Book of Common Prayer
1 ¶ O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him; speak of all his wondrous works.
3 Glory in his holy name; let the heart of those that seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face continually.
5 Remember his marvellous works that he has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
6 O ye seed of Abraham his slave, ye sons of Jacob his chosen.
7 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
8 ¶ He has remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations,
9 which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac
10 and confirmed the same unto Jacob by decree, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance,
12 when they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.
13 When they went from nation to nation from one kingdom to another people,
14 he suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he chastened kings for their sakes:
15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm.
16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he broke the whole staff of bread.
17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a slave,
18 whose feet they hurt with fetters; his soul was laid in iron.
19 Until the time that his word came, the spoken word of the LORD purified him.
20 The king sent and loosed him, the ruler of the people let him go free.
21 He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance:
22 To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his elders wisdom.
23 Afterwards Israel entered into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham.
24 And he increased his people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 ¶ He turned their heart to hate his people to think evil against his slaves.
26 He sent Moses his slave and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27 He put the words of his signs in them and his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made it dark, and they did not rebel against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood and slew their fish.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and swarms of flies and lice came within all their borders.
32 He turned their rain into hail, into flaming fire in their land.
33 He smote their vines also and their fig trees and broke the trees within their borders.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came and caterpillars without number,
35 and ate up all the grass in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.
37 And he brought them forth with silver and gold, and there was not one sick person among their tribes.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them fell upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and he brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places and became a river.
42 For he remembered his holy word with Abraham his slave.
43 And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with singing
44 and gave them the lands of the Gentiles, and they inherited the labour of the nations,
45 that they might observe his statutes and keep his laws. Halelu-JAH.
14 ¶ And as Samson went down to Timnath, he saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up and told his father and his mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleases me well.
4 But his father and his mother did not know that it was of the LORD that he sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5 Then Samson went down with his father and his mother to Timnath, and when they came to the vineyards of Timnath, behold, a young lion came roaring against him.
6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand, but he did not make known unto his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside from the way to see the carcase of the lion; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9 And he took of it in his hands and went along the way eating, and when he came to his father and mother, he also gave them some to eat, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
10 ¶ So his father went down unto the woman; and Samson made a banquet there, for the young men used to do so.
11 And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him,
12 unto whom Samson said, I will now put forth an enigma unto you, which if ye can declare it and discover it to me within the seven days of the banquet, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments.
13 But if ye cannot declare it to me, then ye shall give me thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy enigma that we may hear it.
14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not declare the enigma in three days.
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband that he may declare unto us this enigma lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire. Have ye called us here to impoverish us?
16 And Samson’s wife wept before him and said, Thou dost only hate me and dost not love me, for thou hast not declared unto me the enigma that thou hast put forth unto the sons of my people. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and must I tell it to thee?
17 And she wept before him the seven days while their banquet lasted, but on the seventh day, he told her, because she lay sore upon him, and she declared the enigma to the sons of her people.
18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye would have never discovered my enigma.
19 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them and taking their spoil, he gave the changes of garments to those who had explained the enigma. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.
15 Then all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as the face of an angel.
7 ¶ Then the prince of the priests said, Are these things so?
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and dwelt in Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, in which ye now dwell.
5 And he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6 And God spoke thus, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into slavery and mistreat them four hundred years.
7 And the Gentiles unto whom they shall be in slavery I will judge, said God; and after that they shall come forth and serve me in this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him
10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation, and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was wheat in Egypt, he sent our fathers the first time.
13 And in the second Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s lineage was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob unto him and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers,
16 who were carried over into Shechem and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor of Shechem.
27 ¶ And upon this came his disciples and marvelled that he talked with that woman; yet no one said, What askest thou? or, What talkest thou with her?
28 The woman then left her waterpot and went into the city and said to those men,
29 Come, see a man who told me all that I have done; is perchance this the Christ?
30 Then they went out of the city and came unto him.
31 In the meanwhile his disciples entreated him, saying, Rabbi, eat.
32 But he said unto them, I have a food to eat that ye know not of.
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Has anyone brought him anything to eat?
34 Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
35 Do ye not say, There are yet four months and then comes harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.
36 And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto eternal life, that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together.
37 And herein is that saying true, One sows and another reaps.
38 I have sent you to reap that upon which ye bestowed no labour; others laboured, and ye have entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him by the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all that I have done.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they asked him to abide with them; and he abode there two days.
41 And many more believed by his own word
42 and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speech; for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
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