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.
8 “My people, blow trumpets in Gibeah!
Blow horns in Ramah!
Shout the battle cry in Bethel!
Say to the people of Benjamin, ‘Lead on into battle!’
9 The people of Ephraim will be completely destroyed
when it is time for me to punish them.
They can be sure it will happen.
I am announcing it among their tribes.
10 Judah’s leaders have stolen some land.
They have moved their borders farther north.
So I will pour out my anger on them
like a flood of water.
11 Ephraim will soon be crushed.
The Assyrians will stomp all over them.
It will happen because they have made up their minds
to chase after other gods.
12 I will be like a moth to Ephraim.
I will cause Judah to rot away.
13 “The people of Ephraim saw how sick they were.
The people of Judah saw that they were wounded.
Then Ephraim turned to Assyria for help.
They sent gifts to the great King Tiglath-Pileser.
But he is not able to make you well.
He can’t heal your wounds.
14 I will be like a lion to Ephraim.
I will attack Judah like a powerful lion.
I will tear them to pieces.
I will drag them off.
Then I will leave them.
No one will be able to save them.
15 I will go back to my lion’s den.
I will stay there until they pay the price for their sin.
Then they will turn to me.
They will suffer so much
that they will really want me to help them.”
Israel Refuses to Turn Away From Their Sins
6 The people say, “Come.
Let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces.
But he will heal us.
He has wounded us.
But he’ll bandage our wounds.
2 After two days he will give us new life.
On the third day he’ll make us like new again.
Then we will enjoy his blessing.
3 Let’s recognize him as the Lord.
Let’s keep trying to know him.
You can be sure the sun will rise.
And you can be just as sure the Lord will appear.
He will come to renew us like the winter rains.
He will be like the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 The Lord says, “Ephraim, what can I do with you?
And what can I do with you, Judah?
Your love for me vanishes like the morning mist.
It soon disappears like the early dew.
5 So I used the words of my prophets to cut you in pieces.
I used my words to put you to death.
Then my judgments blazed out like the sun.
6 I want mercy and not sacrifice.
I want you to recognize me as God
instead of bringing me burnt offerings.
Paul Is Arrested
27 The seven days of cleansing were almost over. Some Jews from Asia Minor saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul. 28 “Fellow Israelites, help us!” they shouted. “This is the man who teaches everyone in all places against our people. He speaks against our law and against this holy place. Besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple. He has made this holy place ‘unclean.’ ” 29 They said this because they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul. They thought Paul had brought him into the temple.
30 The whole city was stirred up. People came running from all directions. They grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Right away the temple gates were shut. 31 The people were trying to kill Paul. But news reached the commander of the Roman troops. He heard that people were making trouble in the whole city of Jerusalem. 32 Right away he took some officers and soldiers with him. They ran down to the crowd. The people causing the trouble saw the commander and his soldiers. So they stopped beating Paul.
33 The commander came up and arrested Paul. He ordered him to be held with two chains. Then he asked who Paul was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another. But the commander couldn’t get the facts because of all the noise. So he ordered that Paul be taken into the fort. 35 Paul reached the steps. But then the mob became so wild that he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath Day
6 One Sabbath day Jesus was walking through the grainfields. His disciples began to break off some heads of grain. They rubbed them in their hands and ate them. 2 Some of the Pharisees said, “It is against the Law to do this on the Sabbath day. Why are you doing it?”
3 Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you ever read about what David did? He and his men were hungry. 4 He entered the house of God and took the holy bread. He ate the bread that only priests were allowed to eat. David also gave some to his men.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.”
6 On another Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching. A man whose right hand was weak and twisted was there. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were trying to find fault with Jesus. So they watched him closely. They wanted to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He spoke to the man who had the weak and twisted hand. “Get up and stand in front of everyone,” he said. So the man got up and stood there.
9 Then Jesus said to them, “What does the Law say we should do on the Sabbath day? Should we do good? Or should we do evil? Should we save life? Or should we destroy it?”
10 He looked around at all of them. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand had been made as good as new. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were very angry. They began to talk to one another about what they might do to Jesus.
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.