Book of Common Prayer
Praise to God for His Loyal Love
118 Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
for his loyal love is forever.
2 Let Israel say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
4 Let those who fear Yahweh say,
“His loyal love is forever.”
5 Out of my distress I called to Yah.[a]
Yah answered me, setting me in a broad place.
6 Yahweh is for me; I do not fear.
What can mere humans[b] do to me?
7 Yahweh is for me as my helper,
and so I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh
than to trust in humans.[c]
9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh
than to trust princes.
10 All nations surrounded me.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
11 They surrounded me; yes, they surrounded me.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire of thorns.
In the name of Yahweh I opposed them indeed.
13 You pushed me hard[d] to make me fall,
but Yahweh helped me.
14 Yah[e] is my strength and my song,[f]
and he has become my salvation.[g]
15 The sound of rejoicing and salvation[h]
is in the tents of the righteous;
the right hand of Yahweh has done valiantly.
16 The right hand of Yahweh has exalted;
the right hand of Yahweh has done valiantly.
17 I will not die but live,
and tell of the works of Yah.[i]
18 Yah has disciplined me severely,
but he did not consign[j] me to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to Yah.[k]
20 This is the gate of Yahweh,
through which the righteous will enter.
21 I will give thanks to you for you have answered me,
and you have become my salvation.[l]
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is from Yahweh;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
24 This is the day Yahweh has worked;[m]
let us rejoice and be glad in him.[n]
25 O Yahweh, please save;
O Yahweh, please grant success.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh.
We bless you[o] from the house[p] of Yahweh.
27 Yahweh is God, and he has given us light.[q]
Bind the festal sacrifice[r] with cords[s]
to the horns[t] of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.
You are my God; I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good,
for his loyal love is forever.
A Song of God’s Majesty and Love
A praise of David.[a]
145 I will exalt you, my God, O king,
and I will bless[b] your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is Yahweh, and very worthy of praise,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation will laud your works to another,
and will declare your mighty deeds.
5 On the splendor of the glory of your majesty,
and on your wonderful deeds, I will meditate.
6 And they will speak of the power of your awesome deeds,[c]
and I will tell of your greatness.[d]
7 They will utter [e] the renown of your abundant goodness,
and they will proclaim with joy your righteousness.
8 Yahweh is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger[f] and great in loyal love.
9 Yahweh is good to all,
and his mercies are over all his works.
10 All your works will praise you, O Yahweh,
and your faithful ones will bless[g] you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and talk of your power,
12 to make known to the children of humankind his mighty deeds,
and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.[h]
14 Yahweh upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look hopefully to you,
and you give them their food in due time,
16 opening your hand,
and satisfying the desire of every living creature.
17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways,
and loyal in all his works.
18 Yahweh is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry for help, and saves them.
20 Yahweh protects all those who love him,
but all the wicked he will exterminate.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh,
and all flesh will bless his holy name
forever and ever.
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me how your strength is so great.” 16 And because she nagged him day after day with her words, and pestered him, his soul grew impatient to the point of death.[a] 17 So he confided everything to her,[b] and he said to her, “A razor has never touched[c] my head, for I am a Nazirite of God[d] from birth.[e] If I am shaved my strength will leave me, and I will become weak, like everyone else.
18 Delilah realized that he had confided in her,[f] so she sent and called the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up one more time, for he has confided in me.”[g] And the rulers of the Philistines came up, and they brought the money with them.[h] 19 And she put him to sleep on her lap; then she called the men[i] and shaved off seven locks of his head. Then she began to subdue him,[j] and his strength went away from him. 20 And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he woke up from his sleep and said, “I will go out just like every other time and shake myself free,” but he did not know that Yahweh had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. They tied him up with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder in the prison.[k] 22 But the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved off.
23 The rulers of the Philistines had gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice. And they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And the people saw him, and they praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand those who hate us, devastate our land, and have killed many of us.”[l] 25 After awhile, when their hearts[m] were merry, they said, “Call Samson and let him entertain us.” And they called Samson from the prison,[n] and he entertained them.[o] And they made him stand between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the servant who was holding him by his hand, “Position me so that I can touch the pillars on which the house[p] rests, so I can lean on them.” 27 And the house[q] was full of men and women, and all of the rulers of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching the performance of Samson.
Samson’s Revenge
28 And Samson called to Yahweh and said, “My Lord Yahweh, remember me! Please give me strength this one time, O God, so that I can repay with one act of revenge to the Philistines for my eyes.” 29 And Samson reached out and held two of the middle pillars on which the house[r] was resting, and he leaned on them, one on his right and one on his left. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And he pushed[s] with all his strength, and the house[t] fell on the rulers and all of the people who were with him. And the dead whom he killed in his death were more than those he killed in his life.
31 His brothers and his whole family[u] came down and picked him up; and they brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father; he judged Israel twenty years.
Final Warnings to the Church at Corinth
13 This is the third time I am coming to you. By the testimony[a] of two or three witnesses every word[b] will be established. 2 I have already said when I was present the second time, and although I[c] am absent now I also say in advance to those who sinned previously and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare anyone, 3 since you are demanding proof that Christ, who is not weak toward you, but is powerful among you, is speaking in me. 4 For indeed, he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him because of the power of God toward you.
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are unqualified? 6 And I hope that you will recognize that we are not unqualified! 7 Now we pray to God that you not do wrong in any way, not that we are seen as approved, but that you do what is good, even though we are seen as though unqualified. 8 For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but rather only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice whenever we are weak, but you are strong, and we pray for this: your maturity. 10 Because of this, I am writing these things although I[d] am absent, in order that when I[e] am present I may not have to act severely according to the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Final Greetings and Benediction
11 Finally, brothers, rejoice, be restored, be encouraged, be in agreement[f], be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
25 And there was a woman who was suffering from hemorrhages[a] twelve years. 26 And she had endured many things under many physicians, and had spent all that she had[b] and had received no help at all, but instead became worse.[c] 27 When she[d] heard about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him and[e] touched his cloak, 28 for she was saying, “If I touch just his clothing, I will be healed!” 29 And immediately her hemorrhage stopped[f] and she realized in her[g] body that she was healed of her[h] suffering. 30 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from himself, turned around in the crowd and[i] said, “Who touched my clothing?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing upon you, and you say ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he was looking around to see the one who had done this. 33 So the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 But he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be well from your suffering.”
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