Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 118[a]
118 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.[b]
2 Let Israel say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
3 Let the family[c] of Aaron say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
4 Let the loyal followers of the Lord[d] say,
“Yes, his loyal love endures.”
5 In my distress[e] I cried out to the Lord.
The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place.[f]
6 The Lord is on my side;[g] I am not afraid.
What can people do to me?[h]
7 The Lord is on my side[i] as my helper.[j]
I look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take shelter[k] in the Lord
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to take shelter in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me.[l]
Indeed, in the name of the Lord[m] I pushed them away.[n]
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
12 They surrounded me like bees.
But they disappeared as quickly[o] as a fire among thorns.[p]
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
13 “You aggressively attacked me[q] and tried to knock me down,[r]
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me;[s]
he has become my deliverer.”[t]
15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly.[u]
The Lord’s right hand conquers.[v]
16 The Lord’s right hand gives victory;[w]
the Lord’s right hand conquers.
17 I will not die, but live,
and I will proclaim what the Lord has done.[x]
18 The Lord severely[y] punished me,
but he did not hand me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple.[z]
I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate—
the godly enter through it.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me,
and have become my deliverer.
22 The stone that the builders discarded[aa]
has become the cornerstone.[ab]
23 This is the Lord’s work.
We consider it amazing![ac]
24 This is the day the Lord has brought about.[ad]
We will be happy and rejoice in it.
25 Please, Lord, deliver!
Please, Lord, grant us success![ae]
26 May the one who comes in the name of the Lord[af] be blessed.
We will pronounce blessings on you[ag] in the Lord’s temple.[ah]
27 The Lord is God, and he has delivered us.[ai]
Tie the offering[aj] with ropes
to the horns of the altar.[ak]
28 You are my[al] God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God and I will praise you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good
and his loyal love endures.[am]
Psalm 145[a]
A psalm of praise; by David.
145 I will extol you, my God, O King.
I will praise your name continually.[b]
2 Every day I will praise you.
I will praise your name continually.[c]
3 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise.
No one can fathom his greatness.[d]
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and tell about your mighty acts.[e]
5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,
and your amazing deeds.[f]
6 They will proclaim[g] the power of your awesome acts.
I will declare your great deeds.
7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness,[h]
and sing about your justice.[i]
8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;
he is patient[j] and demonstrates great loyal love.[k]
9 The Lord is good to all,
and has compassion on all he has made.[l]
10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord.
Your loyal followers will praise you.
11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;
they will tell about your power,
12 so that mankind[m] might acknowledge your mighty acts,
and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom,[n]
and your dominion endures through all generations.
14 [o] The Lord supports all who fall,
and lifts up all who are bent over.[p]
15 Everything looks to you in anticipation,[q]
and you provide them with food on a regular basis.[r]
16 You open your hand,
and fill every living thing with the food it desires.[s]
17 The Lord is just in all his actions,[t]
and exhibits love in all he does.[u]
18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,
all who cry out to him sincerely.[v]
19 He satisfies the desire[w] of his loyal followers;[x]
he hears their cry for help and delivers them.
20 The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.
21 My mouth will praise the Lord.[y]
Let all who live[z] praise his holy name forever.
Fiery Serpents
4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea,[a] to go around the land of Edom, but the people[b] became impatient along the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we[c] detest this worthless[d] food.”
6 So the Lord sent venomous[e] snakes[f] among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he would take away[g] the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks[h] at it, he will live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.[i]
The Victory over Sihon and Og
21 [a] Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, saying,[b]
22 “Let us[c] pass through your land;[d] we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.” 23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he[e] gathered all his forces[f] together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When[g] he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel. 24 But the Israelites[h] defeated him in battle[i] and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended. 25 So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.[j] 26 For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land from his control,[k] as far as the Arnon. 27 That is why those who speak in proverbs[l] say,
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built.
Let the city of Sihon be established![m]
28 For fire went out from Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has consumed Ar of Moab
and the lords[n] of the high places of Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab.
You are ruined, O people of Chemosh![o]
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.
30 We have overpowered them;[p]
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
We have shattered them as far as Nophah,
which[q] reaches to Medeba.”
31 So the Israelites[r] lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent spies to reconnoiter[s] Jazer, and they captured its villages[t] and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces[u] marched out against them to do battle at Edrei. 34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated Og,[v] his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors,[w] and they possessed his land.
12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few[a] prominent[b] Greek women and men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica[c] heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God[d] in Berea, they came there too, inciting[e] and disturbing[f] the crowds. 14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast[g] at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.[h] 15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.[i]
Paul at Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset[j] because he saw[k] the city was full of idols. 17 So he was addressing[l] the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles[m] in the synagogue,[n] and in the marketplace[o] every day[p] those who happened to be there. 18 Also some of the Epicurean[q] and Stoic[r] philosophers were conversing[s] with him, and some were asking,[t] “What does this foolish babbler[u] want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.”[v] (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)[w] 19 So they took Paul and[x] brought him to the Areopagus,[y] saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some surprising things[z] to our ears, so we want to know what they[aa] mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time[ab] in nothing else than telling[ac] or listening to something new.)[ad]
22 So Paul stood[ae] before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious[af] in all respects.[ag] 23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship,[ah] I even found an altar with this inscription:[ai] ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it,[aj] this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it,[ak] who is[al] Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,[am] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything,[an] because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.[ao] 26 From one man[ap] he made every nation of the human race[aq] to inhabit the entire earth,[ar] determining their set times[as] and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,[at] 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around[au] for him and find him,[av] though he is[aw] not far from each one of us. 28 For in him we live and move about[ax] and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’[ay] 29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity[az] is like gold or silver or stone, an image[ba] made by human[bb] skill[bc] and imagination.[bd] 30 Therefore, although God has overlooked[be] such times of ignorance,[bf] he now commands all people[bg] everywhere to repent,[bh] 31 because he has set[bi] a day on which he is going to judge the world[bj] in righteousness, by a man whom he designated,[bk] having provided proof to everyone by raising[bl] him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard about[bm] the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff,[bn] but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul left the Areopagus.[bo] 34 But some people[bp] joined him[bq] and believed. Among them[br] were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus,[bs] a woman[bt] named Damaris, and others with them.
Healing on the Sabbath
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues[a] on the Sabbath, 11 and a woman was there[b] who had been disabled by a spirit[c] for eighteen years. She[d] was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely.[e] 12 When[f] Jesus saw her, he called her to him[g] and said, “Woman,[h] you are freed[i] from your infirmity.”[j] 13 Then[k] he placed his hands on her, and immediately[l] she straightened up and praised God. 14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work[m] should be done![n] So come[o] and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him,[p] “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall,[q] and lead it to water?[r] 16 Then[s] shouldn’t[t] this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan[u] bound for eighteen long[v] years, be released from this imprisonment[w] on the Sabbath day?” 17 When[x] he said this all his adversaries were humiliated,[y] but[z] the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things[aa] he was doing.[ab]
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