Book of Common Prayer

Ode for a Royal Wedding

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song.

God’s Rule over the Nations

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

The Glory and Strength of Zion

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

God’s Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Elie′zer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chalde′ans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹ He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹ And when birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphra′tes, ¹⁹ the land of the Ken′ites, the Ken′izzites, the Kad′monites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Per′izzites, the Reph′aim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gir′gashites and the Jeb′usites.”

The Earthly and the Heavenly Sanctuaries

9 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tent^[a] was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence;^[b] it is called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain stood a tent^[c] called the Holy of Holies, ⁴ having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; ⁵ above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent,^[d] performing their ritual duties; ⁷ but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people. ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tent^[e] is still standing ⁹ (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various ablutions, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[f] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[g] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking^[h] not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your^[i] conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za′tha,^[a] which has five porticoes. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.^{[b] 5} One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” ¹⁸ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.