Book of Common Prayer
Longing for God
A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.[a]
63 O God, you are my God;
I will seek you diligently.
My soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you
as in a dry and weary land without water.
2 Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary,
beholding your strength and glory.
3 Because your loyal love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you while I live.
I will lift up my hands[b] in your name.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the best and richest food,
and with joyful lips my mouth will praise.
6 When I remember you on my bed,
I meditate on you in the night watches.
7 Because you have been my help,
therefore[c] in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to[d] you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 But as for them who seek my life for ruin,
they will go into the depths of the earth.
10 They who would deliver him to the sword[e]
will become a portion for jackals.
11 However, the king will rejoice in God.
Everyone who swears an oath by him will boast,
because the mouth of the liars will be stopped.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Compassion
Of David.[a]
103 Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
and all within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless Yahweh, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits:
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with loyal love and mercies,
5 who satisfies your life with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 Yahweh does deeds of justice
and judgments for all who are oppressed,
7 who made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people[b] of Israel.
8 Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger[c] and abundant in loyal love.
9 He does not dispute continually,
nor keep his anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so his loyal love prevails over those who fear him.
12 As far as east is from west,
so he has removed far from us the guilt of our transgressions.
13 As a father pities[d] his children,
so Yahweh pities[e] those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame.[f]
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like the grass.
As the flower of the field, so he blossoms.
16 When the wind passes over it, it is no more,
and its place knows it no longer.
17 But the loyal love of Yahweh
is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to their children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his precepts.
19 Yahweh has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless Yahweh, you his angels,
you mighty heroes who do his word
by obeying[g] the sound of his word.
21 Bless Yahweh, all you his hosts,
you his attendants who do his will.
22 Bless Yahweh, all his works,[h]
in all the places of his dominion.
Bless Yahweh, O my soul.
21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all of the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand choice troops[a] to fight with the house of Israel, to restore the kingship to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22 Then the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23 “Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin and the remainder of the people, saying, 24 ‘Thus says Yahweh: “You shall not go up and you shall not fight with your brothers the Israelites.[b] Return each of you to his house, for this thing was from me.”’” So they heeded the word of Yahweh, and they returned to go home according to the word of Yahweh.
Jeroboam Becomes King over Israel
25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and he resided in it. Then he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 Then Jeroboam said to himself,[c] “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David 27 if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house[d] of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The heart of this people will return to their master Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they shall kill me and return to him.”[e]
28 And the king had decided, so he made two golden calves and he said to them,[f] “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough;[g] here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He put one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan. 31 Then he built the houses on the high places, and he appointed priests from all walks of life[h] who were not from the sons of Levi. 32 Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites,[i] and he went up to the altar to offer incense.
18 And they called them back and[a] commanded them[b] not to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and[c] said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you decide! 20 For we are not able to refrain from speaking about the things that we have seen and heard.” 21 So after[d] threatening them[e] further, they released them, finding no way to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.
The Believers Pray for Continued Bold Witness
23 And when they[f] were released, they went to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they[g] heard it,[h] they lifted their voices with one mind to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them, 25 the one who said by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant,
‘Why do the nations[i] rage,
and the peoples conspire in vain?
26 The kings of the earth stood opposed,
and the rulers assembled together at the same place,
against the Lord and against his Christ.’[j]
27 For in truth both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, 28 to do all that your hand and plan[k] had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, concern yourself with their threats and grant your slaves to speak your message with all boldness, 30 as you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when[l] they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak[m] the word[n] of God with boldness.
31 Then[a] the Jews picked up stones again so that they could stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “We are not going to stone you concerning a good deed, but concerning blasphemy, and because you, although you[b] are a man, make yourself to be God!” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?[c] 35 If he called them ‘gods’ to whom the word of God came—and the scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say about he whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. 38 But if I am doing them,[d] even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 So they were seeking again to seize him, and he departed out of their hand.
40 And he went away again on the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John was baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. 41 And many came to him and began to say,[e] “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true!” 42 And many believed in him there.
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