Book of Common Prayer
33 God transforms wild, flowing rivers into dry, lonely deserts,
lively springs of water into thirsty ground.
34 He turns lush gardens into lifeless wastelands,
all because of the wickedness of those who reside there.
35 Yet He transforms a dry, lonely desert into pools of living water,
parched ground into lively springs.
36 And He allows those who are hungry to live there
so that they might build a livable city.
37 There they sow fields and plant vineyards
and gather up an abundant harvest.
38 He anoints them with His blessings, and they greatly increase in number.
He does not allow their herds to dwindle.
39 When His people lessen in number and are humbled
through persecution, suffering, and brokenheartedness,
40 He pours out contempt on those responsible leaders
and then makes them drift around in an uncharted wasteland.
41 But He raises the poor away from their suffering
and multiplies their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see God’s actions, and they take delight in what He does,
but the unrighteous don’t dare to speak.
43 Is there anyone wise? If so, may the wise take notice of these things
and reflect upon the loyal love of the Eternal.
Psalm 108
A song of David.
1 My heart is committed, O God:
I will sing;
I will sing praises with great affection
and pledge my whole soul to the singing.
2 Wake up the harp and lyre, and strum the strings;
I will stir the sleepy dawn from slumber!
3 I will stand and offer You my thanks, Eternal One, in the presence of others;
I will sing of Your greatness among the nations no matter where I am.
4 For Your amazing love soars overhead far into the heavens;
Your truth rises up to the clouds
where passing light bends.
5 O God, that You would be lifted up above the heavens in the hearts of Your people
until the whole earth knows Your glory.
6 Reach down and rescue those whom You love;
pull us to safety by Your mighty right hand, and answer me.
7 God’s voice has been heard in His holy sanctuary:
“I will celebrate.
I will allocate Shechem and the Succoth Valley to My people.
8 Gilead belongs to Me, and so does Manasseh;
Ephraim is the helmet that protects My head;
Judah is the scepter through which I rule;
9 Moab is the washpot in which I clean Myself;
I will throw My shoe over Edom in conquest;
Philistia will soon hear My victory shout.”
10 But who will take me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not turned Your back on us, O God?
Will You stay away and not accompany our armies, O God?
12 Help us against our enemy; we need Your help!
It’s useless to trust in the hand of man for liberation.
13 Only through God can we be successful.
It is God alone who will defeat our enemies and bring us victory!
Psalm 33
1 Release your heart’s joy in sweet music to the Eternal.
When the upright passionately sing glory-filled songs to Him, everything is in its right place.
2 Worship the Eternal with your instruments, strings offering their praise;
write awe-filled songs to Him on the 10-stringed harp.
3 Sing to Him a new song;
play each the best way you can,
and don’t be afraid to be bold with your joyful feelings.
4 For the word of the Eternal is perfect and true;
His actions are always faithful and right.
5 He loves virtue and equity;
the Eternal’s love fills the whole earth.
6 The unfathomable cosmos came into being at the word of the Eternal’s imagination, a solitary voice in endless darkness.
The breath of His mouth whispered the sea of stars into existence.
7 He gathers every drop of every ocean as in a jar,
securing the ocean depths as His watery treasure.
8 Let all people stand in awe of the Eternal;
let every man, woman, and child live in wonder of Him.
9 For He spoke, and all things came into being.
A single command from His lips, and all creation obeyed and stood its ground.
10 The Eternal cripples the schemes of the other nations;
He impedes the plans of rival peoples.
11 The Eternal’s purposes will last to the end of time;
the thoughts of His heart will awaken and stir all generations.
12 The nation whose True God is the Eternal is truly blessed;
fortunate are all whom He chooses to inherit His legacy.
13 The Eternal peers down from heaven
and watches all of humanity;
14 He observes every soul
from His divine residence.
15 He has formed every human heart, breathing life into every human spirit;
He knows the deeds of each person, inside and out.
16 A king is not delivered by the might of his army.
Even the strongest warrior is not saved by his own strength.
17 A horse is not the way to victory;
its great strength cannot rescue.
18 Listen, the eye of the Eternal is upon those who live in awe of Him,
those who hope in His steadfast love,
19 That He may save them from the darkness of the grave
and be kept alive during the lean seasons.
20 We live with hope in the Eternal. We wait for Him,
for He is our Divine Help and Impenetrable Shield.
21 Our hearts erupt with joy in Him
because we trust His holy name.
22 O Eternal, drench us with Your endless love,
even now as we wait for You.
15 Now the Eternal One had told Samuel on the previous day,
Eternal One: 16 Tomorrow at about this same time I will send you a young man from Benjamin. You will anoint him to be a ruler over all Israel. I will give him strength to save My people from the Philistines because I hear their cries in their misery.
17 When Samuel saw Saul walking toward him, the Eternal spoke to him.
Eternal One: Look! This is the young man I told you about. I’ve chosen him to rule over My people.
18 There inside the gate, Saul walked up to Samuel.
Saul: Can you tell me, please, where I might find the seer’s house?
Samuel: 19 You have found him. Come with me to the high place, and eat with me today. Tomorrow morning I will tell you what you need to know and then send you on your way. 20 As for those donkeys that wandered off three days ago? Don’t give them any further thought. Someone has found them. Israel is more concerned today with you and your family.
Saul: 21 I come from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and I belong to the poorest family in Benjamin. Why are you saying these things to me?
22 Samuel took Saul and his servant up to the hall where around 30 people waited, and he made them sit in the places of honor.
Samuel (to the cook): 23 Bring the portion I gave you and asked you to set aside.
24 The cook brought the thigh along with other select parts and set them in front of Saul.
Samuel (pointing to the meat): Take a look. This was set aside for you. Eat and enjoy it all because this has been reserved for you until the appointed time. I have invited these people to be our guests.
So Saul feasted with Samuel the rest of the day. 25 When they returned to the city from eating at the high place, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof.
26 The next morning, at the break of dawn, Samuel shouted up to Saul on the roof.
Samuel (to Saul): Wake up! It is time for me to send you on your way.
Saul rose, and he and Samuel walked out into the street. 27 When they reached the edge of the city, Samuel told him,
Samuel: Send your servant on ahead. When he’s far enough away, stop and let’s talk. I need to give you a message from the True God.
10 Samuel took a vial of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head, anointing him, and then kissed him.
Samuel: The Eternal One of Israel has anointed you as ruler over His possession, over all Israel. [You will be king over the people of the Eternal One, and you will deliver them from the enemies that surround them now. And this will be the sign to you that I am speaking truth, and God has anointed you king over what is His]:[a]
30 Forty more years passed. One day while Moses was in the desert near Mount Sinai, a heavenly messenger appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush. 31 The phenomenon intrigued Moses; and as he approached for a closer look, he heard a voice—the voice of the Lord: 32 “I am the God of your own fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[a] This terrified Moses—he began to tremble and looked away in fear. 33 The voice continued: “Take off your sandals and stand barefoot on the ground in My presence, for this ground is holy ground. 34 I have avidly watched how My people are being mistreated by the Egyptians. I have heard their groaning at the treatment of their oppressors. I am descending personally to rescue them. So get up. I’m sending you to Egypt.”[b]
35 Now remember: this was the same Moses who had been rejected by his kinfolk when they said, “Who made you our prince and judge?” This man, rejected by his own people, was the one God had truly sent and commissioned by the heavenly messenger who appeared in the bush, to be their leader and deliverer.
36 Moses indeed led our ancestors to freedom, and he performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness over a period of 40 years. 37 This Moses promised our ancestors, “The Eternal One your God will raise up from among your people a Prophet who will be like me.”[c] 38 This is the same one who led the people to Mount Sinai, where a heavenly messenger spoke to him and our ancestors, and who received the living message of God to give to us.
39 But our ancestors still resisted. They again pushed Moses away and refused to follow him. In their hearts, they were ready to return to their former slavery in Egypt. 40 While Moses was on the mountain communing with God, they begged Aaron to make idols to lead them. “We have no idea what happened to this fellow, Moses, who brought us from Egypt,”[d] they said. 41 So they made a calf as their new god, and they even sacrificed to it and celebrated an object they had fabricated as if it was their God.
42 And you remember what God did next: He let them go. He turned from them and let them follow their idolatrous path—worshiping sun, moon, and stars just as their unenlightened neighbors did. The prophet Amos spoke for God about this horrible betrayal:
Did you offer Me sacrifices or give Me offerings
during your 40-year wilderness journey, you Israelites?
43 No, but you have taken along your sacred tent for the worship of Moloch,
and you honored the star of Rompha, your false god.
So, if you want to worship your man-made images,
you may do so—beyond Babylon.[e]
There is powerful consistency in Jesus’ life. Again and again, He withdraws from the crowds to pray in solitude. Now, at this dramatic moment, Jesus again withdraws to pray—in a solitude made more intense by the fact that He has asked His disciples to pray, too, but they have fallen asleep. And in this moment of anguished emotion, Jesus mouths a prayer that resonates with His consistent message of the Kingdom. He has taught His disciples to pray, “May Your kingdom come,” which is a request for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now, drenched in sweat, Jesus Himself prays simply for God’s will to be done, even if it means He must drink the cup of suffering that awaits Him in the hours ahead.
We often speak of having faith in Jesus; but we seldom speak of the faith of Jesus, a faith He demonstrated consistently throughout His life and especially at its end. In a moment of agony, Jesus still trusted God, still yielded His will to God, and still approached God as “Father,” placing Himself in the position of a child, in trust—profound, tested, sincere.
39 Once again He left the city as He had been doing during recent days, returning to Mount Olivet along with His disciples. 40 And He came to a certain place.
Jesus: Pray for yourselves, that you will not sink into temptation.
41 He distanced Himself from them about a stone’s throw and knelt there, 42 praying.
Jesus: Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me. Yet not My will, but Your will, be done.
[43 Then a messenger from heaven appeared to strengthen Him. 44 And in His anguish, He prayed even more intensely, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.][a] 45 When He rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, weighed down with sorrow. 46 He roused them.
Jesus: Why are you sleeping? Wake up and pray that you will not sink into temptation.
47 Even as He said these words, the sound of a crowd could be heard in the distance, and as the crowd came into view, it was clear that Judas was leading them. He came close to Jesus and gave Jesus the traditional greeting of a kiss.
Jesus: 48 Ah, Judas, is this how you betray the Son of Man—with a kiss?
Disciples (realizing what was going on): 49 Lord, is this why You told us to bring the swords? Should we attack?
50 Before Jesus could answer, one of them had swung his sword at the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear.
Jesus: 51 Stop! No more of this!
Then He reached out to touch—and heal—the man’s ear.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.