Book of Common Prayer
The Majesty of God
93 The Lord is king. He is clothed with majesty.
The Lord is clothed in majesty
and armed with strength.
The world is set,
and it cannot be moved.
2 Lord, your kingdom was set up long ago.
You are everlasting.
3 Lord, the seas rise up.
The seas raise their voice.
The seas lift up their pounding waves.
4 The sound of the water is loud.
The ocean waves are powerful.
But the Lord above is much greater.
5 Lord, your laws will stand forever.
Your Temple will be holy forevermore.
Praise for God’s Glory
96 Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord and praise his name.
Every day tell how he saves us.
3 Tell the nations of his glory.
Tell all peoples the miracles he does.
4 The Lord is great; he should be praised.
He should be honored more than all the gods.
5 All the gods of the nations are only idols.
But the Lord made the skies.
6 The Lord has glory and majesty.
He has power and beauty in his Temple.
7 Praise the Lord, all nations on earth.
Praise the Lord’s glory and power.
8 Praise the glory of the Lord’s name.
Bring an offering and come into his Temple courtyards.
9 Worship the Lord because he is holy.
The whole earth should tremble before the Lord.
10 Tell the nations, “The Lord is king.”
The earth is set, and it cannot be moved.
He will judge the people fairly.
11 Let the skies rejoice and the earth be glad.
Let the sea and everything in it shout.
12 Let the fields and everything in them show their joy.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.
13 They will sing before the Lord because he is coming.
He is coming to judge the world.
He will judge the world with fairness
and the nations with truth.
Praise God Who Judges and Saves
David’s song from the time he acted crazy so Abimelech would send him away. And David did leave.
34 I will praise the Lord at all times.
His praise is always on my lips.
2 My whole being praises the Lord.
The poor will hear and be glad.
3 Tell the greatness of the Lord with me.
Let us praise his name together.
4 I asked the Lord for help, and he answered me.
He saved me from all that I feared.
5 Those who go to him for help are happy.
They are never disgraced.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him.
The Lord saved him from all his troubles.
7 The Lord saves those who fear him.
His angel camps around them.
8 Examine and see how good the Lord is.
Happy is the person who trusts the Lord.
9 People who belong to the Lord, fear him!
Those who fear him will have everything they need.
10 Even lions may become weak and hungry.
But those people who go to the Lord for help will have every good thing.
11 Children, come and listen to me.
I will teach you to worship the Lord.
12 You must do these things
to enjoy life and have many happy days.
13 You must not say evil things.
You must not tell lies.
14 Stop doing evil and do good.
Look for peace and work for it.
15 The Lord sees the good people.
He listens to their prayers.
16 But the Lord is against those who do evil.
He makes the world forget them.
17 The Lord hears good people when they cry out to him.
He saves them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
19 People who do what is right may have many problems.
But the Lord will solve them all.
20 He will protect their very bones.
Not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked people.
Those who hate good people will be judged guilty.
22 But the Lord saves his servants’ lives.
No one who trusts him will be judged guilty.
Joseph Sets a Trap
44 Then Joseph gave a command to the servant in charge of his house. Joseph said, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much grain as they can carry. And put each man’s money into his sack with the grain. 2 Put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest brother. Also put his money for the grain in that sack.” The servant did what Joseph told him.
3 At dawn the brothers were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They were not far from the city when Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, “Go after the men. When you catch up with them, say, ‘Why have you paid back evil for good? 5 The cup you have stolen is the one my master uses for drinking. And he uses it for explaining dreams. You have done a very wicked thing!’”
6 So the servant caught up with the brothers. He said to them what Joseph had told him to say.
7 But the brothers said to the servant, “Why do you say these things? We would not do anything like that! 8 We brought back to you the money we found in our sacks. We brought it back from the land of Canaan. So surely we would not steal silver or gold from your master’s house. 9 If you find that silver cup in the sack of one of us, then let him die. And we will be your slaves.”
10 The servant said, “We will do as you say. But only the man who has taken the cup will become my slave. The rest of you may go free.”
11 Then every brother quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 The servant searched the sacks, going from the oldest brother to the youngest. He found the cup in Benjamin’s sack. 13 The brothers tore their clothes to show they were sad. Then they put their sacks back on the donkeys. And they returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. The brothers bowed facedown on the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What have you done? Didn’t you know that a man like me can learn things by signs and dreams?”
16 Judah said, “Sir, what can we say? And how can we show we are not guilty? God has uncovered our guilt. So all of us will be your slaves, not just Benjamin.”
17 But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safely to your father.”
Life in the Spirit
8 So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged[a] guilty. 2 I am not judged guilty because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free. It made me free from the law that brings sin and death. 3 The law was without power, because the law was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that others use for sin. He sent his Son to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin. 4 He did this so that we could be right as the law said we must be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit.
5 Those who live following their sinful selves think only about things that their sinful selves want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about the things that the Spirit wants them to do. 6 If a person’s thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then there is death. But if his thinking is controlled by the Spirit, then there is life and peace. 7 This is true because if a person’s thinking is controlled by his sinful self, then he is against God. He refuses to obey God’s law. And really he is not able to obey God’s law. 8 Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.
9 But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, then he does not belong to Christ. 10 Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God.
25 I tell you the truth. The time is coming and is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear will have life. 26 Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has allowed the Son to give life. 27 And the Father has given the Son the approval to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29 Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.