Book of Common Prayer
106 Praise the LORD because He is good; for His mercy endures forever!
2 Who can express the noble acts of the LORD, or proclaim all His praise?
3 Blessed are those who guard justice and do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favor of Your people. Visit me with Your salvation,
5 so that I may see the good things of Your chosen and rejoice in the joy of Your people, and glory with Your inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our Fathers. We have committed iniquity and done wickedly.
7 Our Fathers did not understand Your wonders in Egypt, nor did they remember the multitude of Your mercies; but they rebelled at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless, He saved them for His Name’s sake, so that He might make His power known.
9 And He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; and He led them through the deep, as through the wilderness.
10 And He saved them from the adversary’s hand and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their oppressors. Not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed His words and sang praise to Him.
13 But they soon forgot His works. They did not wait for His counsel,
14 but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert.
15 Then He gave them their desire. But He sent leanness into their soul.
16 They also envied Moses in the tents, and Aaron, the saint of the LORD.
17 The Earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram.
18 And the fire was kindled in their assembly; the flame burnt up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus, they turned their glory into the likeness of a bullock that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and fearful things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore, He intended to destroy them had not Moses, His chosen, stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath lest He should destroy them.
24 Also, they despised that pleasant land and did not believe His word,
25 but murmured in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
26 Therefore, He lifted up His hand against them to destroy them in the wilderness,
27 and to destroy their seed among the nations, and to scatter them throughout the countries.
28 They also joined themselves to Baal of Peor and ate the offerings of the dead.
29 Thus, they provoked Him to anger with their own inventions; and the plague broke in upon them.
30 But, Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, and the plague was stopped.
31 And it was counted to him for righteousness, from generation to generation, forever.
32 They also angered Him at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was punished for their sakes
33 (because they troubled his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips).
34 Nor did they destroy the people, as the LORD had commanded them,
35 but mingled among the heathen and learned their works
36 and served their idols, which was their ruin.
37 Indeed, they offered their sons and their daughters to demons,
38 and shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and of their daughters whom they offered to the idols of Canaan—and the land was defiled with blood.
39 Thus, they were stained with their own works and went a-whoring with their own inventions.
40 Therefore, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people; and He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 And He gave them into the hand of the heathen; and those who hated them were lords over them.
42 Also, their enemies oppressed them; and they were humbled under their hand.
43 Many a time did He deliver them, but they provoked Him by their counsel. Therefore, they were brought down by their iniquity.
44 Yet, He saw when they were in affliction and He heard their cry.
45 And He remembered His Covenant toward them and repented, according to the multitude of His mercies,
46 and gave them favor in the sight of all those who had carried them away captive.
47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, so that we may praise Your Holy Name and glory in Your praise.
48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, forever and ever; and let all the people say, “So be it! Praise the LORD!”
14 Samaria shall be desolate. For she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces. And their women with child shall be ripped open.
2 O Israel, return to the LORD your God! For you have fallen by your iniquity!
3 Take words with you and turn to the LORD, and say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render the calves of our lips.
4 “Assyria shall not save us. Nor will we ride upon horses. Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
5 “I will heal their rebellion. I will love them freely. For My anger has turned away from him.
6 “I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall grow as the lily and fasten his roots as the trees of Lebanon.
7 “His branches shall spread. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon.
8 “Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as grain and flourish as the vine. Their scent shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
9 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I shall hear him and look upon him. I am like a green fir tree. Upon Me your fruit is found.
10 “Who is wise and shall understand these things, prudent and shall know them? For the ways of the LORD are righteous and the just shall walk in them. But the wicked shall fall therein.”
30 On the next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their Council to come together. And he brought Paul and set him before them.
23 And Paul looked earnestly at the Council, and said, “Men! Brothers! I have in all good conscience served God until this day...”
2 Then the High Priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitened wall! For you sit to judge me according to the Law. And transgressing the Law, you command me to be struck?”
4 And those who stood by, said, “You revile God’s High Priest?!”
5 Then Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the High Priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’”
6 But when Paul perceived that part of them were of the Sadducees, and another of the Pharisees, he cried in the Council, “Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I am accused of the hope and resurrection of the dead.”
7 And when he had said this, there was a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, so that the multitude was divided.
8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. But the Pharisees confess both.
9 Then there was a great outcry. And the scribes of the Pharisees’ part rose up and contended fiercely with them, saying, “We find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”
10 And when there was a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing Paul might have been pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
11 Now the night following, the Lord stood by him, and said, “Be of good courage, Paul, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so also must you bear witness in Rome.
39 And He spoke a parable to them, “Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?
40 “The disciple is not above the master. But whoever would be a perfect disciple shall be as his master.
41 “And why do you see a splinter in your brother’s eye, yet do not consider the beam that is in your own eye?
42 “Or, how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me pull out the splinter that is in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! Cast out the beam from your own eye first. And then you shall see perfectly to pull out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.
43 “For it is not a good tree that brings forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree that brings forth good fruit.
44 “For every tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes gathered from bushes.
45 “A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good. And an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things that I speak?
47 “Whoever comes to Me and hears My words, and does the same, I will show you to whom he is like.
48 “He is like a man who built a house, and dug deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the waters rose, the flood beat upon that house, but could not shake it. For it was grounded upon a rock.
49 “But the one who hears and does not do, is like a man who built a house upon the earth without foundation (against which the flood beat, and it immediately fell). And the fall of that house was great.”
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