Book of Common Prayer
Praise to Yahweh for His Faithfulness in Israel’s History
106 Praise Yah.[a] Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good,
for his loyal love is forever.
2 Who can utter the mighty deeds of Yahweh,
or proclaim all his praise?
3 Blessed are those who observe justice,
he who does righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Yahweh, when you show favor to your people.
Look after me when you deliver,
5 that I may see the good done your chosen ones,
to be glad in the joy of your nation,
to glory together with your inheritance.
6 We have sinned along with our ancestors.[b]
We have committed iniquity; we have incurred guilt.
7 Our ancestors[c] in Egypt did not understand your wonderful works.
They did not remember your many acts of loyal love,
and so they rebelled by the sea at the Red Sea.[d]
8 Yet he saved them for the sake of his name,
to make known his might.
9 So he rebuked the Red Sea,[e] and it dried up,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 Thus he saved them from the hand of the hater
and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 But waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.
13 They quickly forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel.
14 And they craved intensely[f] in the wilderness,
and tested God in the desert.
15 So he gave to them their request,
but he sent leanness into their souls.[g]
16 And they were jealous of Moses in the camp,
and of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
and it covered over the gang of Abiram.
18 Also fire burned in their assembly;
the flame devoured the wicked.
19 They made a calf at Horeb
and bowed down to a cast image.
20 And so they exchanged their glory
for an image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wonders in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds by the Red Sea.[h]
23 So he said he would exterminate them,
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to reverse his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they refused the desirable land;
they did not believe his word,
25 but grumbled in their tents.
They did not obey the voice of Yahweh.
26 So he made an oath[i] against them,
to make them drop in the wilderness,
27 and to disperse[j] their descendants[k] among the nations
and to scatter them among the lands.
28 They also attached themselves to Baal of Peor,
and they ate sacrifices offered to the dead.[l]
29 Thus they provoked to anger by their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and so the plague was stopped,
31 and it was reckoned to him as righteousness
throughout all generations.[m]
32 They also angered God at the waters of Meribah,
and it went badly for Moses on account of them,
33 because they rebelled against his Spirit,[n]
and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.
34 They did not exterminate the peoples,
as Yahweh had commanded them, [o]
35 but they mingled with the nations
and learned their works,
36 and served their idols,
which became[p] a snare to them.
37 They even sacrificed their sons and daughters
to the demons,
38 and they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and so the land was defiled with the blood.[q]
39 And they became unclean by their works,
and were unfaithful in their deeds.
40 So Yahweh’s anger burned against his people,
and he abhorred his inheritance.
41 Then he gave them into the hand of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
42 And their enemies oppressed them,
and they were subdued under their hand.
43 Many times he delivered them,
but they rebelled in their counsel,
and were brought low by their iniquity.
44 Yet he looked upon their distress
when he heard their cry.
45 And he remembered his covenant with them,
and relented based on the abundance of his loyal love.
46 And he let them find compassion[r]
before all their captors.
47 Save us, O Yahweh our God,
and gather us from the nations,
so that we may give thanks to your holy name
and boast in your praise.
48 Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel,
from everlasting and to everlasting.
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise Yah.[s]
Micah’s Idolatry
17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, and about which you also pronounced a curse in my hearing,[a] are with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.” 3 He returned the eleven hundred pieces[b] of silver to his mother, and his mother thought, “I will certainly consecrate to Yahweh the pieces[c] of silver from my hand for my son to make an idol of cast metal; now then, I will return them[d] to you.” 4 When he returned the pieces[e] of silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces[f] of silver, and she gave it to the smith, and he made it into an idol of cast metal; and it was in the house of Micah. 5 The man Micah had for himself a shrine,[g] and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he appointed one of his sons[h] who became a priest for him. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel, and each one did what was right in his own eyes.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the clan of Judah; he was a Levite and was dwelling as a foreigner[i] there. 8 And the man went from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live as a foreigner[j] wherever he could find a place. And he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to continue his journey. 9 And Micah said to him, “From where do you come?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah; I am going to dwell as a foreigner[k] wherever I can find a place.” 10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give to you ten pieces[l] of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your food.” So the Levite went with him. 11 The Levite agreed to stay with the man; and the young man became as one of his sons. 12 So Micah appointed the Levite,[m] and the young man became a priest for him; and he was in the house of Micah. 13 And Micah said, “Now I know Yahweh will make me prosperous, because the Levite has become my priest.”
44 The tabernacle of the testimony belonged[a] to our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him[b] to make it according to the design that he had seen, 45 and which, after[c] receiving it[d] in turn, our fathers brought in with Joshua when they dispossessed the[e] nations that God drove out from the presence of our fathers, until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.[f] 47 But Solomon built a house for him. 48 But the Most High does not live in houses[g] made by human hands, just as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne
and earth is the footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’[h]
51 “You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your[i] ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so also do you! 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, 53 you who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed it!”
Stephen’s Martyrdom
54 Now when they[j] heard these things, they were infuriated in their hearts and gnashed their[k] teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and[l] saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed at him with one purpose. 58 And after they[m] had driven him[n] out of the city, they began to stone[o] him,[p] and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they kept on stoning Stephen as he[q] was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 And falling to his[r] knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after he[s] said this, he fell asleep.[t]
Saul Attempts to Destroy the Church
8 And Saul was agreeing with his murder. Now there happened on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
The Authority of the Son
19 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever that one does, these things also the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself is doing. And greater works than these he will show him, so that you will be astonished. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and makes them[a] alive, thus also the Son makes alive whomever he wishes. 22 For the Father does not judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, 23 in order that all people[b] will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly I say to you that the one who hears my word and who believes the one who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
25 “Truly, truly I say to you, that an hour is coming—and now is here—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, thus also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has granted him authority to carry out judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be astonished at this, because an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and they will come out—those who have done good things to a resurrection of life, but those who have practiced evil things to a resurrection of judgment.
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