Book of Common Prayer

The privileges of citizenship in Zion.

A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song.

Book IV

God’s eternity and man’s transitoriness.

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

Thanks for Jehovah’s goodness to Israel.

²⁷ And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. ²⁹ And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt; ³⁰ but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. ³¹ And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

48 And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. ³ And Jacob said unto Joseph, ^[a]God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, ⁴ and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. ⁵ And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. ⁶ And thy issue, that thou ^[b]begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. ⁷ And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died ^[c]by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

10 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; ² and were all baptized ^[a]unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³ and did all eat the same spiritual food; ⁴ and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was ^[b]Christ. ⁵ Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. ⁶ Now ^[c]these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. ⁷ Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ^[d]The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. ⁸ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. ⁹ Neither let us make trial of the ^[e]Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. ¹⁰ Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened unto them ^[f]by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. ¹² Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ¹³ There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

7 And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with ^[a]defiled, that is, unwashen, hands. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands ^[b]diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, except they ^[c]bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, ^[d]washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels^[e].) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^[f]defiled hands? ⁶ And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

⁸ Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. ⁹ And he said unto them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ^[h]Honor thy father and thy mother; and, He that speaketh evil of father or mother, let him ^[i]die the death: ¹¹ but ye say, If a man shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, Given to God; ¹² ye no longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother; ¹³ making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do. ¹⁴ And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.^{[j] 17} And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. ¹⁸ And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him; ¹⁹ because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean. ²⁰ And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, ^[k]evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: ²³ all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.