Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness, water springs into a thirsty ground,(A)
34 A fruitful land into a barren, salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.(B)
35 He turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry ground into water springs;(C)
36 And there He makes the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation,
37 And sow fields, and plant vineyards which yield fruits of increase.
38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and allows not their cattle to decrease.
39 When they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt upon princes and causes them to wander in waste places where there is no road.
41 Yet He raises the poor and needy from affliction and makes their families like a flock.
42 The upright shall see it and be glad, but all iniquity shall shut its mouth.
43 Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.
Psalm 108
A song. A Psalm of David.
1 O God, my heart is fixed (steadfast, in the confidence of faith); I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with my glory [all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image]!
2 Awake, harp and lyre; I myself will wake very early—I will waken the dawn!
3 I will praise and give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; and I will sing praises unto You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy and loving-kindness are great and high as the heavens! Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!(D)
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.
6 That Your beloved [followers] may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answer us! [or me]!
7 God has promised in His holiness [regarding the establishment of David’s dynasty]: I will rejoice, I will distribute [Canaan among My people], dividing Shechem and [the western region and allotting the eastern region which contains] the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is My stronghold and the defense of My head; Judah is My scepter and lawgiver.(E)
9 Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom [My slave] My shoe I cast [to be cleaned]; over Philistia I shout [in triumph].
10 Who will bring me [David] into the strong, fortified city [of Petra]? Who will lead me into Edom?
11 Have You not cast us off, O God? And will You not go forth, O God, with our armies?
12 Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man.
13 Through and with God we shall do valiantly, for He it is Who shall tread down our adversaries.(F)
Psalm 33
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you upright in right standing with God]; for praise is becoming and appropriate for those who are upright [in heart].
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings.
3 Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully [on the strings] with a loud and joyful sound.
4 For the word of the Lord is right; and all His work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth.(A)
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as in a bottle; He puts the deeps in storage places.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord [revere and worship Him]; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought; He makes the thoughts and plans of the peoples of no effect.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart through all generations.
12 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His heritage.
13 The Lord looks from heaven, He beholds all the sons of men;
14 From His dwelling place He looks [intently] upon all the inhabitants of the earth—
15 He Who fashions the hearts of them all, Who considers all their doings.
16 No king is saved by the great size and power of his army; a mighty man is not delivered by [his] much strength.
17 A horse is devoid of value for victory; neither does he deliver any by his great power.
18 Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness,
19 To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our inner selves wait [earnestly] for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield.
21 For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.
21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: The Virgin Daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the Daughter of Jerusalem has wagged her head behind you.
22 Whom have you mocked and reviled and insulted and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By your messengers you have mocked, reproached, insulted, and defied the Lord, and have said, With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees. I entered its most distant retreat, its densest forest.
24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all [the defense and] the streams of Egypt.
25 [But, says the God of Israel] Have you not heard how I ordained long ago what now I have brought to pass? I planned it in olden times, that you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] lay waste fortified cities, making them ruinous heaps.
26 That is why their inhabitants had little power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were like plants of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetops, blasted before it is grown up.
27 But [O Sennacherib] I [the Lord] know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against Me.
28 Because your raging against Me and your arrogance and careless ease have come to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came, O king of Assyria.
29 And [Hezekiah, says the Lord] this shall be the sign [of these things] to you: you shall eat this year what grows of itself, also in the second year what springs up voluntarily. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 And the remnant that has survived of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and a band of survivors out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
32 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow here or come before it with shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, by that way shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.
34 For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.
35 And it all came to pass, for that night the [a]Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when [the living] arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.
10 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that our forefathers were all under and protected by the cloud [in which God’s Presence went before them], and every one of them passed safely through the [Red] Sea,(A)
2 And each one of them [allowed himself also] to be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea [they were thus brought under obligation to the Law, to Moses, and to the covenant, consecrated and set apart to the service of God];
3 And all [of them] ate the same spiritual (supernaturally given) food,(B)
4 And they all drank the same spiritual (supernaturally given) drink. For they drank from a spiritual Rock which followed them [produced by the sole power of God Himself without natural instrumentality], and the Rock was Christ.(C)
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with the great majority of them, for they were overthrown and strewn down along [the ground] in the wilderness.(D)
6 Now these things are examples (warnings and admonitions) for us not to desire or crave or covet or lust after evil and carnal things as they did.(E)
7 Do not be worshipers of false gods as some of them were, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink [the sacrifices offered to the golden calf at Horeb] and rose to sport (to dance and give way to jesting and hilarity).(F)
8 We must not gratify evil desire and indulge in immorality as some of them did—and twenty-three thousand [suddenly] fell dead in a single day!(G)
9 We should not tempt the Lord [try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him, and exploit His goodness] as some of them did—and were killed by poisonous serpents;(H)
10 Nor discontentedly complain as some of them did—and were [a]put out of the way entirely by the destroyer (death).(I)
11 Now these things befell them by way of a figure [as an example and warning to us]; they were written to admonish and fit us for right action by good instruction, we in whose days the ages have reached their climax (their consummation and concluding period).
12 Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].
13 For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not [b]adjusted and [c]adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to [d]a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.
18 Now Jesus, when He saw the great throngs around Him, gave orders to cross to the other side [of the lake].
19 And a scribe came up and said to Him, Master, I will accompany You wherever You go.
20 And Jesus replied to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have lodging places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.
21 Another of the disciples said to Him, Lord, let me first go and bury [[a]care for till death] my father.
22 But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and leave the dead [[b]in sin] to bury their own dead.
23 And after He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And [c]suddenly, behold, there arose a violent storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered up by the waves; but He was sleeping.
25 And they went and awakened Him, saying, Lord, rescue and preserve us! We are perishing!
26 And He said to them, Why are you timid and afraid, O you of little faith? Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great and wonderful calm ([d]a perfect peaceableness).
27 And the men were stunned with bewildered wonder and marveled, saying, What kind of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!
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