Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 118
Thanksgiving for Victory
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.(A)
2 Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”(B)
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”(C)
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”(D)
5 I called to the Lord in distress;(E)
the Lord answered me
and put me in a spacious place.[a](F)
6 The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?(G)
7 The Lord is my helper;
therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.(H)
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humanity.(I)
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in nobles.(J)
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.(K)
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.(L)
12 They surrounded me like bees;(M)
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.(N)
13 They[b] pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.(O)
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.(P)
15 There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!(Q)
16 The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!” (R)
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.(S)
18 The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.(T)
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.(U)
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
the righteous will enter through it.(V)
21 I will give thanks to you
because you have answered me
and have become my salvation.(W)
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.(X)
23 This came from the Lord;
it is wondrous in our sight.(Y)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.(Z)
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!(AA)
26 He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.(AB)
From the house of the Lord we bless you.(AC)
27 The Lord is God and has given us light.
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords
to the horns of the altar.(AD)
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God; I will exalt you.(AE)
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.(AF)
Psalm 145
Praising God’s Greatness
A hymn of David.
1 I[a] exalt you, my God the King,
and bless your name forever and ever.(A)
2 I will bless you every day;
I will praise your name forever and ever.(B)
3 The Lord is great and is highly praised;(C)
his greatness is unsearchable.(D)
4 One generation will declare your works to the next
and will proclaim your mighty acts.(E)
5 I[b] will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty
and[c] your wondrous works.(F)
6 They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts,
and I will declare your greatness.[d](G)
7 They will give a testimony of your great goodness
and will joyfully sing of your righteousness.(H)
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in faithful love.(I)
9 The Lord is good to everyone;(J)
his compassion rests on all he has made.(K)
10 All you have made will thank you, Lord;
the[e] faithful will bless you.(L)
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom
and will declare your might,(M)
12 informing all people of your mighty acts
and of the glorious splendor of your[f] kingdom.(N)
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule is for all generations.(O)
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and gracious in all his actions.[g](P)
14 The Lord helps all who fall;
he raises up all who are oppressed.[h](Q)
15 All eyes look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.(R)
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.(S)
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all his acts.(T)
18 The Lord is near all who call out to him,
all who call out to him with integrity.(U)
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry for help and saves them.(V)
20 The Lord guards all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.(W)
21 My mouth will declare the Lord’s praise;
let every living thing
bless his holy name forever and ever.(X)
The Bronze Snake
4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous[a] snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.(A)
7 The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”(B) 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.
Amorite Kings Defeated
21 Israel sent messengers to say to King Sihon(A) of the Amorites, 22 “Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”(B) 23 But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz,(C) he fought against Israel. 24 Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok,(D) but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.[a]
25 Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages. 26 Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore the poets[b] say:
Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt;
let the city of Sihon be restored.[c]
28 For fire came out of Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh!(E)
He gave up his sons as refugees,
and his daughters into captivity
to Sihon the Amorite king.
30 We threw them down;
Heshbon has been destroyed as far as Dibon.(F)
We caused desolation as far as Nophah,
which reaches as far as Medeba.(G)
31 So Israel lived in the Amorites’ land. 32 After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its surrounding villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33 Then they turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan(H) came out against them with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.(I) 34 But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”(J) 35 So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left,[d] and they took possession of his land.(K)
12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting[a] the crowds. 14 Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy(A) stayed on there. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.(B)
Paul in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.(C) 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off[b] trying to say?”
Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.(D)
19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus,[c] and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you are presenting?(E) 20 Because what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
The Areopagus Address
22 Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it(F)—he is Lord of heaven and earth(G)—does not live in shrines made by hands.(H) 25 Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,(I) since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.(J) 26 From one man[d] he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.(K) 27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.(L) 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’(M) 29 Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.(N)
30 “Therefore, having overlooked(O) the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”(P)
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Healing a Daughter of Abraham
10 As he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,(A) 11 a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit[a](B) for over eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.[b] 12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her,[c] “Woman, you are free of your disability.” 13 Then he laid his hands on her,(C) and instantly she was restored(D) and began to glorify God.(E)
14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant(F) because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done;(G) therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites!(H) Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox(I) or donkey from the feeding trough(J) on the Sabbath and lead it to water?(K) 16 Satan(L) has bound(M) this woman, a daughter of Abraham,(N) for eighteen years—shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage[d] on the Sabbath day?”
17 When he had said these things, all his adversaries(O) were humiliated,(P) but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing.(Q)
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