Book of Common Prayer
Mem
97 How I love your law!
The whole day it is my meditation.
98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
because they[a] are ever with me.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the elders,
for I keep your precepts.
101 I have restrained my feet from every evil way,
so that I may heed your word.
102 I have not turned aside from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
103 How smooth[b] are your words[c] to my palate,
more than honey in my mouth.
104 From your precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way.
Nun
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to heed your righteous ordinances.[d]
107 I am very much afflicted;
O Yahweh, revive me according to your word.
108 Please accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Yahweh,
and teach me your ordinances.
109 My life is in danger[e] continually,
yet I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
yet I do not wander from your precepts.
111 I have taken as my own your testimonies forever,
for they are the joy of my heart.
112 I have inclined my heart to do your statutes
forever, to the end.
Samek
113 I hate the double-minded,[f]
but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
115 Turn aside from me, you evildoers,
for I will keep the commands of my God.
116 Sustain me according to your word,[g] that I may live,
and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.
117 Uphold me, that I may be delivered,
and have regard for your statutes continually.
118 You reject all who stray from your statutes,
for their deceit is a breach of faith.
119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.
An Appeal from God to Israel
For the music director; on the Gittith. Of Asaph.[a]
81 Shout out to God our strength;
shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.
2 Lift up a song and strike[b] the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre, together with the harp.
3 Blow the horn at new moon,
at full moon, for our feast day,
4 because it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a statute[c] in Joseph
when he went out against the land of Egypt,
where I heard a language I did not know.[d]
6 “I removed his shoulder from a burden.
His hands were freed from the basket.
7 In this[e] trouble you called, and I rescued you.
Within the secret place of thunder I answered you;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me.
9 There shall be no strange god among you,
and you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am Yahweh your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
11 But my people did not listen to my voice,
and Israel did not yield to me.
12 So I let them[f] go in the stubbornness of their heart;
they walked in their counsels.
13 Oh that my people would listen to me;
that Israel would walk in my ways.
14 I would subdue their enemies quickly,
and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15 Those who hate Yahweh would cringe before him,
and their fate[g] would be forever.
16 But he would feed him[h] from the choicest wheat,[i]
and I would satisfy you with honey from a rock.”
God Commands Justice
A psalm of Asaph.[j]
82 God stands in the divine assembly;[k]
he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.[l]
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show favoritism to the wicked?[m] Selah
3 Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan;
provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the helpless and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They do not know or consider.[n]
They go about in the darkness,
so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I have said,[o] “You are gods,
and sons of the Most High, all of you.
7 However, you will die like men,[p]
and you will fall like one of the princes.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
because you shall inherit[q] all the nations.
16 Then the report was heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers: ‘Do this—load your donkeys and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you Joseph, are commanded to say this: ‘Do this! Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father and come! 20 Do not worry[a] about your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21 And the sons of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons at the word of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and to all of them he gave sets of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of clothing. 23 And to his father he sent as follows:[b] ten donkeys carrying the best of Egypt, and ten donkeys carrying grain and food and provisions for his father for the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and when they departed he said to them, “Do not be agitated on the journey.” 25 So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 And they spoke to him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart went numb,[c] because he did not believe him. 27 Then they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them. And when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, then the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols
8 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.”[a] Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he has not yet known as it is necessary to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.
4 Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world” and that “there is no God except one.”[b] 5 For even if after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords,
6 yet to us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things, and we are for him,
and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things, and we are through him.
7 But this knowledge is not in everyone. But some, being accustomed until now to the idol, eat this food as food sacrificed to idols, and their conscience, because it[c] is weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us close to God. For neither if we eat do we have more, nor if we do not eat do we lack.[d] 9 But watch out lest somehow this right of yours becomes a cause for stumbling to the weak. 10 For if someone should see you who has knowledge reclining for a meal in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, because it[e] is weak, be strengthened so that he eats the food sacrificed to idols? 11 For the one who is weak—the brother for whom Christ died—is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 Now if you[f] sin in this way against the brothers and wound their conscience, which is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat forever[g], in order that I may not cause my brother to sin.
13 And they were expelling many demons and anointing many sick people with olive oil and healing them.[a]
Herod Kills John the Baptist
14 And King Herod heard it,[b] because his name had become known. And they were saying, “John, the one who baptizes, has been raised from the dead, and because of this these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others were saying, “He is Elijah,” and others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the prophets.” 16 But when[c] Herod heard it,[d] he said, “John whom I beheaded—this one has been raised!” 17 For Herod himself had sent and[e] arrested John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not permitted for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias held a grudge against him and was wanting to kill him, and was not able to do so. 20 For Herod was afraid of John, because he[f] knew him to be a righteous and holy man and protected him. And when he[g] listened to him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he listened to him gladly. 21 And a suitable day came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his courtiers and military tribunes and the most prominent men of Galilee. 22 And when[h] the daughter of Herodias herself[i] came in and danced and pleased[j] Herod and his dinner guests,[k] the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it[l] to you.” 23 And he swore to her,[m] “Anything whatever you ask me for I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” 24 And she went out and[n] said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and[o] asked, saying, “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.” 26 And although he[p] was deeply grieved, the king, because of his[q] oaths and dinner guests,[r] did not want to refuse her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner and[s] ordered him[t] to bring his head. And he went and[u] beheaded him in the prison. 28 And he brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 And when[v] his disciples heard this,[w] they came and took away his corpse and placed it in a tomb.
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