to me[n] until the day that he comes.[o] 13 Hold on to the pattern of healthy teachings that you have heard from me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah[p] Jesus. 14 With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, protect the good treasure that has been entrusted to you.
Causing Others to Sin(A)
42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 So if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better for you to enter life injured than to have two hands and go to hell,[a] to the fire that cannot be put out. 44 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.[b]
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[c] 46 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.[d]
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It’s better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.[e] 48 In that place, worms never die, and the fire is never put out.
49 Because everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt.[f] 50 Salt is good. But if salt loses its taste, how can you restore its flavor? Keep on having salt among yourselves, and live in peace with one another.”
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