Book of Common Prayer

A Song for the King’s Wedding

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A maskil. A love song of the sons of Korah.

God, the King of the World

For the director of music. A song of the sons of Korah.

Jerusalem, the City of God

A song of the sons of Korah.

God’s Agreement with Abram

15 After these things happened, the Lord spoke his word to Abram in a vision. God said, “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you. And I will give you a great reward.”

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me? I have no son. So my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die.” ³ Abram said, “Look, you have given me no son. So a slave born in my house will inherit everything I have.”

⁴ Then the Lord spoke his word to Abram. He said, “That slave will not be the one to inherit what you have. You will have a son of your own. And your son will inherit what you have.”

⁵ Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. And your descendants will be too many to count.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.

⁷ God said to Abram, “I am the Lord who led you out of Ur of Babylonia. I did that so I could give you this land to own.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord God, how can I be sure that I will own this land?”

⁹ The Lord said to Abram, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat and a three-year-old male sheep. Also bring me a dove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ Abram brought them all to God. Then Abram killed the animals and cut each of them into two pieces. He laid each half opposite the other half. But he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals. But Abram chased them away.

¹⁷ The sun went down, and it was very dark. Suddenly a smoking firepot and a blazing torch passed between the halves of the dead animals.^{[a] 18} So on that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram. The Lord said, “I will give this land to your descendants. I will give them the land between the river of Egypt and the great river Euphrates. ¹⁹ This is the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

Worship Under the Old Agreement

9 The first agreement^[a] had rules for worship. And it had a place on earth for worship. ² The Holy Tent was set up for this. The first area in the Tent was called the Holy Place. In it were the lamp and the table with the bread that was made holy for God. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ In it was a golden altar for burning incense. Also there was the Ark of the Covenant that held the old agreement. The Ark of the Covenant was covered with gold. Inside this Ark of the Covenant was a golden jar of manna and Aaron’s rod—the rod that once grew leaves. Also in it were the stone tablets of the old agreement. ⁵ Above the Ark of the Covenant were the creatures with wings that showed God’s glory. The wings of the creatures reached over the lid. But we cannot tell everything about these things now.

⁶ Everything in the Tent was made ready in this way. Then the priests went into the first room every day to do their worship. ⁷ But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he did that only once a year. He could never enter the inner room without taking blood with him. He offered that blood to God for himself and for the people’s sins. These were sins people did without knowing that they were sinning. ⁸ The Holy Spirit uses this to show that the way into the Most Holy Place was not open. This was while the system of the old Holy Tent was still being used. ⁹ This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the worshiper perfect in his heart. ¹⁰ These gifts and sacrifices were only about food and drink and special washings. They were rules for the body, to be followed until the time of God’s new way.

Worship Under the New Agreement

¹¹ But Christ has come as the high priest of the good things we now have.^[b] The tent he entered is greater and more perfect. It is not made by men. It does not belong to this world. ¹² Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood. He entered the Most Holy Place and set us free from sin forever. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean and this makes their bodies clean again.

¹⁴ How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit^[c] as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our hearts clean from useless acts. We are made pure so that we may serve the living God.

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

5 Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast. ² In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language^[a] it is called Bethzatha.^[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. ³ Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. ⁴ Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].^{[c] 5} There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

⁷ The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”

⁸ Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.

The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”

¹¹ But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”

¹³ But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.

¹⁴ Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”

¹⁵ Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

¹⁶ Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”

¹⁸ This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”