Book of Common Prayer
God Saved Israel from Egypt
A maskil of Asaph.
78 My people, listen to my teaching;
listen to what I say.
2 I will speak using stories;
I will tell secret things from long ago.
3 We have heard them and known them
by what our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not keep them from our children;
we will tell those who come later
about the praises of the Lord.
We will tell about his power
and the miracles he has done.
5 The Lord made an agreement with Jacob
and gave the teachings to Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children.
6 Then their children would know them,
even their children not yet born.
And they would tell their children.
7 So they would all trust God
and would not forget what he had done
but would obey his commands.
8 They would not be like their ancestors
who were stubborn and disobedient.
Their hearts were not loyal to God,
and they were not true to him.
9 The men of Ephraim had bows for weapons,
but they ran away on the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep their agreement with God
and refused to live by his teachings.
11 They forgot what he had done
and the miracles he had shown them.
12 He did miracles while their ancestors watched,
in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.
13 He divided the Red Sea and led them through.
He made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and by the light of a fire by night.
15 He split the rocks in the desert
and gave them more than enough water, as if from the deep ocean.
16 He brought streams out of the rock
and caused water to flow down like rivers.
17 But the people continued to sin against him;
in the desert they turned against God Most High.
18 They decided to test God
by asking for the food they wanted.
19 Then they spoke against God,
saying, “Can God prepare food in the desert?
20 When he hit the rock, water poured out
and rivers flowed down.
But can he give us bread also?
Will he provide his people with meat?”
21 When the Lord heard them, he was very angry.
His anger was like fire to the people of Jacob;
his anger grew against the people of Israel.
22 They had not believed God
and had not trusted him to save them.
23 But he gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained manna down on them to eat;
he gave them grain from heaven.
25 So they ate the bread of angels.
He sent them all the food they could eat.
26 He sent the east wind from heaven
and led the south wind by his power.
27 He rained meat on them like dust.
The birds were as many as the sand of the sea.
28 He made the birds fall inside the camp,
all around the tents.
29 So the people ate and became very full.
God had given them what they wanted.
30 While they were still eating,
and while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God became angry with them.
He killed some of the healthiest of them;
he struck down the best young men of Israel.
32 But they kept on sinning;
they did not believe even with the miracles.
33 So he ended their days without meaning
and their years in terror.
34 Anytime he killed them, they would look to him for help;
they would come back to God and follow him.
35 They would remember that God was their Rock,
that God Most High had saved them.
36 But their words were false,
and their tongues lied to him.
37 Their hearts were not really loyal to God;
they did not keep his agreement.
38 Still God was merciful.
He forgave their sins
and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger
and did not stir up all his anger.
39 He remembered that they were only human,
like a wind that blows and does not come back.
40 They turned against God so often in the desert
and grieved him there.
41 Again and again they tested God
and brought pain to the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power
or the time he saved them from the enemy.
43 They forgot the signs he did in Egypt
and his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers to blood
so no one could drink the water.
45 He sent flies that bit the people.
He sent frogs that destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and what they worked for to locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamore trees with sleet.
48 He killed their animals with hail
and their cattle with lightning.
49 He showed them his hot anger.
He sent his strong anger against them,
his destroying angels.
50 He found a way to show his anger.
He did not keep them from dying
but let them die by a terrible disease.
51 God killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt,
the oldest son of each family of Ham.[a]
52 But God led his people out like sheep
and he guided them like a flock through the desert.
53 He led them to safety so they had nothing to fear,
but their enemies drowned in the sea.
54 So God brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain country he took with his own power.
55 He forced out the other nations,
and he had his people inherit the land.
He let the tribes of Israel settle there in tents.
56 But they tested God
and turned against God Most High;
they did not keep his rules.
57 They turned away and were disloyal just like their ancestors.
They were like a crooked bow that does not shoot straight.
58 They made God angry by building places to worship gods;
they made him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he became very angry
and rejected the people of Israel completely.
60 He left his dwelling at Shiloh,
the Tent where he lived among the people.
61 He let the Ark, his power, be captured;
he let the Ark, his glory, be taken by enemies.
62 He let his people be killed;
he was very angry with his children.
63 The young men died by fire,
and the young women had no one to marry.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
but their widows were not allowed to cry.
65 Then the Lord got up as if he had been asleep;
he awoke like a man who had been drunk with wine.
66 He struck down his enemies
and disgraced them forever.
67 But God rejected the family of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah
and Mount Zion, which he loves.
69 And he built his Temple high like the mountains.
Like the earth, he built it to last forever.
70 He chose David to be his servant
and took him from the sheep pens.
71 He brought him from tending the sheep
so he could lead the flock, the people of Jacob,
his own people, the people of Israel.
72 And David led them with an innocent heart
and guided them with skillful hands.
Isaac Lies to Abimelech
26 Now there was a time of hunger in the land, besides the time of hunger that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar to see Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt, but live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I will give you and your descendants all these lands, and I will keep the oath I made to Abraham your father. 4 I will give you many descendants, as hard to count as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. 5 I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed me. He did what I said and obeyed my commands, my teachings, and my rules.”
6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
Isaac Becomes Rich
12 Isaac planted seed in that land, and that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much, 13 and he became rich. He gathered more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14 He had so many slaves and flocks and herds that the Philistines envied him. 15 So they stopped up all the wells the servants of Isaac’s father Abraham had dug. (They had dug them when Abraham was alive.) The Philistines filled those wells with dirt. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country because you have become much more powerful than we are.”
17 So Isaac left that place and camped in the Valley of Gerar and lived there. 18 Long before this time Abraham had dug many wells, but after he died, the Philistines filled them with dirt. So Isaac dug those wells again and gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug a well in the valley, from which a spring of water flowed. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar argued with them and said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Argue because they argued with him. 21 Then his servants dug another well. When the people also argued about it, Isaac named that well Fight. 22 He moved from there and dug another well. No one argued about this one, so he named it Room Enough. Isaac said, “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be successful in this land.”
23 From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid, because I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my servant Abraham.” 25 So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord there. He also made a camp there, and his servants dug a well.
26 Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He brought with him Ahuzzath, who advised him, and Phicol, the commander of his army. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to see me? You were my enemy and forced me to leave your country.”
28 They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. Let us swear an oath to each other. Let us make an agreement with you 29 that since we did not hurt you, you will not hurt us. We were good to you and sent you away in peace. Now the Lord has blessed you.”
30 So Isaac prepared food for them, and they all ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left in peace.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, saying, “We found water in that well.” 33 So Isaac named it Shibah[a] and that city is called Beersheba even now.
17 Obey your leaders and act under their authority. They are watching over you, because they are responsible for your souls. Obey them so that they will do this work with joy, not sadness. It will not help you to make their work hard.
18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience, because we always want to do the right thing. 19 I especially beg you to pray so that God will send me back to you soon.
20-21 I pray that the God of peace will give you every good thing you need so you can do what he wants. God raised from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, because of the blood of his death. His blood began the eternal agreement that God made with his people. I pray that God will do in us what pleases him, through Jesus Christ, and to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 My brothers and sisters, I beg you to listen patiently to this message I have written to encourage you, because it is not very long. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been let out of prison. If he arrives soon, we will both come to see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all of God’s people. Those from Italy send greetings to you.
25 Grace be with you all.
Some of the earliest surviving Greek copies do not contain 7:53—8:11.
[53 And everyone left and went home.
The Woman Caught in Adultery
8 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 But early in the morning he went back to the Temple, and all the people came to him, and he sat and taught them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They forced her to stand before the people. 4 They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught having sexual relations with a man who is not her husband. 5 The law of Moses commands that we stone to death every woman who does this. What do you say we should do?” 6 They were asking this to trick Jesus so that they could have some charge against him.
But Jesus bent over and started writing on the ground with his finger. 7 When they continued to ask Jesus their question, he raised up and said, “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then Jesus bent over again and wrote on the ground.
9 Those who heard Jesus began to leave one by one, first the older men and then the others. Jesus was left there alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus raised up again and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one judged you guilty?”
11 She answered, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “I also don’t judge you guilty. You may go now, but don’t sin anymore.”]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.