Book of Common Prayer
106 Praise ye the Lord! O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.
2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise?
3 Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favor which Thou bearest unto Thy people; O visit me with Thy salvation,
5 that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance.
6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
7 Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies, but provoked Thee at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
10 And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left.
12 Then believed they His words; they sang His praise.
13 They soon forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel,
14 but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
15 And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.
16 They also envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
18 And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image.
20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and fearsome things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.
24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not His word,
25 but murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore He lifted up His hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness,
27 to overthrow their seed also among the nations and to scatter them in the lands.
28 They joined themselves also with Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices to the dead.
29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their inventions, and the plague broke in upon them.
30 Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.
32 They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes,
33 because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them;
35 but they mingled among the heathen and learned their works,
36 and they served their idols, which were a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils,
38 and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own schemes.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 And He gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43 Many times did He deliver them, but they provoked Him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry,
45 and He remembered for them His covenant, and repented according to the multitude of His mercies.
46 He made them also to be pitied by all those that carried them captive.
47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name, and to triumph in Thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise ye the Lord!
17 And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpah,
18 and said unto the children of Israel, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all kingdoms and from them that oppressed you.’
19 And ye have this day rejected your God, who Himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations, and ye have said unto Him, ‘Nay, but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
20 And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21 When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken; and when they sought him, he could not be found.
22 Therefore they inquired of the Lord further if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, “Behold, he hath hid himself among the supplies.”
23 And they ran and fetched him thence; and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward.
24 And Samuel said to all the people, “See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?” And all the people shouted and said, “God save the king!”
25 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.
26 And Saul also went home to Gibeah. And there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched.
27 But the children of Belial said, “How shall this man save us?” And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen,
45 which also our fathers, who came later, brought with Joshua into the territory of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David.
46 David found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will ye build Me? saith the Lord. Or what is the place of My rest?
50 Hath not My hand made all these things?’
51 “Ye stiffnecked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost! As your fathers did, so do ye!
52 Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have slain those who foretold the coming of the Just One. Of Him ye have now been the betrayers and murderers,
53 ye who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and 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 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he called upon God and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, charge not this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
8 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests and captains of the temple and the elders, who had come to Him, “Have ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves?
53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against Me; but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
54 Then they took Him and led Him, and brought Him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and had sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him and said, “This man was also with him.”
57 And he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I know Him not.”
58 And after a little while another saw him and said, “Thou art also of them.” And Peter said, “Man, I am not!”
59 And after the space of about an hour, another confidently affirmed, saying, “In truth this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
60 And Peter said, “Man, I know not what thou sayest!” And immediately, while he yet spoke, the cock crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.”
62 And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
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