Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 45

For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies.” A Contemplative Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song.

Psalm 47

For the Music Director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 48

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

The Abrahamic Covenant

15 After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” ⁵ He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷ He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess^[b] it.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?”

⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ Then Abram brought all of these to Him and cut them in two and laid each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ When the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹⁷ When the sun went down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The Earthly and Heavenly Sanctuaries

9 Then indeed, the first covenant had ordinances for divine services and an earthly sanctuary. ² A tabernacle was made. In the first part of the tabernacle, called the Holy Place, were the candlestick, the table, and the showbread. ³ Behind the second veil was the second part of the tabernacle called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ which contained the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold, containing the golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Concerning these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶ Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests would regularly go into the first part, conducting the services of God. ⁷ But only the high priest went into the second part once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of the people, committed in ignorance. ⁸ The Holy Spirit was signifying through this that the way into the Most Holy Place was not yet revealed, because the first part of the tabernacle was still standing. ⁹ This is an illustration for the present time, showing that the gifts and sacrifices offered could not perfect the conscience of those who worshipped, ¹⁰ since they are concerned only with foods and drinks, ceremonial cleansings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

¹¹ But Christ, when He came as a High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, ¹² neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies so that the flesh is purified, ¹⁴ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Healing at the Pool

5 After this 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 in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great crowd of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. After the stirring of the water, whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever disease he had. ⁵ A certain man was there who had an illness for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been in that condition now a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

⁷ The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed, took up his bed, and walked.

That day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

¹¹ He answered them, “He who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

¹³ Now the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in that place.

¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have become whole. Sin no more lest something worse happens to you.” ¹⁵ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

¹⁶ So the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. ¹⁷ Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” ¹⁸ So the Jews sought even more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.