Book of Common Prayer
105 Give praise to the Lord and announce who he is.
Tell the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him.
Tell about all the wonderful things he has done.
3 Praise him, because his name is holy.
Let the hearts of those who trust in the Lord be glad.
4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives.
Always seek him.
5 Remember the wonderful things he has done.
Remember his miracles and how he judged our enemies.
6 Remember what he has done, you children of his servant Abraham.
Remember it, you people of Jacob, God’s chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God.
He judges the whole earth.
8 He will keep his covenant forever.
He will keep his promise for all time to come.
9 He will keep the covenant he made with Abraham.
He will keep the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He made it stand as a law for Jacob.
He made it stand as a covenant for Israel that will last forever.
11 He said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
It will belong to you.”
12 At first there weren’t very many of God’s people.
There were only a few, and they were strangers in the land.
13 They wandered from nation to nation.
They wandered from one kingdom to another.
14 But God didn’t allow anyone to treat them badly.
To keep them safe, he gave a command to kings.
15 He said to them, “Do not touch my anointed ones.
Do not harm my prophets.”
16 He made the people in the land go hungry.
He destroyed all their food supplies.
17 He sent a man ahead of them into Egypt.
That man was Joseph. He had been sold as a slave.
18 The Egyptians put his feet in chains.
They put an iron collar around his neck.
19 He was in prison until what he said would happen came true.
The word of the Lord proved that he was right.
20 The king of Egypt sent for Joseph and let him out of prison.
The ruler of many nations set him free.
21 He put Joseph in charge of his palace.
He made him ruler over everything he owned.
22 Joseph was in charge of teaching the princes.
He taught the elders how to think and live wisely.
23 Then the rest of Jacob’s family went to Egypt.
The people of Israel lived as outsiders in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord gave his people so many children
that there were too many of them for their enemies.
25 He made the Egyptians hate his people.
The Egyptians made evil plans against them.
26 The Lord sent his servant Moses to the king of Egypt.
He sent Aaron, his chosen one, along with him.
27 The Lord gave them the power to do signs among the Egyptians.
They did his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 The Lord sent darkness over the land.
He did it because the Egyptians had refused to obey his words.
29 He turned their rivers and streams into blood.
He caused the fish in them to die.
30 Their land was covered with frogs.
Frogs even went into the bedrooms of the rulers.
31 The Lord spoke, and large numbers of flies came.
Gnats filled the whole country.
32 He turned their rain into hail.
Lightning flashed all through their land.
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees.
He broke down the trees in Egypt.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came.
There were so many of them they couldn’t be counted.
35 They ate up every green thing in the land.
They ate up what the land produced.
36 Then he killed the oldest son of every family in Egypt.
He struck down the oldest of all their sons.
37 He brought the people of Israel out of Egypt.
The Egyptians loaded them down with silver and gold.
From among the tribes of Israel no one got tired or fell down.
38 The Egyptians were glad when the people of Israel left.
They were terrified because of Israel.
39 The Lord spread out a cloud to cover his people.
He gave them a fire to light up the night.
40 They asked for meat, and he brought them quail.
He fed them well with manna, the bread of heaven.
41 He broke open a rock, and streams of water poured out.
They flowed like a river in the desert.
42 He remembered the holy promise
he had made to his servant Abraham.
43 His chosen people shouted for joy
as he brought them out of Egypt.
44 He gave them the lands of other nations.
He let them take over what others had worked for.
45 He did it so they might obey his rules
and follow his laws.
Praise the Lord.
The Blood of the Covenant
24 The Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel must come to worship the Lord. Do not come close when you worship. 2 Only Moses can come close to me. The others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”
3 Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws. They answered with one voice. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has told us to do.” 4 Then Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said.
Moses got up early the next morning. He built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up 12 stone pillars. They stood for the 12 tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men to sacrifice burnt offerings. They also sacrificed young bulls as friendship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses put half of the blood in bowls. He splashed the other half against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They answered, “We will do everything the Lord has told us to do. We will obey him.”
8 Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that puts the covenant into effect. The Lord has made this covenant with you in keeping with all these words.”
9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel went up. 10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a street made out of lapis lazuli. It was as bright blue as the sky itself. 11 But God didn’t destroy those Israelite leaders when they saw him. They ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay here. I will give you the stone tablets. They contain the law and commandments I have written to teach the people.”
13 Then Moses and Joshua, his helper, started out. Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait for us here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone who has a problem can go to them.”
15 Moses went up on the mountain. Then the cloud covered it. 16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. The cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called out to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 The people of Israel saw the glory of the Lord. It looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain. 18 Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. He stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.
8 Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.
9 God’s whole nature is living in Christ in human form. 10 Because you belong to Christ, you have been made complete. He is the ruler over every power and authority. 11 When you received Christ, your circumcision was not done by human hands. Instead, your circumcision was done by Christ. He put away the person you used to be. At that time, sin’s power ruled over you. 12 When you were baptized, you were buried together with Christ. And you were raised to life together with him when you were baptized. You were raised to life by believing in God’s work. God himself raised Jesus from the dead.
13 At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin were not circumcised. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. 14 He wiped out what the law said that we owed. The law stood against us. It judged us. But he has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. 15 He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross.
Freedom From Human Rules
16 So don’t let anyone judge you because of what you eat or drink. Don’t let anyone judge you about holy days. I’m talking about special feasts and New Moons and Sabbath days. 17 They are only a shadow of the things to come. But what is real is found in Christ. 18 Some people enjoy pretending they aren’t proud. They worship angels. But don’t let people like that judge you. These people tell you every little thing about what they have seen. They are proud of their useless ideas. That’s because their minds are not guided by the Holy Spirit. 19 They aren’t connected anymore to the head, who is Christ. But the whole body grows from the head. The muscles and tendons hold the body together. And God causes it to grow.
20 Some people still follow the basic spiritual powers of the world. But you died with Christ as far as these powers are concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the rules you follow. 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 22 Rules like these are about things that will pass away soon. They are based on merely human rules and teachings. 23 It is true that these rules seem wise. Because of them, people give themselves over to their own kind of worship. They pretend they are humble. They treat their bodies very badly. But rules like these don’t help. They don’t stop people from chasing after sinful pleasures.
Jesus Begins to Preach
12 John had been put in prison. When Jesus heard about this, he returned to Galilee. 13 Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. It was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 In that way, what the prophet Isaiah had said came true. He had said,
15 “Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Galilee, where Gentiles live!
Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
16 The people who are now living in darkness
have seen a great light.
They are now living in a very dark land.
But a light has shined on them.” (Isaiah 9:1,2)
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach. “Turn away from your sins!” he said. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”
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