Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137[a]
137 By the rivers of Babylon
we sit down and weep[b]
when we remember Zion.
2 On the poplars in her midst
we hang our harps,
3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs;[c]
those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying:[d]
“Sing for us a song about Zion!”[e]
4 How can we sing a song to the Lord
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand be crippled.[f]
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
and do not give Jerusalem priority
over whatever gives me the most joy.[g]
7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.[h]
They said, “Tear it down, tear it down,[i]
right to its very foundation!”
8 O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated,[j]
how blessed will be the one who repays you
for what you dished out to us.[k]
9 How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies
and smashes them on a rock.[l]
Psalm 144[a]
By David.
144 The Lord, my Protector,[b] deserves praise[c]—
the one who trains my hands for battle,[d]
and my fingers for war,
2 who loves me[e] and is my stronghold,
my refuge[f] and my deliverer,
my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,
who makes nations submit to me.[g]
3 O Lord, of what importance is the human race,[h] that you should notice them?
Of what importance is mankind,[i] that you should be concerned about them?[j]
4 People[k] are like a vapor,
their days like a shadow that disappears.[l]
5 O Lord, make the sky sink[m] and come down.[n]
Touch the mountains and make them smolder.[o]
6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter the enemy.
Shoot your arrows and rout them.[p]
7 Reach down[q] from above.
Grab me and rescue me from the surging water,[r]
from the power of foreigners,[s]
8 who speak lies,
and make false promises.[t]
9 O God, I will sing a new song to you.
Accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, I will sing praises to you,
10 the one who delivers[u] kings,
and rescued David his servant from a deadly[v] sword.
11 Grab me and rescue me from the power of foreigners,[w]
who speak lies,
and make false promises.[x]
12 Then[y] our sons will be like plants,
that quickly grow to full size.[z]
Our daughters will be like corner pillars,[aa]
carved like those in a palace.[ab]
13 Our storehouses[ac] will be full,
providing all kinds of food.[ad]
Our sheep will multiply by the thousands
and fill[ae] our pastures.[af]
14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce.[ag]
No one will break through our walls,
no one will be taken captive,
and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares.[ah]
15 How blessed are the people who experience these things.[ai]
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
Psalm 104[a]
104 Praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are magnificent.[b]
You are robed in splendor and majesty.
2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.
He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,
3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds.[c]
He makes the clouds his chariot,
and travels on the wings of the wind.[d]
4 He makes the winds his messengers,
and the flaming fire his attendant.[e]
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be moved.
6 The watery deep covered it[f] like a garment;
the waters reached[g] above the mountains.[h]
7 Your shout made the waters retreat;
at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off—
8 as the mountains rose up,
and the valleys went down—
to the place you appointed for them.[i]
9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again.[j]
10 He turns springs into streams;[k]
they flow between the mountains.
11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky live beside them;
they chirp among the bushes.[l]
13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace;[m]
the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow.[n]
14 He provides grass[o] for the cattle,
and crops for people to cultivate,[p]
so they can produce food from the ground,[q]
15 as well as wine that makes people glad,[r]
and olive oil to make their faces shine,[s]
as well as bread that sustains them.[t]
16 The trees of the Lord[u] receive all the rain they need,[v]
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,
17 where the birds make nests,
near the evergreens in which the herons live.[w]
18 The wild goats live in the high mountains;[x]
the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.
19 He made the moon to mark the months,[y]
and the sun sets according to a regular schedule.[z]
20 You make it dark and night comes,[aa]
during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
21 The lions roar for prey,
seeking their food from God.[ab]
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and sleep[ac] in their dens.
23 People then go out to do their work,
and they labor until evening.[ad]
24 How many living things you have made, O Lord![ae]
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;[af]
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,[ag]
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,[ah]
living things both small and large.
26 The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale[ai] you made to play in it.
27 All your creatures[aj] wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis.[ak]
28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food.[al]
29 When you ignore them, they panic.[am]
When you take away their life’s breath,
they die and return to dust.
30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,
and you replenish the surface of the ground.
31 May the splendor of the Lord endure.[an]
May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made.[ao]
32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;
he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.[ap]
34 May my thoughts[aq] be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners disappear[ar] from the earth,
and the wicked vanish.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord.
Judah’s Unfaithfulness Contrasted with the Rechabites’ Faithfulness
35 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim[a] son of Josiah was ruling over Judah:[b] 2 “Go to the Rechabite community.[c] Invite them to come into one of the side rooms[d] of the Lord’s temple and offer them some wine to drink.” 3 So I went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah the grandson of Habazziniah, his brothers, all his sons, and all the rest of the Rechabite community. 4 I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed.[e] That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers[f] of the temple, stayed. 5 Then I set cups and pitchers full of wine in front of the members of the Rechabite community and said to them, “Have some wine.”[g] 6 But they answered, “We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, ‘You and your children must never drink wine. 7 Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one.[h] Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will[i] live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’[j] 8 We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us. We have never drunk wine.[k] 9 We have not built any houses to live in. We do not own any vineyards, fields, or crops. 10 We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us.[l] 11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said, ‘Let’s get up and go to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian[m] and Aramean armies.’ That is why we are staying here in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the Lord’s message came to Jeremiah. 13 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,[n] told him, “Go and speak to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. Tell them,[o] ‘I, the Lord, say:[p] “You must learn a lesson from this[q] about obeying what I say.[r] 14 Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out.[s] To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I[t] have spoken to you over and over again,[u] but you have not obeyed me. 15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said, ‘Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right.[v] Do not pay allegiance to other gods[w] and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not pay any attention or listen to me. 16 Yes,[x] the descendants of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out the orders that their ancestor gave them. But you people[y] have not obeyed me! 17 So I, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, say:[z] ‘I will soon bring on Judah and all the citizens of Jerusalem all the disaster that I threatened to bring on them. I will do this because I spoke to them but they did not listen. I called out to them but they did not answer.’”’”
18 Then Jeremiah spoke to the Rechabite community, “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel[aa] says, ‘You have obeyed the orders of your ancestor Jonadab. You have followed all his instructions. You have done exactly as he commanded you.’ 19 So the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a male descendant to serve me.’”[ab]
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. 29 Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? 30 Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they?[a] 31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts.
And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.[b]
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast,[c] but do not have love, I receive no benefit.
Workers for the Harvest
35 Then Jesus went throughout all the towns[a] and villages, teaching in their synagogues,[b] preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness.[c] 36 When[d] he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless,[e] like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest[f] to send out workers into his harvest-ready fields.”[g]
Sending Out the Twelve Apostles
10 Jesus[h] called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits[i] so they could cast them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness.[j] 2 Now these are the names of the twelve apostles:[k] first, Simon[l] (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew;[m] Thomas[n] and Matthew the tax collector;[o] James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;[p] 4 Simon the Zealot[q] and Judas Iscariot,[r] who betrayed him.[s]
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.