Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106
106 Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his faithful love endures forever.
2 Who could possibly repeat all of the Lord’s mighty acts
or publicly recount all his praise?
3 The people who uphold justice,
who always do what is right, are truly happy!
4 Remember me, Lord, with the favor you show your people.
Visit me with your saving help
5 so I can experience the good things your chosen ones experience,
so I can rejoice in the joy of your nation,
so I can praise along with your possession.
6 We have sinned—right along with our ancestors.
We’ve done what is wrong.
We’ve acted wickedly.
7 Our ancestors in Egypt didn’t understand your wondrous works.
They didn’t remember how much faithful love you have.
So they rebelled by the sea—at the Reed Sea.[a]
8 But God saved them for the sake of his good name,
to make known his mighty power.
9 God scolded the Reed Sea, and it dried right up;
he led them through the deeps like they were a dry desert.
10 God saved them from hostile powers;
he redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
11 But the waters covered over their foes—
not one of them survived!
12 So our ancestors trusted God’s words;
they sang God’s praise.
13 But how quickly they forgot what he had done!
They wouldn’t wait for his advice.
14 They were overcome with craving in the desert;
they tested God in the wastelands.
15 God gave them what they asked for;
he sent food[b] to satisfy their appetites.
16 But then they were jealous of Moses in the camp,
jealous too of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.
17 So the earth opened up, swallowing Dathan,
and covering over Abiram’s crowd.
18 Fire blazed throughout that whole group;
flames burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf at Horeb,
bowing down to a metal idol.
20 They traded their glorious God[c]
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them—
the one who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds at the Reed Sea.
23 So God determined that he would destroy them—
except for the fact that Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the way, right in front of him,
and turned God’s destructive anger away.
24 But then they rejected the land that was so desirable.
They didn’t trust God’s promise.
25 They muttered in their tents
and wouldn’t listen to the Lord’s voice.
26 So God raised his hand against them,
making them fall in the desert,
27 scattering their offspring among the nations,
casting them across many lands.
28 They joined themselves to Baal-peor
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29 They made God angry by what they did,
so a plague broke out against them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and prayed,
and the plague was contained.
31 That’s why Phinehas is considered righteous,
generation after generation, forever.
32 But they angered God at Meribah’s waters,
and things went badly for Moses because of them,
33 because they made him bitter
so that he spoke rashly with his lips.
34 They didn’t destroy the nations
as the Lord had ordered them to do.
35 Instead, they got mixed up with the nations,
learning what they did
36 and serving those false gods,
which became a trap for them.
37 They sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons!
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their own sons and daughters—
the ones they sacrificed to Canaan’s false gods—
so the land was defiled by the bloodshed.
39 They made themselves unclean by what they did; they prostituted themselves by their actions.
40 So the Lord’s anger burned against his people;
he despised his own possession.
41 God handed them over to the nations;
people who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were humbled under their power.
43 God delivered them numerous times,
but they were determined to rebel,
and so they were brought down by their own sin.
44 But God saw their distress
when he heard their loud cries.
45 God remembered his covenant for their sake,
and because of how much faithful love he has,
God changed his mind.
46 God allowed them to receive compassion
from all their captors.
47 Lord our God, save us!
Gather us back together from among all the nations
so we can give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise!
48 Bless the Lord, the God of Israel,
from forever ago to forever from now!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
Saul selected as king
17 Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah. 18 Then he told the Israelites: “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the Egyptians’ power and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you. 19 But today you’ve rejected your God who saved you from all your troubles and difficulties by saying, ‘No! Appoint a king over us!’ So now assemble yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans.”
20 Then Samuel brought all the Israelite tribes forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected. 21 Next Samuel brought the tribe of Benjamin forward by its families, and the family of Matri was selected. Samuel then brought the family of Matri forward, person by person,[a] and Saul, Kish’s son, was selected. But when they looked for him, he wasn’t to be found. 22 So they asked another question of the Lord: “Has the man come here yet?”
The Lord said, “Yes, he’s hiding among the supplies.” 23 They ran and retrieved Saul from there, and when he stood up in the middle of the people, he was head and shoulders taller than anyone else.
24 “Can you see the one the Lord has chosen?” Samuel asked all the people. “He has no equal among the people.”
Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
25 Samuel then explained to the people how the monarchy should operate[b] and wrote it in a scroll and placed it in the Lord’s presence. Then Samuel sent every person back to their homes. 26 Saul also went back to his home in Gibeah. Along with him went courageous men whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some despicable people said, “How can this man save us?” They despised Saul and didn’t bring him gifts, but Saul didn’t say anything.
Saul delivers Jabesh-gilead
[c] Nahash the Ammonite king had been severely oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He gouged out everyone’s right eye, thereby not allowing Israel to have a deliverer. There wasn’t a single Israelite left across the Jordan River who hadn’t had their right eye gouged out by the Ammonite king Nahash. But seven thousand people had escaped from the Ammonites’ power and fled to Jabesh-gilead.
44 “The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen. 45 In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua’s leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David. 46 God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[a] 47 But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God. 48 However, the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands. As the prophet says,
49 Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
‘What kind of house will you build for me,’ says the Lord,
‘or where is my resting place?
50 Didn’t I make all these things with my own hand?’[b]
51 “You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. 52 Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! 53 You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.”
54 Once the council members heard these words, they were enraged and began to grind their teeth at Stephen. 55 But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God’s majesty and Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56 He exclaimed, “Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One[c] standing at God’s right side!” 57 At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, 58 threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, accept my life!” 60 Falling to his knees, he shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Then he died. 8 1 Saul was in full agreement with Stephen’s murder.
The church scatters
At that time, the church in Jerusalem began to be subjected to vicious harassment. Everyone except the apostles was scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come to get him, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest me, as though I were a thief? 53 Day after day I was with you in the temple, but you didn’t arrest me. But this is your time, when darkness rules.”
Peter denies knowing Jesus
54 After they arrested Jesus, they led him away and brought him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed from a distance. 55 When they lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.
56 Then a servant woman saw him sitting in the firelight. She stared at him and said, “This man was with him too.”
57 But Peter denied it, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him!”
58 A little while later, someone else saw him and said, “You are one of them too.”
But Peter said, “Man, I’m not!”
59 An hour or so later, someone else insisted, “This man must have been with him, because he is a Galilean too.”
60 Peter responded, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” At that very moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s words: “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And Peter went out and cried uncontrollably.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible