Book of Common Prayer
105 Alleluia. Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth all his praises?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times.
4 Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.
5 That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have wrought iniquity.
7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up to the sea, even the Red Sea.
8 And he saved them for his own name's sake: that he might make his power known.
9 And he rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up: and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.
10 And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not one of them left.
12 And they believed his words: and they sang his praises.
13 They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited not for his counsels.
14 And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted God in the place without water.
15 And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their souls.
16 And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the Lord.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan: and covered the congregation of Abiron.
18 And a fire was kindled in their congregation: the flame burned the wicked.
19 They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven thing.
20 And they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eateth grass.
21 They forgot God, who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wondrous works in the land of Cham: terrible things in the Red Sea.
23 And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
24 And they set at nought the desirable land. They believed not his word,
25 And they murmured in their tents: they hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.
26 And he lifted up his hand over them: to overthrow them in the desert;
27 And to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them in the countries.
28 They also were initiated to Beelphegor: and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29 And they provoked him with their inventions: and destruction was multiplied among them.
30 Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter ceased.
31 And it was reputed to him unto justice, to generation and generation for evermore.
32 They provoked him also at the waters of contradiction: and Moses was afflicted for their sakes:
33 Because they exasperated his spirit. And he distinguished with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations of which the Lord spoke unto them.
35 And they were mingled among the heathens, and learned their works:
36 And served their idols, and it became a stumblingblock to them.
37 And they sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to devils.
38 And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the land was polluted with blood,
39 And was defiled with their works: and they went aside after their own inventions.
40 And the Lord was exceedingly angry with his people: and he abhorred his inheritance.
41 And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they that hated them had dominion over them.
42 And their enemies afflicted them: and they were humbled under their hands:
43 Many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities.
44 And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their prayer.
45 And he was mindful of his covenant: and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
46 And he gave them unto mercies, in the sight of all those that had made them captives.
47 Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among nations: That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.
14 Then Samson went down to Thamnatlia, and seeing there a woman of the daughters of the Philistines,
2 He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying: I saw a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines: I beseech you, take her for me to wife.
3 And his father and mother said to him: Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou wilt take a wife of the Philistines, who are uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father: Take this woman for me, for she hath pleased my eyes.
4 Now his parents knew not that the thing was done by the Lord, and that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Thamnatha. And when they were come to the vineyards of the town, behold a young lion met him raging and roaring.
6 And the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he tore the lion as he would have torn a kid in pieces, having nothing at all in his hand: and he would not tell this to his father and mother.
7 And he went down and spoke to the woman that had pleased his eyes.
8 And after some days returning to take her, he went aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold there was a swarm of bees in the mouth of the lion and a honeycomb.
9 And when be had taken it in his hands, he went on eating: and coming to his father and mother, he gave them of it, and they ate: but he would not tell them, that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.
10 So his father went down to the woman, and made a feast for his son Samson: for so the young men used to do.
11 And when the citizens of that place saw him, they brought him thirty companions to be with him.
12 And Samson said to them: I will propose to you a riddle, which if you declare unto me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty shirts, and as many coats:
13 But if you shall not be able to declare it, you shall give me thirty shirts and the same number of coats. They answered him: Put forth the riddle that we may hear it.
14 And he said to them: Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
15 And when the seventh day came, they said to the wife of Samson: Soothe thy husband, and persuade him to tell thee what the riddle meaneth. But if thou wilt not do it, we will burn thee, and thy father's house. Have you called us to the wedding on purpose to strip us?
16 So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother, and how can I tell it to thee?
17 So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and at length on the seventh day as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen.
18 And they on the seventh day before the sun went down said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle.
19 And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew there thirty men, whose garments he took away and gave to them that had declared the riddle. And being exceeding angry he went up to his father's house:
15 And all that sat in the council, looking on him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel.
7 Then the high priest said: Are these things so?
2 Who said: Ye men, brethren, and fathers, hear. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan.
3 And said to him: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then he went out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan. And from thence, after his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein you now dwell.
5 And he gave him no inheritance in it; no, not the pace of a foot: but he promised to give it him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6 And God said to him: That his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and that they should bring them under bondage, and treat them evil four hundred years.
7 And the nation which they shall serve will I judge, said the Lord; and after these things they shall go out, and shall serve me in this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, through envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his tribulations: and he gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharao, the king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and over all his house.
11 Now there came a famine upon all Egypt and Chanaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found no food.
12 But when Jacob had heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:
13 And at the second time, Joseph was known by his brethren, and his kindred was made known to Pharao.
14 And Joseph sending, called thither Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers.
16 And they were translated into Sichem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem.
27 And immediately his disciples came; and they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What seekest thou? or, why talkest thou with her?
28 The woman therefore left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men there:
29 Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?
30 They went therefore out of the city, and came unto him.
31 In the mean time the disciples prayed him, saying: Rabbi, eat.
32 But he said to them: I have meat to eat, which you know not.
33 The disciples therefore said one to another: Hath any man brought him to eat?
34 Jesus saith to them: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work.
35 Do you not say, There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries; for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together.
37 For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth.
38 I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours.
39 Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done.
40 So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed in him because of his own word.
42 And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.
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