Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 89
A maskil[a] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the Lord’s loyal love forever.
I will proclaim your faithfulness
with my own mouth
from one generation to the next.
2 That’s why I say,
“Your[b] loyal love is rightly built—forever!
You establish your faithfulness in heaven.”
3 You said,[c] “I made a covenant with my chosen one;
I promised my servant David:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever;
I will build up your throne from one generation to the next.’” Selah
5 Heaven thanks you for your wondrous acts, Lord—
for your faithfulness too—
in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 Is there any in the sky who could compare to the Lord?
Who among the gods is equal to the Lord?
7 God is respected in the council of the holy ones;
God is awesome and revered more than all those around him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God of heavenly forces?
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you!
9 You rule over the surging sea:
When its waves rise up,
it’s you who makes them still.
10 It’s you who crushed Rahab like a dead body;
you scattered your enemies with your strong arm.
11 Heaven is yours! The earth too!
The world and all that fills it—
you made all of it! North and south—you created them!
12 The mountains Tabor and Hermon
shout praises to your name.
13 You have a powerful arm;
your hand is strong;
your strong hand is raised high!
14 Your throne is built on righteousness and justice;
loyal love and faithfulness stand in front of you.
15 The people who know the celebratory shout are truly happy!
They walk in the light of your presence, Lord!
16 They rejoice in your name all day long
and are uplifted by your righteousness
17 because you are the splendor of their strength.
By your favor you make us strong
18 because our shield is the Lord’s own;
our king belongs to the holy one of Israel!
19 Once you spoke in a vision
to your faithful servants:
I placed a crown on a strong man.
I raised up someone specially chosen from the people.
20 I discovered my servant David.
I anointed him with my holy oil.
21 My hand will sustain him—
yes, my arm will strengthen him!
22 No enemy will oppress him;
no wicked person will make him suffer.
23 I will crush all his foes in front of him.
I will strike down all those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and my loyal love will be with him.
He will be strengthened by my name.
25 I will set his hand on the sea.
I will set his strong hand on the rivers.
26 He will cry out to me:
“You are my father,
my God, the rock of my salvation.”
27 Yes, I’ll make him the one born first—
I’ll make him the high king of all earth’s kings.
28 I will always guard my loyal love toward him.
My covenant with him will last forever.
29 I will establish his dynasty for all time.
His throne will last as long as heaven does.
30 But if his children ever abandon my Instruction,
stop following my rules—
31 if they treat my statutes like dirt,
stop keeping my commandments—
32 then I will punish their sin with a stick,
and I will punish their wrongdoing with a severe beating.
33 But even then I won’t withdraw my loyal love from him.
I won’t betray my faithfulness.
34 I won’t break my covenant.
I won’t renege on what crossed my lips.
35 By my own holiness I’ve sworn one thing:
I will not lie to David.
36 His dynasty will last forever.
His throne will be like the sun, always before me.
37 It will be securely established forever;
like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky. Selah
38 But you, God, have rejected and despised him.
You’ve become infuriated with your anointed one.
39 You’ve canceled the covenant with your servant.
You’ve thrown his crown in the dirt.
40 You’ve broken through all his walls.
You’ve made his strongholds a pile of ruins.
41 All those who pass by plunder him.
He’s nothing but a joke to his neighbors.
42 You lifted high his foes’ strong hand.
You gave all his enemies reason to celebrate.
43 Yes, you dulled the edge of his sword
and didn’t support him in battle.
44 You’ve put an end to his splendor.
You’ve thrown his throne to the ground.
45 You’ve shortened the prime of his life.
You’ve wrapped him up in shame. Selah
46 How long will it last, Lord?
Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my life is!
Have you created humans for no good reason?
48 Who lives their life without seeing death?
Who is ever rescued from the grip of the grave?[d] Selah
49 Where now are your loving acts
from long ago, my Lord—
the same ones you promised to David
by your own faithfulness?
50 Remember your servant’s abuse, my Lord!
Remember how I bear in my heart
all the insults of the nations,[e]
51 the ones your enemies, Lord, use—
the ones they use to abuse
every step your anointed one takes.
52 Bless the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen!
Jerusalem’s siege
4 You, human one, take a brick. Put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. 2 Prepare the siege: Build a wall, construct ramps, set up army camps, and place battering rams all around. 3 Take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Face it directly. When it is under siege like this, press hard against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4 Now, lie on your left side, and set the guilt of the house of Israel on it. For the length of time that you lie on your side, you will bear their punishment. 5 I appoint to you three hundred ninety days, one day for each year of their guilt. So you will bear the punishment of the house of Israel. 6 When you have completed these days, lie on your right side to bear the guilt of the house of Judah. I appoint forty days to you, one day for each year. 7 With your arm stretched out, face the siege of Jerusalem directly and prophesy against it. 8 I’ve now bound you with cords so that you can’t turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
9 You, gather some wheat and barley, beans and lentils, and millet and spelt. Put them in a bowl and make your bread from them. Eat it during the three hundred ninety days that you lie on your side. 10 At fixed times you will eat your food by weight, fourteen ounces a day.[a] 11 You will also ration your water by measure, drinking a sixth of a hin[b] at fixed times each day. 12 Eat it like barley bread, and bake it on human excrement while they watch. 13 The Lord says: In this same way the Israelites will eat their unclean bread among the nations where I am scattering them.
14 And I said: “Ah, Lord God! I’ve never been unclean! From my childhood until now I’ve never eaten anything that wasn’t properly slaughtered,[c] and no unclean meat has ever entered my mouth!”
15 He answered me: “Then I’ll let you use cow dung instead of human excrement. You can make your bread over that.”
16 Then he said to me: Human one, I’m destroying the food supply in Jerusalem. They will anxiously ration and eat their food, and in dismay they will dole out and drink their water. 17 When their food and water dwindles away, everyone will be horrified, and they will waste away because of their guilt.
Let’s press on to maturity
6 So let’s press on to maturity, by moving on from the basics about Christ’s word. Let’s not lay a foundation of turning away from dead works, of faith in God, 2 of teaching about ritual ways to wash with water, laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment—all over again. 3 We’re going to press on, if God allows it.
4 Because it’s impossible to restore people to changed hearts and lives who turn away once they have seen the light, tasted the heavenly gift, become partners with the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age. 6 They are crucifying God’s Son all over again and exposing him to public shame. 7 The ground receives a blessing from God when it drinks up the rain that regularly comes and falls on it and yields a useful crop for those people for whom it is being farmed. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it’s useless and close to being cursed. It ends up being burned.
Make your hope sure
9 But we are convinced of better things in your case, brothers and sisters, even though we are talking this way—things that go together with salvation. 10 God isn’t unjust so that he forgets your efforts and the love you have shown for his name’s sake when you served and continue to serve God’s holy people. 11 But we desperately want each of you to show the same effort to make your hope sure until the end. 12 This is so you won’t be lazy but follow the example of the ones who inherit the promises through faith and patience.
Jesus sets out for Jerusalem
51 As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers on ahead of him. Along the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival, 53 but the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?” 55 But Jesus turned and spoke sternly to them, 56 and they went on to another village.
Following Jesus
57 As Jesus and his disciples traveled along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Human One[a] has no place to lay his head.”
59 Then Jesus said to someone else, “Follow me.”
He replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and spread the news of God’s kingdom.”
61 Someone else said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those in my house.”
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand on the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible