Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 101[a]
Norm of Life for a Good Ruler
1 A psalm of David.
I will sing of kindness and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will offer praise in song.
2 I will walk in the path of blamelessness;
when will you come to me?[b]
Within my house[c] I will act
with integrity of heart.
3 I will not allow any shameful act
to be done before my eyes.
[d]I will refuse to associate
with people who do evil.
4 Let the perverse of heart remain far from me;
I will not tolerate the wicked.
5 [e]Anyone who secretly slanders a neighbor
I will reduce to silence.
Anyone with haughty glances and an arrogant heart
I cannot endure.
6 The faithful in the land are the ones
whom I will choose to be my companions.
Only the one who follows the path of integrity
will be allowed to be my servant.
7 No one who practices deceit
will be permitted to remain in my house.
No one who utters lies
will be numbered among my companions.[f]
8 Morning after morning[g] I will banish
all the wicked from the land,
removing all evildoers from the city of the Lord.
Psalm 109[a]
Prayer for One Falsely Accused
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
[c]O God, whom I praise,
do not remain silent.
2 Wicked and deceitful men
have opened their mouths against me;[d]
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 They confront me with words of hatred
and assail me without cause.
4 In return for my love they denounce me
even as I offer up prayers for them.[e]
5 They give me back evil in exchange for good
and hatred in place of my love.[f]
6 [g]They say:[h]
“Choose a wicked man to oppose him,
an accuser to stand on his right.
7 At his judgment, let him be found guilty,
with even his prayers deemed sinful.[i]
8 “May his remaining days be few,
with someone else appointed to take his office.[j]
9 May his children become fatherless
and his wife become widowed.
10 “May his children be vagrants and beggars,
driven from the ruins they use for shelter.
11 May the creditor seize all he has,
and strangers abscond with his life savings.
12 [k]“May no one extend mercy to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his posterity be doomed to extinction
and his name be blotted out within a generation.
14 “May the iniquity of his ancestors be remembered by the Lord,
and the sin of his mother never be wiped out.
15 May their guilt be continually before the Lord,
and may he banish all remembrance of them from the earth.
16 [l]“For he never thought of showing mercy;
rather, he hounded to death
the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to level curses[m] at others;
may they recoil on him.
He took no pleasure in blessing;
may no blessing be his.
18 [n]“He clothed himself with cursing as his garment;
it seeped into his body like water
and into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like the robe that envelops him,
like the belt that encircles him every day.”
20 May these evils my accusers wish for me
be inflicted upon them by the Lord.[o]
21 [p]But you, O Lord, my God,
treat me kindly for your name’s sake;[q]
deliver me because of your overwhelming kindness.
22 For I am poor and needy,[r]
and my heart is pierced within me.
23 I am fading away[s] like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from fasting;
my flesh is wasting away.
25 I have become an object of ridicule to my accusers;
upon seeing me, they toss their heads.[t]
26 Come to my aid, O Lord, my God;
save me because of your kindness.[u]
27 Let them know that your hand has done this,
that you, O Lord, have accomplished it.
28 When they curse, you will bless;
when they attack, they will be put to shame,
and your servant will rejoice.[v]
29 My accusers will be clothed in disgrace,
wrapped in their shame as in a cloak.
30 I will thank the Lord with my lips,
and before all the people I will praise him.[w]
121 [a]Since my conduct has been just and upright,
do not abandon me to those who oppress me.
122 Guarantee the well-being of your servant;[b]
do not allow the arrogant to oppress me.
123 My eyes fail[c] as I long for your salvation
and for the promise of your justice.
124 Deal with your servant in accordance with your kindness,[d]
and teach me your decrees.
125 I am your servant; grant me discernment
so that I may understand your statutes.
126 It is time, O Lord, for you to take action;
your law has been broken.
127 That is why I love your precepts
more than gold, even the purest gold.[e]
128 That is why I regard all your commandments as right
and despise every way that is false.
Pe
129 [f]Wonderful are your statutes;
therefore, I willingly observe them.
130 The explanation[g] of your words gives light
and imparts understanding to the simple.
131 I open wide my mouth and sigh,[h]
longing eagerly for your precepts.
132 [i]Turn and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.[j]
133 Guide my steps in accord with your word
and never let evil triumph over me.
134 Rescue me from the oppression of men
so that I may observe your commandments.
135 Allow your face to shine[k] upon your servant
and teach me your decrees.
136 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because your law is disregarded.[l]
Sadhe
137 [m]You are righteous, O Lord,
and your judgments are right.
138 You have set down your statutes as righteous
and as completely faithful.
139 Zeal has consumed me
because my adversaries ignore your words.
140 Your word has been tested through and through,[n]
and your servant cherishes it.
141 Although I am despised and unimportant,
I do not forget your commands.
142 Your righteousness is everlasting,
and your law is forever true.
143 I am afflicted by anguish and distress,
but your precepts are my delight.
144 Your statutes are forever righteous;
grant me understanding and I will live.
Qoph
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Would you please stay here until we prepare a kid goat for you?” 16 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Even though you hold me here, I will not eat anything. If you prepare a burnt offering, offer it up to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was an angel of the Lord.) 17 Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we can honor you when these things happen?” 18 [a]The angel of the Lord answered, “Why do you ask me my name? It is a mystery.”
19 Manoah took a young goat together with a grain offering and he offered them up to the Lord on a rock. He did a wondrous thing as Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 As the flames rose up from the altar into the heavens, the angel of the Lord rose up from the altar in the flames as Manoah and his wife looked on. They fell prostrate on the ground.
21 When the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been an angel of the Lord. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God!” 23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, then he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would he have revealed all of these things, nor would he have told us these things.”
24 The woman gave birth to a son whose name was Samson. The child grew and the Lord blessed him.
Jerusalem, First Center of Diffusion[a]
Chapter 6
Institution of the Seven Deacons.[b] 1 In those days, as the number of disciples grew, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews,[c] asserting that their own widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And so the Twelve called together the entire community of disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, we direct you to select from among you seven[d] men of good reputation, men filled with the Spirit and with wisdom, to whom we may assign this task. 4 We will then be able to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 The entire community found this proposal to be acceptable, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch who was a convert to Judaism. 6 They then presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid hands on them.[e]
7 The word of God continued to spread ever more widely. The number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Accusation against Stephen.[f] 8 Stephen, a man filled with grace and power, began to work great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, people from Cyrene and Alexandria, as well as others from Cilicia and Asia, came forward to debate with Stephen. 10 However, they were unable to refute him because of his wisdom and the Spirit who inspired his speech.
11 So they bribed some men to say, “We heard this Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 After this, stirring up the people as well as the elders and the scribes, they seized Stephen, placed him under arrest, and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
13 Then they called forward false witnesses who claimed, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law. 14 For we have heard him assert that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the traditions that Moses handed down to us.” 15 All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared like the face of an angel.
The Savior of the World and the New Worship
Chapter 4
Journeying to Galilee through Samaria.[a] 1 Now when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been informed that he had more disciples and was baptizing more people than John 2 (although actually it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who were baptizing), 3 he left Judea and set forth for Galilee.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman.[b] 4 He had to pass through Samaria.[c] 5 So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar,[d] near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.[e]
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the town to purchase food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew. How can you ask me, a Samaritan woman,[f] for some water to drink?” (Jews do not share anything in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus replied,
“If you recognized the gift of God
and who it is that is asking you for something to drink,
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you do not have a bucket, and the well is deep.[g] Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water
will be thirsty again.
14 But whoever drinks the water that I will give him
will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give him
will become a spring of water within him
welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I may not be thirsty and have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,[h] but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus told her,
“Believe me, woman,
the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem.
22 You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews.
23 “But the hour is coming,
indeed it is already here,
when the true worshipers
will worship the Father
in Spirit and truth.[i]
Indeed it is worshipers like these
that the Father seeks.
24 God is Spirit,
and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will reveal everything to us.”[j] 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[k] the one who is speaking to you.”
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