Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105
God’s Faithfulness to His People
1 Give thanks to Yahweh, call on His name;
proclaim His deeds among the peoples.(A)
2 Sing to Him, sing praise to Him;
tell about all His wonderful works!(B)
3 Honor His holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.(C)
4 Search for the Lord and for His strength;
seek His face always.(D)
5 Remember the wonderful works He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments He has pronounced,[a](E)
6 you offspring of Abraham His servant,
Jacob’s descendants—His chosen ones.(F)
7 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments govern the whole earth.(G)
8 He remembers His covenant forever,
the promise He ordained
for a thousand generations(H)—
9 the covenant He made with Abraham,
swore[b] to Isaac,(I)
10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree
and to Israel as an everlasting covenant:(J)
11 “I will give the land of Canaan to you
as your inherited portion.”(K)
12 When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and temporary residents in Canaan,(L)
13 wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,(M)
14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
He rebuked kings on their behalf:(N)
15 “Do not touch My anointed ones,(O)
or harm My prophets.”(P)
16 He called down famine against the land
and destroyed the entire food supply.(Q)
17 He had sent a man ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.(R)
18 They hurt his feet with shackles;
his neck was put in an iron collar.(S)
19 Until the time his prediction came true,
the word of the Lord tested him.(T)
20 The king sent for him and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.(U)
21 He made him master of his household,
ruler over all his possessions(V)—
22 binding[c] his officials at will
and instructing his elders.(W)
23 Then Israel went to Egypt;
Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.[d](X)
24 The Lord[e] made His people very fruitful;
He made them more numerous than their foes,(Y)
25 whose hearts He turned to hate His people
and to deal deceptively with His servants.(Z)
26 He sent Moses His servant,
and Aaron, whom He had chosen.(AA)
27 They performed His miraculous signs among them,
and wonders in the land of Ham.[f](AB)
28 He sent darkness, and it became dark—
for did they not defy[g] His commands?(AC)
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.(AD)
30 Their land was overrun with frogs,
even in their royal chambers.(AE)
31 He spoke, and insects came(AF)—
gnats throughout their country.(AG)
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and lightning throughout their land.(AH)
33 He struck their vines and fig trees
and shattered the trees of their territory.(AI)
34 He spoke, and locusts came—
young locusts without number.
35 They devoured all the vegetation in their land
and consumed the produce of their land.(AJ)
36 He struck all the firstborn in their land,
all their first progeny.(AK)
37 Then He brought Israel out with silver and gold,
and no one among His tribes stumbled.(AL)
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
for the dread of Israel[h] had fallen on them.(AM)
39 He spread a cloud as a covering
and gave a fire to light up the night.(AN)
40 They asked, and He brought quail
and satisfied them with bread from heaven.(AO)
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a stream in the desert.(AP)
42 For He remembered His holy promise
to Abraham His servant.(AQ)
43 He brought His people out with rejoicing,
His chosen ones with shouts of joy.(AR)
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited
what other peoples had worked for.(AS)
45 All this happened
so that they might keep His statutes
and obey His instructions.(AT)
Hallelujah!
Samson’s Riddle
14 Samson went down to Timnah(A) and saw a young Philistine woman there. 2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young Philistine woman in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find[a] a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, because I want her.”[b] 4 Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord,(B) who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6 the Spirit of the Lord took control of[c](C) him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because Samson wanted her.[d]
8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.(D)
10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought 30 men to accompany him.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,”(E) Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. 13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they replied.[e] “Let’s hear it.”
14 So he said to them:
Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.
After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle. 15 On the fourth[f] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me!(F) You told my people the riddle, but haven’t explained it to me.”
“Look,” he said,[g] “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her, because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people. 18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him:
What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?
So he said to them:
If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t know my riddle now!
19 The Spirit of the Lord took control of him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. In a rage, Samson returned to his father’s house,
15 And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen’s Sermon
7 “Is this true?”[a] the high priest asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he said, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,(A) 3 and said to him:
4 “Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land you now live in.(C) 5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,(D) even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way:
His descendants would be strangers
in a foreign country,
and they would enslave
and oppress them 400 years.
7 I will judge the nation
that they will serve as slaves, God said.
After this, they will come out
and worship Me in this place.(E)[c]
8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised(F) him on the eighth day; Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the 12 patriarchs.(G)
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.(I) 11 Then a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,(J) and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph was revealed to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph then invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, 75 people in all,(K) 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,(L) 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(M)
The Ripened Harvest
27 Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You talking with her?”
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?”(A) 30 They left the town and made their way to Him.(B)
31 In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi,(C) eat something.”
32 But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33 The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?”
34 “My food is to do the will of Him(D) who sent Me(E) and to finish His work,”(F) Jesus told them. 35 “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’? Listen to what I’m telling you: Open[a] your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready[b] for harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life,(G) so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’(H) 38 I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from[c] their labor.”
The Savior of the World
39 Now many Samaritans(I) from that town believed in Him because of what the woman said[d] when she testified,(J) “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 Therefore, when the Samaritans came to Him,(K) they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of what He said.[e] 42 And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior(L) of the world.”[f]
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.