Book of Common Prayer
That the Generation to Come Might Know
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
78 (A)Give ear, O my people, to my [b]instruction;
(B)Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will (C)open my mouth in a parable;
I will pour forth (D)dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And (E)our fathers have recounted to us.
4 We will (F)not conceal them from their children,
But (G)recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
And His strength and His (H)wondrous deeds that He has done.
5 For He established a (I)testimony in Jacob
And set a (J)law in Israel,
Which He (K)commanded our fathers
That they should [c](L)teach them to their children,
6 (M)That the generation to come might know, even (N)the children yet to be born,
That they may arise and (O)recount them to their children,
7 That they should set their confidence in God
And (P)not forget the deeds of God,
But (Q)observe His commandments,
8 And (R)not be like their fathers,
A (S)stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that (T)did not [d]prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not (U)faithful to God.
9 The sons of Ephraim [e]were (V)archers equipped with bows,
Yet (W)they turned back in the day of battle.
10 They (X)did not keep the covenant of God
And refused to (Y)walk in His law;
11 So they (Z)forgot His acts
And His [f]wondrous deeds that He had shown them.
12 (AA)He did wonders before their fathers
In the land of Egypt, in the (AB)field of Zoan.
13 He (AC)split the sea and caused them to pass through,
And He made the waters stand (AD)up like a heap.
14 Then He led them with the cloud by (AE)day
And all the night with a (AF)light of fire.
15 He was (AG)splitting the rocks in the wilderness
And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
16 He (AH)brought forth streams also from the cliff face
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To (AI)rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 And in their heart they (AJ)put God to the test
By asking for (AK)food according to their desire.
19 Then they spoke against God;
They said, “(AL)Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He (AM)struck the rock so that waters gushed out,
And streams were overflowing;
Can He give bread also?
Will He prepare [g](AN)meat for His people?”
21 Therefore Yahweh heard and [h]was (AO)full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob
And anger also mounted against Israel,
22 Because they (AP)did not believe in God
And did not trust in His salvation.
23 Yet He commanded the skies above
And (AQ)opened the doors of heaven;
24 He (AR)rained down manna upon them to eat
And gave them (AS)grain from heaven.
25 Man ate the bread of [i]angels;
He sent them provision (AT)to satisfy.
26 He (AU)led forth the east wind in the heavens
And by His strength He guided the south wind.
27 Then He rained [j]meat upon them like the dust,
Even (AV)winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
28 He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp,
All around His dwelling places.
29 So they (AW)ate and were very satisfied,
And their desire He brought to them.
30 [k]Before they had satisfied their desire,
(AX)While their food was in their mouths,
31 The (AY)anger of God rose against them
And killed [l]some of their (AZ)stoutest ones,
And [m]subdued the choice men of Israel.
32 In spite of all this they (BA)still sinned
And (BB)did not believe in His wondrous deeds.
33 So He brought (BC)their days to an end in [n]futility
And their years in sudden terror.
34 When He killed them, then they (BD)sought Him,
And returned and sought (BE)earnestly for God;
35 And they remembered that God was their (BF)rock,
And the Most High God their (BG)Redeemer.
36 But they (BH)deceived Him with their mouth
And (BI)lied to Him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not (BJ)prepared to remain with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
38 But He, being (BK)compassionate, (BL)atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them;
And He abounded in (BM)turning back His anger
And did not arouse all His wrath.
39 Thus (BN)He remembered that they were but (BO)flesh,
A [o](BP)wind that goes and does not return.
40 How often they (BQ)rebelled against Him in the wilderness
And (BR)grieved Him in the (BS)wasteland!
41 Again and again they [p](BT)tested God,
And pained the (BU)Holy One of Israel.
42 They (BV)did not remember (BW)His [q]power,
The day when He (BX)redeemed them from the adversary,
43 When He performed His (BY)signs in Egypt
And His (BZ)miracles in the field of Zoan,
44 And (CA)turned their rivers to blood,
And their streams, they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of (CB)flies which devoured them,
And (CC)frogs which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crops to the (CD)grasshopper
And the fruit of their labor to the (CE)locust.
47 He killed their vines with (CF)hailstones
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48 He gave over their (CG)cattle also to the hailstones
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
49 He (CH)sent upon them His burning anger,
Fury and indignation and [r]distress,
[s]A band of destroying angels.
50 He leveled a path for His anger;
He did not hold back their soul from death,
But (CI)gave over their life to the plague,
51 So He (CJ)struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
The (CK)first of their vigor in the tents of (CL)Ham.
52 But He (CM)led forth His own people like sheep
And guided them in the wilderness (CN)like a flock;
53 He led them (CO)safely, so that they did not fear;
But (CP)the sea covered their enemies.
54 So (CQ)He brought them to His holy [t]land,
To this [u](CR)hill country (CS)which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also (CT)drove out the nations before them
And (CU)apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they [v](CV)tested and (CW)rebelled against the Most High God
And did not keep His testimonies,
57 But turned back and (CX)acted treacherously like their fathers;
They (CY)turned aside like a treacherous bow.
58 For they (CZ)provoked Him with their (DA)high places
And (DB)aroused His jealousy with their (DC)graven images.
59 God heard and [w]was filled with (DD)wrath
And greatly (DE)rejected Israel;
60 So that He (DF)abandoned the (DG)dwelling place at Shiloh,
The tent [x]which He caused to dwell among men,
61 And gave up His (DH)strength to captivity
And His beauty (DI)into the hand of the adversary.
62 He also (DJ)gave over His people to the sword,
And [y]was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
63 (DK)Fire devoured [z]His choice men,
And [aa]His (DL)virgins had no wedding songs.
64 [ab]His (DM)priests fell by the sword,
And [ac]His (DN)widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord (DO)awoke as if from sleep,
As if He were a (DP)warrior [ad]overcome by wine.
66 He (DQ)struck His adversaries backward;
He put on them an everlasting reproach.
67 He also (DR)rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount (DS)Zion which He loved.
69 And He (DT)built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has founded forever.
70 He also (DU)chose David His servant
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71 From (DV)following the [ae](DW)nursing ewes He brought him
To (DX)shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel (DY)His inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them according to the (DZ)integrity of his heart,
And led them with his skillful hands.
Yahweh Establishes the Oath with Isaac
26 Now there was (A)a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to (B)Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And Yahweh (C)appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; (D)dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and (E)I will be with you and (F)bless you, for (G)to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish (H)the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 (I)And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give your seed all these lands; and (J)by your seed all the nations of the earth [a]shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham (K)listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Isaac and Abimelech
6 So Isaac [b]lived in Gerar.
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and [a]reaped in the same year one hundredfold. And (A)Yahweh blessed him, 13 and the man (B)became great and continued to grow greater until he became very great; 14 and (C)he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and many servants, so that the Philistines were jealous of him. 15 Now (D)all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up [b]by filling them with earth. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are [c](E)too mighty for us.” 17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and [d]settled there.
The Quarrel over the Wells
18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which [e]had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, but the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he [f]called them by the same names by which his father had called them. 19 Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of [g]flowing water. 20 And the herdsmen of Gerar (F)contended with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well [h]Esek, because they quarreled with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they contended over it also, so he called it [i]Sitnah. 22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not contend over it; so he named it [j]Rehoboth, and he said, “[k](G)At last Yahweh has made [l]room for us, and we will be (H)fruitful in the land.”
23 And he went up from there to (I)Beersheba. 24 And Yahweh (J)appeared to him that night and said,
“(K)I am the God of your father Abraham;
(L)Do not fear, for I am with you.
I (M)will bless you and multiply your seed,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”
25 So he built an (N)altar there and called upon the name of Yahweh and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug out a well.
Isaac’s Oath with Abimelech
26 Now (O)Abimelech came to him from Gerar [m]with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 And Isaac said to them, “(P)Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 Then they said, “We see plainly (Q)that Yahweh has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us—between [n]you and us—and let us cut a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you [o]and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the (R)blessed of Yahweh.’” 30 Then (S)he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they arose early, and (T)each swore to [p]the other; then Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32 Now it happened on that day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is (U)Beersheba to this day.
17 (A)Obey your leaders and submit to them—for (B)they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account—so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.
18 (C)Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a (D)good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves well in all things. 19 And I urge you all the more to do this, (E)so that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Benediction
20 Now (F)the God of peace, who (G)brought up from the dead the (H)great Shepherd of the sheep [a]through (I)the blood of the (J)eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, 21 (K)equip you in every good thing to do His will, by (L)doing in us (M)what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, (N)to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 But (O)I urge you, (P)brothers, [b]bear with [c]this (Q)word of exhortation, for (R)I have written to you briefly. 23 Know that (S)our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I will see you. 24 Greet (T)all of your leaders and all the [d](U)saints. Those from (V)Italy greet you.
25 (W)Grace be with you all.
53 [a][Everyone went to his home.
An Adulteress Forgiven
8 But Jesus went to (A)the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and (B)He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law (C)Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, (D)testing Him, (E)so that they might have evidence to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, (F)He straightened up and said to them, “(G)Let him who is without sin among you be the (H)first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 (I)Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, [b]Lord.” And Jesus said, “(J)I do not condemn you, either. Go, and from now on (K)sin no more.”]
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