Book of Common Prayer

⁷ He is the Eternal, our True God;
    His justice extends to every corner of the earth.
⁸ He keeps His covenant promises forever
    and remembers the word He spoke to a thousand generations—
⁹ The covenant He made with Abraham
    and His sworn oath to Isaac, his son.
¹⁰ Then God confirmed it to Jacob—decreed it so—
    to Israel He promised a never-ending covenant,
¹¹ Saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan
    as your part; it will be your inheritance.”

¹² When God’s people were only a few in number—
    indeed, very few—they were strangers in a foreign land.
¹³ They roamed from place to place,
    from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ God didn’t allow anyone to tyrannize them;
    He rebuked kings in order to protect His people:
¹⁵ “Do not lay a hand on My anointed people;
    do not do any harm to My prophets.”

¹⁶ He ordered famine to grip the land and
    cut them off from their supply of bread.
¹⁷ But long before, He had sent a man ahead of them:
    Joseph, who had been sold into slavery.^[a]
18 At first, his masters shackled his feet with chains,
    placed his neck into a collar of iron.
¹⁹ That was until the Eternal’s promises came to pass;
    His word tested Joseph and proved him worthy.
²⁰ The king sent out the order to release him from prison;
    the ruler of Egypt liberated him from the chains.
²¹ Then he put Joseph in charge of the royal household,
    made him ruler of all the royal possessions,
²² Allowed him to imprison the royal officials whenever he saw fit
    and impart wisdom to the elders in the land.

²³ Then, when the time was right, Israel also went to Egypt;
    Jacob resided as an alien in the land of Ham.
²⁴ And while they were there, the Eternal made His people prosperous;
    He made them stronger than their enemies.
²⁵ He turned the Egyptians’ hearts against His people^[b]
    to cheat and scheme against His servants.

²⁶ Then, He sent His servant Moses
    and Aaron, the men He had chosen.
²⁷ They did all the signs He planned for them to do among the Egyptians,
    and they performed miracles in the land of Ham.
²⁸ He sent darkness to cover the land;
    they did not stray from His word.
²⁹ At His command, their waters turned to blood;
    their fish began to die.
³⁰ Throngs of frogs covered the land,
    invading even in the chambers of their kings.
³¹ At His command, a swarm of flies arrived,
    and gnats came over all their land.
³² He caused hail to fall instead of rain;
    lightning flashed over all their land.
³³ He struck their vines and their fig trees;
    He destroyed the trees over all their land.
³⁴ At His command, locusts came;
    young locusts marched beyond number,
³⁵ And they ate up all the plants that grew
    and all the fruits over their land.
³⁶ He also brought death to the firstborn in all their land,
    the first offspring of each man.

³⁷ Then He brought His people out of slavery, weighed down with silver and gold;
    and of all His tribes,
    not one of them stumbled, not one was left behind.
³⁸ Egypt was glad to see them go,
    for Pharaoh’s people had been overcome with fear of them.
³⁹ He spread out a cloud to cover His people
    and sent a fire to light their way at night.
⁴⁰ They asked, and He sent them coveys of quail,
    satisfying their hunger with the food of heaven.
⁴¹ He split the rock and water poured out;
    it flowed like a river through the desert.
⁴² For He remembered His holy covenant
    with Abraham, His servant.

⁴³ That’s why He rescued His people joyously
    and why His chosen ones celebrated with shouts and singing.
⁴⁴ When the time was right, He gave them land from other nations
    so that they might possess the works of their hands,
⁴⁵ So that they would be able to keep His commands
    and obey His laws.
Praise the Eternal!