Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105
The Lord Remembers His Covenant
Opening Praise
1 Give thanks to the Lord.
Proclaim[a] his name.
Make his deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, make music to him.
Meditate on all his wonders.
3 Take pride in his holy name.
Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Search for the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders which he has done,
his signs, and the judgments from his mouth,
6 you descendants of Abraham his servant,
you sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.
The Promise of the Covenant
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant which he made with Abraham,
and his oath to Isaac.
10 Yes, he confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
11 He said, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,
the territory you will possess.”
The Lord Is Faithful in Canaan:
His Protection of the Patriarchs
12 While they were few in number,
just a little group and aliens in the land,
13 they moved around from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people.
14 He did not allow anyone to oppress them,
and he rebuked kings because of them:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones,
and do not harm my prophets.”
The Lord Is Faithful in Egypt:
His Protection of Joseph
16 Then he summoned a famine on the land.
He destroyed their entire food supply.
17 He sent ahead of them a man sold as a slave, Joseph.
18 They hurt his feet with chains.
His throat was clamped in an iron collar,
19 until the time when his predictions came true.
The promise of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent for him and released him.
The ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his house
and ruler over all his possessions,
22 to bind his officials by his will,
to teach his elders wisdom.
The Lord Is Faithful in Egypt:
His Protection of the People
23 Then Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.[b]
24 Then the Lord made his people very fruitful.
He made them too numerous for their foes.
25 He turned the Egyptians’ hearts so they hated his people.
They dealt deceitfully with his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
his warning signs in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and it became extremely dark,
because Israel[c] did not rebel against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
and he caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the rooms of their kings.
31 He spoke, and a swarm of flies came.
There were lice[d] throughout their borders.
32 He gave them hail instead of rain,
with blazing lightning throughout their land.
33 Then he struck down their vines and fig trees,
and he broke down the trees within their borders.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
and grasshoppers without number.
35 They ate every green plant in their land.
They ate the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first fruit of all their virility.
37 Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold.
From among their tribes no one stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they went out,
because fear of Israel had fallen on them.
The Lord Is Faithful in the Wilderness
39 He spread out a cloud as a canopy
and fire to give light at night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and he satisfied them with bread from heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out.
It flowed in the desert like a river.
The Lord Is Faithful in the Land
42 Because he remembered his holy word to Abraham, his servant,
43 he brought out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with a joyful shout.
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the work of other peoples
45 so that they could keep his statutes and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord.[e]
The Covenant Is Ratified
24 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, along with Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship me from a distance. 2 Only Moses is allowed to come near the Lord, but the others are not to come near, and the people are not to go up with him.”
3 Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.
He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young Israelite men, who offered whole burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings of cattle to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and he splashed half of the blood on the altar. 7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it out loud to the people and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do. We will obey.”
8 Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people. He said, “Look, here is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord made with you by means of all these words.”
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet they saw what looked like a pavement of sapphire[a] as clear as the sky. 11 The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people of Israel. They gazed at God, and they ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, so that you can teach them.”
13 Moses set out with his assistant Joshua and went up onto the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, here are Aaron and Hur. They will be with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 Moses went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The Glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. 17 The appearance of the Glory of the Lord looked like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered into the middle of the cloud and climbed up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, which are in accord with human tradition, namely, the basic principles of the world, but not in accord with Christ. 9 For all the fullness of God’s being dwells bodily in Christ. 10 And you have been brought to fullness in him. Christ is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him, with a circumcision not done by human hands, in the putting off of the body of flesh,[a] in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with Christ in baptism. And in baptism you were also raised with him through the faith worked by the God who raised Christ from the dead.
13 Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. 14 God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 After disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by triumphing over them in Christ.
Paul Addresses the False Teaching
16 Therefore, do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in regard to a festival or a New Moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who enjoys false humility and the worship of angels tell you that you are disqualified from the prize. This person goes into detail about what he has seen.[b] He is puffed up for no reason by the attitude of his sinful flesh. 19 He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body grows with the growth that comes from God as it is supported and held together by its sinews and ligaments.
Human Traditions Do Not Restrain the Flesh
20 If you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, why do you submit to its rules, as if you were still living in the world? 21 “Do not touch!” “Do not taste!” “Do not handle!” 22 All of these rules end in destruction when they are used, because they are in accord with human commands and teachings. 23 While such rules have the appearance of wisdom with self-chosen religion, which consists of humiliation and severe treatment of the body, they have no value at all in checking the self-indulgence of the sinful flesh.
Jesus Begins to Preach
12 When Jesus heard that John was put in prison, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 He did this to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,
and on those dwelling in the region and the shadow of death a light has dawned.[a]
17 From that time, Jesus began to preach: “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.