Book of Common Prayer
The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord(A)
105 Oh, (B)give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
(C)Make known His deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
(D)Talk of all His wondrous works!
3 Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
4 Seek the Lord and His strength;
(E)Seek His face evermore!
5 (F)Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
6 O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
(G)His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He (H)remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 (I)The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, (J)“To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
12 (K)When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, (L)and strangers in it.
13 When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
14 (M)He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, (N)He rebuked kings for their sakes,
15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”
16 Moreover (O)He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the (P)provision of bread.
17 (Q)He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who (R)was sold as a slave.
18 (S)They hurt his feet with fetters,
[a]He was laid in irons.
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
(T)The word of the Lord tested him.
20 (U)The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
21 (V)He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
22 To [b]bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.
23 (W)Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt (X)in the land of Ham.
24 (Y)He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 (Z)He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
26 (AA)He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
27 They (AB)performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
29 (AC)He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
30 (AD)Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
31 (AE)He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
32 (AF)He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33 (AG)He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
34 (AH)He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
35 And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 (AI)He also [c]destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
(AJ)The first of all their strength.
37 (AK)He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
38 (AL)Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
39 (AM)He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
40 (AN)The people asked, and He brought quail,
And (AO)satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 (AP)He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For He remembered (AQ)His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
43 He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with [d]gladness.
44 (AR)He gave them the lands of the [e]Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
45 (AS)That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.
[f]Praise the Lord!
Israel Affirms the Covenant
24 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, (A)Nadab and Abihu, (B)and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the [a]judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, (C)“All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses (D)wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve (E)pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered (F)burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses (G)took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he (H)took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is (I)the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
On the Mountain with God
9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they (J)saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of (K)sapphire stone, and it was like the (L)very[b] heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He (M)did not [c]lay His hand. So (N)they saw God, and they (O)ate and drank.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, (P)“Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you (Q)tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”
13 So Moses arose with (R)his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and (S)Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and (T)a cloud covered the mountain.
16 Now (U)the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like (V)a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And (W)Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
8 Beware lest anyone [a]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to (A)the tradition of men, according to the (B)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For (C)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead [b]bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the (D)head of all [c]principality and power.
Not Legalism but Christ
11 In Him you were also (E)circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by (F)putting off the body [d]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 (G)buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through (H)faith in the working of God, (I)who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 (J)having wiped out the [e]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 (K)Having disarmed (L)principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one (M)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [f]festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 (N)which are a shadow of things to come, but the [g]substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has [h]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to (O)the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, (P)grows with the increase that is from God.
20 [i]Therefore, if you (Q)died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, (R)why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 (S)“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—(T)according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 (U)These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and [j]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry(A)
12 (B)Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
15 “The(C) land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
16 (D)The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”
17 (E)From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, (F)“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven [a]is at hand.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.