Book of Common Prayer
The Great King[a]
24 (A)The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord;
the earth and all who live on it are his.
2 He built it on the deep waters beneath the earth
and laid its foundations in the ocean depths.
3 Who has the right to go up the Lord's hill?[b]
Who may enter his holy Temple?
4 (B)Those who are pure in act and in thought,
who do not worship idols
or make false promises.
5 The Lord will bless them and save them;
God will declare them innocent.
6 Such are the people who come to God,
who come into the presence of the God of Jacob.
7 Fling wide the gates,
open the ancient doors,
and the great king will come in.
8 Who is this great king?
He is the Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, victorious in battle.
9 Fling wide the gates,
open the ancient doors,
and the great king will come in.
10 Who is this great king?
The triumphant Lord—he is the great king!
The Voice of the Lord in the Storm[a]
29 (A)Praise the Lord, you heavenly beings;
praise his glory and power.
2 Praise the Lord's glorious name;
bow down before the Holy One when he appears.[b]
3 The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas;
the glorious God thunders,
and his voice echoes over the ocean.
4 The voice of the Lord is heard
in all its might and majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
even the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes the mountains of Lebanon jump like calves
and makes Mount Hermon leap like a young bull.
7 The voice of the Lord makes the lightning flash.
8 His voice makes the desert shake;
he shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9 The Lord's voice shakes the oaks[c]
and strips the leaves from the trees
while everyone in his Temple shouts, “Glory to God!”
10 The Lord rules over the deep waters;
he rules as king forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people
and blesses them with peace.
God's Glory and Human Dignity[a]
8 O Lord, our Lord,
your greatness is seen in all the world!
Your praise reaches up to the heavens;
2 (A)it is sung by children and babies.
You are safe and secure from all your enemies;
you stop anyone who opposes you.
3 When I look at the sky, which you have made,
at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—
4 (B)what are human beings, that you think of them;
mere mortals, that you care for them?
5 (C)Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;[b]
you crowned them with glory and honor.
6 (D)You appointed them rulers over everything you made;
you placed them over all creation:
7 sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;
8 the birds and the fish
and the creatures in the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
your greatness is seen in all the world!
Longing for God's House[a]
84 How I love your Temple, Lord Almighty!
2 How I want to be there!
I long to be in the Lord's Temple.
With my whole being I sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrows have built a nest,
and the swallows have their own home;
they keep their young near your altars,
Lord Almighty, my king and my God.
4 How happy are those who live in your Temple,
always singing praise to you.
5 How happy are those whose strength comes from you,
who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
6 As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,
it becomes a place of springs;
the autumn rain fills it with pools.
7 They grow stronger as they go;
they will see the God of gods on Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty.
Listen, O God of Jacob!
9 Bless our king, O God,
the king you have chosen.
10 One day spent in your Temple
is better than a thousand anywhere else;
I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God
than live in the homes of the wicked.
11 The Lord is our protector and glorious king,
blessing us with kindness and honor.
He does not refuse any good thing
to those who do what is right.
12 Lord Almighty, how happy are those who trust in you!
22 because Wisdom, who gave shape to everything that exists, was my teacher.
The Nature of Wisdom
The spirit of Wisdom is intelligent and holy. It is of one nature but reveals itself in many ways. It is not made of any material substance, and it moves about freely. It is clear, clean, and confident; it cannot be harmed.[a] It loves what is good. It is sharp and unconquerable, 23 kind, and a friend of humanity. It is dependable and sure, and has no worries. It has power over everything, and sees everything. It penetrates every spirit that is intelligent and pure, no matter how delicate its substance may be.
24 Wisdom moves more easily than motion itself; she is so pure that she penetrates everything. 25 She is a breath of God's power—a pure and radiant stream of glory from the Almighty. Nothing that is defiled can ever steal its way into Wisdom. 26 She is a reflection of eternal light, a perfect mirror of God's activity and goodness. 27 Even though Wisdom acts alone, she can do anything. She makes everything new, although she herself never changes. From generation to generation she enters the souls of holy people, and makes them God's friends and prophets. 28 There is nothing that God loves more than people who are at home with Wisdom. 29 Wisdom is more beautiful than the sun and all the constellations. She is better than light itself, 30 because night always follows day, but evil never overcomes Wisdom.
8 Her great power reaches into every part of the world, and she sets everything in useful order.
You Are Chosen for Salvation
13 We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first[a] to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth. 14 God called you to this through the Good News we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, our friends, stand firm and hold on to those truths which we taught you, both in our preaching and in our letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, 17 encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.
Ask, Seek, Knock(A)
7 (B)“Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock. 9 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? 10 Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? 11 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 (C)“Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets.
The Narrow Gate(D)
13 (E)“Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. 14 But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.