Book of Common Prayer
105 Give thanks to Adonai! Call on his name!
Make his deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him,
talk about all his wonders.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let those seeking Adonai have joyful hearts.
4 Seek Adonai and his strength;
always seek his presence.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his signs and his spoken rulings.
6 You descendants of Avraham his servant,
you offspring of Ya‘akov, his chosen ones,
7 he is Adonai our God!
His rulings are everywhere on earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded to a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Avraham,
the oath he swore to Yitz’chak,
10 and established as a law for Ya‘akov,
for Isra’el as an everlasting covenant:
11 “To you I will give the land of Kena‘an
as your allotted heritage.”
12 When they were but few in number,
and not only few, but aliens there too,
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from this kingdom to that people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them.
Yes, for their sakes he rebuked even kings:
15 “Don’t touch my anointed ones
or do my prophets harm!”
16 He called down famine on the land,
broke off all their food supply,
17 but sent a man ahead of them —
Yosef, who was sold as a slave.
18 They shackled his feet with chains,
and they bound him in irons;
19 until the time when his word proved true,
God’s utterance kept testing him.
20 The king sent and had him released,
the ruler of peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his household,
in charge of all he owned,
22 correcting his officers as he saw fit
and teaching his counselors wisdom.
23 Then Isra’el too came into Egypt,
Ya‘akov lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 There God made his people very fruitful,
made them too numerous for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
and treat his servants unfairly.
26 He sent his servant Moshe
and Aharon, whom he had chosen.
27 They worked his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and the land grew dark;
they did not defy his word.
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the royal chambers.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of insects
and lice throughout their land.
32 He gave them hail instead of rain,
with fiery [lightning] throughout their land.
33 He struck their vines and fig trees,
shattering trees all over their country.
34 He spoke, and locusts came,
also grasshoppers without number;
35 they ate up everything green in their land,
devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.
37 Then he led his people out,
laden with silver and gold;
among his tribes not one stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy to have them leave,
because fear of [Isra’el] had seized them.
39 He spread out a cloud to screen them off
and fire to give them light at night.
40 When they asked, he brought them quails
and satisfied them with food from heaven.
41 He split a rock, and water gushed out,
flowing as a river over the dry ground,
42 for he remembered his holy promise
to his servant Avraham.
43 He led out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 Then he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they possessed what peoples had toiled to produce,
45 in order to obey his laws
and follow his teachings.
Halleluyah!
15 Some time later, Avshalom prepared himself a chariot and horses, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the road leading to the city gate; and if someone had a case that was to come before the king for judgment, Avshalom would call to him and ask, “What city are you from?” and he would answer, “Your servant is from the such-and-such tribe in Isra’el.” 3 Avshalom would say to him, “Look, your cause is good and just; but the king hasn’t deputized anyone to hear your case.” 4 Then Avshalom would continue, “Now if I were made judge in the land, anyone with a suit or other cause could come to me, and I would see that he gets justice!” 5 Moreover, whenever any man came close to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 This is how Avshalom behaved toward anyone in Isra’el who came to the king for judgment, and in this way Avshalom stole the hearts of the people of Isra’el.
7 At the end of forty years, Avshalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hevron and fulfill the vow I made to Adonai. 8 Your servant made a vow while I was staying at G’shur in Aram to the effect that if Adonai would bring me back to Yerushalayim, then I would serve Adonai.” 9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he set out and went to Hevron.
10 But Avshalom sent spies through all the tribes of Isra’el to say, “The moment you hear the sound of the shofar, then start proclaiming, ‘Avshalom is king in Hevron.’” 11 With Avshalom went 200 men from Yerushalayim who had been invited; they went innocently, knowing nothing about the scheme. 12 Avshalom sent for Achitofel the Giloni, David’s counselor, to come from his town Giloh and be with him while offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy grew strong, because the number of people favoring Avshalom kept increasing.
13 A messenger came to David saying, “The men of Isra’el have aligned themselves with Avshalom.” 14 David said to all his servants with him in Yerushalayim, “Get up! We must flee! Otherwise none of us will escape from Avshalom. Hurry, and leave; or he will soon overtake us, attack us and put the city to the sword.” 15 The king’s servants said to the king, “Here, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” 16 So the king set out, and all his household after him. The king left ten women who were concubines to care for the palace. 17 The king set out with all the people after him, but they waited at the last house 18 for all his servants to pass by him in review; all the K’reti and P’leti and all the Gittim (600 men who had accompanied him from Gat) passed in review before the king.
27 The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him. 28 “Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha’ul had brought him into the Temple.)
30 The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha’ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31 But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil. 32 Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha’ul.
33 Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks. 35 When Sha’ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild — 36 the crowd kept following and screaming, “Kill him!”
32 They were on the road going up to Yerushalayim. Yeshua was walking ahead of them, and they were amazed — and those following were afraid. So again taking the Twelve along with him, he began telling them what was about to happen to him. 33 “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers. They will sentence him to death and turn him over to the Goyim, 34 who will jeer at him, spit on him, beat him and kill him; but after three days, he will rise.”[a]
35 Ya‘akov and Yochanan, the sons of Zavdai, came up to him and said, “Rabbi, we would like you to do us a favor.” 36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 They replied, “When you are in your glory, let us sit with you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Yeshua answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink the cup that I am drinking? or be immersed with the immersion that I must undergo?” 39 They said to him, “We can.” Yeshua replied, “The cup that I am drinking, you will drink; and the immersion I am being immersed with, you will undergo. 40 But to sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
41 When the other ten heard about this, they became outraged at Ya‘akov and Yochanan. 42 But Yeshua called them to him and said to them, “You know that among the Goyim, those who are supposed to rule them become tyrants, and their superiors become dictators. 43 But among you, it must not be like that! On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must be your servant; 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must become everyone’s slave! 45 For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve — and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.