Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 105[a]
105 Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on his name.
Make known his accomplishments among the nations.
2 Sing to him.
Make music to him.
Tell about all his miraculous deeds.
3 Boast about his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives.
Seek his presence continually.
5 Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,
his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,[b]
6 O children[c] of Abraham,[d] God’s[e] servant,
you descendants[f] of Jacob, God’s[g] chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
he carries out judgment throughout the earth.[h]
8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,
the promise he made[i] to a thousand generations—
9 the promise[j] he made to Abraham,
the promise he made by oath to Isaac.
10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise,[k]
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number,
just a very few, and resident foreigners within it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
and from one kingdom to another.[l]
14 He let no one oppress them;
he disciplined kings for their sake,
15 saying,[m] “Don’t touch my chosen ones.[n]
Don’t harm my prophets.”
16 He called down a famine upon the earth;
he cut off all the food supply.[o]
17 He sent a man ahead of them[p]—
Joseph was sold as a servant.
18 The shackles hurt his feet;[q]
his neck was placed in an iron collar,[r]
19 until the time when his prediction[s] came true.
The Lord’s word[t] proved him right.[u]
20 The king authorized his release;[v]
the ruler of nations set him free.
21 He put him in charge of his palace,[w]
and made him manager of all his property,
22 giving him authority to imprison his officials[x]
and to teach his advisers.[y]
23 Israel moved to[z] Egypt;
Jacob lived for a time[aa] in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord[ab] made his people very fruitful,
and made them[ac] more numerous than their[ad] enemies.
25 He caused the Egyptians[ae] to hate his people,
and to mistreat[af] his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They executed his miraculous signs among them,[ag]
and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.
28 He made it dark;[ah]
Moses and Aaron did not disobey his orders.[ai]
29 He turned the Egyptians’ water into blood,
and killed their fish.
30 Their land was overrun by frogs,
which even got into the rooms of their kings.
31 He ordered flies to come;[aj]
gnats invaded their whole territory.
32 He sent hail along with the rain;[ak]
there was lightning in their land.[al]
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,
and broke the trees throughout their territory.
34 He ordered locusts to come,[am]
innumerable grasshoppers.
35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,
and devoured the crops of their fields.[an]
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power.[ao]
37 He brought his people[ap] out enriched[aq] with silver and gold;
none of his tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy when they left,
for they were afraid of them.[ar]
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,[as]
and provided a fire to light up the night.
40 They asked for food,[at] and he sent quail;
he satisfied them with food from the sky.[au]
41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;
a river ran through dry regions.
42 Yes,[av] he remembered the sacred promise[aw]
he made to Abraham his servant.
43 When he led his people out, they rejoiced;
his chosen ones shouted with joy.[ax]
44 He handed the territory of nations over to them,
and they took possession of what other peoples had produced,[ay]
45 so that they might keep his commands
and obey[az] his laws.
Praise the Lord.
Samson’s Unconsummated Marriage
14 Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye.[a] 2 When he got home,[b] he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye.[c] Now get her for my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our[d] people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.”[e] But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me,[f] because she is the right one for me.”[g] 4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing,[h] because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines[i] (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel).
5 Samson[j] went down to Timnah. When he approached[k] the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him.[l] 6 The Lord’s Spirit empowered[m] him, and he tore the lion[n] in two with his bare hands[o] as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
7 Samson continued on down to Timnah[p] and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one.[q] 8 Some time later, when he went back to marry[r] her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw[s] a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey. 9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned[t] to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass.[u]
10 Then Samson’s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage.[v] Samson hosted a party[w] there, for this was customary for bridegrooms[x] to do. 11 When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company.[y] 12 Samson said to them, “I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts,[z] I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets[aa] of clothes. 13 But if you cannot solve it,[ab] you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Let us hear your riddle.”[ac] 14 He said to them,
“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;
out of the strong one came something sweet.”
They could not solve the riddle for three days.
15 On the fourth[ad] day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle.[ae] If you refuse,[af] we will burn up[ag] you and your father’s family.[ah] Did you invite us here[ai] to make us poor?”[aj] 16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder[ak] and said, “You must[al] hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men[am] a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?”[an] 17 She cried on his shoulder[ao] until the party was almost over.[ap] Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much.[aq] Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.[ar] 18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,[as]
you would not have solved my riddle!”
19 The Lord’s Spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men. He took their clothes[at] and gave them[au] to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home.[av]
15 All[a] who were sitting in the council[b] looked intently at Stephen[c] and saw his face was like the face of an angel.[d]
Stephen’s Defense Before the Council
7 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?”[e] 2 So he replied,[f] “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather[g] Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’[h] 4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God[i] made him move[j] to this country where you now live. 5 He[k] did not give any of it to him for an inheritance,[l] not even a foot of ground,[m] yet God[n] promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him,[o] even though Abraham[p] as yet had no child. 6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your[q] descendants will be foreigners[r] in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for 400 years.[s] 7 But I will punish[t] the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there[u] and worship[v] me in this place.’[w] 8 Then God[x] gave Abraham[y] the covenant[z] of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old,[aa] and Isaac became the father of[ab] Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.[ac] 9 The[ad] patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold[ae] him into Egypt. But[af] God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made[ag] him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Then a famine occurred throughout[ah] Egypt and Canaan, causing[ai] great suffering, and our[aj] ancestors[ak] could not find food. 12 So when Jacob heard that there was grain[al] in Egypt, he sent our ancestors[am] there[an] the first time. 13 On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family[ao] became known to Pharaoh. 14 So Joseph sent a message[ap] and invited[aq] his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people[ar] in all. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there,[as] along with our ancestors,[at] 16 and their bones[au] were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money[av] from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
The Disciples Return
27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back.[a] They were shocked[b] because he was speaking[c] with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?”[d] or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people,[e] 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah,[f] can he?”[g] 30 So[h] they left the town and began coming[i] to him.
Workers for the Harvest
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him,[j] “Rabbi, eat something.”[k] 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 So the disciples began to say[l] to one another, “No one brought him anything[m] to eat, did they?”[n] 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me[o] and to complete[p] his work.[q] 35 Don’t you say,[r] ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up[s] and see that the fields are already white[t] for harvest! 36 The one who reaps receives pay[u] and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 37 For in this instance the saying is true,[v] ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
The Samaritans Respond
39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified,[w] “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking[x] him to stay with them.[y] He stayed there two days, 41 and because of his word many more[z] believed. 42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one[aa] really is the Savior of the world.”[ab]
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