Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105(A)
1 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name;
make known His deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing unto Him, sing praises unto Him;
proclaim all His wondrous works.
3 Glory in His holy name;
let the heart rejoice for those who seek the Lord.
4 Seek the Lord and His strength;
seek His presence continuously.
5 Remember His marvelous works that He has done;
His wonders and the judgments from His mouth,
6 O offspring of Abraham, His servant,
O children of Jacob, His chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers His covenant forever,
the word that He commanded, to a thousand generations,
9 that covenant He made with Abraham,
and His oath to Isaac,
10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree,
and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
12 When they were but a few people in number,
indeed, very few, and strangers in it,
13 when they went from one nation to another,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 He did not permit anyone to do them wrong;
indeed, He reproved kings on their behalf,
15 saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones,
and do no harm to my prophets.”
16 Moreover He called for a famine upon the land;
He broke the whole supply of bread.
17 He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They hurt his feet with fetters;
his neck was put in an iron collar.
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the people let him go free.
21 He made Joseph lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to imprison his princes at Joseph’s pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel came into Egypt,
and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord increased His people greatly
and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their hearts to hate His people,
to deal cleverly with His servants.
26 He sent Moses, His servant,
and Aaron whom He had chosen.
27 They showed His signs among them
and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark,
and Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His word.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies
and gnats in all their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain
and flaming lightning in their land.
33 He struck their vines and their fig trees
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
and caterpillars without number,
35 that devoured all the vegetation in their land,
and ate all the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first fruits of all their strength.
37 Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
and no one among their tribes faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
for the fear of Israel fell upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and He brought quail,
and satisfied them with abundant bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out;
they ran in the desert like a river.
42 For he recalled His holy promise
to Abraham His servant.
43 He brought forth His people with joy,
and His chosen ones with gladness,
44 and gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruitful labor of the people,
45 that they might observe His statutes
and keep His laws.
Praise the Lord!
28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called with a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he is not able to deliver you from my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Submit to me; come out to me, so that every man may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, that you may live and not die.’
“Do not listen to Hezekiah when he leads you astray saying, The Lord will deliver us. 33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
The Rights of an Apostle
9 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet indeed I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my answer to those who examine me. 4 Do we have no right to eat and to drink? 5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife as do other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?
7 Who goes to war at any time at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, but does not eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, but does not drink of the flock’s milk? 8 Do I say these things as a man? Or does the law not say the same thing also? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox while it treads out the grain.”[a] Is God concerned about oxen? 10 Or does He say it completely for our sake? For our sake, no doubt, this is written so that he who plows should plow in hope, and that he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. 11 If we have sown for you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your material things? 12 If others partake of this right over you, should not we instead?
Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but suffer all things, lest we might hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who minister unto holy things live from the things of the temple? And do you not know that those who wait at the altar partake of the altar? 14 In the same way, the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that it should be so done to me. For it would be better for me to die than allow anyone to make my boasting void.
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?’ 23 But then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice evil.’[a]
The Two Housebuilders(A)
24 “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded a rock. 26 And every one who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great.”
28 When Jesus finished these sayings, the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.