Book of Common Prayer
The Lord’s Wonderful Works in Behalf of Israel.
105 (A)Give thanks to the Lord, (B)call upon His name;
(C)Make His deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to Him, (D)sing praises to Him;
[a](E)Tell of all His [b]wonders.
3 Boast in His holy name;
May the (F)heart of those who seek the Lord be joyful.
4 Seek the Lord and (G)His strength;
(H)Seek His face continually.
5 Remember His [c](I)wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the (J)judgments [d]spoken by His mouth,
6 You [e]descendants of (K)Abraham, His servant,
You sons of (L)Jacob, His (M)chosen ones!
7 He is the Lord our God;
His (N)judgments are in all the earth.
8 He has (O)remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a (P)thousand generations,
9 The (Q)covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His (R)oath to Isaac.
10 Then He (S)confirmed it to Jacob as a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 Saying, “(T)To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the [f](U)portion of your inheritance,”
12 When they were only a (V)few people in number,
Very few, and (W)strangers in it.
13 And they wandered from nation to nation,
From one kingdom to another people,
14 He (X)allowed no one to oppress them,
And He [g](Y)rebuked kings for their sakes, saying,
15 “(Z)Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do not harm My prophets.”
16 And He (AA)called for a famine upon the land;
He (AB)broke the whole staff of bread.
17 He (AC)sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was (AD)sold as a slave.
18 They forced his (AE)feet into shackles,
[h]He was put in irons;
19 Until the time that his (AF)word came to pass,
The word of the Lord (AG)refined him.
20 The (AH)king sent and released him,
The ruler of peoples, and set him free.
21 He (AI)made him lord of his house,
And ruler over all his possessions,
22 To [i]imprison his high officials [j](AJ)at will,
That he might teach his elders wisdom.
23 (AK)Israel also came into Egypt;
So Jacob (AL)lived in the land of Ham.
24 And He (AM)made His people very fruitful,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He (AN)turned their heart to hate His people,
To (AO)deal cunningly with His servants.
26 He (AP)sent His servant Moses,
And (AQ)Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27 They [k](AR)performed His wondrous acts among them,
And miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He (AS)sent darkness and made it dark;
And they did not (AT)rebel against His words.
29 He (AU)turned their waters into blood,
And caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with (AV)frogs
Even in the (AW)chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and a (AX)swarm of flies
And (AY)gnats invaded all their territory.
32 He [l]gave them (AZ)hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33 He also (BA)struck their vines and their fig trees,
And smashed the trees of their territory.
34 He spoke, and (BB)locusts came,
And creeping locusts, beyond number,
35 And they ate all the vegetation in their land,
And ate the fruit of their ground.
36 He also (BC)fatally struck all the firstborn in their land,
The (BD)first fruits of all their vigor.
37 Then He brought [m]the Israelites out with (BE)silver and gold,
And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled.
38 Egypt was (BF)glad when they departed,
For the (BG)dread of them had fallen upon [n]the Egyptians.
39 He spread out a (BH)cloud as a [o]covering,
And (BI)fire to illumine by night.
40 [p]They (BJ)asked, and He brought (BK)quail,
And satisfied them with the [q](BL)bread of heaven.
41 He opened the [r]rock and (BM)water flowed out;
[s]It ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For He (BN)remembered His holy word
With His servant Abraham;
43 And He led out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with a joyful (BO)shout.
44 He also (BP)gave them the lands of the [t]nations,
So that they (BQ)might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,
45 And that they might (BR)keep His statutes
And comply with His laws;
[u]Praise [v]the Lord!
Priests to Be Disciplined
2 “And now, this commandment is for you, the priests. 2 If you do (A)not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the Lord of armies, “then I will send the (B)curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have (C)cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. 3 Behold, I am going to (D)rebuke your [a]descendants, and I will (E)spread [b]dung on your faces, the [c]dung of your (F)feasts; and you will be taken away [d]with it. 4 Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, [e]so that My (G)covenant may [f]continue with Levi,” says the Lord of armies. 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and (H)peace, and I gave them to him as an object of [g]reverence; so he [h](I)revered Me and was in awe of My name. 6 [i](J)True instruction was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips; he walked (K)with Me in peace and justice, and he (L)turned many back from wrongdoing. 7 For the lips of a priest should maintain (M)knowledge, and people should (N)seek [j]instruction from his mouth; for he is the (O)messenger of the Lord of armies. 8 But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to (P)stumble [k]by the instruction; you have (Q)ruined the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of armies. 9 “So (R)I also have made you despised and of (S)low reputation [l]in the view of all the people, since you are not keeping My ways but are showing (T)partiality in the [m]instruction.”
Sin in the Family
10 Do we not all have (U)one Father? (V)Is it not one God who has created us? Why do we deal (W)treacherously, each against his brother so as to profane the (X)covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has dealt (Y)treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has (Z)profaned the sanctuary of the Lord [n]which He loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, may the (AA)Lord eliminate from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and answers, or who (AB)presents [o]an offering to the Lord of armies.
13 And this is [p]another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and sighing, because He (AC)no longer gives attention to the [q]offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the (AD)wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt (AE)treacherously, though she is your marriage companion and your wife by covenant. 15 [r]But not one has (AF)done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And [s]why the one? He was seeking a (AG)godly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit, and see that none of you deals (AH)treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 “For [t]I hate [u](AI)divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and [v]him who covers his garment with (AJ)violence,” says the Lord of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
13 (A)Come now, you who say, “(B)Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 [a]Yet you do not know [b]what your life will be like tomorrow. (C)For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. 15 [c]Instead, you ought to say, “(D)If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your [d]arrogance; (E)all such boasting is evil. 17 So (F)for one who knows the [e]right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.
Misuse of Riches
5 (G)Come now, (H)you rich people, (I)weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 (J)Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will [f]serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is (K)in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, (L)the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and (M)the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of (N)the Lord [g]of armies. 5 You have [h](O)lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; you have [i]fattened your hearts in (P)a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and [j](Q)put to death (R)the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.
Second Coming Foretold
20 Now He was questioned by the Pharisees (A)as to when the kingdom of God was coming, and He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with [a](B)signs that can be observed; 21 nor will (C)they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is [b]in your midst.”
22 And He said to the disciples, “(D)The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 (E)And they will say to you, ‘Look there,’ or, ‘Look here!’ Do not leave, and do not run after them. 24 (F)For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part [c]of the sky, shines to the other part [d]of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 (G)But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 (H)And just as it happened (I)in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man: 27 people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 [e]It was the same as happened in (J)the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and [f]brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be [g]just the same on the day that the Son of Man (K)is revealed. 31 On that day, the one who will be (L)on the [h]housetop, [i]with his goods in the house, must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one in the field must not turn back. 32 (M)Remember Lot’s wife. 33 (N)Whoever strives to [j]save his [k]life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 (O)There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [[l](P)Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And responding, they *said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “(Q)Where the body is, there also the [m]vultures will be gathered.”
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