Book of Common Prayer

Covenant with David’s Seed

Psalm 89

30 When Rachel saw that she bore no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me sons—if there are none, I’ll die!”

² But Jacob became furious with Rachel and said, “Am I, instead of God, the one who withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

³ So she said, “Here’s my maid-servant Bilhah. Go to her and let her give birth on my knees, so that from her I may also build a family.” ⁴ Then she gave her maid-servant Bilhah to him for a wife, and Jacob went to her. ⁵ Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. ⁶ So Rachel said, “God has judged my cause and also heard my voice—and given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. ⁷ Then Rachel’s female servant became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ So Rachel said, “I’ve surely wrestled greatly with my sister—also I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.

⁹ Now Leah saw that she stopped having children, so she took Zilpah her female servant and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ Then Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, gave birth to a son for Jacob. ¹¹ Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. ¹² Then Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ¹³ Leah said, “How happy am I, for daughters have called me happy.” So she named him Asher.

¹⁴ Now during the days of the wheat harvest, Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and he brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”^[a]

¹⁵ But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took my husband away? You’d also take away my son’s mandrakes?”

So Rachel said, “That being so, let him lie with you tonight, in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶ So when Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and she said, “You must come to me. For I’ve actually hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that very night. ¹⁷ Moreover, God heard Leah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. ¹⁸ Leah said, “God gave me my reward^[b] because I gave my female servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. ¹⁹ Then Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob. ²⁰ Leah said, “God has presented me a good gift. This time my husband will honor me for I’ve borne six sons for him.” So she named him Zebulun. ²¹ Afterwards she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³ Then she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. So she said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ²⁴ She named him Joseph saying, “May Adonai add another son for me.”

God’s Manifested Word of Life

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. ³ What we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so you may have fellowship with us. Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Yeshua the Messiah. ⁴ These things we write so our joy may be full.

God’s Light Dispels Darkness

⁵ Now this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you—that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with Him and keep walking in the darkness, we are lying and do not practice the truth. ^{[a] 7} But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of His Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.

Cleansing Begins with Confessing

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ^{[b] 10} If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Bringing Light to the Blind

9 As Yeshua was passing by, He saw a man who had been blind since birth. ² His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”

³ Yeshua answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This happened so that the works of God might be brought to light in him. ⁴ We must do the work of the One who sent Me, so long as it is day! Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Having said these things, He spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the blind man’s eyes. ⁷ He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which is translated Sent). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ Therefore his neighbors and those who had seen him as a beggar kept saying, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

⁹ “This is the one!” some said.

“No, but it looks like him,” said others.

But the man himself kept saying, “I am!”

¹⁰ So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

¹¹ He answered, “The Man who is called Yeshua made mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and then I received my sight!”

¹² “Where is He?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They bring to the Pharisees the man who once was blind. ¹⁴ Now the day was Shabbat when Yeshua made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. ¹⁵ So again the Pharisees were asking him how he received his sight. He responded, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see!”

¹⁶ So some of the Pharisees began saying, “This man isn’t from God, because He doesn’t keep Shabbat!” But others were saying, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So there was a split among them.

¹⁷ Again they say to the blind man, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?”

And he said, “He’s a prophet.”