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 ancestors have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.(F)
7 Our ancestors in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of your wondrous works
or remember your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.(G)
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
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 power of the adversary;
he redeemed them from the power 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 wondrous 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.(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 angered 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 over 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 iniquity.(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 abundance
of his faithful love.(AS)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(AT)
47 Save us, Lord our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise.(AU)
A Plea to Repent
14 Israel, return to the Lord your God,(A)
for you have stumbled in your iniquity.(B)
2 Take words of repentance with you(C)
and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay you
with praise[a] from our[b] lips.(D)
3 Assyria will not save us,(E)
we will not ride on horses,(F)
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ (G)
to the work of our hands.(H)
For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”(I)
A Promise of Restoration
4 I will heal their apostasy;(J)
I will freely love them,(K)
for my anger will have turned from him.(L)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;(M)
he will blossom like the lily(N)
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.(O)
6 His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,(P)
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.(Q)
7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.(R)
They will grow grain(S)
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Paul before the Sanhedrin
30 The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him[a] and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene.(A) He brought Paul down and placed him before them.
23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience(B) to this day.” 2 The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.(C) 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” (D)
4 Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?”
5 “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”[b](E) 6 When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.(F) I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” (G) 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection,(H) and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all.
9 The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’(I) party got up and argued vehemently, “We find nothing evil in this man.(J) What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” [c](K)
10 When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.(L) 11 The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”(M)
39 He also told them a parable: “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?(A) 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.(B)
41 “Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam of wood in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the splinter in your brother’s eye.
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit.[a](C) 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
The Two Foundations
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?(D) 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them:(E) 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.”(F)
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