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!”
3 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 “I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people, and for My heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. And they parted My land.
9 “Publish this among the Gentiles: ‘Prepare war! Wake up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near and come up.
10 ‘Break your plowshares into swords, and your scythes into spears. Let the weak say, “I am strong.”
11 ‘Assemble yourselves and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together all around.’ There shall the LORD cast down the mighty men.
12 “Let the heathen be awakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the heathen all around.
13 “Put in your scythes, for the harvest is ripe. Come. Go down. For the winepress is full. Indeed, the winepresses run over, for their wickedness is great.”
14 O multitude! O multitude! Come into the valley of threshing! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of threshing!
15 The Sun and Moon shall be darkened. And the stars shall withdraw their light.
16 Also, the LORD shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the Earth shall shake. But the LORD will be the hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 “So shall you know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling on Zion, My Holy Mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy. And no strangers shall go through her anymore.
1 Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, To the strangers who dwell here and there throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia;
2 Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, for sanctification of the Spirit through obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you.
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ,
4 to an immortal and undefiled inheritance which does not wither, reserved in Heaven for us
5 who are kept for salvation through faith by the power of God (which is prepared to be revealed in the last time
6 and in which you rejoice. Though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through various trials
7 so that the trial of your faith—being much more precious than gold, which perishes even though it is tried with fire—might be found to your praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
8 Whom you have not seen and yet love; in Whom now, though you do not see Him, you still believe and rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy,
9 receiving the purpose of your faith: the salvation of your souls).
10 Of such salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched, prophesying of the grace that would come to you,
11 searching when or at what time the Spirit of Christ (Who testified before) was in them, declaring the sufferings that would come to Christ and the glory that would follow.
12 To them it was revealed—not to themselves, but to us— that they should minister the things which are shown to you by those who have preached the Gospel by the Holy Ghost, sent down from Heaven. These things the angels desire to behold.
19 And it happened that when Jesus had finished these sayings, He departed from Galilee, and came into the region of Judea beyond Jordan.
2 And great multitudes followed Him. And He healed them there.
3 Then the Pharisees came to Him, tempting Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife upon every occasion?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He Who made them at the beginning, made them male and female;
5 “and said, ‘For this reason, a man shall leave father and mother, and cling to his wife. And those who were two, shall be one flesh?’
6 “Therefore, they are no more two, but one flesh. Therefore, do not let man separate that which God has coupled together.”
7 They said to Him, “Why, then, did Moses command to give a Bill of Divorcement, and to send her away?”
8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so.
9 “Therefore, I say to you that whoever shall divorce his wife and marry another, unless it is for promiscuity, commits adultery. And whoever marries a divorcee ́, commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If it is so between man and wife, it is not good to marry.”
11 But He said to them, “All men cannot receive this thing. Only those to whom it is given.
12 “For there are some eunuchs who were so born from their mother’s belly. And there are some eunuchs who are gelded by men. And there be some eunuchs who have gelded themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven. The one who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”
© 2019, 2024 by Five Talents Audio. All rights reserved.