Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights!
2 Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts!
3 Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars of light!
4 Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.
6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps!
8 You lightning, hail, fog, and frost, you stormy wind fulfilling His orders!
9 Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers and judges of the earth!
12 Both young men and maidens, old men and children!
13 Let them praise and exalt the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted and supreme! His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven!
14 He has lifted up a horn for His people [giving them power, prosperity, dignity, and preeminence], a song of praise for all His godly ones, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(A)
Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, praise Him in the assembly of His saints!
2 Let Israel rejoice in Him, their Maker; let Zion’s children triumph and be joyful in their King!(B)
3 Let them praise His name in chorus and choir and with the [single or group] dance; let them sing praises to Him with the tambourine and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory.
5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands,(C)
7 To wreak vengeance upon the nations and chastisement upon the peoples,
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 To execute upon them the judgment written. He [the Lord] is the honor of all His saints. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!(D)
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!
5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 114
1 When Israel came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became [God’s] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.(A)
3 The [Red] Sea looked and fled; the Jordan [River] was turned back.(B)
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O [Red] Sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 You mountains, that you skip like rams, and you little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.(C)
Psalm 115
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say, Where is now their God?
3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
4 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
6 They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not;
7 They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither can they make a sound with their throats.
8 They who make idols are like them; so are all who trust in and lean on them.(D)
9 O Israel, trust and take refuge in the Lord! [Lean on, rely on, and be confident in Him!] He is their Help and their Shield.
10 O house of Aaron [the priesthood], trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.
11 You who [reverently] fear the Lord, trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.
12 The Lord has been mindful of us, He will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron [the priesthood],
13 He will bless those who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, both small and great.(E)
14 May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.
15 May you be blessed of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth has He given to the children of men.
17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord from this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
7 And the Lord said to Noah, Come with all your household into the ark, for I have seen you to be righteous (upright and in right standing) before Me in this generation.(A)
2 Of every clean beast you shall receive and take with you seven pairs, the male and his mate, and of beasts that are not clean a pair of each kind, the male and his mate,(B)
3 Also of the birds of the air seven pairs, the male and the female, to keep seed [their kind] alive over all the earth or land.
4 For in seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance and thing that I have made I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away from the face of the earth.
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.(C)
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth or land.
7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.(D)
8 Of [a]clean animals and of animals that are not clean, and of birds and fowls, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
9 There went in two and two with Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth or land.
17 The flood [that is, the downpour of rain] was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased and bore up the ark, and it was lifted [high] above the land.
18 And the waters became mighty and increased greatly upon the land, and the ark went [gently floating] upon the surface of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed so exceedingly and were so mighty upon the earth that all the high hills under the whole sky were covered.
20 [In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher, as the high hills were covered.
21 And all flesh ceased to breathe that moved upon the earth—fowls and birds, [tame] animals, [wild] beasts, all swarming and creeping things that swarm and creep upon the land, and all mankind.
22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils were the breath and spirit of life died.
23 God destroyed (blotted out) every living thing that was upon the face of the earth; man and animals and the creeping things and the birds of the heavens were destroyed (blotted out) from the land. Only Noah remained alive, and those who were with him in the ark.(A)
4 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God’s service,
2 Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.
3 Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.
4 [There is] one body and one Spirit—just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received—
5 [There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all.
7 Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift.
8 Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of [a]vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men.(A)
9 [But He ascended?] Now what can this, He ascended, mean but that He had previously descended from [the heights of] heaven into [the depths], the lower parts of the earth?
10 He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).
11 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),
13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [[b]full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
14 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of [c]unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
15 Rather, let our lives lovingly [d]express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
16 For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.
7 And Jesus retired with His disciples to the lake, and a great throng from Galilee followed Him. Also from Judea
8 And from Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon—a vast multitude, hearing all the many things that He was doing, came to Him.
9 And He told His disciples to have a little boat in [constant] readiness for Him because of the crowd, lest they press hard upon Him and crush Him.
10 For He had healed so many that all who had distressing bodily diseases kept falling upon Him and pressing upon Him in order that they might touch Him.
11 And the spirits, the unclean ones, [a]as often as they might see Him, fell down before Him and kept screaming out, You are the Son of God!
12 And He charged them strictly and severely under penalty again and again that they should not make Him known.
13 And He went up on the hillside and called to Him [[b]for Himself] those whom He wanted and chose, and they came to Him.
14 And He appointed twelve to [c]continue to be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach [as apostles or special messengers]
15 And to have authority and power to heal the sick and to drive out demons:
16 [They were] Simon, and He surnamed [him] Peter;
17 James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, and He surnamed them Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder;
18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew (Nathaniel), and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus (Judas, not Iscariot), and Simon the Cananaean [also called Zelotes],
19 And Judas Iscariot, he who betrayed Him.
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