Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106[a]
Israel’s Confession of Sin and God’s Mercy
1 Alleluia.
Give thanks[b] to the Lord, for he is good;
his kindness endures forever.
2 Who can possibly recount the mighty acts of the Lord
and fully proclaim his praise?[c]
3 Blessed[d] are those who do what is right
and practice justice constantly.
4 Remember me, O Lord, out of the love you have for your people;
come to me with your salvation.[e]
5 Let me delight in the success of your chosen ones,
share in the joy of your nation,
and glory in your heritage.
6 [f]Like our ancestors, we[g] have sinned;
we have gone astray and done evil.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
they failed to be mindful of your wonders;
they did not remember your many kindnesses
and rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake[h]
so that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led them through the depths as through a wilderness.
10 He saved them from those who hated them;
from the hand of the enemy he delivered them.
11 The waters closed over their adversaries;
not a single one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his words
and sang his praises.[i]
13 [j]But they soon forgot what he had done
and had no confidence in his plan.
14 In the wilderness they yielded to their cravings;
in the wasteland they put God to the test.
15 He gave them everything they wanted
but struck them with a consuming disease.
16 [k]In the camp they grew envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 The earth parted and swallowed Dathan
and closed over the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed all through them,
and the wicked were consumed in flames.
19 [l]They constructed a calf at Horeb
and worshiped this molten image.
20 They exchanged their Glory[m]
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,[n]
and awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 He was contemplating their destruction,
but Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach[o] before him
to keep his wrath from destroying them.
24 [p]Then they derided the land of delights,[q]
for they had no faith in his word.
25 They grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore, he swore with uplifted hand
to strike them down in the wilderness
27 and disperse their descendants among the nations,
scattering them in foreign lands.
28 [r]They joined in worshiping Baal of Peor
and ate food sacrificed to lifeless gods.
29 They provoked the Lord to anger by their evil deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment,
and the plague came to an end.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness[s]
for all the generations to come.
32 [t]At the waters of Meribah[u] they angered the Lord,
and Moses endured difficulties because of them.
33 For they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
and rash words issued from Moses’ lips.[v]
34 [w]They did not exterminate the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
35 Rather, they mingled with the nations
and adopted their practices.
36 They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed to false gods[x]
their sons and their daughters.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
polluting the land with their blood.
39 Thus, they defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their conduct.[y]
40 [z]Then the anger of the Lord flared up against his people,
and he abhorred his own heritage.
41 He handed them over to the nations,
and their foes became their rulers.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and kept them in subjection to their power.
43 Time and again he came to their rescue,
but they rebelled against his counsel
and sank low because of their sin.
44 Even so, he took pity on their distress
when he heard their cries.
45 He called to mind his covenant[aa] with them,
and he relented because of his great mercy.
46 He aroused compassion for them
on the part of all their captors.
47 Save us, O Lord, our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in praising[ab] you.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.[ac]
Let all the people say, “Amen.”
Alleluia.[ad]
Israel’s Restoration[a]
Chapter 33
Ezekiel as Sentry. 1 This word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, speak to your fellow countrymen and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a country, and the people of that country designate one of their number to be their watchman, 3 and if he sees the sword coming against that country and blows his trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet pay no attention to the warning, and the sword comes against them and destroys them, they shall bear the responsibility for their own death.
5 Since they had heard the sound of the trumpet and nevertheless ignored the warning, their blood will be on their own heads. But if they had heeded the warning, they would have saved their lives. 6 However, if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword then comes and slays anyone, I will hold the watchman responsible for that person’s death.
7 I have appointed you, son of man, as a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must pass along my warning to them. 8 If I say to the wicked person, “You shall surely die,” and you do not speak up to warn that person to renounce his evil ways, he will die because of his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. 9 However, if you warn a wicked person to renounce his ways and repent, and he fails to do so, then he will die for his guilt, but you will have saved your life.
10 Message of Conversion.[b] Son of man, say to the house of Israel: You continually complain, “Our crimes and our sins weigh heavily upon us, and we are wasting away because of them. How are we to go on living?” 11 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather in their decision to turn from their evil ways and live. Repent and turn from your evil ways. Why should you die, O house of Israel?
Chapter 1
Prologue[a]
An Authentic Communion of Life
1 This is what we proclaim to you:
what existed from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our own eyes,
what we have looked at
and touched with our hands—
we are speaking of the Word of life.[b]
2 That life was made visible;
we have seen it and bear witness,
proclaiming to you the eternal life[c]
that was with the Father
and was revealed to us.
3 What we have seen and heard
we declare to you
so that you may have fellowship[d] with us.
For our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing this
so that our joy may be complete.
Walk in the Light
God Is Light[e]
5 This is the message
that we have heard from him
and that we declare to you:
God is light,
and there is no darkness[f] at all in him.
6 If we claim that we have fellowship with him
while we continue to live in darkness,
we are lying and do not live in the truth.
7 However, if we live in the light
as he himself is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son
purifies us from all sin.
Deliverance from Sin[g]
8 If we claim that we are sinless,
we are only deceiving ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
9 However, if we confess our sins,
he who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we say that we have never sinned,
we make him out to be a liar,
and his word is not in us.
27 Jesus Heals Two Blind Men. As Jesus proceeded from there, two blind men followed him, crying out loudly, “Son of David,[a] have pity on us.” 28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men approached him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They replied, “Yes, Lord, we do.” 29 Then Jesus touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” 30 And their sight was restored. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See to it that no one learns about this.” 31 But as soon as they had departed, they spread the news about him throughout that entire district.
32 Jesus Heals a Mute Demoniac. As they left, a man who was possessed and unable to speak was brought to him. 33 When the demon had been driven out, the man who had been mute was able to speak. The crowds were amazed, and they said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees responded, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”[b]
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