Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106[a]
106 Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.[b]
2 Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts,
or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?[c]
3 How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people.
Pay attention to me, when you deliver,
5 so I may see the prosperity[d] of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation,[e]
and boast along with the people who belong to you.[f]
6 We have sinned like[g] our ancestors;[h]
we have done wrong, we have done evil.
7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds.
They failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,
and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.[i]
8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation,[j]
that he might reveal his power.
9 He shouted at[k] the Red Sea and it dried up;
he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.
10 He delivered them from the power[l] of the one who hated them,
and rescued[m] them from the power[n] of the enemy.
11 The water covered their enemies;
not even one of them survived.[o]
12 They believed his promises;[p]
they sang praises to him.
13 They quickly forgot what he had done;[q]
they did not wait for his instructions.[r]
14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving[s] for meat;[t]
they challenged God[u] in the wastelands.
15 He granted their request,
then struck them with a disease.[v]
16 In the camp they resented[w] Moses,
and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.[x]
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it engulfed[y] the group led by Abiram.[z]
18 Fire burned their group;
the flames scorched the wicked.[aa]
19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
and worshiped a metal idol.
20 They traded their majestic God[ab]
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They rejected[ac] the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,
22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty acts[ad] by the Red Sea.
23 He threatened[ae] to destroy them,
but[af] Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him[ag]
and turned back his destructive anger.[ah]
24 They rejected the fruitful land;[ai]
they did not believe his promise.[aj]
25 They grumbled in their tents;[ak]
they did not obey[al] the Lord.
26 So he made a solemn vow[am]
that he would make them die[an] in the wilderness,
27 make their descendants[ao] die[ap] among the nations,
and scatter them among foreign lands.[aq]
28 They worshiped[ar] Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.[as]
29 They made the Lord angry[at] by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened,[au]
and the plague subsided.
31 This was credited to Phinehas as a righteous act
for all generations to come.[av]
32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered[aw] because of them,
33 for they aroused[ax] his temper,[ay]
and he spoke rashly.[az]
34 They did not destroy the nations,[ba]
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
35 They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways.[bb]
36 They worshiped[bc] their idols,
which became a snare to them.[bd]
37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.[be]
38 They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed.[bf]
39 They were defiled by their deeds,
and unfaithful in their actions.[bg]
40 So the Lord was angry with his people[bh]
and despised the people who belonged to him.[bi]
41 He handed them over to[bj] the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them;
they were subject to their authority.[bk]
43 Many times he delivered[bl] them,
but they had a rebellious attitude,[bm]
and degraded themselves[bn] by their sin.
44 Yet he took notice of their distress,
when he heard their cry for help.
45 He remembered his covenant with them,
and relented[bo] because of his great loyal love.
46 He caused all their conquerors[bp]
to have pity on them.
47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God.
Gather us from among the nations.
Then we will give thanks[bq] to your holy name,
and boast about your praiseworthy deeds.[br]
48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise,[bs]
in the future and forevermore.[bt]
Let all the people say, “We agree![bu] Praise the Lord!”[bv]
A Prayer for Divine Intervention
7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord,
of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds.
I will tell about all[a] the Lord did for us,
the many good things he did for the family of Israel,[b]
because of[c] his compassion and great faithfulness.
8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people,
children who are not disloyal.”[d]
He became their deliverer.
9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too.[e]
The messenger sent from his very presence[f] delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected[g] them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times.[h]
10 But they rebelled and offended[i] his holy Spirit,[j]
so he turned into an enemy
and fought against them.
11 His people remembered the ancient times.[k]
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,
along with the shepherd of[l] his flock?
Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them,[m]
12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses,[n]
who divided the water before them,
gaining for himself a lasting reputation,[o]
13 who led them through the deep water?
Like a horse running through the wilderness[p] they did not stumble.
14 As an animal that goes down into a valley to graze,[q]
so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.
In this way[r] you guided your people,
gaining for yourself an honored reputation.[s]
Salutation
1 From Paul,[a] an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to further the promise[b] of life in Christ Jesus, 2 to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!
Thanksgiving and Charge to Timothy
3 I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,[c] when I remember you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day.[d] 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you,[e] so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I recall[f] your sincere faith[g] that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure[h] is in you.
6 Because of this I remind you to rekindle God’s gift that you possess[i] through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a Spirit[j] of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord[k] or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by[l] God’s power accept your share of suffering[m] for the gospel. 9 He is the one who saved us[n] and called us with a holy calling, not based on[o] our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began,[p] 10 but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He[q] has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel! 11 For this gospel[r] I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher.[s] 12 Because of this, in fact, I suffer as I do.[t] But I am not ashamed, because I know the one in whom my faith is set[u] and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me[v] until that day.[w] 13 Hold to the standard[x] of sound words that you heard from me and do so with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.[y] 14 Protect that good thing[z] entrusted to you, through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
Response to Jesus’ Work
24 “When an unclean spirit[a] goes out of a person,[b] it passes through waterless places[c] looking for rest but[d] not finding any. Then[e] it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’[f] 25 When it returns,[g] it finds the house[h] swept clean and put in order.[i] 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so[j] the last state of that person[k] is worse than the first.”[l]
27 As[m] he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out[n] to him, “Blessed is the womb[o] that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”[p] 28 But he replied,[q] “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey[r] it!”
The Sign of Jonah
29 As[s] the crowds were increasing, Jesus[t] began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign,[u] but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.[v] 30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh,[w] so the Son of Man will be a sign[x] to this generation.[y] 31 The queen of the South[z] will rise up at the judgment[aa] with the people[ab] of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon—and now,[ac] something greater[ad] than Solomon is here! 32 The people[ae] of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them[af]—and now,[ag] something greater than Jonah is here!
Internal Light
33 “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a hidden place[ah] or under a basket,[ai] but on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy,[aj] your whole body is full of light, but when it is diseased,[ak] your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore see to it[al] that the light in you[am] is not darkness. 36 If[an] then[ao] your whole body is full of light, with no part in the dark,[ap] it will be as full of light as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”[aq]
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