Book of Common Prayer

For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

15 After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

² Abram said, “Lord^[a] Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram said, “Behold, you have given no children to me: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”

⁴ Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.” ⁶ He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness. ⁷ He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸ He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. ¹¹ The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹⁷ It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

9 Now indeed even the first^[a] covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread, which is called the Holy Place. ³ After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, ⁴ having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ⁵ and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.

⁶ Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services, ⁷ but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people. ⁸ The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹ This is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect, ¹⁰ being only (with foods and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.

¹¹ But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, ¹² nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

5 After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; ⁴ for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.^{[a] 5} A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”

⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”

⁹ Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.

Now that day was a Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”

¹¹ He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your mat and walk’?”

¹³ But he who was healed didn’t know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”

¹⁵ The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

¹⁸ For this cause therefore 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.