Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106[a]
Israel’s Confession of Sin and God’s Mercy
1 Alleluia.
Give thanks[b] to the Lord, for he is good;
his kindness endures forever.
2 Who can possibly recount the mighty acts of the Lord
and fully proclaim his praise?[c]
3 Blessed[d] are those who do what is right
and practice justice constantly.
4 Remember me, O Lord, out of the love you have for your people;
come to me with your salvation.[e]
5 Let me delight in the success of your chosen ones,
share in the joy of your nation,
and glory in your heritage.
6 [f]Like our ancestors, we[g] have sinned;
we have gone astray and done evil.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
they failed to be mindful of your wonders;
they did not remember your many kindnesses
and rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake[h]
so that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led them through the depths as through a wilderness.
10 He saved them from those who hated them;
from the hand of the enemy he delivered them.
11 The waters closed over their adversaries;
not a single one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his words
and sang his praises.[i]
13 [j]But they soon forgot what he had done
and had no confidence in his plan.
14 In the wilderness they yielded to their cravings;
in the wasteland they put God to the test.
15 He gave them everything they wanted
but struck them with a consuming disease.
16 [k]In the camp they grew envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.
17 The earth parted and swallowed Dathan
and closed over the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed all through them,
and the wicked were consumed in flames.
19 [l]They constructed a calf at Horeb
and worshiped this molten image.
20 They exchanged their Glory[m]
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,[n]
and awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 He was contemplating their destruction,
but Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach[o] before him
to keep his wrath from destroying them.
24 [p]Then they derided the land of delights,[q]
for they had no faith in his word.
25 They grumbled in their tents
and refused to obey the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore, he swore with uplifted hand
to strike them down in the wilderness
27 and disperse their descendants among the nations,
scattering them in foreign lands.
28 [r]They joined in worshiping Baal of Peor
and ate food sacrificed to lifeless gods.
29 They provoked the Lord to anger by their evil deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment,
and the plague came to an end.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness[s]
for all the generations to come.
32 [t]At the waters of Meribah[u] they angered the Lord,
and Moses endured difficulties because of them.
33 For they rebelled against the Spirit of God,
and rash words issued from Moses’ lips.[v]
34 [w]They did not exterminate the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
35 Rather, they mingled with the nations
and adopted their practices.
36 They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed to false gods[x]
their sons and their daughters.
38 They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
polluting the land with their blood.
39 Thus, they defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their conduct.[y]
40 [z]Then the anger of the Lord flared up against his people,
and he abhorred his own heritage.
41 He handed them over to the nations,
and their foes became their rulers.
42 Their enemies oppressed them
and kept them in subjection to their power.
43 Time and again he came to their rescue,
but they rebelled against his counsel
and sank low because of their sin.
44 Even so, he took pity on their distress
when he heard their cries.
45 He called to mind his covenant[aa] with them,
and he relented because of his great mercy.
46 He aroused compassion for them
on the part of all their captors.
47 Save us, O Lord, our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in praising[ab] you.
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.[ac]
Let all the people say, “Amen.”
Alleluia.[ad]
The Advent of New Times
Chapter 3
I Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Mankind[a]
1 After this,
I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy;
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
2 Even on the male and female slaves
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Chapter 1
Salutation[a]
To the Faithful in the Dispersion. 1 Peter,[b] an apostle of Jesus Christ, to all the exiles of the Dispersion who are now living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 chosen[c] in the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification by the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: may grace and peace be yours in abundance.
The Privileges and Responsibilities of Salvation[d]
The Song of the New Life.[e] 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you 5 who because of your faith are being protected by God’s power until the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.[f]
6 This is a reason for you to rejoice, even if now for a little while you must suffer trials of many kinds. 7 Thus, the genuine quality of your faith—which is more valuable than gold that is perishable even if it has been tested by fire—may be proved worthy of praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with a joy that is indescribable and glorious. 9 For you are achieving the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was the subject of intense scrutiny and investigation by the Prophets[g] who spoke about the grace that you were to receive. 11 They were searching out the time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ[h] within them was pointing when it testified in advance to the sufferings that Christ would endure and the glories that would then follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you when they spoke of the things that have now been announced to you through those who proclaimed the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of such things.
The Coming of the Son of Man[a]
The Ministry in Judea and Jerusalem
Chapter 19
Marriage and Celibacy.[b] 1 When Jesus had finished this discourse, he left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came forward and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever?” 4 He replied, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 5 and said: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh’? 6 And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 He replied, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. 9 Now I say to you: if a man divorces his wife for any reason except if the marriage was unlawful and marries another, he commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to him, “If that is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 He replied, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been made so from birth and eunuchs who were made so by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let those accept this who can do so.”[c]
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