Book of Common Prayer
106 Praise the LORD because He is good; for His mercy endures forever!
2 Who can express the noble acts of the LORD, or proclaim all His praise?
3 Blessed are those who guard justice and do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favor of Your people. Visit me with Your salvation,
5 so that I may see the good things of Your chosen and rejoice in the joy of Your people, and glory with Your inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our Fathers. We have committed iniquity and done wickedly.
7 Our Fathers did not understand Your wonders in Egypt, nor did they remember the multitude of Your mercies; but they rebelled at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless, He saved them for His Name’s sake, so that He might make His power known.
9 And He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; and He led them through the deep, as through the wilderness.
10 And He saved them from the adversary’s hand and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their oppressors. Not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed His words and sang praise to Him.
13 But they soon forgot His works. They did not wait for His counsel,
14 but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert.
15 Then He gave them their desire. But He sent leanness into their soul.
16 They also envied Moses in the tents, and Aaron, the saint of the LORD.
17 The Earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.
18 And the fire was kindled in their assembly; the flame burnt up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus, they turned their glory into the likeness of a bullock that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and fearful things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore, He intended to destroy them had not Moses, His chosen, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath lest He should destroy them.
24 Also, they despised that pleasant land and did not believe His word,
25 but murmured in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
26 Therefore, He lifted up His hand against them to destroy them in the wilderness,
27 and to destroy their seed among the nations, and to scatter them throughout the countries.
28 They also joined themselves to Baal of Peor and ate the offerings of the dead.
29 Thus, they provoked Him to anger with their own inventions; and the plague broke in upon them.
30 But, Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, and the plague was stopped.
31 And it was counted to him for righteousness, from generation to generation, forever.
32 They also angered Him at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was punished for their sakes
33 (because they troubled his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips).
34 Nor did they destroy the people, as the LORD had commanded them,
35 but mingled among the heathen and learned their works
36 and served their idols, which was their ruin.
37 Indeed, they offered their sons and their daughters to demons,
38 and shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and of their daughters whom they offered to the idols of Canaan—and the land was defiled with blood.
39 Thus, they were stained with their own works and went a-whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people; and He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 And He gave them into the hand of the heathen; and those who hated them were lords over them.
42 Also, their enemies oppressed them; and they were humbled under their hand.
43 Many a time did He deliver them, but they provoked Him by their counsel. Therefore, they were brought down by their iniquity.
44 Yet, He saw when they were in affliction and He heard their cry.
45 And He remembered His Covenant toward them and repented, according to the multitude of His mercies,
46 and gave them favor in the sight of all those who had carried them away captive.
47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, so that we may praise Your Holy Name and glory in Your praise.
48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, forever and ever; and let all the people say, “So be it! Praise the LORD!”
17 And Samuel assembled the people to the LORD in Mizpah,
18 And he said to the children of Israel, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have brought Israel out of Egypt and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hands of all kingdoms that troubled you.
19 ‘But you have this day cast away your God, Who alone delivers you out of all your adversities and tribulations. And you said to Him, “No! But appoint a king over us!” Now, therefore, stand before the LORD, according to your tribes and according to your thousands.’”
20 And when Samuel had gathered together all the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21 Afterward, he assembled the tribe of Benjamin, according to their families; and the family of Matri was taken. So Saul, the son of Kish, was taken. And when they sought him, he could not be found.
22 Therefore, they asked the LORD again if that man should still come there. And the LORD answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the implements.”
23 And they ran and brought him there. And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from the shoulders upward.
24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you not see him whom the LORD has chosen, so that there is no one like him among all the people?” And all the people shouted and said, “God save the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people the duty of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each man to his house.
26 Saul, also, went home to Gibeah. And a band of men followed him whose hearts God had touched.
27 But some wicked men said, “How shall he save us?” So they despised him and brought him no presents. But he held his tongue.
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed; speaking to Moses so that he would make it according to the pattern which he had seen,
45 “which our fathers also received and (with Joshua) brought into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before our fathers until the days of David,
46 “who found favor before God, and desired that he might find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 “But Solomon built him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands. As says the Prophet,
49 ‘Heaven is My throne. And Earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me?’, says the Lord. ‘Or, what place is it that I should rest in?
50 ‘Has not My hand made all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked! With uncircumcised hearts and ears! You have always resisted the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you!
52 “Which of the Prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have killed those who foretold of the coming of the Just One, Of Whom you are now the betrayers and murderers.
53 “Who have received the law by the ordinance of angels and have not kept it.”
54 And when they heard these things, they were cut to the quick. And they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the Glory of God; and Jesus, standing at the right hand of God,
56 and said, “Behold, I see the heavens open! And the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they gave a shout with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him violently all at once,
58 and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, who called out, saying, “Lord Jesus! Receive my spirit!”
60 And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord! Do not lay this sin to their charge!” And when he had spoken this, he slept.
8 And Saul consented to his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, and captains of the Temple, and the elders who had come to Him, “Have you come out as for a thief, with swords and clubs?
53 “When I was with you daily in the Temple, you did not stretch forth hands against Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”
54 Then they took Him, and led Him, and brought Him to the High Priest’s house. And Peter followed at a distance.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the courtyard, and had sat down together, Peter also sat down among them.
56 And a certain maid saw him as he sat by the fire and, having looked at him intently, said, “This man was also with Him!”
57 But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him!”
58 And after a little while, another saw him, and said, “You are also one of them!” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”
59 And about an hour after that, another affirmed, saying, “Truly, this man was also with Him! For he is also a Galilean!”
60 And Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” And immediately while he was still speaking, the cock crew.
61 Then the Lord turned back and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the Word of the Lord; how He had said to him, “Before the cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.”
62 And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
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