Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105[a]
God’s Fidelity to the Promise
I
1 Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;(A)
make known among the peoples his deeds!(B)
2 Sing praise to him, play music;
proclaim all his wondrous deeds!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek out the Lord and his might;
constantly seek his face.(C)
5 Recall the wondrous deeds he has done,
his wonders and words of judgment,
6 You descendants of Abraham his servant,
offspring of Jacob the chosen one!
II
7 He the Lord, is our God
whose judgments reach through all the earth.
8 He remembers forever his covenant,
the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
9 Which he made with Abraham,
and swore to Isaac,(D)
10 And ratified in a statute for Jacob,
an everlasting covenant for Israel:
11 “To you I give the land of Canaan,
your own allotted inheritance.”(E)
III
12 When they were few in number,(F)
a handful, and strangers there,
13 Wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 He let no one oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:[b]
15 [c]“Do not touch my anointed ones,
to my prophets do no harm.”
IV
16 Then he called down a famine on the land,
destroyed the grain that sustained them.[d](G)
17 He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.(H)
18 They shackled his feet with chains;
collared his neck in iron,(I)
19 Till his prediction came to pass,
and the word of the Lord proved him true.(J)
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.(K)
21 He made him lord over his household,
ruler over all his possessions,(L)
22 To instruct his princes as he desired,
to teach his elders wisdom.
V
23 Then Israel entered Egypt;(M)
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.[e]
24 God greatly increased his people,
made them more numerous than their foes.(N)
25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,
to treat his servants deceitfully.(O)
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.(P)
27 [f]They worked his signs in Egypt(Q)
and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and it grew dark,
but they rebelled against his word.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and killed their fish.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke and there came swarms of flies,
gnats through all their country.
32 For rain he gave them hail,
flashes of lightning throughout their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke and the locusts came,
grasshoppers without number.(R)
35 They devoured every plant in the land;
they devoured the crops of their fields.
36 He struck down every firstborn in the land,
the first fruits of all their vigor.
37 He brought his people out,
laden with silver and gold;(S)
no one among the tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt rejoiced when they left,
for fear had seized them.
VI
39 He spread a cloud out as a cover,
and made a fire to light up the night.(T)
40 They asked and he brought them quail;
with bread from heaven he filled them.(U)
41 He split the rock and water gushed forth;
it flowed through the desert like a river.(V)
42 For he remembered his sacred promise
to Abraham his servant.
43 He brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of triumph.
44 He gave them the lands of the nations,
they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,(W)
45 That they might keep his statutes
and observe his teachings.(X)
Hallelujah!
Chapter 15
Absalom’s Ambition. 1 After this, Absalom provided himself with chariots, horses, and a retinue of fifty.(A) 2 Moreover, Absalom used to rise early and stand alongside the road leading to the gate. If someone had a lawsuit to be decided by the king, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he replied, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe of Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “Your case is good and just, but there is no one to hear you in the king’s name.” 4 And he would continue: “If only I could be appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a lawsuit to be decided might come to me and I would render him justice.” 5 Whenever a man approached him to show homage, he would extend his hand, hold him, and kiss him. 6 By behaving in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king for judgment, Absalom was stealing the heart of Israel.
Conspiracy in Hebron. 7 After a period of four years, Absalom said to the king: “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. 8 For while living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made this vow: ‘If the Lord ever brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship him in Hebron.’”(B) 9 The king said to him, “Go in peace,” and he went off to Hebron. 10 Then Absalom sent agents throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “When you hear the sound of the horn, say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’” 11 Two hundred men had accompanied Absalom from Jerusalem. They had been invited and went in all innocence, knowing nothing. 12 Absalom also sent to Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, an invitation to come from his town, Giloh, for the sacrifices he was about to offer. So the conspiracy gained strength, and the people with Absalom increased in numbers.(C)
David Flees Jerusalem. 13 An informant came to David with the report, “The Israelites have given their hearts to Absalom,(D) and they are following him.” 14 At this, David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem: “Get up, let us flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave at once, or he will quickly overtake us, and then bring disaster upon us, and put the city to the sword.” 15 The king’s servants answered him, “Whatever our lord the king chooses to do, we are your servants.” 16 Then the king set out, accompanied by his entire household, except for ten concubines whom he left behind to care for the palace.(E) 17 As the king left the city, with all his officers accompanying him, they halted opposite the ascent of the Mount of Olives, at a distance, 18 while the whole army marched past him.
David and Ittai. As all the Cherethites and Pelethites, and the six hundred Gittites who had entered his service from that city, were passing in review before the king,(F)
Paul’s Arrest. 27 When the seven days were nearly completed, the Jews from the province of Asia noticed him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and laid hands on him, 28 (A)shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place, and what is more, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this sacred place.”[a] 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 The whole city was in turmoil with people rushing together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the gates were closed. 31 While they were trying to kill him, a report reached the cohort commander[b] that all Jerusalem was rioting. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and charged down on them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul. 33 The cohort commander came forward, arrested him, and ordered him to be secured with two chains; he tried to find out who he might be and what he had done. 34 Some in the mob shouted one thing, others something else; so, since he was unable to ascertain the truth because of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be brought into the compound. 35 When he reached the steps, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, 36 [c](B)for a crowd of people followed and shouted, “Away with him!”
The Third Prediction of the Passion. 32 (A)They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles 34 who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”
Ambition of James and John. 35 (B)Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 He replied, “What do you wish [me] to do for you?” 37 They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” 38 [a](C)Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. 42 [b]Jesus summoned them and said to them,(D) “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. 43 But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; 44 whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Blind Bartimaeus.[c]
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