Book of Common Prayer

God Reigns

Give Glory to the Lord

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away. So David^[a] left.

Learning about God’s Deliverance

On Blessing the Israelis

²² Later, the Lord told Moses, ²³ “Teach Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelis:

²⁷ They are to pour out my name to the Israelis while I continue to bless them.”

Barnabas and Saul Travel to Cyprus

13 Now Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who grew up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them.” ³ Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go. ⁴ After they had been sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ Arriving in Salamis, they began to preach God’s word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John to help them.

⁶ They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish occult practitioner and false prophet named Bar-jesus. ⁷ He was associated with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. He sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the occult practitioner (that is the meaning of his name) continued to oppose them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, also known as^[a] Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye ¹⁰ and said, “You’re full of every form of deception and trickery, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all that is right! You’ll never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord, will you? ¹¹ The^[b] Lord is against you now, and you’ll be blind and unable to see the sun for a while!” At that moment a dark mist came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was astonished at the Lord’s teaching.

⁴¹ Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable just for us or for everyone?”

⁴² The Lord said, “Who, then, is the faithful and careful servant manager whom his master will put in charge of giving all his other servants their share of food at the right time? ⁴³ How blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing this when he comes! ⁴⁴ I tell you with certainty, he will put him in charge of all his property. ⁴⁵ But if that servant says to himself,^[a] ‘My master is taking a long time to come back,’ and begins to beat the other servants and to eat, drink, and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he doesn’t expect him and at an hour that he doesn’t know. Then his master^[b] will punish him severely^[c] and assign him a place with unfaithful people. ⁴⁷ That servant who knew what his master wanted but didn’t prepare himself or do what was wanted will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸ But the servant^[d] who did things that deserved a beating without knowing it will receive a light beating. Much will be required from everyone to whom much has been given. But even more will be demanded from the one to whom much has been entrusted.”