Book of Common Prayer

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah. A wedding song to the tune of “Lilies.”

For the director of music. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

God Makes a Covenant With Abram

15 Some time later, Abram had a vision. The Lord said to him,

² But Abram said, “Lord and King, what can you give me? I still don’t have any children. My servant Eliezer comes from Damascus. When I die, he will get everything I own.” ³ Abram continued, “You haven’t given me any children. So this servant of mine will get everything I own.”

⁴ Then a message from the Lord came to Abram. The Lord said, “When you die, what you have will not go to this man. You will have a son of your own. He will get everything you have.” ⁵ The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky. Count the stars, if you can.” Then he said to him, “That’s how many children will be born into your family.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord. The Lord was pleased with Abram because he believed. So Abram’s faith made him right with the Lord.

⁷ He also said to Abram, “I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur in the land of Babylon. I will give you this land to have as your very own.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Lord and King, how can I know I will have this land as my own?”

⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a young cow, a goat and a ram. Each must be three years old. Bring a dove and a young pigeon along with them.”

¹⁰ Abram brought all of them to the Lord. Abram cut them in two and placed the halves opposite each other. But he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹ Then large birds came down to eat the dead bodies of the animals and birds. But Abram chased the large birds away.

¹⁷ The sun set and it became dark. Then a burning torch and a pot filled with smoking coals appeared. They passed between the pieces of the animals that had been cut in two. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. He said, “I am giving this land to your family who comes after you. It reaches from the River of Egypt to the great Euphrates River. ¹⁹ It includes the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaites. ²¹ The Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites also live there.”

Worship in the Holy Tent on Earth

9 The first covenant had rules for worship. It also had a sacred tent on earth. ² A holy tent was set up. The lampstand was in the first room. So was the table with its holy bread. That was called the Holy Room. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Room. ⁴ It had the golden altar for incense. It also had the wooden chest called the ark of the covenant. The ark was covered with gold. It held the gold jar of manna. It held Aaron’s walking stick that had budded. It also held the stone tablets. The words of the covenant were written on them. ⁵ The cherubim were above the ark. God showed his glory there. The cherubim spread their wings over the place where sin was paid for. But we can’t say everything about these things now.

⁶ That’s how everything was arranged in the holy tent. The priests entered it at regular times. They went into the outer room to do their work for God and others. ⁷ But only the high priest went into the inner room. He went in only once a year. He never entered without taking blood with him. He offered the blood for himself. He also offered it for the sins the people had committed because they didn’t know any better. ⁸ Here is what the Holy Spirit was showing us. He was telling us that God had not yet clearly shown the way into the Most Holy Room. It would not be clearly shown as long as the first holy tent was still being used. ⁹ That’s an example for the present time. It shows us that the gifts and sacrifices people offered were not enough. They were not able to remove the worshiper’s feelings of guilt. ¹⁰ They deal only with food and drink and different kinds of special washings. They are rules people had to obey only until the new covenant came.

The Blood of Christ

¹¹ But Christ came to be the high priest of the good things already here now. When he came, he went through the greater and more perfect holy tent. This tent was not made with human hands. In other words, it is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by spilling the blood of goats and calves. He entered the Most Holy Room by spilling his own blood. He did it once and for all time. In this way, he paid the price to set us free from sin forever. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls is sprinkled on people. So are the ashes of a young cow. They are sprinkled on people the law called “unclean.” The people are sprinkled to make them holy. That makes them “clean” on the outside. ¹⁴ But Christ offered himself to God without any flaw. He did this through the power of the eternal Holy Spirit. So how much cleaner will the blood of Christ make us! It washes away our feelings of guilt for committing sin. Sin always leads to death. But now we can serve the living God.

Jesus Heals a Man at the Pool

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. ² In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate is a pool. In the Aramaic language it is called Bethesda. It is surrounded by five rows of columns with a roof over them. ^3-4 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie down. Among them were those who were blind, those who could not walk, and those who could hardly move. ⁵ One person was there who had not been able to walk for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw him lying there. He knew that the man had been in that condition for a long time. So he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the disabled man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when an angel stirs up the water. I try to get in, but someone else always goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ The man was healed right away. He picked up his mat and walked.

This happened on a Sabbath day. ¹⁰ So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath day. The law does not allow you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The one who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² They asked him, “Who is this fellow? Who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The one who was healed had no idea who it was. Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away. He told the Jewish leaders it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶ Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath day. So the Jewish leaders began to oppose him. ¹⁷ Jesus defended himself. He said to them, “My Father is always doing his work. He is working right up to this day. I am working too.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jewish leaders tried even harder to kill him. According to them, Jesus was not only breaking the law of the Sabbath day. He was even calling God his own Father. He was making himself equal with God.