Book of Common Prayer

Song of Praise and Thanks to God

66 Raise the voice of joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing out the honor of His name! Make His praise great! ³ Say to God, “How Your great works make those who hate You afraid! They will have to obey You because of Your great power. ⁴ All the earth will worship You and sing praises to You. They will sing praises to Your name.”

⁵ Come and see what God has done. There is much fear because of His great works toward the children of men. ⁶ He changed the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we were full of joy in Him. ⁷ He rules forever by His power. His eyes keep watch over the nations. Do not let those who do not obey You honor themselves.

⁸ Give honor and thanks to God, O people, and let all hear how great He is! ⁹ He keeps us alive, and does not let our feet go out from under us. ¹⁰ For You have tested us, O God. You have made us pure like silver is made pure. ¹¹ You brought us into the net. And You laid a heavy load on our back. ¹² You made men travel over our heads. We went through fire and through water. But You brought us out into a place where we have much more than we need. ¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt gifts. I will give You what I promised, ¹⁴ promises made by my lips and spoken by my mouth when I was in trouble. ¹⁵ I will give You burnt gifts of fat animals with the smoke of rams. I will give You bulls with male goats.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for me. ¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue. ¹⁸ The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart. ¹⁹ But it is sure that God has heard. He has listened to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Honor and thanks be to God! He has not turned away from my prayer or held His loving-kindness from me.

God Calls Ezekiel to Speak for Him

2 He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” ² And when He spoke to me, the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. I heard Him speaking to me. ³ He said, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to sinful people who have turned against Me. They and their fathers have sinned against Me to this very day. ⁴ I am sending you to these strong-willed children who show no respect. And you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ ⁵ If they listen or not (for they are sinful people) they will know that a man of God has been among them. ⁶ And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or of what they say, even if thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or lose strength of heart by their looks, for they will not obey Me. ⁷ You must speak My words to them if they listen or not, for they do not obey Me.

Peter Tells Why He Preached to the People Who Are Not Jews

11 The missionaries and followers who were in the country of Judea heard that the people who were not Jews also had received the Word of God. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the Jewish followers argued with him. ³ They said, “Why did you visit those people who are not Jews and eat with them?”

⁴ Then Peter began to tell all that had happened from the beginning to the end. He said, ⁵ “While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I saw in a dream something coming down from heaven. It was like a large linen cloth let down by the four corners until it came to me. ⁶ As I looked at it, I saw four-footed animals and snakes of the earth and birds of the sky. ⁷ I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No, Lord! Nothing that is unclean has ever gone into my mouth.’ ⁹ The voice from heaven said the second time, ‘What God has made clean you must not say is unclean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times and then it was taken up again to heaven.

¹¹ “Three men had already come to the house where I was staying. They had been sent to me from the city of Caesarea. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not doubt about going. These six men also went with me to this man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his own home. The angel had stood in front of him and said, ‘Send men to Joppa to ask for Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will tell you and all your family how you can be saved from the punishment of sin.’

¹⁵ “As I began to talk to them, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as He did on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If God gave to them the same gift He gave to us after we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I stand against God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these words, they said nothing more. They thanked God, saying, “Then God has given life also to the people who are not Jews. They have this new life by being sorry for their sins and turning from them.”

God’s Power over the Earth

97 The Lord rules. Let the earth be full of joy. Let the many islands be glad. ² Clouds and darkness are all around Him. His throne is built upon what is right and fair. ³ Fire goes before Him and burns up those who hate Him on every side. ⁴ His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and shakes. ⁵ The mountains melt like a candle before the Lord, before the Lord of the whole earth. ⁶ The heavens tell about how right and good He is. And all the people see His shining-greatness.

⁷ Let all those who serve false gods be ashamed, those who talk about how great their gods are. Worship Him, all you gods! ⁸ Zion heard this and was glad. The people of Judah have been full of joy because of what You decide, O Lord. ⁹ For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth. You are honored above all gods.

¹⁰ Let those who love the Lord hate what is bad. For He keeps safe the souls of His faithful ones. He takes them away from the hand of the sinful. ¹¹ Light is spread like seed for those who are right and good, and joy for the pure in heart. ¹² Be glad in the Lord, you who are right and good. Give thanks to His holy name.

A Song of Praise

138 I will give You thanks with all my heart. I will sing praises to You in front of the gods. ² I will bow down toward Your holy house. And I will give thanks to Your name for Your loving-kindness and Your truth. For You have honored Your Word because of what Your name is. ³ You answered me on the day I called. You gave me strength in my soul.

⁴ O Lord, all the kings of the earth will give thanks to You when they have heard the words of Your mouth. ⁵ And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For the shining beauty of the Lord is great. ⁶ For even if the Lord is honored, He thinks about those who have no pride. But He knows the proud from far away. ⁷ Even if I walk into trouble, You will keep my life safe. You will put out Your hand against the anger of those who hate me. And Your right hand will save me. ⁸ The Lord will finish the work He started for me. O Lord, Your loving-kindness lasts forever. Do not turn away from the works of Your hands.

The Church Leaders in Jerusalem Say Paul Is a True Missionary

2 Fourteen years later I went again to Jerusalem. This time I took Barnabas. Titus went with us also. ² God showed me in a special way I should go. I spoke to them about the Good News that I preach among the people who are not Jews. First of all, I talked alone to the important church leaders. I wanted them to know what I was preaching. I did not want that which I was doing or would be doing to be wasted.

³ Titus was with me. Even being a Greek, he did not have to go through the religious act of becoming a Jew. ⁴ Some men who called themselves Christians asked about this. They got in our meeting without being asked. They came there to find out how free we are who belong to Christ. They tried to get us to be chained to the Law. ⁵ But we did not listen to them or do what they wanted us to do so the truth of the Good News might be yours.

⁶ Those who seemed to be important church leaders did not help me. They did not teach me anything new. What they were, I do not care. God looks on us all as being the same. ⁷ Anyway, they saw how I had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the people who are not Jews, as Peter had been given the work of preaching the Good News to the Jews. ⁸ For God helped Peter work with the Jews. He also helped me work with those who are not Jews. ⁹ James and Peter and John were thought of as being the head church leaders. They could see that God’s loving-favor had been given to me. Barnabas and I were joined together with them by shaking hands. Then we were sent off to work with the people who are not Jews. They were to work with the Jews.