Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105[a]
God’s Faithfulness to the Covenant
1 [b]Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;[c]
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
2 Offer him honor with songs of praise;
recount all his marvelous deeds.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts[d] of those who seek the Lord exult.
4 Reflect on the Lord and his strength;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember the marvels he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments[e] he has set forth.
6 You are the offspring of his servant Abraham,
the children of Jacob, his chosen ones.[f]
7 He is the Lord, our God;
his judgments prevail all over the earth.
8 He is mindful of his covenant[g] forever,
the promise he laid down for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Abraham
and the oath he swore to Isaac.[h]
10 [i]He established it as a decree for Jacob,
and as an everlasting covenant for Israel,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your heritage.”
12 [j]When they were few in number,
an insignificant group of strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 He permitted no one to oppress them,
and in their regard he warned kings:[k]
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do no harm to my prophets.”[l]
16 Then he invoked a famine on the land
and destroyed their supply of bread.
17 But he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18 They shackled his feet with fetters
and clamped an iron collar around his neck,
19 until what he had prophesied was fulfilled
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king ordered that he be released;
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21 He appointed him as master of his household
and as ruler of all his possessions.
22 He was to instruct[m] his princes as he deemed fit
and to impart wisdom to his elders.
23 Then Israel went down into Egypt;
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.[n]
24 God greatly increased the number of his people
and made them too strong for their foes,
25 whose hearts he then turned[o] to hate his people
and to conspire against his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and worked wonders in the land of Ham.
28 [p]He sent darkness that enveloped the land,
but they rebelled against his warnings.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
and all their fish were destroyed.
30 Their land was saturated with frogs,
even in the royal chambers.
31 At his command there came hordes of flies
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He sent them hail instead of rain,
and flashes of lightning in all their land.
33 He struck down their vines and their fig trees
and demolished the trees of their country.
34 At his word the locusts came,
as well as grasshoppers beyond all count.
35 They gobbled up every green plant in the land
and devoured the produce of the soil.
36 He struck down all the firstborn of the land,
the firstfruits of their manhood.
37 Then he led out his people with silver and gold,
and there was not one among their tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of Israel had overwhelmed them.
39 He spread a cloud over his people as a cover[q]
and a fire to give light by night.
40 At their request he supplied them with quail,
and he filled them with bread from heaven.[r]
41 He split open a rock and water gushed forth,
flowing through the wilderness like a river.[s]
42 For he remembered the sacred promise
that he had made to Abraham, his servant.
43 He led forth his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with exultation.[t]
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited the fruit of other people’s toil,
45 so that they might keep his decrees
and observe his laws.
Alleluia.
Chapter 15
Absalom’s Plot. 1 After this, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run on ahead of him. 2 Absalom was accustomed to arise early and stand by the side of the road that led to the city gate. If someone had a lawsuit to bring before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out and ask him: “Which town do you come from?” and that person would answer: “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”
3 Then Absalom would reply: “Your petition may be clearly valid and just, but there is no one who is authorized by the king to hear you.” 4 He would further add: “If only I were appointed as judge in the land, then everyone who has a lawsuit or a claim to be arbitrated could come to me, and I would ensure that he would have his case judged fairly.”
5 Moreover, whenever a man came before him and prostrated himself, Absalom would stretch out his hand, embrace him, and kiss him. 6 By behaving in such a manner to every Israelite who approached the king to seek justice, Absalom captured the affectionate loyalty of the people.
Conspiracy in Hebron. 7 After a period of four years had elapsed, Absalom said to the king: “Please allow me to go to Hebron so that I may fulfill the vow that I have made to the Lord. 8 For while I lived at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the Lord ever brings me back to Jerusalem, then I shall worship the Lord in Hebron.’ ” 9 The king replied: “Depart in peace.” Therefore, Absalom arose and went to Hebron.
10 Then Absalom sent messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel with this message: “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then shout: ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron.’ ”
11 Two hundred men had accompanied Absalom from Jerusalem. They had been invited as guests and had gone with him in complete innocence, totally unaware of what was going on. 12 Absalom also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, who was David’s counselor, and asked him to come from his town of Giloh to join him in offering the sacrifices. Thus the conspiracy grew in strength, and Absalom’s supporters continued to increase in numbers.
13 David Flees from Jerusalem. A messenger came to David with this report: “The men of Israel have transferred their allegiance to Absalom.” 14 Upon hearing this, David said to all of his officials who were with him in Jerusalem: “Get ready to depart! If we do not flee, then none of us will be able to escape from Absalom. Depart as quickly as you can, or he will soon overtake us and inflict disaster upon us and put the city to the sword.”[a]
15 The king’s officials then replied: “Whatever our lord the king decides, we are prepared to follow your commands.” 16 Then the king set forth, followed by his entire household, aside from ten concubines whom he left behind to take care of the palace.
17 As the king moved on, followed by all the people, he halted at the last house, with the officials at his side. 18 As he watched, all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all of the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before him.
27 Paul’s Arrest in the Temple.[a] When the seven days were nearly over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple. Stirring up the whole crowd, they seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, the Law, and this place. What is more, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
30 Thus, the entire city was in turmoil, and people came running from all directions. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and the gates were then shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 Immediately, he took soldiers and centurions with him and charged down on them.
When the Jews saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came forward, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Next he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another; and since the commander could not arrive at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When he came to the steps, the violence of the crowd was so intense that he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
32 Jesus Predicts His Passion a Third Time.[a] As they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, Jesus walked ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, and those who followed were apprehensive. Once again, he took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what would happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are now going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and put him to death. And after three days he will rise again.”
35 The Son of Man Has Come To Serve.[b] Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we request.” 36 He asked them, “What is it that you want me to do for you?” 37 They said to him, “Allow us to sit, one at your right hand and the other at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink,[c] or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to him, “We can.”
Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall indeed drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you shall be baptized. 40 But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not in my power to grant. Those places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
41 When the other ten heard this, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 Therefore, Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those considered to be rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. 43 But this must not be so with you. Instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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