Book of Common Prayer
The World Should Praise the Lord
148 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him high above the earth.
2 Praise him, all you angels.
Praise him, all you armies of heaven.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens
and you waters above the sky.
5 Let them praise the Lord
because they were created by his command.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
He made a law that will never end.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth.
Praise him, you large sea animals and all the oceans.
8 Praise him, lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
and stormy winds that obey him.
9 Praise him, mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedar trees.
10 Praise him, you wild animals and all cattle,
small crawling animals and birds.
11 Praise him, you kings of the earth and all nations,
princes and all rulers of the earth.
12 Praise him, you young men and women,
old people and children.
13 Praise the Lord.
He alone is great.
He is greater than heaven and earth.
14 God has given his people a king.
He should be praised by all who belong to him.
He should be praised by the Israelites, the people closest to his heart.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the God of Israel
149 Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to the Lord.
Sing his praise in the meeting of his people.
2 Let the Israelites be happy because of God, their Maker.
Let the people of Jerusalem rejoice because of their King.
3 They should praise him with dancing.
They should praise him with tambourines and harps.
4 The Lord is pleased with his people.
He saves those who are not proud.
5 Let those who worship him rejoice in his glory.
Let them sing for joy even in bed!
6 Let them shout his praise
with their two-edged swords in their hands.
7 They will punish the nations.
They will defeat the people.
8 They will put those kings in chains
and those important men in iron bands.
9 They will punish them as God has written.
God is honored by all who worship him.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord with Music
150 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his Temple.
Praise him in his mighty heaven.
2 Praise him for his strength.
Praise him for his greatness.
3 Praise him with trumpet blasts.
Praise him with harps and lyres.
4 Praise him with tambourines and dancing.
Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes.
5 Praise him with loud cymbals.
Praise him with crashing cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
God Brought Israel from Egypt
114 The Israelites went out of Egypt.
The people of Jacob left that foreign country.
2 Then Judah became God’s holy place.
Israel became the land he ruled.
3 The Red Sea looked and ran away.
The Jordan River turned back.
4 The mountains danced like sheep
and the hills like little lambs.
5 Sea, why did you run away?
Jordan, why did you turn back?
6 Mountains, why did you dance like sheep?
Hills, why did you dance like little lambs?
7 Earth, shake with fear before the Lord.
Tremble in the presence of the God of Jacob.
8 He turned a rock into a pool of water.
He changed a hard rock into a spring of water.
The One True God
115 It does not belong to us, Lord.
The praise belongs to you
because of your love and loyalty.
2 Why do the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven.
He does what he wants.
4 Their idols are made of silver and gold.
They are made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak.
They have eyes, but they cannot see.
6 They have ears, but they cannot hear.
They have noses, but they cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but they cannot feel.
They have feet, but they cannot walk.
And no sounds come from their throats.
8 The people who make idols and trust them
are all like them.
9 Family of Israel, trust the Lord.
He is your helper and your protection.
10 Family of Aaron, trust the Lord.
He is your helper and your protection.
11 You people who fear the Lord should trust him.
He is your helper and your protection.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
He will bless the family of Israel.
He will bless the family of Aaron.
13 The Lord will bless those who fear him,
from the smallest to the greatest.
14 May the Lord give you many children.
And may he give them children also.
15 May the Lord bless you.
He made heaven and earth.
16 Heaven belongs to the Lord.
But he gave the earth to people.
17 Dead people do not praise the Lord.
Those in the grave are silent.
18 But we will praise the Lord
now and forever.
Praise the Lord!
7 The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God’s glory. Moses’ face was so bright with glory that the people of Israel could not continue to look at his face. And that glory later disappeared. 8 So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory. 9 That law judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glory. 10 That old law had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of this new way. 11 If that law which disappeared came with glory, then this new way which continues forever has much greater glory.
12 We have this hope, so we are very brave. 13 We are not like Moses. He put a covering over his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. 14 But their minds were closed. Even today that same covering hides the meaning when they read the old agreement. That covering is taken away only through Christ. 15 But even today, when they read the law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. 16 But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. 17 The Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory. And it comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Jesus Is the Christ
18 One time when Jesus was praying alone, his followers came together there. Jesus asked them, “Who do the people say I am?”
19 They answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah.[a] And others say you are one of the prophets from long ago who has come back to life.”
20 Then Jesus asked, “And who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ from God.”
21 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone. Then he said, 22 “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law. The Son of Man will be killed. But after three days he will be raised from death.”
23 Jesus went on to say to all of them, “If anyone wants to follow me, he must say ‘no’ to the things he wants. Every day he must be willing even to die on a cross, and he must follow me. 24 Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. And whoever gives his life for me will save it. 25 It is worth nothing for a man to have the whole world, if he himself is destroyed or lost. 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my teaching, then I[b] will be ashamed of him. I will be ashamed of him at the time I come with my glory and with the glory of the Father and the holy angels. 27 I tell you the truth. Some of you people standing here will see the kingdom of God before you die.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.