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.
Samson Marries a Philistine Woman
14 Samson went down to Timnah. There he saw a young Philistine woman. 2 When he returned, he spoke to his father and mother. He said, “I’ve seen a Philistine woman in Timnah. Get her for me. I want her to be my wife.”
3 His father and mother replied, “Can’t we find a wife for you among your relatives? Isn’t there one among any of our people? Do you have to go to the Philistines to get a wife? They aren’t God’s people. They haven’t even been circumcised.”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 Samson’s parents didn’t know that the Lord wanted things to happen this way. He was working out his plans against the Philistines. That’s because the Philistines were ruling over Israel at that time.
5 Samson went down to Timnah. His father and mother went with him. They approached the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring toward Samson. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on Samson. So he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as he might have torn a young goat apart. But he didn’t tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman. He liked her.
8 Some time later, he was going back to marry her. But he turned off the road to look at the lion’s dead body. He saw large numbers of bees and some honey in it. 9 He dug out the honey with his hands. He ate it as he walked along. Then he joined his parents again. He gave them some honey. They ate it too. But he didn’t tell them he had taken it from the lion’s dead body.
10 Samson’s father went down to see the woman. Samson had a feast prepared there. He was following the practice of young men when they married their wives. 11 When the people saw Samson, they gave him 30 men to be his companions.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to the companions. “The feast will last for seven days. Give me the answer to the riddle before the feast ends. If you do, I’ll give you 30 linen shirts. I’ll also give you 30 sets of clothes. 13 But suppose you can’t give me the answer. Then you must give me 30 linen shirts. You must also give me 30 sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
14 Samson replied,
“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”
For three days they couldn’t give him the answer.
15 On the fourth day they spoke to Samson’s wife. “Get your husband to explain the riddle for us,” they said. “If you don’t, we’ll burn you to death. We’ll burn up everyone in your family. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”
16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him. She sobbed, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You have given my people a riddle. But you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied. “So why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried during the whole seven days the feast was going on. So on the seventh day he finally told her the answer to the riddle. That’s because she kept on asking him to tell her. Then she explained the riddle to her people.
18 Before sunset on the seventh day of the feast the men of the town spoke to Samson. They said,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson said to them,
“You have plowed with my young cow.
If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have known the answer to my riddle.”
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on Samson. He went down to Ashkelon. He struck down 30 of their men. He took everything they had with them. And he gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Samson was very angry as he returned to his father’s home.
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked right at Stephen. They saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen Speaks to the Sanhedrin
7 Then the high priest questioned Stephen. “Is what these people are saying true?” he asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said. ‘Go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1)
4 “So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Harran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living. 5 God didn’t give him any property here. He didn’t even give him enough land to set his foot on. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 Here is what God said to him. ‘For 400 years your family after you will be strangers in a country not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly. 7 But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,’ God said. ‘After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’ (Genesis 15:13,14) 8 Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac’s father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob’s father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
9 “Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him. 10 He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.
11 “There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn’t find food. 12 But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died. 16 Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor’s sons at Shechem. He had purchased it for a certain amount of money.
The Disciples Join Jesus Again
27 Just then Jesus’ disciples returned. They were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want from her?” No one asked, “Why are you talking with her?”
28 The woman left her water jar and went back to the town. She said to the people, 29 “Come. See a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 The people came out of the town and made their way toward Jesus.
31 His disciples were saying to him, “Rabbi, eat something!”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him food?”
34 Jesus said, “My food is to do what my Father sent me to do. My food is to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying? You say, ‘It’s still four months until harvest time.’ But I tell you, open your eyes! Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest right now. 36 Even now the one who gathers the crop is getting paid. They are already harvesting the crop for eternal life. So the one who plants and the one who gathers can now be glad together. 37 Here is a true saying. ‘One plants and another gathers.’ 38 I sent you to gather what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work. You have gathered the benefits of their work.”
Many Samaritans Believe in Jesus
39 Many of the Samaritans from the town of Sychar believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had said about him. She said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” 40 Then the Samaritans came to him and tried to get him to stay with them. So he stayed two days. 41 Because of what he said, many more people became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said. We have now heard for ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
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