Book of Common Prayer
Praise to God for His Loyal Love
118 Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
for his loyal love is forever.
2 Let Israel say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
4 Let those who fear Yahweh say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called to Yah.[a]
Yah answered me, setting me in a broad place.
6 Yahweh is for me; I do not fear.
What can mere humans[b] do to me?
7 Yahweh is for me as my helper,
and so I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh
than to trust in humans.[c]
9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh
than to trust princes.
10 All nations surrounded me.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
11 They surrounded me; yes, they surrounded me.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire of thorns.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
13 You pushed me hard[d] to make me fall,
but Yahweh helped me.
14 Yah[e] is my strength and my song,[f]
and he has become my salvation.[g]
15 The sound of rejoicing and salvation[h]
is in the tents of the righteous;
the right hand of Yahweh has done valiantly.
16 The right hand of Yahweh has exalted;
the right hand of Yahweh has done valiantly.
17 I will not die but live,
and tell of the works of Yah.[i]
18 Yah has disciplined me severely,
but he did not consign[j] me to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to Yah.[k]
20 This is the gate of Yahweh,
through which the righteous will enter.
21 I will give thanks to you for you have answered me,
and you have become my salvation.[l]
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is from Yahweh;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
24 This is the day Yahweh has worked;[m]
let us rejoice and be glad in him.[n]
25 O Yahweh, please save;
O Yahweh, please grant success.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh.
We bless you[o] from the house[p] of Yahweh.
27 Yahweh is God, and he has given us light.[q]
Bind the festal sacrifice[r] with cords[s]
to the horns[t] of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.
You are my God; I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
for his loyal love is forever.
A Song of God’s Majesty and Love
A praise of David.[a]
145 I will exalt you, my God, O king,
and I will bless[b] your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is Yahweh, and very worthy of praise,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation will laud your works to another,
and will declare your mighty deeds.
5 On the splendor of the glory of your majesty,
and on your wonderful deeds, I will meditate.
6 And they will speak of the power of your awesome deeds,[c]
and I will tell of your greatness.[d]
7 They will utter [e] the renown of your abundant goodness,
and they will proclaim with joy your righteousness.
8 Yahweh is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger[f] and great in loyal love.
9 Yahweh is good to all,
and his mercies are over all his works.
10 All your works will praise you, O Yahweh,
and your faithful ones will bless[g] you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and talk of your power,
12 to make known to the children of humankind his mighty deeds,
and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.[h]
14 Yahweh upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due time,
16 opening your hand,
and satisfying the desire of every living creature.
17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways,
and loyal in all his works.
18 Yahweh is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry for help, and saves them.
20 Yahweh protects all those who love him,
but all the wicked he will exterminate.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh,
and all flesh will bless his holy name
forever and ever.
Saul Is Anointed as King
10 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, “Has not[a] Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance? 2 As you go from with me today,[b] you will find two men near the burial site of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The female donkeys that you went to search for have been found.’ Now look, your father is no longer concerned about[c] the female donkeys and has begun worrying about you,[d] saying, ‘What should I do about my son?’ 3 Then you will go on from there and further you will come to the oak of Tabor. There three men will meet you, who are going up to God at Bethel. One will be carrying three male kid goats, one will be carrying three loaves of bread, and one will be carrying a skin of wine. 4 They will ask how you are doing[e] and will give you two loaves, which you will take from their hand. 5 After this, you will come to the Gibeah of God,[f] where there are sentries[g] of the Philistines. Just as you enter[h] the town there, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place, with harp, tambourine, flute, and zither before them, and they will be prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of Yahweh will rush upon you,[i] and you will prophesy with them; and you will turn into a different person.[j] 7 When these signs come to you, do for yourself what your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. 8 Then you will go down before me to Gilgal. Look, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to make[k] fellowship offerings. You must wait seven days until I come to you. Then I will let you know what you should do.” 9 Just as he turned[l] his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God changed his[m] heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day.
10 When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him,[n] and he prophesied among them. 11 And when[o] all who knew him formerly[p] saw that he prophesied with prophets, the people said to one another, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 And a man from there responded and said, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When he finished prophesying, he went to the high place. 14 Then Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To search for the female donkeys; and when we saw none, we went to Samuel.” 15 So Saul’s uncle said to him, “Please tell me, what did Samuel say to you?” 16 Then Saul said to his uncle, “He told us for certain that the female donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingship of which Samuel had spoken.
The Promise to Abraham Secured through Faith
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith. 14 For if those of the law are heirs, faith is rendered void and the promise is nullified. 15 For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16 Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)[a] before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, 18 who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.”[b] 19 And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, [c] because he[d] was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God 21 and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do. 22 Therefore[e] it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him, 24 but also for the sake of us to whom it is going to be credited, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over on account of our trespasses, and was raised up in the interest of our justification.[f]
Jesus’ Authority Challenged
23 And after[a] he arrived at the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he[b] was teaching, saying, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24 And Jesus answered and[c] said to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell the answer[d] to me, I also will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 From where was the baptism of John—from heaven or from men?” And they began to discuss[e] this[f] among themselves, saying, “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because they all look upon John as a prophet.” 27 And they answered and[g] said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “Now what do you think? A man had two sons. He approached[h] the first and[i] said, ‘Son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered and[j] said, ‘I do not want to!’ But later he changed his mind and[k] went. 30 And he approached the second[l] and[m] said the same thing. So he answered and[n] said, ‘I will, sir,’ and he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his[o] father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God! 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And when[p] you saw it,[q] you did not even change your minds later so as to believe in him.
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