Book of Common Prayer
God’s guidance of his people in spite of their unfaithfulness.
Maschil of Asaph.
78 Give ear, O my people, to my [a]law:
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah,
And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which he commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born;
Who should arise and tell them to their children,
7 That they might set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep his commandments,
8 And might not be as their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation [b]that set not their heart aright,
And whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God,
And refused to walk in his law;
11 And they forgat his doings,
And his wondrous works that he had showed them.
12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through;
And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
14 In the day-time also he led them with a cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He clave rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet went they on still to sin against him,
To rebel against the Most High in [c]the desert.
18 And they tempted God in their heart
By asking food [d]according to their desire.
19 Yea, they spake against God;
They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out,
And streams overflowed;
Can he give bread also?
Will he provide flesh for his people?
21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also went up against Israel;
22 Because they believed not in God,
And trusted not in his salvation.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above,
And opened the doors of heaven;
24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat,
And gave them [e]food from heaven.
25 [f]Man did eat the bread of the mighty:
He sent them food to the full.
26 He [g]caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by his power he guided the south wind.
27 He rained flesh also upon them as the dust,
And winged birds as the sand of the seas:
28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
Round about their habitations.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled;
And he gave them their own desire.
30 They were not estranged from that which they desired,
Their food was yet in their mouths,
31 When the anger of God went up against them,
And slew of the fattest of them,
And smote down the young men of Israel.
32 For all this they sinned still,
And believed not in his wondrous works.
33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,
And their years in terror.
34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him;
And they returned and sought God earnestly.
35 And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouth,
And lied unto him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not [h]right with him,
Neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:
Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,
And did not stir up all his wrath.
39 And he remembered that they were but flesh,
A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness,
And grieve him in the desert!
41 And they turned again and tempted God,
And [i]provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They remembered not his hand,
Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43 How he set his signs in Egypt,
And his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 And turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
And frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar,
And their labor unto the locust.
47 He [j]destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycomore-trees with [k]frost.
48 He gave over their cattle also to the hail,
And their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger,
Wrath, and indignation, and trouble,
[l]A band of angels of evil.
50 He [m]made a path for his anger;
He spared not their soul from death,
But gave [n]their life over to the pestilence,
51 And smote all the first-born in Egypt,
The [o]chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led forth his own people like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 And he led them safely, so that they feared not;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 And he brought them to [p]the border of his sanctuary,
To this [q]mountain, which his right hand had gotten.
55 He drove out the nations also before them,
And allotted them for an inheritance by line,
And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,
And kept not his testimonies;
57 But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers:
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
And moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
59 When God heard this, he was wroth,
And greatly abhorred Israel;
60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent which he placed among men;
61 And delivered his strength into captivity,
And his glory into the adversary’s hand.
62 He gave his people over also unto the sword,
And was wroth with his inheritance.
63 Fire devoured their young men;
And their virgins had no marriage-song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword;
And their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep,
Like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
66 And he smote his adversaries backward:
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph,
And chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
The mount Zion which he loved.
69 And he built his sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which he hath established for ever.
70 He chose David also his servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds:
71 From following the ewes that have their young he brought him,
To be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.
72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
18 Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah; and he said, Who am I, O Lord Jehovah, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? 19 And this was yet a small thing in thine eyes, O Lord Jehovah; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come; [a]and this too after the manner of men, O Lord Jehovah! 20 And what can David say more unto thee? for thou knowest thy servant, O Lord Jehovah. 21 For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know it. 22 Wherefore thou art great, O Jehovah God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 [b]And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and terrible things for thy land, before thy people, whom thou redeemedst to thee out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods? 24 And thou didst establish to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever; and thou, Jehovah, becamest their God. 25 And now, O Jehovah God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm thou it for ever, and do as thou hast spoken. 26 And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. 27 For thou, O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house: therefore hath thy servant [c]found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. 28 And now, O Lord Jehovah, thou art God, and thy words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant: 29 now therefore [d]let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O Lord Jehovah, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat, 13 saying, This man persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked villany, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: 15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; I am not minded to be a judge of these matters. 16 And he drove them from the judgment-seat. 17 And they all laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared for none of these things.
18 And Paul, having tarried after this yet many days, took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila: having shorn his head in Cenchreae; for he had a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. 20 And when they asked him to abide a longer time, he consented not; 21 but taking his leave of them, and saying, I will return again unto you if God will, he set sail from Ephesus.
22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and saluted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23 And having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, [a]an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the scriptures. 25 This man had been [b]instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John: 26 and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he was minded to pass over into Achaia, the brethren encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him: and when he was come, he [c]helped them much that had believed through grace; 28 for he powerfully confuted the Jews, [d]and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
22 And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. 23 And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught? 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking. 25 Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly. 26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.
27 And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am? 28 And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets. 29 And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. 30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he spake the saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33 But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and saith, Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.
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