Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106
Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God
1 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.(A)
2 Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts
or proclaim all the praise due him?(B)
3 How happy are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.(C)
4 Remember me, Lord,
when you show favor to your people.(D)
Come to me with your salvation
5 so that I may enjoy the prosperity
of your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of your nation,
and boast about your heritage.(E)
6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.(F)
7 Our ancestors in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of your wondrous works
or remember your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.(G)
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
to make his power known.(H)
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led them through the depths as through a desert.(I)
10 He saved them from the power of the adversary;
he redeemed them from the power of the enemy.(J)
11 Water covered their foes;
not one of them remained.(K)
12 Then they believed his promises
and sang his praise.(L)
13 They soon forgot his works
and would not wait for his counsel.(M)
14 They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.(N)
15 He gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease among them.(O)
16 In the camp they were envious of Moses
and of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.(P)
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.(Q)
18 Fire blazed throughout their assembly;
flames consumed the wicked.(R)
19 At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped the cast metal image.(S)
20 They exchanged their glory[a][b]
for the image of a grass-eating ox.(T)
21 They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,(U)
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,[c]
awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.(V)
23 So he said he would have destroyed them—
if Moses his chosen one
had not stood before him in the breach
to turn his wrath away from destroying them.(W)
24 They despised the pleasant land
and did not believe his promise.(X)
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the Lord.(Y)
26 So he raised his hand against them with an oath
that he would make them fall in the desert(Z)
27 and would disperse their descendants[d]
among the nations,
scattering them throughout the lands.(AA)
28 They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.[e](AB)
29 They angered the Lord with their deeds,
and a plague broke out against them.(AC)
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stopped.(AD)
31 It was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all generations to come.(AE)
32 They angered the Lord at the Waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered[f] because of them,(AF)
33 for they embittered his spirit,[g]
and he spoke rashly with his lips.(AG)
34 They did not destroy the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them(AH)
35 but mingled with the nations
and adopted their ways.(AI)
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.(AJ)
37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.(AK)
38 They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
so the land became polluted with blood.(AL)
39 They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds.(AM)
40 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against his people,
and he abhorred his own inheritance.(AN)
41 He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled over them.(AO)
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.(AP)
43 He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their iniquity.(AQ)
44 When he heard their cry,
he took note of their distress,(AR)
45 remembered his covenant with them,
and relented according to the abundance
of his faithful love.(AS)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(AT)
47 Save us, Lord our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise.(AU)
Judah’s King Manasseh
21 Manasseh(A) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.(B) 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(C) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(D) 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed(E) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,(F) as King Ahab of Israel had done;(G) he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky(H) and served them. 4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple,(I) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”(J) 5 He built altars to all the stars in the sky(K) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.(L) 6 He sacrificed his son in the fire,[a](M) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.(N) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.(O)
7 Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.(P) 8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”(Q) 9 But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.(R)
10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets, 11 “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts(S)—worse evil than the Amorites(T) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, 12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.[b](U) 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,(V) and I will wipe(W) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant(X) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”(Y)
16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.(Z) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
Manasseh’s Death
17 The rest(AA) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(AB) 18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.
Warning against Idolatry
14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup(A) of blessing(B) that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread(C) that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one(D) body, since all of us share the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel.[a] Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?(E) 19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they[b] sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?(F)
Christian Liberty
23 “Everything is permissible,”[c] but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,”[d] but not everything builds up. 24 No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.(G)
25 Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, 26 since the earth is the Lord’s,(H) and all that is in it.[e](I) 27 If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it,(J) out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.[f] 29 I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged(K) by another person’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thanksgiving,(L) why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.(M) 32 Give no offense(N) to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many,(O) so that they may be saved.
11 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.(P)
Demons Driven Out by Jesus
28 When he had come to the other side,(A) to the region of the Gadarenes,[a] two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us,[b] Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (B)
30 A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 “If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 “Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. 33 Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. 34 At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.(C)
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