Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106
Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God
1 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.(A)
2 Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts
or proclaim all the praise due Him?(B)
3 How happy are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.(C)
4 Remember me, Lord,
when You show favor to Your people.(D)
Come to me with Your salvation
5 so that I may enjoy the prosperity
of Your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
and boast about Your heritage.(E)
6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.(F)
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of Your wonderful works
or remember Your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.(G)
8 Yet He saved them because of His name,
to make His power known.(H)
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.(I)
10 He saved them from the hand of the adversary;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.(J)
11 Water covered their foes;
not one of them remained.(K)
12 Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise.(L)
13 They soon forgot His works
and would not wait for His counsel.(M)
14 They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.(N)
15 He gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease among them.(O)
16 In the camp they were envious of Moses
and of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.(P)
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.(Q)
18 Fire blazed throughout their assembly;
flames consumed the wicked.(R)
19 At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped the cast metal image.(S)
20 They exchanged their glory[a][b]
for the image of a grass-eating ox.(T)
21 They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,(U)
22 wonderful works in the land of Ham,[c]
awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.(V)
23 So He said He would have destroyed them—
if Moses His chosen one
had not stood before Him in the breach
to turn His wrath away from destroying them.(W)
24 They despised the pleasant land
and did not believe His promise.(X)
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the Lord’s voice.(Y)
26 So He raised His hand against them with an oath
that He would make them fall in the desert(Z)
27 and would disperse their descendants[d]
among the nations,
scattering them throughout the lands.(AA)
28 They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.[e](AB)
29 They provoked the Lord with their deeds,
and a plague broke out against them.(AC)
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stopped.(AD)
31 It was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all generations to come.(AE)
32 They angered the Lord at the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered[f] because of them;(AF)
33 for they embittered his spirit,[g]
and he spoke rashly with his lips.(AG)
34 They did not destroy the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them(AH)
35 but mingled with the nations
and adopted their ways.(AI)
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.(AJ)
37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.(AK)
38 They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
so the land became polluted with blood.(AL)
39 They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds.(AM)
40 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.(AN)
41 He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled them.(AO)
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.(AP)
43 He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their sin.(AQ)
44 When He heard their cry,
He took note of their distress,(AR)
45 remembered His covenant with them,
and relented according to the riches
of His faithful love.(AS)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(AT)
47 Save us, Yahweh our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to Your holy name
and rejoice in Your praise.(AU)
Holy Days
23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: These are My appointed times,(A) the times of the Lord that you will proclaim as sacred assemblies.(B)
3 “Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest,(C) a sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; it is a Sabbath(D) to the Lord wherever you live.
4 “These are the Lord’s appointed times, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. 5 The Passover(E) to the Lord comes in the first month, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the month. 6 The Festival of Unleavened Bread(F) to the Lord is on the fifteenth day of the same month. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any daily work. 8 You are to present a fire offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a sacred assembly; you must not do any daily work.”
9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest,[a] you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. 11 He will wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb[b] without blemish(G) as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its grain offering is to be four quarts[c] of fine flour mixed with oil as a fire offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart[d] of wine. 14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain[e] until this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.
15 “You are to count seven[f] complete weeks[g](H) starting from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the presentation offering.(I) 16 You are to count 50 days until the day after the seventh Sabbath and then present an offering of new grain[h] to the Lord. 17 Bring two loaves of bread from your settlements as a presentation offering, each of them made from four quarts[i] of fine flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits(J) to the Lord. 18 You are to present with the bread seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 You are also to prepare one male goat as a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a fellowship sacrifice. 20 The priest will wave the lambs with the bread of firstfruits as a presentation offering before the Lord; the bread and the two lambs will be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to make a proclamation and hold a sacred assembly. You are not to do any daily work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live throughout your generations. 22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap all the way to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident;(K) I am Yahweh your God.”
The Man of Lawlessness
2 Now concerning the coming(A) of our Lord(B) Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him: We ask you, brothers, 2 not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit(C) or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord[a](D) has come.(E) 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy[b] comes first and the man of lawlessness[c] is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god(F) or object of worship,(G) so that he sits[d] in God’s sanctuary,[e] publicizing that he himself is God.
5 Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? 6 And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time.(H) 7 For the mystery of lawlessness(I) is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, 8 and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth(J) and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders,(K) 10 and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved.(L) 11 For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, 12 so that all will be condemned(M)—those who did not believe(N) the truth but enjoyed unrighteousness.
Stand Firm
13 But we must always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning[f] God has chosen(O) you for salvation through sanctification(P) by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory(Q) of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm(R) and hold to the traditions you were taught,(S) either by our message or by our letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved(T) us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
Do Not Judge
7 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.(A) 2 For with the judgment you use,[a] you will be judged, and with the measure you use,[b] it will be measured to you.(B) 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?(C) 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs,(D) or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking
7 “Keep asking,[c](E) and it will be given to you.(F) Keep searching,[d] and you will find. Keep knocking,[e] and the door[f] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds,(G) and to the one who knocks, the door[g] will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil,(H) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.[h](I)
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