Book of Common Prayer

(A psalm and a song by the clan of Korah.)

The Glory of Mount Zion

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90–106)

(A prayer by Moses, the man of God.)

God Is Eternal

God's Love Never Fails

Jacob Becomes an Old Man

²⁷ The people of Israel made their home in the land of Goshen, where they became prosperous and had large families. ²⁸ Jacob himself lived there for 17 years, before dying at the age of 147. ^29 (A) When Jacob knew he did not have long to live, he called in Joseph and said, “If you really love me, you must make a solemn promise not to bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ Instead, bury me in the place where my ancestors are buried.”

“I will do what you have asked,” Joseph answered.

³¹ “Will you give me your word?” Jacob asked.

“Yes, I will,” Joseph promised. After this, Jacob bowed down and prayed at the head of his bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph's Two Sons

48 Joseph was told that his father Jacob had become very sick. So Joseph went to see him and took along his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² When Joseph arrived, someone told Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” Jacob sat up in bed, but it took almost all his strength.

^3 (B) Jacob told Joseph:

God All-Powerful appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, where he gave me his blessing ⁴ and promised, “I will give you a large family with many descendants that will grow into a nation. And I am giving you this land that will belong to you and your family forever.”

⁵ Then Jacob went on to say:

Joseph, your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh were born in Egypt, but I accept them as my own, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶ Any children you have later will be considered yours, but their inheritance will come from Ephraim and Manasseh. ^7 (C) Unfortunately, your mother Rachel died in Canaan after we had left northern Syria^[a] and before we reached Bethlehem.^[b] And I had to bury her along the way.

Don't Worship Idols

10 ^(A) Friends, I want to remind you that all our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. ² This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. ^3 (B) All of them also ate the same spiritual food ^4 (C) and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. ^5 (D) But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert.

⁶ What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things. ^7 (E) They worshiped idols, just as the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance around.” So don't worship idols. ^8 (F) Some of those people did shameful things, and in a single day about 23,000 died. Don't do shameful things as they did. ^9 (G) And don't try to test Christ,^[a] as some of them did and were later bitten by poisonous snakes. ^10 (H) Don't even grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. ¹¹ These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.

¹² Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. ^13 (I) You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Matthew 15.1-9)

7 Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.^[a]

³ The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way^[b] before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.^[c]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

^6 (A) Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

⁸ You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. ⁹ You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! ^10 (B) Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ¹¹ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.^{[d] 12} You won't let those people help their parents. ¹³ And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Matthew 15.10-20)

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”^[e]

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.