Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105[a]
God’s Faithfulness to the Covenant
1 [b]Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;[c]
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
2 Offer him honor with songs of praise;
recount all his marvelous deeds.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts[d] of those who seek the Lord exult.
4 Reflect on the Lord and his strength;
seek his face continually.
5 Remember the marvels he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments[e] he has set forth.
6 You are the offspring of his servant Abraham,
the children of Jacob, his chosen ones.[f]
7 He is the Lord, our God;
his judgments prevail all over the earth.
8 He is mindful of his covenant[g] forever,
the promise he laid down for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Abraham
and the oath he swore to Isaac.[h]
10 [i]He established it as a decree for Jacob,
and as an everlasting covenant for Israel,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your heritage.”
12 [j]When they were few in number,
an insignificant group of strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 He permitted no one to oppress them,
and in their regard he warned kings:[k]
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do no harm to my prophets.”[l]
16 Then he invoked a famine on the land
and destroyed their supply of bread.
17 But he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who had been sold as a slave.
18 They shackled his feet with fetters
and clamped an iron collar around his neck,
19 until what he had prophesied was fulfilled
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king ordered that he be released;
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21 He appointed him as master of his household
and as ruler of all his possessions.
22 He was to instruct[m] his princes as he deemed fit
and to impart wisdom to his elders.
23 Then Israel went down into Egypt;
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.[n]
24 God greatly increased the number of his people
and made them too strong for their foes,
25 whose hearts he then turned[o] to hate his people
and to conspire against his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and worked wonders in the land of Ham.
28 [p]He sent darkness that enveloped the land,
but they rebelled against his warnings.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
and all their fish were destroyed.
30 Their land was saturated with frogs,
even in the royal chambers.
31 At his command there came hordes of flies
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He sent them hail instead of rain,
and flashes of lightning in all their land.
33 He struck down their vines and their fig trees
and demolished the trees of their country.
34 At his word the locusts came,
as well as grasshoppers beyond all count.
35 They gobbled up every green plant in the land
and devoured the produce of the soil.
36 He struck down all the firstborn of the land,
the firstfruits of their manhood.
37 Then he led out his people with silver and gold,
and there was not one among their tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of Israel had overwhelmed them.
39 He spread a cloud over his people as a cover[q]
and a fire to give light by night.
40 At their request he supplied them with quail,
and he filled them with bread from heaven.[r]
41 He split open a rock and water gushed forth,
flowing through the wilderness like a river.[s]
42 For he remembered the sacred promise
that he had made to Abraham, his servant.
43 He led forth his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with exultation.[t]
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited the fruit of other people’s toil,
45 so that they might keep his decrees
and observe his laws.
Alleluia.
War between Israel and Judah[a]
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,[b]
the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven:
“Look behind you, O Benjamin!”
9 Ephraim shall become a wasteland
on the day of punishment.
Against the tribes of Israel
I have decreed certain doom.
10 The rulers of Judah act like men
who move their neighbor’s boundary line.
On them I will pour out
my wrath like a flood.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
being intent on pursuing idols.
12 Therefore, I am like an infectious sore for Ephraim,
like maggots for the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim realized that he was ill
and Judah noted that he was covered with sores,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
and Judah sent envoys to the great king.
However, he has no power to cure you
or to heal your sores.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will maul them and depart;
I will carry them off,
and no one will be able to rescue them.
15 I shall go back to my dwelling place
until they acknowledge their guilt
and seek my presence.[c]
In their affliction,
they will beseech my favor.
Chapter 6
Steadfast Love Rather than Sacrifice Is What Pleases Me
1 [d]“Come, let us return to the Lord;
he has wounded us, but he will heal us;
he has struck us down, but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day[e] he will raise us up
to live in his presence.
3 Let us know the Lord;
let us strive to know him.
His coming is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like a shower,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like a morning mist,
like the dew that quickly evaporates.
5 That is the reason why I cut them to pieces
by means of the prophets.
I have slaughtered them by the word of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth like the dawn.
6 For steadfast love rather than sacrifice is what pleases me,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
27 Paul’s Arrest in the Temple.[a] When the seven days were nearly over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple. Stirring up the whole crowd, they seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, the Law, and this place. What is more, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
30 Thus, the entire city was in turmoil, and people came running from all directions. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and the gates were then shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 Immediately, he took soldiers and centurions with him and charged down on them.
When the Jews saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the commander came forward, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Next he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another; and since the commander could not arrive at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When he came to the steps, the violence of the crowd was so intense that he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
Chapter 6
Picking Grain on the Sabbath.[a] 1 On one Sabbath, when Jesus was going through a field of grain, his disciples picked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. 2 Some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath?”
3 Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God and took and ate the sacred bread that only the priests were permitted to eat, and he shared it with his companions.” 5 Then he said to them, “The Son of Man,[b] is lord of the Sabbath.”
A Man with a Withered Hand. 6 On another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. A man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they would have a charge to bring against him.
8 But Jesus was fully aware of their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here and stand before us.” The man got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I put this question to you: Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 After looking around at all of them, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed among themselves what they might do with Jesus.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.