Book of Common Prayer
Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Help.
106 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!
Oh (A)give thanks to the Lord, for He (B)is good;
For (C)His mercy is everlasting.
2 Who can speak of the (D)mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can proclaim all His praise?
3 How blessed are those who maintain [c]justice,
[d]Who (E)practice righteousness at all times!
4 Remember me, Lord, in Your (F)favor [e]toward Your people.
Visit me with Your salvation,
5 So that I may see the (G)prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may (H)rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
That I may (I)boast with Your [f]inheritance.
6 (J)We have sinned [g](K)like our fathers,
We have gone astray, we have behaved wickedly.
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your [h]wonders;
They (L)did not remember [i]Your abundant kindnesses,
But (M)rebelled by the sea, at the [j]Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless He saved them (N)for the sake of His name,
So that He might (O)make His power known.
9 So He (P)rebuked the [k]Red Sea and it (Q)dried up,
And He (R)led them through the mighty waters, as through the wilderness.
10 So He (S)saved them from the [l]hand of one who hated them,
And (T)redeemed them from the [m]hand of the enemy.
11 (U)The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12 Then they (V)believed His words;
They (W)sang His praise.
13 They quickly (X)forgot His works;
They (Y)did not wait for His plan,
14 But (Z)became lustfully greedy in the wilderness,
And (AA)put God to the test in the desert.
15 So He (AB)gave them their request,
But (AC)sent a [n]wasting disease among them.
16 When they became (AD)envious of Moses in the camp,
And of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
17 The (AE)earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
And engulfed the [o]company of Abiram.
18 And a (AF)fire blazed up in their [p]company;
The flame consumed the wicked.
19 They (AG)made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped a cast metal image.
20 So they (AH)exchanged their glory
For the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They (AI)forgot God their Savior,
Who had done (AJ)great things in Egypt,
22 [q](AK)Wonders in the land of Ham,
And awesome things by the [r]Red Sea.
23 Therefore (AL)He said that He would destroy them,
If (AM)Moses, His chosen one, had not stood in the gap before Him,
To turn away His wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they (AN)rejected the (AO)pleasant land;
They (AP)did not believe His word,
25 But (AQ)grumbled in their tents;
They did not listen to the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He [s](AR)swore to them
That He would have them fall in the wilderness,
27 And that He would (AS)bring down their [t]descendants among the nations,
And (AT)scatter them in the lands.
28 They also (AU)followed [u]Baal-peor,
And ate (AV)sacrifices offered to the dead.
29 So they (AW)provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas (AX)stood up and [v]intervened,
And so the (AY)plague was brought to a halt.
31 And it was (AZ)credited to him as righteousness,
To all generations forever.
32 They also (BA)provoked Him to wrath at the waters of [w]Meribah,
So that it (BB)went badly for Moses on their account.
33 Because they (BC)were rebellious against [x]His Spirit,
He spoke rashly with his lips.
34 They (BD)did not destroy the peoples,
As (BE)the Lord had commanded them,
35 But (BF)they got involved with the nations
And learned their [y]practices,
36 And (BG)served their idols,
(BH)Which became a snare to them.
37 They even (BI)sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the (BJ)demons,
38 And shed (BK)innocent blood,
The blood of their (BL)sons and their daughters
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was (BM)defiled with the blood.
39 So they became (BN)unclean in their [z]practices,
And [aa](BO)were unfaithful in their deeds.
40 Therefore the (BP)anger of the Lord was kindled against His people,
And He (BQ)loathed His [ab](BR)inheritance.
41 So (BS)He handed them over to the [ac]nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also (BT)oppressed them,
And they were subdued under their [ad]power.
43 Many times He would (BU)rescue them;
They, however, were rebellious in their (BV)plan,
And they (BW)sank down into their guilt.
24 Then David came to (A)Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 Absalom put (B)Amasa [a]in command of the army in place of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man whose name was [b]Ithra the Israelite, who [c]had relations with Abigail the daughter of (C)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 26 And Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27 Now when David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi (D)the son of Nahash from (E)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, (F)Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and (G)Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 28 brought (H)beds, basins, pottery, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, roasted seeds, 29 honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him, (I)to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and exhausted and thirsty in the wilderness.”
Absalom Killed
18 Then David [d]took a count of the people who were with him and (J)appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 And David sent the people out, (K)a third [e]under the command of Joab, a third [f]under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third [g]under the command of (L)Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I myself will certainly go out with you also.” 3 But the people said, “(M)You should not go out; for if in fact we flee, they will not care about us; and if half of us die, they will not care about us. But [h]you are [i]worth ten thousand of us; so now it is better that you will be ready to help us from the city.” 4 Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So (N)the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and thousands. 5 But the king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And (O)all the people heard when the king commanded all the commanders regarding Absalom.
6 Then the people went out to the field against Israel, and the battle took place in (P)the forest of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were [j]defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there that day was great, twenty thousand men. 8 For the battle there was spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
30 Now on the next day, (A)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he (B)released him and ordered the chief priests and all (C)the [a]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.
Paul before the Council
23 Now looking intently at (D)the [b]Council, Paul said, “[c](E)Brothers, (F)I have [d]lived my life with an entirely good conscience before God up to this day.” 2 But the high priest (G)Ananias commanded those standing beside him (H)to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, (I)you whitewashed wall! Do you (J)sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law, order me to be struck?” 4 But those present said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: ‘(K)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
6 But Paul, perceiving that one group were (L)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in (M)the [e]Council, “[f](N)Brothers, (O)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for (P)the hope and resurrection of the dead!” 7 When he said this, a dissension occurred between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For (Q)the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 And a great uproar occurred; and some of (R)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and started arguing heatedly, saying, “(S)We find nothing wrong with this man; (T)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into (U)the barracks.
11 But on (V)the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, “(W)Be courageous! For (X)as you have (Y)testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also.”
12 (A)On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 13 Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple
15 (B)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling [a]doves; 16 and He would not allow anyone to carry [b]merchandise through the temple grounds. 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘(C)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? (D)But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they (E)began seeking how to put Him to death; for they were afraid of Him, because all (F)the crowd was astonished at His teaching.
19 And (G)whenever evening came, [c]they would leave the city.
20 (H)As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. 21 And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “(I)Rabbi, look, the fig tree that You cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered and *said to them, “(J)Have faith in God. 23 (K)Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. 24 Therefore, I say to you, (L)all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. 25 And whenever you (M)stand praying, (N)forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you for your [d]offenses. 26 [[e](O)But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your [f]offenses.”]
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.