This is Friday’s Common Lectionary Bible reading, which we will include in the Cam Villages pop-up prayer. This week’s morning prayer will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Church, Littlebury, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
Deuteronomy 12.1-14
1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods: on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place. 4 You shall not do so to the LORD your God. 5 But to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and you shall come there. 6 You shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock there. 7 There you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 You shall not do all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the LORD. 12 You shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
Psalm 33
1 Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous!
Praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre.
Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song.
Play skilfully with a shout of joy!
4 For the LORD’s word is right.
All his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD.
6 By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made:
all their army by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it was done.
He commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands fast forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
13 The LORD looks from heaven.
He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions all of their hearts;
and he considers all of their works.
16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17 A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither does he deliver any by his great power.
18 Behold, the LORD’s eye is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his loving kindness,
19 to deliver their soul from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul has waited for the LORD.
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart rejoices in him,
because we have trusted in his holy name.
22 Let your loving kindness be on us, LORD,
since we have hoped in you.