Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 87
A song of the sons of Korah.
1 He laid His foundation on the sacred mountains.
2 The Eternal loves Zion’s gates;
He prefers it over any other place where Jacob’s descendants make their homes.
3 Spectacular things are said about you,
O Jerusalem, city of the True God.
[pause][a]
4 God says, “I tell of some who know Me in Egypt[b] and Babylon;
behold, My people are in Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia[c] too:
‘This person was born there.’”
5 It is said of Zion,
“This person and that person were born in her.”
The Most High God has established that city and makes her strong.
6 When keeping track of His people, the Eternal surely notices,
“This one was born in Zion.”
[pause]
7 Those who sing and those who dance will say together,
“All my fountains of joy are in You.”
Book Four
There are endless reasons to praise God, and many of them are included in the Book of Psalms. Book Four (Psalms 90–106) is made up of songs that praise and celebrate God for His creation, strength, work in history, and kingship. Although these songs are written to honor God, many require something from us. Throughout these psalms is the Hebrew word hallelujah, translated “Praise the Eternal!” That’s not just a passive verb, as in, “Praise be to the Eternal”; it’s an active imperative! We are commanded to praise Him. We are commanded to join angels above, people below, and all creatures in praising Him!
Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, a man of God.
1 Lord, You have always been our refuge.
Our ancestors made You their home long ago.
2 Before mountains were born,
before You fashioned the earth and filled it with life,
from ages past to distant futures,
You are truly God.
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Go back to the dust, children of Adam.”
4 For You a thousand years is like a day when it is over,
a watch during the night;
there is no difference to You.
5-6 You release the waters of death to sweep mankind away in his slumber.
In the morning, we are blades of grass,
Growing rapidly under the sun but withering quickly;
yet in the evening, we fade and die, soon to be cut down.
7 For Your anger has consumed us.
Your wrath has shaken us to the core
and left us deeply troubled.
8 You have written our offenses before You—
the light of Your presence shines brightly on our secret sins,
and we can’t run or hide.
9 For all our days are spent beneath Your wrath;
our youth gives way to old age, and then
one day our years come to an end with a sigh.
10 We may journey through life for 70 years;
some may live and breathe 80 years—if we are strong.
Yet our time here is only toil and trouble;
soon our days are gone, and we fly away.
11 Who can truly comprehend the power unleashed by Your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear that is due to You.
12 Teach us to number our days
so that we may truly live and achieve wisdom.
13 How long will we wait here alone?
Return, O Eternal One, with mercy.
Rescue Your servants with compassion.
14 With every sun’s rising, surprise us with Your love,
satisfy us with Your kindness.
Then we will sing with joy and celebrate every day we are alive.
15 You have spent many days afflicting us with pain and sorrow;
now match those with years of unspent joy.
16 Let Your work of love be on display for all Your servants;
let Your children see Your majesty.
17 And then let the beauty and grace of the Lord—our God—rest upon us
and bring success to all we do;
yes, bring success to all we do!
Psalm 136
This hymn of praise recounts God’s actions in the past: creation, exodus, and the giving of the land to Israel. A repeated refrain indicates this psalm was chanted responsively.
1 Let your heart overflow with praise to the Eternal, for He is good,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
2 Praise the True God who reigns over all other gods,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
3 Praise the Lord who reigns over all other lords,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
4 To Him who alone does marvelous wonders,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
5 Who created the heavens with skill and artistry,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
6 Who laid out dry land over the waters,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
7 Who made the great heavenly lights,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
8 The sun to reign by day,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
9 The moon and stars to reign by night,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
10 To Him who struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
11 Who set Israel free from Egyptian masters,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
12 With fierce strength, a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
13 To Him who split the Red Sea[a] in two and made a path between the divided waters,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
14 Then allowed Israel to pass safely through on dry ground,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
15 To Him who crushed Pharaoh and his army in the waters of the Red Sea,[b]
for His faithful love lasts forever.
16 Who guided His people through the desert,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
17 Who struck down mighty kings,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
18 Who slaughtered famous kings,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
19 Sihon, the king of the Amorites,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
20 And Og, the king of Bashan,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
21 To Him who gave the conquered land as an inheritance,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
22 Who made the land a heritage to Israel, His servant,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
23 To Him who remembered us when we were nearly defeated,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
24 Who rescued us from our enemies,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
25 Who provides food for every living thing,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
26 Let your heart overflow with praise to the True God of heaven,
for His faithful love lasts forever.
1 The words in this book are the words of the Eternal One, which were told to Hosea (Beeri’s son) when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah; and when Jeroboam (Joash’s son) was king of Israel.
2 This is the word the Eternal spoke through Hosea first.
Eternal One (to Hosea): Go and marry a woman who is a prostitute and have children who come from this unfaithfulness. This will represent how the land of Israel has abandoned Me and become a prostitute to other masters!
3 So Hosea married a woman named Gomer (Diblaim’s daughter). She became pregnant and gave birth to his son.
Eternal One: 4 I want you to name this boy Jezreel because I’m just about to punish Jehu’s dynasty for all the blood Jehu shed at the city of Jezreel.[a] I will bring an end to the monarchy in Israel. 5 Here’s how I’m going to do it: I’ll destroy their army and break their bow when they fight the Assyrians in the valley of Jezreel.
This judgment is for the crime of slaughtering Ahab’s family at the city of Jezreel by Jehu when he made himself king, and the punish ment includes Jehu’s great-grandson, King Jeroboam.
6 Gomer became pregnant again, and this time she had a girl.
Eternal One: I want you to name her Shown No Mercy,[b] because I’m not going to show any more mercy to the people of Israel. I won’t forgive them anymore. 7 But I will have mercy on the people of Judah. Even though they could never win in battle with their own weapons—bows and swords, horses and cavalry—I’m going to save them personally.
8 After Gomer finished nursing Shown No Mercy, she became pregnant again and had another boy.
Eternal One: 9 I want you to name him Not My People,[c] because these people aren’t Mine anymore, and I am not their God.
10 But things won’t always be this way. Someday there’ll be so many people in Israel that they’ll be like the grains of sand at the seashore—too many to count! It shall turn out that in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,” they will be called “Children of the living God.”[d] 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will return from exile and gather together as one nation again, and they’ll agree on only one leader for all of them. It will be a great day when they go up from the land and “Jezreel” is a reality.
Jezreel means “God sows [seed].” He will bring the people back to their land, and they’ll never be uprooted again.
2 Eternal One (to the future reunited people): Give your brothers a new name: My People;
and give your sisters a new name too: Shown Mercy.
The message of Jesus not only has the power to annihilate economic supremacy, but also turns the world upside down in the process. In the kingdom of God, a worker is always paid a wage worthy of his work: anyone who works has enough to eat, and no one is left out of the profitable bounty of God. No longer do businesses profit from dishonesty, manipulation, or selfishness.
20 As soon as the uproar ended, Paul gathered the disciples together, encouraged them once more, said farewell, and left on foot. He decided to pass through Macedonia, 2 encouraging believers wherever he found them, and came to Greece. 3 He spent three months there, and then he planned to set sail once again for Syria. But he learned that a group of Jewish opponents was plotting to kill him, so he decided to travel through Macedonia.
4-5 There was a large group of us traveling with him at this time, and we decided it was best, in light of the plot, to split up and then reunite in the city of Troas. This group included Paul, a Berean named Sopater (son of Pyrrhus), two Thessalonians named Aristarchus and Secundus, a Derbean named Gaius, two Asians named Tychicus and Trophimus, and Timothy. 6 Some of us waited until the Days of Unleavened Bread were over; then we went to Philippi where we boarded a ship for Troas. The other group left immediately on foot, passing through Macedonia. When my group landed in Troas five days later, Paul’s group had already arrived. We stayed in Troas another week.
7-8 The Sunday night before our Monday departure, we gathered to celebrate the breaking of bread.
Many wondrous events happen as Paul travels, ministering among the churches. One evening a most unusual event occurs.
Imagine you are celebrating with them:
We are in an upstairs room, with the gentle light and shadows cast by several lamps. Paul is carrying on an extended dialogue with the believers, taking advantage of every moment since we plan to leave at first light. The conversation stretches on until midnight. 9 A young fellow named Eutychus, seeking some fresh air, moves to an open window. Paul keeps on talking. Eutychus perches in the open window itself. Paul keeps talking. Eutychus drifts off to sleep. Paul continues talking until Eutychus, now overcome by deep sleep, drops out of the window and falls three stories to the ground, where he is found dead. 10 Paul joins us downstairs, bends over, and takes Eutychus in his arms.
Paul: It’s OK. He’s alive again.
11 Then Paul goes back upstairs, celebrates the breaking of bread, and—just as you might guess—keeps on conversing until first light. Then he leaves. 12 (I should add that Eutychus had been taken home long before, his friends more than a little relieved that the boy was alive!)
This may be one of the strangest stories ever told. Paul was talking about faith while one young man dozed off and fell out the window. Many a pastor has secretly prayed that slumbering congregants would fall out of their chairs. It might have been funny had he not died; instead, it was a scene of great horror. That is, until God used Paul to turn horror into celebration with a death-defying miracle. But the people were so enamored with Paul’s teaching about Jesus that they returned to their conversations, which continued until sunrise.
13 Again Paul wanted us to split up. He wanted to go by land by himself while we went by ship to Assos. 14 There he came on board with us, and we sailed on to Mitylene. 15 From there we sailed near Chios, passing by it the next day, docking briefly at Samos the day after that, then arriving at Miletus the following day. 16 This route kept us safely out of Ephesus and didn’t require Paul to spend any time at all in Asia, since he wanted to arrive in Jerusalem quickly—before Pentecost, he hoped.
38 Picture this:
Jesus then leaves that synagogue and goes over to Simon’s place. Simon’s mother-in-law is there. She is sick with a high fever. Simon’s family asks Jesus to help her.
39 Jesus stands over her, and just as He had rebuked the demon, He rebukes the fever, and the woman’s temperature returns to normal. She feels so much better that she gets right up and cooks them all a big meal.
40 By this time, it’s just before nightfall, and as the sun sets, groups of families, friends, and bystanders come until a huge crowd has gathered. Each group has brought along family members or friends who are sick with any number of diseases. One by one, Jesus lays His hands on them and heals them. 41 On several occasions, demonic spirits are expelled from these people, after shouting at Jesus, “You are the Son of God!”
Jesus always rebukes them and tells them to be quiet. They know He is the Anointed One, but He doesn’t want to be acclaimed in this way.
42 The next morning, Jesus sneaks away. He finds a place away from the crowds, but soon they find Him. The crowd tries their best to keep Him from leaving.
Jesus: 43 No, I cannot stay. I need to preach the kingdom of God to other cities too. This is the purpose I was sent to fulfill.
44 So He proceeds from synagogue to synagogue across Judea,[a] preaching His message of the kingdom of God.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.