Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 78
Lessons from Israel’s Past
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 My people, hear my instruction;
listen to what I say.(B)
2 I will declare wise sayings;
I will speak mysteries from the past(C)—
3 things we have heard and known
and that our fathers have passed down to us.(D)
4 We must not hide them from their children,
but must tell a future generation
the praises of the Lord,
His might, and the wonderful works
He has performed.(E)
5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and set up a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children(F)
6 so that a future generation—
children yet to be born—might know.
They were to rise and tell their children(G)
7 so that they might put their confidence in God
and not forget God’s works,
but keep His commands.(H)
8 Then they would not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not loyal
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.(I)
9 The Ephraimite archers turned back
on the day of battle.(J)
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to live by His law.(K)
11 They forgot what He had done,
the wonderful works He had shown them.(L)
12 He worked wonders in the sight of their fathers
in the land of Egypt, the region of Zoan.(M)
13 He split the sea and brought them across;
the water stood firm like a wall.(N)
14 He led them with a cloud by day
and with a fiery light throughout the night.(O)
15 He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.(P)
16 He brought streams out of the stone
and made water flow down like rivers.(Q)
17 But they continued to sin against Him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.(R)
18 They deliberately[a] tested God,
demanding the food they craved.(S)
19 They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
20 Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.(T)
But can He also provide bread
or furnish meat for His people?”(U)
21 Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel(V)
22 because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation.(W)
23 He gave a command to the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.(X)
24 He rained manna for them to eat;
He gave them grain from heaven.(Y)
25 People[b] ate the bread of angels.[c]
He sent them an abundant supply of food.(Z)
26 He made the east wind blow in the skies
and drove the south wind by His might.(AA)
27 He rained meat on them like dust,
and winged birds like the sand of the seas.
28 He made them fall in His camp,
all around His tent.[d][e](AB)
29 They ate and were completely satisfied,
for He gave them what they craved.(AC)
30 Before they had satisfied their desire,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God’s anger flared up against them,
and He killed some of their best men.
He struck down Israel’s choice young men.(AD)
32 Despite all this, they kept sinning
and did not believe His wonderful works.(AE)
33 He made their days end in futility,
their years in sudden disaster.(AF)
34 When He killed some of them,
the rest began to seek Him;
they repented and searched for God.(AG)
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God, their Redeemer.(AH)
36 But they deceived Him with their mouths,
they lied to Him with their tongues,(AI)
37 their hearts were insincere toward Him,
and they were unfaithful to His covenant.(AJ)
38 Yet He was compassionate;
He atoned for[f] their guilt
and did not destroy them.
He often turned His anger aside
and did not unleash[g] all His wrath.(AK)
39 He remembered that they were only flesh,
a wind that passes and does not return.(AL)
40 How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.
41 They constantly tested God(AM)
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.(AN)
42 They did not remember His power shown
on the day He redeemed them from the foe,(AO)
43 when He performed His miraculous signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the region of Zoan.(AP)
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.(AQ)
45 He sent among them swarms of flies,(AR)
which fed on them,
and frogs, which devastated them.(AS)
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.(AT)
47 He killed their vines with hail
and their sycamore fig trees with a flood.
48 He handed over their livestock to hail
and their cattle to lightning bolts.(AU)
49 He sent His burning anger against them:
fury, indignation, and calamity—
a band of deadly messengers.[h](AV)
50 He cleared a path for His anger.
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.(AW)
51 He struck all the firstborn(AX) in Egypt,
the first progeny of the tents of Ham.[i](AY)
52 He led His people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.(AZ)
53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea covered their enemies.(BA)
54 He brought them to His holy land,
to the mountain His right hand acquired.(BB)
55 He drove out nations before them.(BC)
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(BD)
56 But they rebelliously tested the Most High God,
for they did not keep His decrees.(BE)
57 They treacherously turned away like their fathers;
they became warped like a faulty bow.(BF)
58 They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their carved images.(BG)
59 God heard and became furious;
He completely rejected Israel.(BH)
60 He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent where He resided among men.[j](BI)
61 He gave up His strength[k] to captivity
and His splendor to the hand of a foe.(BJ)
62 He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged with His heritage.(BK)
63 Fire consumed His chosen young men,
and His young women had no wedding songs.[l](BL)
64 His priests fell by the sword,
but the[m] widows could not lament.[n](BM)
65 Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep,
like a warrior from the effects of wine.(BN)
66 He beat back His foes;
He gave them lasting shame.(BO)
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph
and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.(BP)
69 He built His sanctuary like the heights,[o]
like the earth that He established forever.(BQ)
70 He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;(BR)
71 He brought him from tending ewes
to be shepherd over His people Jacob—
over Israel, His inheritance.(BS)
72 He shepherded them with a pure heart
and guided them with his skillful hands.(BT)
Esther Approaches the King
5 On the third day,(A) Esther dressed up in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard(B) of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing its entrance. 2 As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she won his approval.[a] The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.(C)
3 “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”(D)
4 “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet(E) I have prepared for them.”
5 The king commanded, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.
6 While drinking the[b] wine,(F) the king asked Esther, “Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”
7 Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request: 8 If the king approves of me[c] and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request,(G) may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them.(H) Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”
9 That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits.[d](I) But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.(J) 10 Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh(K) to join him. 11 Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.(L) 12 “What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king. 13 Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate all the time.”
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows 75 feet[e] high.(M) Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.(N)
12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the judge’s bench.(A) 13 “This man,” they said, “persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!”
14 As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of a crime or of moral evil, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews. 15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I don’t want to be a judge of such things.”(B) 16 So he drove them from the judge’s bench. 17 Then they all[a] seized Sosthenes,(C) the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judge’s bench. But none of these things concerned Gallio.
The Return Trip to Antioch
18 So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because he had taken a vow.(D) 19 When they reached Ephesus(E) he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and engaged in discussion with[b] the Jews. 20 And though they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined, 21 but he said good-bye and stated,[c] “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.”(F) Then he set sail from Ephesus.
22 On landing at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church[d] and went down to Antioch.(G) 23 And after spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the Galatian territory and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.(H)
The Eloquent Apollos
24 A Jew named Apollos,(I) a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was powerful in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit,[e] he spoke and taught the things about Jesus accurately, although he knew only John’s baptism.(J) 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home[f] and explained the way of God to him more accurately.(K) 27 When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers wrote to the disciples urging them to welcome him. After he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.(L) 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.(M)
15 Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were debating in their minds[a] whether John might be the Messiah.(A) 16 John answered them all,(B) “I baptize you with[b] water, but One is coming who is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing shovel[d](C) is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with a fire that never goes out.”(D) 18 Then, along with many other exhortations, he proclaimed good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch,(E) being rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done,(F) 20 added this to everything else—he locked John up in prison.(G)
The Baptism of Jesus
21 When all the people were baptized,(H) Jesus also was baptized. As He was praying,(I) heaven opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven:
You are My beloved Son.
I take delight in You!(J)
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