Book of Common Prayer

This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader. Sing it to the music that they call ‘Lilies.’

A love song^[a]

The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.

God rules the earth!

This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote.

Zion is God's city

The Lord's covenant with Abram

15 After this, the Lord spoke to Abram in a dream. God said, ‘Do not be afraid Abram. I will keep you safe. I myself will give you many good gifts.’

² But Abram said, ‘Almighty Lord, there is one gift that I want. I still have no children. When I die, Eliezer of Damascus will receive everything that I have. ³ Because you have not given me any children, understand this: Everything that I have will one day belong to a servant in my house.’^[a]

⁴ The Lord gave Abram this message: ‘No! Eliezer will not be the one who receives your things. You will have your own son. He will be the one who receives everything that you have.’

⁵ The Lord took Abram outside. He said to Abram, ‘Look up at the sky. Count the stars. They are too many for you to count!’ Then God said, ‘That is how many descendants you will have.’

⁶ Abram believed the Lord. As a result, the Lord accepted Abram as right with him.

⁷ The Lord also said to Abram, ‘I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to bring you to this land. I am giving it to you. It will belong to you.’ ⁸ But Abram said, ‘Almighty Lord, how can I be sure that this land will belong to me?’

⁹ The Lord said to Abram, ‘Bring a young cow, a goat and a male sheep to offer them to me. Each animal must be three years old. Also bring a dove and a young pigeon.’

¹⁰ Abram brought the three animals and the two birds to offer to God. Abram cut each animal in two pieces. He put the halves opposite each other. But he did not cut the birds in two pieces. ¹¹ Some birds flew down to eat the animals' dead bodies. But Abram sent them away.

¹⁷ Then the sun went down and it became dark. Abram saw a pot that had coals in it. The coals were burning and making smoke. There was also a branch that burned with bright fire. These passed between the halves of the animals that Abram had cut in two pieces.^[a]

¹⁸ On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram. The Lord promised, ‘I give this land to your descendants. The land starts from the river of Egypt and continues as far as the River Euphrates. ¹⁹ These people live in the land: Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.’^[b]

The old agreement and the tabernacle

9 The first agreement included rules about how people should worship God. It also spoke about a special place for people to worship God on this earth. ² Israel's people made a special tent for God.^[a] The first room in that tent was called the holy place. The special lampstand was in this room. The special table with the bread which they offered to God was there too.^[b]

³ Behind a second curtain, there was a very special room. It was called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ The gold altar for incense was in there.^[c] The Covenant Box was there too.^[d] The box had gold on all its sides. Inside the box was the gold pot that contained the special food called manna.^[e] The box also contained Aaron's stick that had grown leaves.^[f] It also contained the two flat stones on which God had written the rules of his agreement with his people. ⁵ The shapes of two special angels stood on the top of the box. They were made from gold and they showed that God was there with great power. The angels held out their wings over the lid of the box. That lid was the place where God forgave the people's sins. But we cannot explain everything about these things now.

⁶ So that was how they prepared the special tent. Then the priests would go into the first room of the tent every day. They went in there to serve God, as his rules taught. ⁷ But only the special leader of the priests could go into the second room. He went in there only once every year.^[g] He had to take with him blood from an animal that they had killed. He offered the blood to God on his own behalf, so that God would forgive his sins. He also offered it on behalf of the people. Then God would forgive their mistakes too.

⁸ In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God. ⁹ This is like a picture that means something for us today. It teaches us about the gifts and sacrifices that people offered to God, to worship him. When someone gave those things to God, it could not make him clean again in his mind. ¹⁰ The old rules taught people about different kinds of food and drink. They taught about how people should wash in special ways. Those rules were about people's bodies. They had authority only until the time when God would make things new and better.

God's new agreement

¹¹ But now Christ has come as our special priest. He brings us the good things that are now here. He has gone into God's own place in heaven. That is a greater and much better tent than the old tabernacle. No person made this tent. It does not belong to this world at all. ¹² Christ went into the Most Holy Place on our behalf. He did this once, for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats or young cows when he went in there. Instead, he took the blood of his own death to offer to God. In that way, he made us free from sin for ever. ¹³ The old rules said that the priest must use the blood of goats or bulls to make people clean. Or he could burn a young cow and mix the ashes with water.^[h] He would then splash the blood or the ashes over the people who were unclean. Then those people became clean again in their bodies, and they could worship God.

¹⁴ But the blood of Christ's sacrifice will do much more than that! Christ offered himself to God, in the power of his Spirit, who lives for ever. That sacrifice was completely good. There was no wrong thing in Christ. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. We no longer have to do things that lead to death. Instead, we can serve the God who lives for ever.

Jesus makes a man able to walk

5 Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.

² There is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. Its name in the Jewish language is Bethesda. Round the pool, there is a building with five places that have a roof over them. ³ A large number of sick people were lying in these places. Some of them were blind. Some of them could not walk properly. Some of them could not move their legs or their arms. [^[a] They were waiting for when the water started to move. ⁴ An angel would go down into the pool at certain times and move the water about. When that happened, all the sick people tried to get into the pool. The first person who got into the water became well, whatever his illness was.]

⁵ One man who was lying there had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw this man. He knew that the man had been ill like this for a very long time. So he asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ⁷ The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’ ⁸ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ ⁹ The man became well immediately. He picked up his mat and he walked.

The day when this happened was a Jewish day of rest.^{[b] 10} Because of this, the Jewish leaders spoke to the man that Jesus had made well. They said to him, ‘You must not carry your mat on our day of rest. You are not obeying the rules.’ ¹¹ The man replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Pick up your mat and walk.” ’ ¹² So they asked him, ‘Who is this man? Who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ ¹³ The man did not know who had made him well. Jesus had gone away and joined the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Some time after that, Jesus found the man in the temple. Jesus said to him, ‘See, you have become well. Stop doing wrong things. If you do not stop, something worse may happen to you.’ ¹⁵ Then the man went to the Jewish leaders. He told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ The Jewish leaders were angry because Jesus had made a man well on their day of rest.^[c] As a result, they began to cause a lot of trouble for Jesus. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is still working, and I too must work.’ ¹⁸ Because Jesus said this, the Jewish leaders became really angry. They wanted even more to kill him. Jesus not only worked on the day of rest. He was also calling God his own Father, so he was making himself equal with God.