Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 106
Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God
1 Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.(A)
2 Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts
or proclaim all the praise due Him?(B)
3 How happy are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.(C)
4 Remember me, Lord,
when You show favor to Your people.(D)
Come to me with Your salvation
5 so that I may enjoy the prosperity
of Your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of Your nation,
and boast about Your heritage.(E)
6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.(F)
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of Your wonderful works
or remember Your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.(G)
8 Yet He saved them because of His name,
to make His power known.(H)
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.(I)
10 He saved them from the hand of the adversary;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.(J)
11 Water covered their foes;
not one of them remained.(K)
12 Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise.(L)
13 They soon forgot His works
and would not wait for His counsel.(M)
14 They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.(N)
15 He gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease among them.(O)
16 In the camp they were envious of Moses
and of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.(P)
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.(Q)
18 Fire blazed throughout their assembly;
flames consumed the wicked.(R)
19 At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped the cast metal image.(S)
20 They exchanged their glory[a][b]
for the image of a grass-eating ox.(T)
21 They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,(U)
22 wonderful works in the land of Ham,[c]
awe-inspiring acts at the Red Sea.(V)
23 So He said He would have destroyed them—
if Moses His chosen one
had not stood before Him in the breach
to turn His wrath away from destroying them.(W)
24 They despised the pleasant land
and did not believe His promise.(X)
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the Lord’s voice.(Y)
26 So He raised His hand against them with an oath
that He would make them fall in the desert(Z)
27 and would disperse their descendants[d]
among the nations,
scattering them throughout the lands.(AA)
28 They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.[e](AB)
29 They provoked the Lord with their deeds,
and a plague broke out against them.(AC)
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stopped.(AD)
31 It was credited to him as righteousness
throughout all generations to come.(AE)
32 They angered the Lord at the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered[f] because of them;(AF)
33 for they embittered his spirit,[g]
and he spoke rashly with his lips.(AG)
34 They did not destroy the peoples
as the Lord had commanded them(AH)
35 but mingled with the nations
and adopted their ways.(AI)
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.(AJ)
37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.(AK)
38 They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
so the land became polluted with blood.(AL)
39 They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds.(AM)
40 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.(AN)
41 He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled them.(AO)
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their power.(AP)
43 He rescued them many times,
but they continued to rebel deliberately
and were beaten down by their sin.(AQ)
44 When He heard their cry,
He took note of their distress,(AR)
45 remembered His covenant with them,
and relented according to the riches
of His faithful love.(AS)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(AT)
47 Save us, Yahweh our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to Your holy name
and rejoice in Your praise.(AU)
11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son,
and do not loathe His discipline;(A)
12 for the Lord disciplines the one He loves,
just as a father, the son he delights in.(B)
Wisdom Brings Happiness
13 Happy is a man who finds wisdom(C)
and who acquires understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver,
and her revenue is better than gold.(D)
15 She is more precious than jewels;(E)
nothing you desire compares with her.(F)
16 Long life[a] is in her right hand;
in her left, riches and honor.(G)
17 Her ways are pleasant,(H)
and all her paths, peaceful.
18 She is a tree of life(I) to those who embrace her,
and those who hold on to her are happy.
18 Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.(A) 19 This is how we will know we belong to the truth(B) and will convince our conscience in His presence, 20 even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things.(C)
21 Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands(D) and do what is pleasing in His sight. 23 Now this is His command: that we believe in the name(E) of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commands remains in Him,(F) and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us(G) is from the Spirit(H) He has given us.
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits(I) to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has[a] come in the flesh(J) is from God.(K) 3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus[b] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist;(L) you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you(M) is greater than the one who is in the world.(N) 5 They are from the world.(O) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;(P) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.(Q)
The Resurrection and the Life
17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb(A) four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem(B) (about two miles[a] away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained seated in the house.
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.”
23 “Your brother will rise(C) again,” Jesus told her.
24 Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”(D)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am(E) the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me,(F) even if he dies, will live.(G) 26 Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever.(H) Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told Him, “I believe You are the Messiah,(I) the Son(J) of God, who comes into the world.”(K)
Jesus Shares the Sorrow of Death
28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 As soon as she heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.(L)
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