Book of Common Prayer

³ Who may go up on the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy Temple?
⁴ Only those with clean hands and pure hearts.
    They must not have worshiped idols.
    They must not have made promises in the name of a false god.
⁵ It is they who will receive a blessing from the Lord.
    The God who saves them will declare them right.
⁶ They try to follow God.
    They look to the God of Jacob for help. Selah

⁷ Open up, you gates.
    Open wide, you aged doors.
    Then the glorious king will come in.
⁸ Who is this glorious king?
    The Lord, strong and mighty.
    The Lord, the powerful warrior.
⁹ Open up, you gates.
    Open wide, you aged doors.
    Then the glorious king will come in.
¹⁰ Who is this glorious king?
    The Lord of heaven’s armies—
    he is the glorious king. Selah

³ The Lord’s voice is heard over the sea.
    The glorious God thunders.
    The Lord thunders over the great ocean.
⁴ The Lord’s voice is powerful.
    The Lord’s voice is majestic.
⁵ The Lord’s voice breaks the trees.
    The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes the land of Lebanon dance like a calf.
    He makes Mount Hermon jump like a baby bull.
⁷ The Lord’s voice makes the lightning flash.
⁸ The Lord’s voice shakes the desert.
    The Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The Lord’s voice shakes the oaks.
    The leaves fall off the trees.
In his Temple everyone says, “Glory to God!”

¹⁰ The Lord controls the flood.
    The Lord will be King forever.
¹¹ The Lord gives strength to his people.
    The Lord blesses his people with peace.

³ I look at the heavens,
    which you made with your hands.
I see the moon and stars,
    which you created.
⁴ But why is man important to you?
    Why do you take care of human beings?
⁵ You made man a little lower than the angels.
    And you crowned him with glory and honor.
⁶ You put him in charge of everything you made.
    You put all things under his control:
⁷ all the sheep, the cattle
    and the wild animals,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    the fish in the sea,
    and everything that lives under water.

⁹ Lord our Master,
    your name is the most wonderful name in all the earth!

⁵ Happy are those whose strength comes from you.
    They want to travel to Jerusalem.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
    they make it like a spring.
    The autumn rains fill it with pools of water.
⁷ The people get stronger as they go.
    And everyone meets with God in Jerusalem.

⁸ Lord God of heaven’s armies, hear my prayer.
    God of Jacob, listen to me. Selah
⁹ God, look at our shield.
    Be kind to your appointed king.

¹⁰ One day in the courtyards of your Temple is better
    than a thousand days anywhere else.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the Temple of my God
    than live in the homes of the wicked.
¹¹ The Lord God is like our sun and shield.
    The Lord gives us kindness and glory.
He does not hold back anything good
    from those whose life is innocent.
¹² Lord of heaven’s armies,
    happy are the people who trust you!

¹⁹ “What is the path to light’s home?
    And where does darkness live?
²⁰ Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the way to their homes?
²¹ Surely you know, if you were already born when all this happened!
    Have you lived that many years?

²² “Have you ever gone into the storehouse where snow is kept?
    Or have you seen the storehouses for hail?
²³ I save the snow and hail for times of trouble.
    I save them for days of war and battle.
²⁴ How do you get to the place where light comes from?
    Or where is the place from which the east winds are scattered over the earth?
²⁵ Who cuts a waterway for the heavy rains?
    And who sets a path for the thunderstorm to follow?
²⁶ Who waters the land where no one lives?
    Who waters the desert that has no one in it?
²⁷ Who sends rain to satisfy the empty land
    so the grass begins to grow?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Who is father to the drops of dew?
²⁹ Who is the mother of the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the sky?
³⁰ The waters become hard as stone.
    Even the surface of the deep ocean is frozen.

³¹ “Can you tie up the stars of the Pleiades?
    Can you loosen the ropes of the stars in Orion?
³² Can you bring out the stars at the right times?
    Or can you lead out the stars of the Bear with its cubs?
³³ Do you know the laws of the sky?
    Can you understand their rule over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you shout an order to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
³⁵ Can you send lightning bolts on their way?
    Do the flashes of lightning report to you and say, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who put wisdom inside the mind?
    Or who put understanding in the heart?
³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can pour water from the jars of heaven?
³⁸ Who can do this when the dust becomes hard
    and the clumps of dirt stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt food for the female lion
    to satisfy the hunger of the young lions?
⁴⁰ Do you hunt for them while they lie in their dens
    or hide in the bushes waiting to attack?
⁴¹ Who gives food to the birds
    when their young cry out to God?
    And who gives them food when they wander about without any?

“The great city of Babylon is destroyed!
    She has become a home for demons.
She has become a city for every evil spirit,
    a city for every unclean and hated bird.
³ All the peoples of the earth have drunk
    the strong wine of her sexual immorality.
The kings of the earth have sinned sexually with her,
    and the businessmen of the world have grown rich from the great wealth of her luxury.”

“Come out of that city, my people,
    so that you will not share in her sins.
    Then you will not receive the terrible things that will happen to her.
⁵ The city’s sins are piled up as high as the sky.
    God has not forgotten the wrongs she has done.
⁶ Give that city the same as she gave to others.
    Pay her back twice as much as she did.
Prepare wine for her that is twice as strong
    as the wine she prepared for others.
⁷ She gave herself much glory and rich living.
    Give her that much suffering and sadness.
She says to herself, ‘I am a queen sitting on my throne.
    I am not a widow; I will never be sad.’
⁸ So these terrible things will come to her in one day:
    death, crying, and great hunger.
She will be destroyed by fire,
    because the Lord God who judges her is powerful.”