Book of Common Prayer
33 He changed rivers into a desert
and springs of water into dry ground.
34 He made fertile land salty,
because the people there did evil.
35 He changed the desert into pools of water
and dry ground into springs of water.
36 He had the hungry settle there
so they could build a city in which to live.
37 They planted seeds in the fields and vineyards,
and they had a good harvest.
38 God blessed them, and they grew in number.
Their cattle did not become fewer.
39 Because of disaster, troubles, and sadness,
their families grew smaller and weaker.
40 He showed he was displeased with their leaders
and made them wander in a pathless desert.
41 But he lifted the poor out of their suffering
and made their families grow like flocks of sheep.
42 Good people see this and are happy,
but the wicked say nothing.
43 Whoever is wise will remember these things
and will think about the love of the Lord.
A Prayer for Victory
A song. A psalm of David.
108 God, my heart is steady.
I will sing and praise you with all my being.
2 Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
3 Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
I will sing songs of praise about you to all the nations.
4 Your great love reaches to the skies,
your truth to the heavens.
5 God, you are supreme above the skies.
Let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Answer us and save us by your power
so the people you love will be rescued.
7 God has said from his Temple,
“When I win, I will divide Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead and Manasseh are mine.
Ephraim is like my helmet.
Judah holds my royal scepter.
9 Moab is like my washbowl.
I throw my sandals at Edom.
I shout at Philistia.”
10 Who will bring me to the strong, walled city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 God, surely you have rejected us;
you do not go out with our armies.
12 Help us fight the enemy.
Human help is useless,
13 but we can win with God’s help.
He will defeat our enemies.
Praise God Who Creates and Saves
33 Sing to the Lord, you who do what is right;
honest people should praise him.
2 Praise the Lord on the harp;
make music for him on a ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing a new song to him;
play well and joyfully.
4 God’s word is true,
and everything he does is right.
5 He loves what is right and fair;
the Lord’s love fills the earth.
6 The sky was made at the Lord’s command.
By the breath from his mouth, he made all the stars.
7 He gathered the water of the sea into a heap.
He made the great ocean stay in its place.
8 All the earth should worship the Lord;
the whole world should fear him.
9 He spoke, and it happened.
He commanded, and it appeared.
10 The Lord upsets the plans of nations;
he ruins all their plans.
11 But the Lord’s plans will stand forever;
his ideas will last from now on.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his very own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees every person.
14 From his throne he watches
all who live on earth.
15 He made their hearts
and understands everything they do.
16 No king is saved by his great army.
No warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 Horses can’t bring victory;
they can’t save by their strength.
18 But the Lord looks after those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his love.
19 He saves them from death
and spares their lives in times of hunger.
20 So our hope is in the Lord.
He is our help, our shield to protect us.
21 We rejoice in him,
because we trust his holy name.
22 Lord, show your love to us
as we put our hope in you.
21 This is what the Lord has said against Sennacherib:
‘The people of Jerusalem
hate you and make fun of you.
The people of Jerusalem
laugh at you as you run away.
22 You have insulted me and spoken against me;
you have raised your voice against me.
You have a proud look on your face,
which is against me, the Holy One of Israel.
23 You have sent your messengers to insult the Lord.
You have said, “With my many chariots
I have gone to the tops of the mountains,
to the highest mountains of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its best pine trees.
I have gone to its farthest places
and to its best forests.
24 I have dug wells in foreign countries
and drunk water there.
By the soles of my feet,
I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt.”
25 “‘King of Assyria, surely you have heard.
Long ago I, the Lord, planned these things.
Long ago I designed them,
and now I have made them happen.
I allowed you to turn those strong, walled cities
into piles of rocks.
26 The people in those cities were weak;
they were frightened and put to shame.
They were like grass in the field,
like tender, young grass,
like grass on the housetop
that is burned by the wind before it can grow.
27 “‘I know when you rest,
when you come and go,
and how you rage against me.
28 Because you rage against me,
and because I have heard your proud words,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
Then I will force you to leave my country
the same way you came.’
29 “Then the Lord said, ‘Hezekiah, I will give you this sign:
This year you will eat the grain that grows wild,
and the second year you will eat what grows wild from that.
But in the third year, plant grain and harvest it.
Plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 Some of the people in the family of Judah
will escape.
Like plants that take root,
they will grow strong and have many children.
31 A few people will come out of Jerusalem alive;
a few from Mount Zion will live.
The strong love of the Lord All-Powerful
will make this happen.’
32 “So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
‘He will not enter this city
or even shoot an arrow here.
He will not fight against it with shields
or build a ramp to attack the city walls.
33 He will return to his country the same way he came,
and he will not enter this city,’
says the Lord.
34 ‘I will defend and save this city
for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.’”
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there.
Warnings from Israel’s Past
10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the cloud and all went through the sea. 2 They were all baptized as followers of Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, so they died in the desert.
6 And these things happened as examples for us, to stop us from wanting evil things as those people did. 7 Do not worship idols, as some of them did. Just as it is written in the Scriptures: “They sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up and sinned sexually.”[a] 8 We must not take part in sexual sins, as some of them did. In one day twenty-three thousand of them died because of their sins. 9 We must not test Christ as some of them did; they were killed by snakes. 10 Do not complain as some of them did; they were killed by the angel that destroys.
11 The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written down to teach us, because we live in a time when all these things of the past have reached their goal. 12 If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall. 13 The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.
People Want to Follow Jesus
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he told his followers to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I will follow you any place you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes to live in, and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.”
21 Another man, one of Jesus’ followers, said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the people who are dead bury their own dead.”
Jesus Calms a Storm
23 Jesus got into a boat, and his followers went with him. 24 A great storm arose on the lake so that waves covered the boat, but Jesus was sleeping. 25 His followers went to him and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We will drown!”
26 Jesus answered, “Why are you afraid? You don’t have enough faith.” Then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and said, “What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.