Book of Common Prayer
A Song of God’s Majesty and Love
(A)A Praise of David.
145 I will [a]extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 (B)Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And (C)His greatness is [b]unsearchable.
4 (D)One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 [c]I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And [d]on Your wondrous works.
6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall [e]utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.
8 (E)The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 (F)The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
10 (G)All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 (H)Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all [f]generations.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
And (I)raises up all who are bowed down.
15 (J)The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And (K)You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
(L)And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
18 (M)The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him (N)in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 (O)The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.
Praise to the Sovereign Lord for His Creation and Providence(A)
104 Bless (B)the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.
3 (C)He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters,
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 Who makes His angels spirits,
His [a]ministers a flame of fire.
5 You who [b]laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever,
6 You (D)covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke they fled;
At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 [c]They went up over the mountains;
They went down into the valleys,
To the place which You founded for them.
9 You have (E)set a boundary that they may not pass over,
(F)That they may not return to cover the earth.
10 He sends the springs into the valleys;
They flow among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
They sing among the branches.
13 (G)He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with (H)the fruit of Your works.
14 (I)He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth (J)food from the earth,
15 And (K)wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
17 Where the birds make their nests;
The stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high hills are for the wild goats;
The cliffs are a refuge for the (L)rock[d] badgers.
19 (M)He appointed the moon for seasons;
The (N)sun knows its going down.
20 (O)You make darkness, and it is night,
In which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 (P)The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they gather together
And lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to (Q)his work
And to his labor until the evening.
24 (R)O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
The earth is full of Your (S)possessions—
25 This great and wide sea,
In which are innumerable teeming things,
Living things both small and great.
26 There the ships sail about;
There is that (T)Leviathan[e]
Which You have [f]made to play there.
27 (U)These all wait for You,
That You may give them their food in due season.
28 What You give them they gather in;
You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
29 You hide Your face, they are troubled;
(V)You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 (W)You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
May the Lord (X)rejoice in His works.
32 He looks on the earth, and it (Y)trembles;
(Z)He touches the hills, and they smoke.
33 (AA)I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 May my (AB)meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
35 May (AC)sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
[g]Praise the Lord!
Praise to God
25 O Lord, You are my God.
(A)I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
(B)For You have done wonderful things;
(C)Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made (D)a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will (E)glorify You;
The city of the [a]terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
(F)A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be [b]diminished.
6 And in (G)this mountain
(H)The Lord of hosts will make for (I)all people
A feast of [c]choice pieces,
A feast of [d]wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And (J)the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will (K)swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will (L)wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
The Name of Jesus Forbidden
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, (A)and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed (B)standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, (C)“What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a [a]notable miracle has been done through them is (D)evident[b] to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
18 (E)So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, (F)“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 (G)For we cannot but speak the things which (H)we have seen and heard.” 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, (I)because of the people, since they all (J)glorified God for (K)what had been done. 22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.
Prayer for Boldness(L)
23 And being let go, (M)they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, (N)You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who [c]by the mouth of Your servant David have said:
(O)‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
27 “For (P)truly against (Q)Your holy Servant Jesus, (R)whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 (S)to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants (T)that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, (U)and that signs and wonders may be done (V)through the name of (W)Your holy Servant Jesus.”
31 And when they had prayed, (X)the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, (Y)and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Sorrow Will Turn to Joy
16 “A (A)little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, (B)because I go to the Father.”
17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not [a]know what He is saying.”
19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and (C)lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into (D)joy. 21 (E)A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and (F)your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. (G)Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, (H)that your joy may be (I)full.
Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World
25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you (J)plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 (K)for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and (L)have believed that I came forth from God. 28 (M)I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”
29 His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 Now we are sure that (N)You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this (O)we believe that You came forth from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 (P)Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, (Q)each to his [b]own, and will leave Me alone. And (R)yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that (S)in Me you may have peace. (T)In the world you [c]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, (U)I have overcome the world.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.