Book of Common Prayer

To the Director: An instruction^[a] by the Sons of Korah. A love song to the tune of^[b] “Lilies”.

A Royal Wedding Song

To the Director: A song by the Sons of Korah.

The Ruler over the Nations

A song: Lyrics^[b] by the Sons of Korah.

Zion, City of God

The Abrahamic Covenant

15 Some time later, a message came from the Lord to Abram in a vision. “Stop being afraid, Abram.” he said. “I myself—your shield—am your very great reward.”

² But Abram replied, “Lord God, what can you give me since I continue to be childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer from Damascus? ³ Look!” Abram said, “You haven’t given me any offspring, so a servant born in^[a] my house is going to be my heir.”

⁴ A message came from the Lord to him again: “This one will not be your heir. Instead, the child who will be born to you^[b] will be your heir.” ⁵ Then the Lord^[c] took him outside. “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if you can!” he said. “Your descendants will be that numerous.”^{[d] 6} Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

⁷ The Lord^[e] spoke to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.”

⁸ But he replied, “Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ The Lord responded, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ So Abram brought him all these animals and cut each of them in half, down the middle, placing the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ When birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹⁷ When the sun had fully set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a fiery torch passed between the animal pieces.^{[a] 18} That very day the Lord made this covenant with Abram: “I’m giving^[b] this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ including the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

The Earthly Sanctuary and Its Ritual

9 Now even the first covenant^[a] had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tent was set up, and in the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the bread of the Presence.^[b] This was called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain was the part of the tent called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ which had the gold altar for incense and the Ark of the Covenant completely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the Tablets of the Covenant. ⁵ Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of atonement. (We cannot discuss these things in detail now.)

⁶ When everything had been arranged like this, the priests always went into the first part of the tent to perform their duties. ⁷ But only the high priest went^[c] into the second part, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins committed by the people in ignorance. ⁸ The Holy Spirit was indicating by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first part of the tent was still standing. ⁹ This illustration for today indicates that the gifts and sacrifices being offered could not clear the conscience of a worshiper, ¹⁰ since they deal only with food, drink, and various washings, which are required for the body until the time when things would be set right.

The Messiah Has Offered a Superior Sacrifice

¹¹ But when the Messiah^[d] came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[e] he went^[f] through the greater and more perfect tent that was not made by human^[g] hands and that is not a part of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he went into the Most Holy Place once for all and secured our eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are unclean purifies them physically, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of the Messiah,^[h] who through the eternal Spirit^[i] offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our^[j] consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!

The Healing at the Pool

5 Later on, there was another^[a] festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem is a pool called Bethesda^[b] in Hebrew. It has five colonnades, ³ and under these a large number of sick people were lying—blind, lame, or paralyzed—waiting for the movement of the water.^{[c] 4} At certain times an angel of the Lord would go down into the pool and stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.^[d]

⁵ One particular man was there who had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

⁸ Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” ⁹ The man immediately became well, and he picked up his mat and started walking. Now that day was a Sabbath.

¹⁰ So the Jewish leaders^[e] told the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”

¹³ But the one who had been healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Later on, Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Look! You have become well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went off and told the Jewish leaders^[f] that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ So the Jewish leaders^[g] began persecuting Jesus,^[h] because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

¹⁷ But Jesus^[i] answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I, too, am working.” ¹⁸ So the Jewish leaders^[j] were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.