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 ancestors have sinned;
we have done wrong and have acted wickedly.(F)
7 Our ancestors in Egypt did not grasp
the significance of your wondrous works
or remember your many acts of faithful love;
instead, they rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.(G)
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
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 power of the adversary;
he redeemed them from the power 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 wondrous 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.(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 angered 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 over 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 iniquity.(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 abundance
of his faithful love.(AS)
46 He caused them to be pitied
before all their captors.(AT)
47 Save us, Lord our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise.(AU)
Micah’s Priest
17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on—here’s the silver. I took it.”
Then his mother said, “My son, may you be blessed by the Lord!” (A)
3 He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate(B) the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image and a silver idol.[a] I will give it back to you.” 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a silver idol, and it was in Micah’s house.
5 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols,(C) and installed one of his sons to be his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel;(D) everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
7 There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who was staying within the clan of Judah.(E) 8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.
9 “Where do you come from?” Micah asked him.
He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to stay wherever I can find a place.”
10 Micah replied,[b] “Stay with me and be my father(F) and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in 11 and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. 12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest(G) and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
God’s Real Tabernacle
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(A) 45 Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,(B) until the days of David. 46 He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God[a] of Jacob.(C) 47 It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,(D) 48 but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:(E)
49 Heaven is my throne,
and the earth my footstool.
What sort of house will you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what will be my resting place?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?[b](F)
Resisting the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked(G) people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!(H) You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?(I) They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers(J) you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels(K) and yet have not kept it.”
The First Christian Martyr
54 When they heard these things, they were enraged[c] and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.(L) 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (M)
57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone(N) him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.(O) 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (P) 60 He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,(Q) “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.(R)
Saul the Persecutor
8 Saul agreed with putting him to death.
On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.(S)
19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[a] does, the Son likewise does these things.(A) 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works(B) than these so that you will be amazed. 21 And just as the Father raises(C) the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.(D) 22 The Father,(E) in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.(F) Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.(G)
Life and Judgment
24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life(H) and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here,(I) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.(J) 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son(K) to have life in himself. 27 And he has granted him the right to pass judgment,(L) because he is the Son of Man.(M) 28 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.
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