Book of Common Prayer
106 Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.
2 Who can speak enough about the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can praise him as much as he should be praised?
3 Blessed are those who always do what is fair.
Blessed are those who keep doing what is right.
4 Lord, remember me when you bless your people.
Help me when you save them.
5 Then I will enjoy the good things you give your chosen ones.
I will be joyful together with your people.
I will join them when they praise you.
6 We have sinned, just as our people of long ago did.
We too have done what is evil and wrong.
7 When our people were in Egypt,
they forgot about the Lord’s miracles.
They didn’t remember his many kind acts.
At the Red Sea they refused to obey him.
8 But he saved them for the honor of his name.
He did it to make his mighty power known.
9 He ordered the Red Sea to dry up, and it did.
He led his people through it as if it were a desert.
10 He saved them from the power of their enemies.
He set them free from their control.
11 The waters covered their enemies.
Not one of them escaped alive.
12 Then his people believed his promises
and sang praise to him.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done.
They didn’t wait for what he had planned to happen.
14 In the desert they longed for food.
In that dry and empty land they tested God.
15 So he gave them what they asked for.
But he also sent a sickness that killed many of them.
16 In their camp some of them became jealous of Moses and Aaron.
Aaron had been set apart to serve the Lord.
17 The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan.
It buried Abiram and his followers.
18 Fire blazed among all of them.
Flames destroyed those evil people.
19 At Mount Horeb they made a metal statue of a bull calf.
They worshiped that statue of a god.
20 They traded their glorious God
for a statue of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them.
They forgot the God who had done great things in Egypt.
22 They forgot the miracles he did in the land of Ham.
They forgot the wonderful things he did by the Red Sea.
23 So he said he would destroy them.
But Moses, his chosen one,
stood up for them.
He kept God’s anger from destroying them.
24 Later on, they refused to enter the pleasant land of Canaan.
They didn’t believe God’s promise.
25 In their tents they told the Lord how unhappy they were.
They didn’t obey him.
26 So he lifted up his hand and promised
that he would make them die in the desert.
27 He promised he would scatter their children’s children among the nations.
He would make them die in other lands.
28 They joined in worshiping the Baal that was worshiped at Peor.
They ate food that had been offered to gods that aren’t even alive.
29 Their evil ways made the Lord angry.
So a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and took action.
Then the plague stopped.
31 What Phinehas did made him right with the Lord.
It will be remembered for all time to come.
32 By the waters of Meribah the Lord’s people made him angry.
Moses got in trouble because of them.
33 They refused to obey the Spirit of God.
So Moses spoke without thinking.
34 They didn’t destroy the nations in Canaan
as the Lord had commanded them.
35 Instead, they mixed with those nations
and adopted their ways.
36 They worshiped statues of their gods.
That became a trap for them.
37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters
as offerings to false gods.
38 They killed those who weren’t guilty of doing anything wrong.
They killed their own sons and daughters.
They sacrificed them as offerings to statues of the gods of Canaan.
The land became “unclean” because of the blood of their children.
39 The people made themselves impure by what they had done.
They weren’t faithful to the Lord.
40 So the Lord became angry with his people.
He turned away from his own children.
41 He handed them over to the nations.
Their enemies ruled over them.
42 Their enemies treated them badly
and kept them under their power.
43 Many times the Lord saved them.
But they refused to obey him.
So he destroyed them because of their sins.
44 Yet he heard them when they cried out.
He paid special attention to their suffering.
45 Because they were his people, he remembered his covenant.
Because of his great love, he felt sorry for them.
46 He made all those who held them as prisoners
have mercy on them.
47 Lord our God, save us.
Bring us back from among the nations.
Then we will give thanks to you, because your name is holy.
We will celebrate by praising you.
48 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel,
for ever and ever.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord.
The Appointed Feast Days
23 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘Here are my appointed feast days. They are the appointed feast days of the Lord. Tell the people that they must come together for these sacred assemblies.
The Sabbath Day
3 “ ‘There are six days when you can work. But the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest. You must rest on it. Come together on that sacred day. You must not do any work on it. No matter where you live, it is a Sabbath day to honor the Lord.
Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 “ ‘Here are the Lord’s appointed feasts. Tell the people that they must come together for these sacred gatherings at their appointed times. 5 The Lord’s Passover begins when the sun goes down on the 14th day of the first month. 6 The Lord’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th day of that month. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day you must come together for a special service. Do not do any regular work on that day. 8 On each of the seven days bring a food offering to the Lord. On the seventh day come together for a special service. Do not do any regular work on that day.’ ”
The First Share of Israel’s Crops Belongs to the Lord
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them, ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, bring an offering to the Lord. Gather your crops. Bring the first bundle of grain to the priest. 11 He must lift up the grain and wave it in front of the Lord. Then the Lord will accept it from you. The priest must wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day he waves the grain for you, you must sacrifice a burnt offering to me. It must be a lamb that does not have any flaws. It must be a year old. 13 You must bring it together with its grain offering. The grain offering must be seven pounds of the finest flour. Mix it with olive oil. It is a food offering presented to the Lord. It has a pleasant smell. You must offer a drink offering along with the burnt offering. It must be a quart of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread until the day you bring your offering to the Lord your God. You must not eat any cooked grain or any of your first grain until that time. This is a law that will last for all time to come. It applies no matter where you live.
The Feast of Weeks
15 “ ‘The day you brought the grain for the wave offering was the day after the Sabbath. Count off seven full weeks from that day. 16 Count off 50 days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath. On that day bring to the Lord an offering of your first grain. 17 Bring two loaves of bread that are made with seven pounds of the finest flour. They must be baked with yeast. Bring them to me as a wave offering from the first share of your crops. That applies no matter where you live. 18 Together with the bread, bring seven male lambs. Each lamb must be a year old. It must not have any flaws. Also bring one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord. They will be offered together with their grain offerings and drink offerings. They are food offerings. Their smell pleases the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering. Also sacrifice two lambs for a friendship offering. Each of the lambs must be a year old. 20 The priest must lift up the two lambs and wave them in front of me as a wave offering. He must offer them together with the bread made out of the first share of your crops. They are a sacred offering to the Lord. They will be given to the priest. 21 On that same day tell the people that they must come together for a special worship service. They must not do any regular work. That is a law that will last for all time to come. It applies no matter where you live.
22 “ ‘Suppose you are gathering your crops. Then do not harvest all the way to the edges of your field. And do not pick up the grain you missed. Leave some for the poor people and the outsiders who live among you. I am the Lord your God.’ ”
The Man of Sin
2 Brothers and sisters, we want to ask you something. It has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It concerns the time when we will go to be with him. 2 What if you receive a message that is supposed to have come from us? What if it says that the day of the Lord has already come? If it does, we ask you not to become easily upset or alarmed. Don’t be upset whether that message is spoken or written or prophesied. 3 Don’t let anyone trick you in any way. That day will not come until people rise up against God. It will not come until the man of sin appears. He is a marked man. He is headed for ruin. 4 He will oppose everything that is called God. He will oppose everything that is worshiped. He will give himself power over everything. He will set himself up in God’s temple. He will announce that he himself is God.
5 Don’t you remember? When I was with you, I used to tell you these things. 6 Now you know what is holding back the man of sin. He is held back so that he can make his appearance at the right time. 7 The secret power of sin is already at work. But the one who now holds back that power will keep doing it until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then the man of sin will appear. The Lord Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth. The glorious brightness of Jesus’ coming will destroy the man of sin. 9 The coming of the man of sin will fit how Satan works. The man of sin will show his power through all kinds of signs and wonders. These signs and wonders will lead people astray. 10 So people who are dying will be fooled by this evil. These people are dying because they refuse to love the truth. The truth would save them. 11 So God will fool them completely. Then they will believe the lie. 12 Many will not believe the truth. They will take pleasure in evil. They will be judged.
Remain Strong in the Faith
13 Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. The Lord loves you. That’s because God chose you as the first to be saved. Salvation comes through the Holy Spirit’s work. He makes people holy. It also comes through believing the truth. 14 He chose you to be saved by accepting the good news that we preach. And you will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Brothers and sisters, remain strong in the faith. Hold on to what we taught you. We passed our teachings on to you by what we preached and wrote.
16 Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loved us. By his grace God gave us comfort that will last forever. The hope he gave us is good. May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father 17 comfort your hearts. May they make you strong in every good thing you do and say.
Be Fair When You Judge Other People
7 “Do not judge other people. Then you will not be judged. 2 You will be judged in the same way you judge others. You will be measured in the same way you measure others.
3 “You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend’s eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. 4 How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? 5 You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye.
6 “Do not give holy things to dogs. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they might walk all over them. They might turn around and tear you to pieces.
Ask, Search, Knock
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find. The door will be opened to the one who knocks.
9 “Suppose your son asks for bread. Which of you will give him a stone? 10 Or suppose he asks for a fish. Which of you will give him a snake? 11 Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you. This is what is written in the Law and in the Prophets.
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