Book of Common Prayer
Thanksgiving for God’s Deliverance
105 Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name,
and make his deeds known among the people.
2 Sing to him! Praise him!
Declare all his awesome deeds!
3 Exult in his holy name;
let all[a] those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember his awesome deeds that he has done,
his wonders and the judgments he declared.
6 You descendants of Abraham, his servant,
You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments extend to the entire earth.
8 He remembers his eternal covenant—
every promise he made[b] for a thousand generations,
9 like the covenant he made[c] with Abraham,
and his promise to Isaac.
10 He presented it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
11 He said: “I will give Canaan to you
as the allotted portion that is your inheritance.”
12 When the Hebrews[d] were few in number—so very few—
and were sojourners in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.[e]
14 He did not allow anyone to oppress them,
or any kings to reprove them.
15 “Don’t touch my anointed
or hurt my prophets!”
16 He declared a famine on the land;
destroying the entire food supply.[f]
17 He sent a man before them—
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18 They bound his feet with fetters
and placed an iron collar on his neck,[g]
19 until the time his prediction came true,
as the word of the Lord refined him.
20 He sent a king who released him,
a ruler of people who set him free.
21 He made him the master over his household,
the manager of all his possessions—
22 to discipline his rulers at will
and make his elders wise.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
indeed, Jacob lived in the land of Ham.[h]
24 He caused his people to multiply greatly;
and be more numerous than their enemies.
25 He caused them[i] to hate his people
and to deceive his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses, along with Aaron,
whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.[j]
28 He sent darkness, and it became dark.
Did they not rebel against[k] his words?
29 He turned their water into blood,
so that the fish died.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs
even to the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke,
and a swarm of insects invaded their land.[l]
32 He sent hail instead of rain,
and lightning throughout their land.
33 It destroyed their vines and their figs,
breaking trees throughout their country.[m]
34 Then he commanded the locust to come—
grasshoppers without number.
35 They consumed every green plant in their land,
and devoured the fruit of their soil.
36 He struck down every firstborn in their land,
the first fruits of all their progeny.
37 Then he brought Israel[n] out with silver and gold,
and no one among his tribes stumbled.
38 The Egyptians rejoiced when they left,
because fear of Israel[o] descended on them.
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,
and fire for light at night.
40 Israel[p] asked, and quail came;
food from heaven satisfied them.
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out
flowing like a river in the desert.
42 Indeed, he remembered his sacred promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 He led his people out with gladness,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy.
44 He gave to them the land of nations;
they inherited the labor of other[q] people
45 so they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Hallelujah!
22 I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. 23 The city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because the glory of God gave it light, and the lamb was its lamp. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut at the end of the[a] day—because there will be no night there. 26 People[b] will bring the glory and wealth[c] of the nations into it. 27 Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names[d] are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.[e]
The Vision of the River of the Water of Life
22 Then the angel[f] showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal. It was flowing from the throne of God and the lamb. 2 Between the city street and the river, the tree of life was visible from each side. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, each month having its own fruit. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the lamb will be in the city.[g] His servants will worship him 4 and see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night, and they will not need any light from lamps or the sun because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule forever and ever.
True Greatness(A)
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom from[a] heaven?”
2 Calling a little child forward, he had him stand among them. 3 Then he said, “I tell all of you[b] with certainty, unless you change[c] and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom from[d] heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom from[e] heaven, 5 and whoever receives a little child like this in my name receives me.”
Causing Others to Sin(B)
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned at the bottom of the sea. 7 How terrible it will be for the world due to its temptations to sin! Temptations to sin are bound to happen, but how terrible it will be for that person who causes someone to sin!
8 “So if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life injured or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell[f] fire.
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