Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 89^[a]

A maskil^[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’^{(A) 11} then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped^(B) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.^{(C) 12} But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(D) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(E) instead of obeying me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land^(F) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^(G) and there you will serve other gods^(H) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’^(I)

¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,”^(J) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^{(K) 15} but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north^(L) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’^(M) For I will restore^(N) them to the land I gave their ancestors.^(O)

¹⁶ “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.^(P) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt^(Q) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.^{(R) 17} My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden^(S) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.^{(T) 18} I will repay^(U) them double^(V) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land^(W) with the lifeless forms of their vile images^(X) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.^(Y)”^(Z)

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^{(B) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(D) through the body of Christ,^(E) that you might belong to another,^(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(H) were at work in us,^(I) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(J) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(L)

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[b](P) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(R) 9} Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life^(S) actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(T) deceived me,^(U) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(V)

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand^(A)

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), ² and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs^(B) he had performed by healing the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside^(C) and sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival^(D) was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip,^(E) “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages^[a] to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

⁸ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother,^(F) spoke up, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”^(G)

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks,^(H) and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

¹² When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign^(I) Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”^{(J) 15} Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king^(K) by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.^(L)