Book of Common Prayer
This is a song that David wrote to praise God.
An alphabet of praise[a]
145 Always I will praise you, my God and my king,
and I will say how great you are!
2 Because you are good, I will praise you every day.
Yes, I will always praise your name.
3 Clearly the Lord is great!
He is so great that we cannot understand it.
4 Down from father to son, people will praise you.
They will tell each other about the powerful things that you have done.
5 Everyone will speak about your glory and authority.
I also will think carefully about your great miracles.
6 Famous are the powerful things that you have done.
People will talk about them.
I also will speak about the great things that you do.
7 Good things are what everybody will remember about you.
They will sing about your justice.
8 How very kind the Lord is!
He is very patient and his faithful love continues.
9 It is the Lord who takes care of everybody.
He is kind to everything that he has made.
10 Join together to thank the Lord!
Everything that he has made will praise him.
Your own people will praise you, Lord!
11 King is who you are and your kingdom is great!
People will speak about your royal authority.
12 Let everyone agree that you do great things!
Let them say that you rule with great authority.
13 Many years your kingdom will remain, even for ever.
You will always rule your people and their descendants.
Nothing that the Lord promises is false.
He is kind in everything that he does.[b]
14 Often people fall, but the Lord lifts them up.
He helps everyone who has trouble.
15 People look to you for help.
You give them food when they need it.
16 Ready to help, you open your hand.
You give to every living thing the good things that they want.
17 So the Lord is fair in all that he does.
He always shows how much he loves us.
18 The Lord is ready to help everyone who asks him.
He is near to everyone who prays honestly.
19 Very kindly he gives his own people the things that they need.
He saves them when they call to him for help.
20 Whoever loves the Lord, he keeps safe.
But he destroys wicked people.
21 Yes, I will praise the Lord!
Everyone who lives should praise his holy name for ever!
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
The Israelites cross the Red Sea
17 When Pharaoh let the people go away, God did not lead them through the country of the Philistines. This was a short way for them to go, but God did not lead them that way. God said, ‘If the people have to fight a war, they may change their minds. Then they may return to Egypt.’ 18 So God led the people round by the desert road. They went towards the Red Sea. When the Israelites came out of the country of Egypt, they were ready to fight.
19 Moses took Joseph's bones with him. Joseph had made the Israelites promise to do this. He had said, ‘One day, God will come and he will save you. Then you must carry my bones with you when you leave this place.’[a]
20 The Israelites travelled from Succoth and they arrived at Etham. They put up their tents there, on the edge of the desert. 21 As they travelled, the Lord was leading them. During the day, he was there as a pillar of cloud that went in front of them. During the night, he went as a pillar of fire. This gave them light, so they could travel during the day or the night. 22 The cloud did not leave the people during the day. Nor did the fire leave them during the night. It was always in front of them.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must turn round. They must go and stay near Pi-Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You must put up your tents beside the sea, across from Baal Zephon. 3 Then Pharaoh will think, “The Israelites are confused. They do not know where they are going. The desert has stopped them.” 4 Then I will cause Pharaoh's mind to become hard again. He will go to catch the Israelites. I will show how great I am when I win against Pharaoh and his whole army. Because of this, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’
The Israelites did what God said.
16 That is why we are not afraid to continue our work. Yes, our bodies are getting older and weaker. But our spirits are becoming stronger every day! 17 We have these little troubles that continue for a short time. But as a result, we will receive the great things that God has prepared for us. Those great things are much more important than our little troubles. And God's great things will continue for ever! 18 So we do not look at the things that we can see in this world. Instead, we look at the things that people cannot see. The things that we can see are only here for a short time. But the things that we cannot see will continue for ever.
God has prepared a new body for us
5 Our bodies are like a tent that we live in here on earth. One day, that home will come to an end. But we know that God will give us a new home. It is not a house that a human builder has built. God has built it for us in heaven and we will live there for ever. 2 Now, while we are in our body here on earth, we cry inside ourselves. We want to go and live in our house that is in heaven. 3 That will be like new clothes that we put on. When we go to live there, we will not be without clothes and ashamed.
4 While we still live in our bodies here on earth, we cry inside ourselves. Many difficult things happen to us. We do not really want to take off our old body. But we do want to put on our new body, like new clothes. When that happens, we will no longer need our old body which had to die. Instead we will have a new body that will live for ever. 5 God is the one who has prepared us to have a new life in heaven one day. He has given his Spirit to be with us now. Because of that, we know that we will receive all God's good things one day.
6 Because God's Spirit is with us, we continue to be brave. While we still live here on earth, we know that we are not yet at home with the Lord. 7 As we live here, we have to trust God. We do not yet see the things that belong to heaven. 8 We are brave because we trust God. We would like to go away from our body here on earth. Then we would go to be at home with the Lord. And that would be better! 9 But all the time we want to please the Lord. We want to do that while we are still at home in our body here on earth. We also want to please him when we go away from these bodies. 10 Because all of us must go and stand in front of Christ as our judge. He will decide about the things that we have done during our lives here on earth. Whether we have done good things or bad things, we will receive what is right for us.
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question
18 Also, some Sadducees came to Jesus. Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die.[a] They wanted to ask Jesus a question.
19 ‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses wrote these things for us in the Bible: If a man dies without children, his brother must marry the man's wife. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died. 20 But once there were seven brothers. The oldest brother married a woman. But he died before they had any children. 21 So the second brother married her. He also died without children. Then the third brother married this woman. 22 And the same thing happened to all seven brothers. They all died but they had no children. After all this, the woman also died. 23 You teach that at some time dead people will become alive again. On that day, whose wife will that woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’
24 Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘You are very wrong. This is because you do not know the Bible. And you do not know how powerful God is. 25 All people who have died will become alive again one day. But then men and women will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 But God does make dead people alive again! You have read what Moses wrote about the bush in the wilderness. There, God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”[b] 27 God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive. So you see, you are very wrong.’
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