Book of Common Prayer
A Song About God’s Loyalty
A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will always sing about the Lord’s love;
I will tell of his loyalty from now on.
2 I will say, “Your love continues forever;
your loyalty goes on and on like the sky.”
3 You said, “I made an agreement with the man of my choice;
I made a promise to my servant David.
4 I told him, ‘I will make your family continue forever.
Your kingdom will go on and on.’” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise you for your miracles
and for your loyalty in the meeting of your holy ones.
6 Who in heaven is equal to the Lord?
None of the angels is like the Lord.
7 When the holy ones meet, it is God they fear.
He is more frightening than all who surround him.
8 Lord God All-Powerful, who is like you?
Lord, you are powerful and completely trustworthy.
9 You rule the mighty sea
and calm the stormy waves.
10 You crushed the sea monster Rahab;
by your power you scattered your enemies.
11 The skies and the earth belong to you.
You made the world and everything in it.
12 You created the north and the south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm has great power.
Your hand is strong; your right hand is lifted up.
14 Your kingdom is built on what is right and fair.
Love and truth are in all you do.
15 Happy are the people who know how to praise you.
Lord, let them live in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice
and continually praise your goodness.
17 You are their glorious strength,
and in your kindness you honor our king.
18 Our king, our shield, belongs to the Lord,
to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Once, in a vision, you spoke
to those who worship you.
You said, “I have given strength to a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from my people.
20 I have found my servant David;
I appointed him by pouring holy oil on him.
21 I will steady him with my hand
and strengthen him with my arm.
22 No enemy will make him give forced payments,
and wicked people will not defeat him.
23 I will crush his enemies in front of him;
I will defeat those who hate him.
24 My loyalty and love will be with him.
Through me he will be strong.
25 I will give him power over the sea
and control over the rivers.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my Savior.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son,
the greatest king on earth.
28 My love will watch over him forever,
and my agreement with him will never end.
29 I will make his family continue,
and his kingdom will last as long as the skies.
30 “If his descendants reject my teachings
and do not follow my laws,
31 if they ignore my demands
and disobey my commands,
32 then I will punish their sins with a rod
and their wrongs with a whip.
33 But I will not hold back my love from David,
nor will I stop being loyal.
34 I will not break my agreement
nor change what I have said.
35 I have promised by my holiness,
I will not lie to David.
36 His family will go on forever.
His kingdom will last before me like the sun.
37 It will continue forever, like the moon,
like a dependable witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But now you have refused and rejected your appointed king.
You have been angry with him.
39 You have abandoned the agreement with your servant
and thrown his crown to the ground.
40 You have torn down all his city walls;
you have turned his strong cities into ruins.
41 Everyone who passes by steals from him.
His neighbors insult him.
42 You have given strength to his enemies
and have made them all happy.
43 You have made his sword useless;
you did not help him stand in battle.
44 You have kept him from winning
and have thrown his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut his life short
and covered him with shame. Selah
46 Lord, how long will this go on?
Will you ignore us forever?
How long will your anger burn like a fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Why did you create us? For nothing?
48 What person alive will not die?
Who can escape the grave? Selah
49 Lord, where is your love from times past,
which in your loyalty you promised to David?
50 Lord, remember how they insulted your servant;
remember how I have suffered the insults of the nations.
51 Lord, remember how your enemies insulted you
and how they insulted your appointed king wherever he went.
52 Praise the Lord forever!
Amen and amen.
Jacob Blesses His Sons
49 Then Jacob called his sons to him. He said, “Come here to me, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future.
2 “Come together and listen, sons of Jacob.
Listen to Israel, your father.”
3 “Reuben, my first son, you are my strength.
Your birth showed I could be a father.
You have the highest position among my sons,
and you are the most powerful.
4 But you are uncontrolled like water,
so you will no longer lead your brothers.
This is because you got into your father’s bed
and shamed me by having sexual relations with my slave girl.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers
who used their swords to do violence.
6 I will not join their secret talks,
and I will not meet with them to plan evil.
They killed men because they were angry,
and they crippled oxen just for fun.
7 May their anger be cursed, because it is too violent.
May their violence be cursed, because it is too cruel.
I will divide them up among the tribes of Jacob
and scatter them through all the tribes of Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grab your enemies by the neck,
and your brothers will bow down to you.
9 Judah is like a young lion.
You have returned from killing, my son.
Like a lion, he stretches out and lies down to rest,
and no one is brave enough to wake him.
10 Kings will come from Judah’s family;
someone from Judah will always be on the throne.
Judah will rule until Shiloh comes,
and the nations will obey him.
11 He ties his donkey to a grapevine,
his young donkey to the best branch.
He can afford to use wine to wash his clothes
and the best wine to wash his robes.
12 His eyes are dark like the color of wine,
and his teeth are as white as the color of milk.
13 “Zebulun will live near the sea.
His shore will be a safe place for ships,
and his land will reach as far as Sidon.
14 “Issachar is like a strong donkey
who lies down while carrying his load.
15 When he sees his resting place is good
and how pleasant his land is,
he will put his back to the load
and become a slave.
16 “Dan will rule his own people
like the other tribes in Israel.
17 Dan will be like a snake by the side of the road,
a dangerous snake lying near the path.
That snake bites a horse’s leg,
and the rider is thrown off backward.
18 “Lord, I wait for your salvation.
19 “Robbers will attack Gad,
but he will defeat them and drive them away.
20 “Asher’s land will grow much good food;
he will grow food fit for a king.
21 “Naphtali is like a female deer that runs free,
that has beautiful fawns.
22 “Joseph is like a grapevine that produces much fruit,
a healthy vine watered by a spring,
whose branches grow over the wall.
23 Archers attack him violently
and shoot at him angrily,
24 but he aims his bow well.
His arms are made strong.
He gets his power from the Mighty God of Jacob
and his strength from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
25 Your father’s God helps you.
God Almighty blesses you.
He blesses you with rain from above,
with water from springs below,
with many babies born to your wives,
and many young ones born to your animals.
26 The blessings of your father are greater
than the blessings of the oldest mountains,
greater than the good things of the long-lasting hills.
May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,
on the forehead of the one who was separated from his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is like a hungry wolf.
In the morning he eats what he has caught,
and in the evening he divides what he has taken.”
28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them. He gave each son the blessing that was right for him.
14 So, my dear friends, run away from the worship of idols. 15 I am speaking to you as to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 We give thanks for the cup of blessing,[a] which is a sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ. 17 Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share that one loaf.
18 Think about the Israelites: Do not those who eat the sacrifices share in the altar? 19 I do not mean that the food sacrificed to an idol is important. I do not mean that an idol is anything at all. 20 But I say that what is sacrificed to idols is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to share anything with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons also. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? We are not stronger than he is, are we?
How to Use Christian Freedom
23 “We are allowed to do all things,” but not all things are good for us to do. “We are allowed to do all things,” but not all things help others grow stronger. 24 Do not look out only for yourselves. Look out for the good of others also.
25 Eat any meat that is sold in the meat market. Do not ask questions about it. 26 You may eat it, “because the earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it.”[b]
27 Those who are not believers may invite you to eat with them. If you want to go, eat anything that is put before you. Do not ask questions about it. 28 But if anyone says to you, “That food was offered to idols,” do not eat it. Do not eat it because of that person who told you and because eating it might be thought to be wrong. 29 I don’t mean you think it is wrong, but the other person might. But why, you ask, should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I eat the meal with thankfulness, why am I criticized because of something for which I thank God?
31 The answer is, if you eat or drink, or if you do anything, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Never do anything that might hurt others—Jews, Greeks, or God’s church— 33 just as I, also, try to please everybody in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me but what is good for most people so they can be saved.
11 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman
24 Jesus left that place and went to the area around Tyre.[a] When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden. 25 A woman whose daughter had an evil spirit in her heard that he was there. So she quickly came to Jesus and fell at his feet. 26 She was Greek, born in Phoenicia, in Syria. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.
27 Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. First let the children eat all they want.”
28 But she answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then Jesus said, “Because of your answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
30 The woman went home and found her daughter lying in bed; the demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Then Jesus left the area around Tyre and went through Sidon to Lake Galilee, to the area of the Ten Towns.[b] 32 While he was there, some people brought a man to him who was deaf and could not talk plainly. The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
33 Jesus led the man away from the crowd, by himself. He put his fingers in the man’s ears and then spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha!” (This means, “Be opened.”) 35 Instantly the man was able to hear and to use his tongue so that he spoke clearly.
36 Jesus commanded the people not to tell anyone about what happened. But the more he commanded them, the more they told about it. 37 They were completely amazed and said, “Jesus does everything well. He makes the deaf hear! And those who can’t talk he makes able to speak.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.