Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
A maskil by Asaph.
1 Open your ears to my teachings, my people.
Turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth to illustrate points.
I will explain what has been hidden long ago,
3 things that we have heard and known about,
things that our parents have told us.
4 We will not hide them from our children.
We will tell the next generation
about Yahweh’s power and great deeds
and the miraculous things he has done.
5 He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.
He gave his teachings to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children
6 so that the next generation would know them.
Children yet to be born would learn them.
They will grow up and tell their children
7 to trust Elohim, to remember what he has done,
and to obey his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Their hearts were not loyal.
Their spirits were not faithful to El.
9 The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows and arrows,
turned and ran on the day of battle.
10 They had not been faithful to Elohim’s promise.[a]
They refused to follow his teachings.
11 They forgot what he had done—
the miracles that he had shown them.
12 In front of their ancestors he performed miracles
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through it.
He made the waters stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them by a cloud during the day
and by a fiery light throughout the night.
15 He split rocks in the desert.
He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.
16 He made streams come out of a rock.
He made the water flow like rivers.
17 They continued to sin against him,
to rebel in the desert against Elyon.
18 They deliberately tested Elohim by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against Elohim by saying,
“Can El prepare a banquet in the desert?
20 True, he did strike a rock,
and water did gush out,
and the streams did overflow.
But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”
21 When Yahweh heard this, he became furious.
His fire burned against Jacob
and his anger flared up at Israel
22 because they did not believe Elohim
or trust him to save them.
23 In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna down on them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
25 Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,
and Elohim sent them plenty of food.
26 He made the east wind blow in the heavens
and guided the south wind with his might.
27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like the sand on the seashore.
28 He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,
all around his dwelling place.
29 They ate more than enough.
He gave them what they wanted,
30 but they still wanted more.
While the food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of Elohim flared up against them.
He killed their strongest men
and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they continued to sin,
and they no longer believed in his miracles.
33 He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.
He brought their years to an end in terror.
34 When he killed some of them, the rest searched for him.
They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for El.
35 They remembered that Elohim was their rock,
that El Elyon was their Go’el.
36 They flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his promise.
38 But he is compassionate.
He forgave their sin.
He did not destroy them.
He restrained his anger many times.
He did not display all of his fury.
39 He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,
a breeze that blows and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they caused him grief in the desert!
41 Again and again they tested Elohim,
and they pushed Qedosh Yisrael to the limit.
42 They did not remember his power—
the day he freed them from their oppressor,
43 when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood
so that they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent a swarm of flies that bit them
and frogs that ruined them.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their produce to locusts.
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
48 He let the hail strike their cattle
and bolts of lightning strike their livestock.
49 He sent his burning anger, rage, fury, and hostility against them.
He sent an army of destroying angels.
50 He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them.
He let the plague take their lives.
51 He slaughtered every firstborn in Egypt,
the ones born in the tents of Ham when their fathers were young.
52 But he led his own people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock through the wilderness.
53 He led them safely.
They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them into his holy land,
to this mountain that his power had won.
55 He forced nations out of their way
and gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.
56 They tested Elohim Elyon and rebelled against him.
They did not obey his written instructions.
57 They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.
They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.
58 They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.
They made him furious because they worshiped idols.
59 When Elohim heard, he became furious.
He completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived among humans.
61 He allowed his power to be taken captive
and handed his glory over to an oppressor.
62 He let swords kill his people.
He was furious with those who belonged to him.
63 Fire consumed his best young men,
so his virgins heard no wedding songs.
64 His priests were cut down with swords.
The widows of his priests could not even weep for them.
65 Then Adonay woke up like one who had been sleeping,
like a warrior sobering up from too much wine.
66 He struck his enemies from behind
and disgraced them forever.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his holy place to be like the high heavens,
like the earth which he made to last for a long time.
70 He chose his servant David.
He took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from tending the ewes that had lambs
so that David could be the shepherd of the people of Jacob,
of Israel, the people who belonged to Yahweh.
72 With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd.
With skill he guided them.
Samuel’s Childhood
21 To keep his vow, Elkanah and his entire household again went to offer the annual sacrifice to Yahweh. 22 But Hannah didn’t go. She told her husband, “I’ll wait until the boy is weaned. Then I’ll bring him and present him to Yahweh, and he’ll stay there permanently.”
23 “Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Wait until you’ve weaned him. May Yahweh keep his word.” The woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
24 As soon as she had weaned Samuel, she took him with her. She also brought a three-year-old bull,[a] half a bushel of flour, and a full wineskin. She brought him to Yahweh’s house at Shiloh while the boy was still a child.
25 Then the parents butchered the bull and brought the child to Eli. 26 “Sir,” Hannah said, “as sure as you live, I’m the woman who stood here next to you and prayed to Yahweh. 27 I prayed for this child, and Yahweh granted my request. 28 In return, I am giving him to Yahweh. He will be dedicated to Yahweh for his whole life.”
And they worshiped Yahweh there.
Hannah’s Prayer
2 Hannah prayed out loud,
“My heart finds joy in Yahweh.
My head is lifted to Yahweh.
My mouth mocks my enemies.
I rejoice because you saved me.
2 There is no one holy like Yahweh.
There is no one but you, O Lord.
There is no Tsur like our Elohim.
3 “Do not boast
or let arrogance come out of your mouth
because Yahweh is an El of knowledge,
and he weighs our actions.
4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumble are armed with strength.
5 Those who were well-fed hire themselves out for a piece of bread,
but those who were hungry hunger no more.
Even the woman who was childless gives birth to seven children,
but the mother of many children grieves all alone.
6 “Yahweh kills, and he gives life.
He makes people go down to the grave, and he raises them up again.
7 Yahweh causes poverty and grants wealth.
He humbles people; he also promotes them.
8 He raises the poor from the dust.
He lifts the needy from the trash heap
in order to make them sit with nobles
and even to make them inherit a glorious throne.
“The pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s.
He has set the world on them.
9 He safeguards the steps of his faithful ones,
but wicked people are silenced in darkness
because humans cannot succeed by their own strength.
10 “Those who oppose Yahweh are broken into pieces.
He thunders at them from the heavens.
Yahweh judges the ends of the earth.
He gives strength to his King
and lifts the head of his Messiah.”[b]
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. But the boy Samuel served Yahweh under the priest Eli.
15 At a time when about 120 disciples had gathered together, Peter got up and spoke to them.
He said, 16 “Brothers, what the Holy Spirit predicted through David in Scripture about Judas had to come true. Judas led the men to arrest Yeshua. 17 He had been one of us and had been given an active role in this ministry. 18 With the money he received from the wrong he had done, he bought a piece of land where he fell headfirst to his death. His body split open, and all his internal organs came out. 19 Everyone living in Jerusalem knows about this. They even call that piece of land Akeldama, which means ‘Field of Blood’ in their dialect. 20 You’ve read in Psalms, ‘Let his home be deserted, and let no one live there,’ and ‘Let someone else take his position.’”
“Therefore, someone must be added to our number to serve with us as a witness that Yeshua came back to life. 21 He must be one of the men who accompanied Yeshua with us the entire time that the Lord Yeshua was among us. 22 This person must have been with us from the time that John was baptizing people to the day that Yeshua was taken from us.”[a]
23 The disciples determined that two men were qualified. These men were Joseph (who was called Barsabbas and was also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s thoughts. Show us which of these two you have chosen. 25 Show us who is to take the place of Judas as an apostle, since Judas abandoned his position to go to the place where he belongs.”
26 They drew names to choose an apostle. Matthias was chosen and joined the eleven apostles.
19 The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the chief priests wanted to arrest him right there, but they were afraid of the people. They knew that he had directed this illustration at them.
A Question about Taxes(A)
20 So they watched for an opportunity to send out some spies. The spies were to act like sincere religious people. They wanted to catch him saying the wrong thing so that they could hand him over to the governor. 21 They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach. Besides, you don’t play favorites. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”
23 He saw through their scheme, so he said to them, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose face and name is this?”
They answered, “The emperor’s.”
25 He said to them, “Well, then give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”
26 They couldn’t make him say anything wrong in front of the people. His answer surprised them, so they said no more.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.