Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105
God’s Faithfulness to His People
1 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.(A)
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell about all his wondrous works!(B)
3 Boast in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.(C)
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.(D)
5 Remember the wondrous works he has done,
his wonders, and the judgments he has pronounced,[a](E)
6 you offspring of Abraham his servant,
Jacob’s descendants—his chosen ones.(F)
7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments govern the whole earth.(G)
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the promise he ordained
for a thousand generations(H)—
9 the covenant he made with Abraham,
swore[b] to Isaac,(I)
10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree
and to Israel as a permanent covenant:(J)
11 “I will give the land of Canaan to you
as your inherited portion.”(K)
12 When they were few in number,
very few indeed,
and resident aliens in Canaan,(L)
13 wandering from nation to nation
and from one kingdom to another,(M)
14 he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their behalf:(N)
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones,(O)
or harm my prophets.”(P)
16 He called down famine against the land
and destroyed the entire food supply.(Q)
17 He had sent a man ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.(R)
18 They hurt his feet with shackles;
his neck was put in an iron collar.(S)
19 Until the time his prediction came true,
the word of the Lord tested him.(T)
20 The king sent for him and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.(U)
21 He made him master of his household,
ruler over all his possessions(V)—
22 binding[c] his officials at will
and instructing his elders.(W)
23 Then Israel went to Egypt;
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.[d](X)
24 The Lord[e] made his people very fruitful;
he made them more numerous than their foes,(Y)
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people
and to deal deceptively with his servants.(Z)
26 He sent Moses his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.(AA)
27 They performed his miraculous signs among them
and wonders in the land of Ham.(AB)
28 He sent darkness, and it became dark—
for did they not defy his commands?(AC)
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.(AD)
30 Their land was overrun with frogs,
even in their royal chambers.(AE)
31 He spoke, and insects came(AF)—
gnats throughout their country.(AG)
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and lightning throughout their land.(AH)
33 He struck their vines and fig trees
and shattered the trees of their territory.(AI)
34 He spoke, and locusts came—
young locusts without number.
35 They devoured all the vegetation in their land
and consumed the produce of their land.(AJ)
36 He struck all the firstborn in their land,
all their first progeny.(AK)
37 Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,
and no one among his tribes stumbled.(AL)
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
for the dread of Israel[f] had fallen on them.(AM)
39 He spread a cloud as a covering
and gave a fire to light up the night.(AN)
40 They asked, and he brought quail
and satisfied them with bread from heaven.(AO)
41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a stream in the desert.(AP)
42 For he remembered his holy promise
to Abraham his servant.(AQ)
43 He brought his people out with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy.(AR)
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
and they inherited
what other peoples had worked for.(AS)
45 All this happened
so that they might keep his statutes
and obey his instructions.(AT)
Hallelujah!
Israel’s Demand for a King
8 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.(A) 2 His firstborn son’s name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba.(B) 3 However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest profit, took bribes, and perverted justice.(C)
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah.(D) 5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”(E)
6 When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord. 7 But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king.(F) 8 They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me,[a] since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. 9 Listen to them, but solemnly warn them(G) and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”
10 Samuel told all the Lord’s words to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. 12 He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties,(H) to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. 13 He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants.(I) 15 He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. 16 He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle,[b] and your donkeys and use them for his work. 17 He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves,(J) but the Lord won’t answer you on that day.”(K)
19 The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. 20 Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us,(L) and fight our battles.”
21 Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the Lord. 22 “Listen to them,” the Lord told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.”(M)
Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”
15 And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen’s Sermon
7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,(A) 3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.[a](B)
4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.(C) 5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,(D) even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years. 7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.[b](E) 8 And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised(F) him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.(G)
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.(I) 11 Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,(J) and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,(K) 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,(L) 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(M)
The Dispute over Greatness
24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest.(A) 25 But he said to them,(B) “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called[a] ‘Benefactors.’ 26 It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest,(C) and whoever leads, like the one serving. 27 For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.(D) 28 You are those who stood by me in my trials.(E) 29 I bestow on you a kingdom,(F) just as my Father bestowed one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.(G) And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.(H)
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