Transportation of the Ark of the Covenant Containing the Tablets of the Law, 1816, Luigi Ademollo, Fresco at the Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are online here. The group disbanded but the readings below follow the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in Episcopal worship.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for November 1 - All Saints Sunday -Track 1: Joshua 3:7-17; Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 Track 2: Micah 3:5-12; Psalm 43 for both: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 and Matthew 23:1-12. The text is from Bible Study Tools -- New International Version. The Psalms are from the most recent print version of The Book of Common Prayer - 2016.

Track 1

Joshua 3:7-17

⁷ And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. ⁸ Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ” ⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. ¹⁰ This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. ¹¹ See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. ¹² Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³ And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, *
    and his mercy endures for ever.

² Let all those whom the LORD has redeemed proclaim *
    that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

³ He gathered them out of the lands; *
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes; *
    they found no way to a city where they might dwell.

⁵ They were hungry and thirsty; *
    their spirits languished within them.

⁶ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, *
    and he delivered them from their distress.

⁷ He put their feet on a straight path *
    to go to a city where they might dwell.

³³ The LORD changed rivers into deserts, *
    and water-springs into thirsty ground,

³⁴ A fruitful land into salt flats, *
    because of the wickedness of those who dwell there.

³⁵ He changed deserts into pools of water *
    and dry land into water-springs.

³⁶ He settled the hungry there, *
    and they founded a city to dwell in.

³⁷ They sowed fields, and planted vineyards, *
    and brought in a fruitful harvest.

Track 2

Micah 3:5-12

⁵ This is what the LORD says:
     “As for the prophets who lead my people astray,

they proclaim ‘peace’ if they have something to eat,
     but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.

⁶ Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
     and darkness, without divination.

The sun will set for the prophets,
     and the day will go dark for them.

⁷ The seers will be ashamed
     and the diviners disgraced.

They will all cover their faces
     because there is no answer from God.”

⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power,
     with the Spirit of the LORD,
     and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression,
     to Israel his sin.

⁹ Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
     you rulers of Israel,

who despise justice
     and distort all that is right;

¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed,
     and Jerusalem with wickedness.

¹¹ Her leaders judge for a bribe,
     her priests teach for a price,
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.

Yet they look for the LORD’s support and say,
     “Is not the LORD among us?
     No disaster will come upon us.”

¹² Therefore because of you,
     Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
     the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.

Psalm 43

¹ Give judgment for me, O God,
    and defend my cause against an ungodly people; *
    deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.

² For you are the God of my strength;
    why have you put me from you? *
    and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?

³ Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, *
    and bring me to your holy hill
    and to your dwelling;

⁴ That I may go to the altar of God,
    to the God of my joy and gladness; *
    and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.

⁵ Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
    and why are you so disquieted within me?

⁶ Put your trust in God; *
    for I will yet give thanks to him,
    who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

for both

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

⁹ Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ¹¹ For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹² encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

¹³ And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

Matthew 23:1-12

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. ⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools and the Online Book of Common Prayer for the text.