Book of Common Prayer
An instruction[a]. By Ethan, the Ezrahite
God’s Covenant with David
89 I will sing forever about the gracious love of the Lord;
from generation to generation
I will declare your faithfulness with my mouth.
2 I will declare that your gracious love was established forever;
in the heavens itself, you have established your faithfulness.
3 I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise to David, my servant.
4 “I will establish your dynasty forever,
and I will lift up one who will build[b] your throne
from generation to generation.”
5 Even the heavens praise your awesome deeds, Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies compares to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the divine beings?
7 God is feared in the council of the holy ones,
revered by all those around him.
8 Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,
who is as mighty as you, Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule over the majestic[c] sea;
when its waves surge,
you calm them.
10 You crushed the proud one[d] to death;
with your powerful arm
you scattered your enemies.
11 Heaven and the earth belong to you,
the world and everything it contains—
you established them.
12 The north and south—you created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
13 Your arm is strong;
your hand is mighty;
indeed, your right hand is victorious.[e]
14 Righteousness and justice make up
the foundation of your throne;
gracious love and truth meet before you.
15 How happy are the people who can worship joyfully![f]
Lord, they walk in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all day long;
they exult in your justice.[g]
17 For you are their strength’s grandeur;
by your favor you exalted our power.[h]
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
God’s Describes His Anointed
19 You spoke to your faithful[i] ones through a vision:[j]
“I will set a helper over[k] a warrior.
I will raise up a chosen one from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
I have anointed him with my sacred oil,
21 with whom my power[l] will be firmly established;
for my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will deceive him;
no wicked person[m] will afflict him.
23 I will crush his enemies before him
and strike those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,
and in my name his power[n] will be exalted.
25 I will place his hand[o] over the sea,
and his right hand[p] over the rivers.
26 He will announce to me
‘You are my father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 “Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will show[q] my gracious love toward him forever,
since my covenant is securely established with him.
29 I will establish his dynasty[r] forever,
and his throne as long as heaven endures.[s]
30 “But if his sons abandon my laws and
do not follow my ordinances,
31 if they profane my statutes;
and do not keep my commands,
32 then I will punish their disobedience with a rod
and their iniquity with lashes.
33 But I will not cut off[t] my gracious love from him,
and I will not stop being faithful.
34 I will not dishonor my covenant,
because I will not change what I have spoken.[u]
35 I have sworn by my holiness once for all:
I will not lie to David.
36 His dynasty[v] will last forever
and his throne will be like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
a faithful witness in the sky.”
A Commitment to Persevere
38 But you have spurned, rejected,
and became angry with your anointed one.
39 You have dishonored the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown on the ground.
40 You have broken through all his[w] walls;
you have laid his fortresses in ruin.
41 All who pass by on their way plunder him;
he has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
you have caused all of his enemies to rejoice.
43 Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword
and did not support him in battle.
44 You have caused his splendor[x] to cease
and cast down his throne to the ground.
45 You have caused the days of his youth to be cut short;
you have covered him with shame.
46 How long, Lord, will you hide yourself? Forever?
Will your anger continuously burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my lifetime is!
How powerless have you created all human beings![y]
48 What valiant man can live and not see death?
Who can deliver himself[z] from the power[aa] of Sheol.[ab]
49 Where is your gracious love of old, Lord,
that in your faithfulness you promised to David?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servant!
I carry inside me all the insults of many people,
51 when your enemies reproached you, Lord,
when they reproached the footsteps[ac] of your anointed.
52 Blessed is the Lord forever!
Amen and amen!
Jephthah’s Dispute with the Tribe of Ephraim
12 A little while later, the army of Ephraim was mustered, and they crossed to Zaphon. They confronted Jephthah and asked, “Why did you cross over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to accompany you? We’re going to burn your house down around you!”
2 But Jephthah replied to them, “My army and I were engaged in a serious fight with the Ammonites. I called for you, but you didn’t deliver me from their control. 3 When I saw that you wouldn’t be delivering me, I took my own life in my hands, crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my control. So why have you come here today to fight me?” 4 Then Jephthah mustered all the men of Gilead, fought the tribe of Ephraim, and defeated them, because they had been claiming, “You descendants of Gilead are fugitives in the midst of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
Shibboleth vs. Sibboleth
5 The descendants of Gilead seized control of the Jordan River’s fords along the border of Ephraim’s territory.[a] Later on, when any fugitive from Ephraim asked them, “Let me cross over,” the men from Gilead would ask him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said “No,” 6 they would order him, “Pronounce the word ‘Shibboleth’ right now.” If he said “Sibboleth,” not being able to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and slaughter him there at the fords of the Jordan River. During those days 42,000 descendants of Ephraim died that way. 7 Jephthah governed Israel for six years. Then Jephthah died and was buried somewhere in the cities of Gilead.
The Apostles Perform Many Miracles
12 Now many signs and wonders were being performed by the apostles among the people, who were gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 None of the others dared join them, although the rest of the people continued to hold them in high regard. 14 Nevertheless, believers were being added to the Lord in increasing numbers—both men and women. 15 As a result, people[a] kept carrying their sick into the streets and placing them on stretchers and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds continued coming in—even from the towns around Jerusalem—bringing their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
The Apostles are Tried before the Jewish Council
17 Then the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out, 18 arrested the apostles, and put them in the city jail. 19 But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and led them out. The angel[b] told them, 20 “Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have.”[c]
21 After the apostles[d] heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council[e] and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word[f] to the prison to have the men brought in. 22 When the Temple police got there, they did not find them in the prison. They came back and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.
25 Then someone came and told them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!” 26 So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.
Jesus Talks with Nicodemus
3 Now there was a man from the Pharisees, a leader of the Jews, whose name was Nicodemus. 2 He came to Jesus[a] at night and told him, “Rabbi,[b] we know that you have come from God as a teacher, because no one can perform these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus replied to him, “Truly, I tell you[c] emphatically, unless a person is born from above[d] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus asked him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He can’t go back into his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, I tell you[e] emphatically, unless a person is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.[f] 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t be astonished that I told you, ‘All of you must be born from above.’[g] 8 The wind[h] blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. That’s the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus asked him, “How can that be?”
10 Jesus answered him, “You’re the teacher of Israel, and you can’t understand this? 11 Truly, I tell you[i] emphatically, we know what we’re talking about, and we testify about what we’ve seen. Yet you people[j] do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you people[k] about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.[l] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him would have eternal life.[m]
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his uniquely existing Son so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. 17 Because God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world would be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s uniquely existing Son. 19 And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil. 20 Everyone who practices wickedness hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his actions may not be exposed.[n] 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may become evident that his actions have God’s approval.”[o]
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