Book of Common Prayer
Praise to the Loving God
113 Hallelujah!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord!
2 May the name of the Lord be blessed
from now to eternity.
3 From rising[a] to setting[b] sun,
may the name of the Lord be praised.
4 The Lord is exalted high above all the nations;
his glory beyond the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
enthroned on high,
6 yet stooping low to observe
the sky and the earth?
7 He lifts the poor person from the dust,
raising the needy from the trash pile
8 and giving him a seat among nobles—
with the nobles of his people.
9 He makes the barren woman among her household
a happy mother of joyful children.
Hallelujah!
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Up to Jerusalem
122 I rejoiced when they kept on asking me,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Our feet are standing
inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem stands built up,
a city knitted together.
4 To it the tribes ascend—
the tribes of the Lord—
as decreed to Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For thrones are established there for judgment,
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for peace for Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be at peace![a]
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
and[b] prosperity[c] within your fortresses.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will now say, “May there be peace within you.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I will seek your welfare.
20 By the time of the next year’s sacrifice,[a] Hannah had become pregnant and had borne a son. She named him Samuel[b] because she said,[c] “I asked the Lord for him.”
Hannah Dedicates Samuel to the Lord
21 Then Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and pay his vow. 22 Hannah did not go up because she had told her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I’ll take him to appear in the Lord’s presence and remain there[d] forever.”[e]
23 “Do what you want,”[f] Elkanah told her. “Stay until you have weaned him, only may the Lord bring about what you’ve said.”[g] So Hannah[h] stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. 24 Then, when she had weaned him, she brought him[i] up with her to Shiloh,[j] along with a three-year-old bull,[k] an ephah[l] of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and the boy[m] was young.[n] 25 They slaughtered the bull and brought the boy[o] to Eli.
26 Hannah[p] said, “Sir,[q] as surely as you are alive, I’m the woman who stood before you here praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this boy, and the Lord granted me the request I asked of him. 28 Now[r] I’m dedicating[s] him to the Lord, and as long as he lives,[t] he will be dedicated[u] to the Lord.” Then they worshipped[v] the Lord there.
14 For all who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba![a] Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah[b]—if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
God’s Spirit Helps Us
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. 19 For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God’s children, 20 because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did.[c] The one who subjected it did so in the certainty[d] 21 that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God’s children.
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