Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105
1 O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His doings among the peoples!
2 Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His marvelous deeds and devoutly praise them.
3 Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek and require the Lord [as their indispensable necessity].
4 Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.
5 [Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds that He has done, His miracles and wonders, the judgments and sentences which He pronounced [upon His enemies, as in Egypt].(A)
6 O you offspring of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones,
7 He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He is [earnestly] mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His heart, the word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations,
9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His sworn promise to Isaac,(B)
10 Which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, Unto you will I give the land of Canaan as your measured portion, possession, and inheritance.
12 When they were but a few men in number, in fact, very few, and were temporary residents and strangers in it,
13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people,
14 He allowed no man to do them wrong; in fact, He reproved kings for their sakes,(C)
15 Saying, Touch not My anointed, and do My prophets no harm.(D)
16 Moreover, He called for a famine upon the land [of Egypt]; He cut off every source of bread.(E)
17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold as a servant.(F)
18 His feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in chains of iron and his soul entered into the iron,
19 Until his word [to his cruel brothers] came true, until the word of the Lord tried and tested him.
20 The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the peoples, and let him go free.
21 He made Joseph lord of his house and ruler of all his substance,(G)
22 To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.
23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.(H)
24 There [the Lord] greatly increased His people and made them stronger than their oppressors.
25 He turned the hearts [of the Egyptians] to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.
26 He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27 They showed His signs among them, wonders and miracles in the land of Ham (Egypt).
28 He sent [thick] darkness and made the land dark, and they [God’s two servants] rebelled not against His word.(I)
29 He turned [Egypt’s] waters into blood and caused their fish to die.(J)
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, even in the chambers of their kings.(K)
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of beetles and flies and mosquitoes and lice in all their borders.(L)
32 He gave them hail for rain, with lightning like flaming fire in their land.(M)
33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees and broke the [ice-laden] trees of their borders.(N)
34 He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers, and that without number,(O)
35 And ate up all the vegetation in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the beginning and chief substance of all their strength.(P)
37 He brought [Israel] forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.(Q)
38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon the people.(R)
39 The Lord spread a cloud for a covering [by day], and a fire to give light in the night.(S)
40 [The Israelites] asked, and He brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.(T)
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it ran in the dry places like a river.(U)
42 For He [earnestly] remembered His holy word and promise to Abraham His servant.(V)
43 And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen ones with gladness and singing,
44 And gave them the lands of the nations [of Canaan], and they reaped the fruits of those peoples’ labor,(W)
45 That they might observe His statutes and keep His laws [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
4 And the angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
2 And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it.(A)
3 And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil].(B)
4 So I asked the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
7 For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere [a]molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!(C)
8 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house; his hands shall also finish it. Then you shall know (recognize and understand) that the Lord of hosts has sent me [His messenger] to you.
10 Who [with reason] despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. [These seven] are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth.(D)
11 Then I said to him [the angel who talked with me], What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?
12 And a second time I said to him, What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden tubes or spouts by which the golden oil is emptied out?
13 And he answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two [b]sons of oil [Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah, the two anointed ones] who stand before the Lord of the whole earth [as His anointed instruments].(E)
17 So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds.
18 Their [a]moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is [b]deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature].
19 In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].
20 But you did not so learn Christ!
21 Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him],
22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],
24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.(A)
26 When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.
27 Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].
28 Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.
29 Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).
31 Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).
32 And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.
9 And Jesus, getting into a boat, crossed to the other side and came to His own town [Capernaum].
2 And behold, they brought to Him a man paralyzed and prostrated by illness, lying on a sleeping pad; and when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralyzed man, Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven and the [a]penalty remitted.
3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man blasphemes [He claims the rights and prerogatives of God]!
4 But Jesus, knowing ([b]seeing) their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil and harbor [c]malice in your hearts?
5 For which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven and the [d]penalty remitted, or to say, Get up and walk?
6 But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins and [e]remit the penalty, He then said to the paralyzed man, Get up! Pick up your sleeping pad and go to your own house.
7 And he got up and went away to his own house.
8 When the crowds saw it, they were struck with fear and awe; and they [f]recognized God and praised and thanked Him, Who had given such power and authority to men.
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