Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 106

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!^(A)

² Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the Lord? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?

³ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who observe justice [treating others fairly] and who do right and are in right standing with God at all times.

⁴ [Earnestly] remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people! O visit me also when You deliver them, and grant me Your salvation!—

⁵ That I may see and share the welfare of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your heritage.

⁶ We have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.^(B)

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint Your loving-kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the Lord at the sea, even at the Red Sea.^(C)

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake [to prove the righteousness of the divine character], that He might make His mighty power known.

⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths as through a pastureland.^(D)

¹⁰ And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the [Egyptian] enemy.^(E)

¹¹ And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left.^(F)

¹² Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.

¹³ But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,

¹⁴ But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.^(G)

¹⁵ And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death.^(H)

¹⁶ They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron [the high priest], the holy one of the Lord.^(I)

¹⁷ Therefore the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and closed over the company of Abiram.^(J)

¹⁸ And a fire broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.^(K)

¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a molten image.^(L)

²⁰ Thus they exchanged Him Who was their Glory for the image of an ox that eats grass [they traded their Honor for the image of a calf]!

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, Who had done such great things in Egypt,

²² Wonders and miracles in the land of Ham, dreadful and awesome things at the Red Sea.

²³ Therefore He said He would destroy them. [And He would have done so] had not Moses, His chosen one, stepped into the breach before Him to turn away His threatening wrath.^(M)

²⁴ Then they spurned and despised the pleasant and desirable land [Canaan]; they believed not His word [neither trusting in, relying on, nor holding to it];

²⁵ But they murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord.

²⁶ Therefore He lifted up His hand [as if taking an oath] against them, that He would cause them to fall in the wilderness,

²⁷ Cast out their descendants among the nations, and scatter them in the lands [of the earth].

²⁸ They joined themselves also to the [idol] Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices [offered] to the lifeless [gods].

²⁹ Thus they provoked the Lord to anger with their practices, and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰ Then stood up Phinehas [the priest] and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed.^(N)

³¹ And that was credited to him for righteousness (right doing and right standing with God) to all generations forever.

³² They angered the Lord also at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;^(O)

³³ For they provoked [Moses’] spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

³⁴ They did not destroy the [heathen] nations as the Lord commanded them,

³⁵ But mingled themselves with the [idolatrous] nations and learned their ways and works

³⁶ And served their idols, which were a snare to them.

³⁷ Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons^(P)

³⁸ And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with their blood.

³⁹ Thus were they defiled by their own works, and they played the harlot and practiced idolatry with their own deeds [of idolatrous rites].

⁴⁰ Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred and rejected His own heritage.^(Q)

⁴¹ And He gave them into the hands of the [heathen] nations, and they that hated them ruled over them.

⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under the hand of their foes.

⁴³ Many times did [God] deliver them, but they were rebellious in their counsel and sank low through their iniquity.

⁴⁴ Nevertheless He regarded their distress when He heard their cry;

⁴⁵ And He [earnestly] remembered for their sake His covenant and relented their sentence of evil [comforting and easing Himself] according to the abundance of His mercy and loving-kindness [when they cried out to Him].

⁴⁶ He also caused [Israel] to find sympathy among those who had carried them away captive.

⁴⁷ Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in praising You.

⁴⁸ Blessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(R)

⁷ I will recount the loving-kindnesses of the Lord and the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel, which He has granted them according to His mercy and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.

⁸ For He said, Surely they are My people, sons who will not lie [who will not deal falsely with Me]; and so He was to them a Savior [in all their distresses].

⁹ In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the ^[a]Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.^(A)

¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to become their enemy and Himself fought against them.

¹¹ Then His people [seriously] remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people [and they said], Where is He Who brought [our fathers] up out of the [Red] Sea, with [Moses and the other] shepherds of His flock? Where is He Who put His Holy Spirit within their midst,

¹² Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, dividing the waters before them, to make for Himself an everlasting name,

¹³ Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble?

¹⁴ Like the cattle that go down into the valley [to find better pasturage, refuge, and rest], the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest. So did You lead Your people [Lord] to make for Yourself a beautiful and glorious name [to prepare the way for the acknowledgment of Your name by all nations].

1 Paul, an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

² To Timothy, [my] beloved child: Grace (favor and spiritual blessing), mercy, and [heart] peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

³ I thank God Whom I worship with a pure conscience, ^[a]in the spirit of my fathers, when without ceasing I remember you night and day in my prayers,

⁴ And when, as I recall your tears, I yearn to see you so that I may be filled with joy.

⁵ I am calling up memories of your sincere and unqualified faith (the ^[b]leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), [a faith] that first lived permanently in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am [fully] persuaded, [dwells] in you also.

⁶ That is why I would remind you to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [^[c]with those of the elders at your ordination].

⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

⁸ Do not blush or be ashamed then, to testify to and for our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for His sake, but [^[d]with me] take your share of the suffering [to which the preaching] of the Gospel [may expose you, and do it] in the power of God.

⁹ [For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago].

¹⁰ [It is that purpose and grace] which He now has made known and has fully disclosed and made real [to us] through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, Who annulled death and made it of no effect and brought life and immortality (immunity from eternal death) to light through the Gospel.

¹¹ For [the proclaiming of] this [Gospel] I was appointed a herald (preacher) and an apostle (special messenger) and a teacher of the Gentiles.

¹² And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which ^[e]I have committed [to Him] until that day.

¹³ Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in [all] the faith and love which are [for us] in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ Guard and keep [with the greatest care] the precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us.

²⁴ When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it roams through waterless places in search [of a place] of rest (release, refreshment, ease); and finding none it says, I will go back to my house from which I came.

²⁵ And when it arrives, it finds [the place] swept and put in order and furnished and decorated.

²⁶ And it goes and brings other spirits, seven [of them], more evil than itself, and they enter in, settle down, and dwell there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.

²⁷ Now it occurred that as He was saying these things, a certain woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, Blessed (happy and ^[a]to be envied) is the womb that bore You and the breasts that You sucked!

²⁸ But He said, Blessed (happy and ^[b]to be envied) rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it!

²⁹ Now as the crowds were [increasingly] thronging Him, He began to say, This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].^(A)

³⁰ For [just] as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will also the Son of Man be [a sign] to this age and generation.^(B)

³¹ The queen of the South will arise in the judgment with the people of this age and generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the [inhabited] earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and notice, ^[c]here is more than Solomon.^(C)

³² The men of Nineveh will appear as witnesses at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, ^[d]here is more than Jonah.^(D)

³³ No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or crypt or under a bushel measure, but on a lampstand, that those who are coming in may see the light.

³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye (^[e]your conscience) is sound and fulfilling its office, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound and is not fulfilling its office, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵ Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness.

³⁶ If then your entire body is illuminated, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright [with light], as when a lamp with its bright rays gives you light.