Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Victory
For the director of music. By the Lord’s servant, David. David sang this song to the Lord when the Lord had saved him from Saul and all his other enemies.
18 I love you, Lord. You are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my protection, my Savior.
My God is my rock.
I can run to him for safety.
He is my shield and my saving strength, my defender.
3 I will call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death came around me;
the deadly rivers overwhelmed me.
5 The ropes of death wrapped around me.
The traps of death were before me.
6 In my trouble I called to the Lord.
I cried out to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my call for help reached his ears.
7 The earth trembled and shook.
The foundations of the mountains began to shake.
They trembled because the Lord was angry.
8 Smoke came out of his nose,
and burning fire came out of his mouth.
Burning coals went before him.
9 He tore open the sky and came down
with dark clouds under his feet.
10 He rode a creature with wings and flew.
He raced on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his shelter around him,
surrounded by fog and clouds.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence came clouds
with hail and lightning.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High raised his voice,
and there was hail and lightning.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies.
His many bolts of lightning confused them with fear.
15 Lord, you spoke strongly.
The wind blew from your nose.
Then the valleys of the sea appeared,
and the foundations of the earth were seen.
16 The Lord reached down from above and took me;
he pulled me from the deep water.
17 He saved me from my powerful enemies,
from those who hated me, because they were too strong for me.
18 They attacked me at my time of trouble,
but the Lord supported me.
19 He took me to a safe place.
Because he delights in me, he saved me.
20 The Lord spared me because I did what was right.
Because I have not done evil, he has rewarded me.
21 I have followed the ways of the Lord;
I have not done evil by turning away from my God.
22 I remember all his laws
and have not broken his rules.
23 I am innocent before him;
I have kept myself from doing evil.
24 The Lord rewarded me because I did what was right,
because I did what the Lord said was right.
25 Lord, you are loyal to those who are loyal,
and you are good to those who are good.
26 You are pure to those who are pure,
but you are against those who are bad.
27 You save the humble,
but you bring down those who are proud.
28 Lord, you give light to my lamp.
My God brightens the darkness around me.
29 With your help I can attack an army.
With God’s help I can jump over a wall.
30 The ways of God are without fault.
The Lord’s words are pure.
He is a shield to those who trust him.
31 Who is God? Only the Lord.
Who is the Rock? Only our God.
32 God is my protection.
He makes my way free from fault.
33 He makes me like a deer that does not stumble;
he helps me stand on the steep mountains.
34 He trains my hands for battle
so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
35 You protect me with your saving shield.
You support me with your right hand.
You have stooped to make me great.
36 You give me a better way to live,
so I live as you want me to.
37 I chased my enemies and caught them.
I did not quit until they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so they couldn’t rise up again.
They fell beneath my feet.
39 You gave me strength in battle.
You made my enemies bow before me.
40 You made my enemies turn back,
and I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They called for help,
but no one came to save them.
They called to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
42 I beat my enemies into pieces, like dust in the wind.
I poured them out like mud in the streets.
43 You saved me when the people attacked me.
You made me the leader of nations.
People I never knew serve me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
Foreigners obey me.
45 They all become afraid
and tremble in their hiding places.
46 The Lord lives!
May my Rock be praised.
Praise the God who saves me!
47 God gives me victory over my enemies
and brings people under my rule.
48 He saves me from my enemies.
You set me over those who hate me.
You saved me from violent people.
49 So I will praise you, Lord, among the nations.
I will sing praises to your name.
50 The Lord gives great victories to his king.
He is loyal to his appointed king,
to David and his descendants forever.
18 At that time I gave you this command: “The Lord your God has given you this land as your own. Now your fighting men must take their weapons, and you must lead the other Israelites across the river. 19 Your wives, your young children, and your cattle may stay here. I know you have many cattle, and they may stay here in the cities I have given you, 20 until the Lord also gives your Israelite relatives a place to rest. They will receive the land the Lord your God has given them on the other side of the Jordan River. After that, you may each return to the land I have given you.”
21 Then I gave this command to Joshua: “You have seen for yourself all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same thing to all the kingdoms where you are going. 22 Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God will fight for you.”
Moses Cannot Enter the Land
23 Then I begged the Lord: 24 “Lord God, you have begun to show me, your servant, how great you are. You have great strength, and no other god in heaven or on earth can do the powerful things you do. There is no other god like you. 25 Please let me cross the Jordan River so that I may see the good land by the Jordan. I want to see the beautiful mountains and Lebanon.”
26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, “That’s enough. Don’t talk to me anymore about it. 27 Climb to the top of Mount Pisgah and look west, north, south, and east. You can look at the land, but you will not cross the Jordan River. 28 Appoint Joshua and help him be brave and strong. He will lead the people across the river and give them the land that they are to inherit, but you can only look at it.”
19 So one of you will ask me: “Then why does God blame us for our sins? Who can fight his will?” 20 You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God. An object should not ask the person who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.
22 It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with—people who were made ready to be destroyed. 23 He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory, 24 and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews. 25 As the Scripture says in Hosea:
“I will say, ‘You are my people’
to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And I will show my love
to those people I did not love.” Hosea 2:1, 23
26 “They were called,
‘You are not my people,’
but later they will be called
‘children of the living God.’” Hosea 1:10
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
“The people of Israel are many,
like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved,
28 because the Lord will quickly and completely punish the people on the earth.” Isaiah 10:22–23
29 It is as Isaiah said:
“The Lord All-Powerful
allowed a few of our descendants to live.
Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed
like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”[a] Isaiah 1:9
30 So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed, 32 because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. 33 As it is written in the Scripture:
“I will put in Jerusalem a stone that causes people to stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
The Temple Will Be Destroyed
24 As Jesus left the Temple and was walking away, his followers came up to show him the Temple’s buildings. 2 Jesus asked, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. Every stone will be thrown down to the ground.”
3 Later, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his followers came to be alone with him. They said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that it is time for you to come again and for this age to end?”
4 Jesus answered, “Be careful that no one fools you. 5 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will fool many people. 6 You will hear about wars and stories of wars that are coming, but don’t be afraid. These things must happen before the end comes. 7 Nations will fight against other nations; kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms. There will be times when there is no food for people to eat, and there will be earthquakes in different places. 8 These things are like the first pains when something new is about to be born.
9 “Then people will arrest you, hand you over to be hurt, and kill you. They will hate you because you believe in me. 10 At that time, many will lose their faith, and they will turn against each other and hate each other. 11 Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe lies. 12 There will be more and more evil in the world, so most people will stop showing their love for each other. 13 But those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved. 14 The Good News about God’s kingdom will be preached in all the world, to every nation. Then the end will come.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.