Book of Common Prayer
146 Halleluyah!
Praise Adonai, my soul!
2 I will praise Adonai as long as I live.
I will sing praise to my God all my life.
3 Don’t put your trust in princes
or in mortals, who cannot help.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to dust;
on that very day all their plans are gone.
5 Happy is he whose help is Ya‘akov’s God,
whose hope is in Adonai his God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them;
he keeps faith forever.
7 He secures justice for the oppressed,
he gives food to the hungry.
Adonai sets prisoners free,
8 Adonai opens the eyes of the blind,
Adonai lifts up those who are bent over.
Adonai loves the righteous.
9 Adonai watches over strangers,
he sustains the fatherless and widows;
but the way of the wicked he twists.
10 Adonai will reign forever,
your God, Tziyon, through all generations.
Halleluyah!
147 Halleluyah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God!
How sweet, how fitting to praise him!
2 Adonai is rebuilding Yerushalayim,
gathering the dispersed of Isra’el.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines how many stars there are
and calls them all by name.
5 Our Lord is great, his power is vast,
his wisdom beyond all telling.
6 Adonai sustains the humble
but brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Adonai with thanks,
sing praises on the lyre to our God.
8 He veils the sky with clouds;
he provides the earth with rain;
he makes grass grow on the hills;
9 he gives food to the animals,
even to the young ravens when they cry.
10 He takes no delight in the strength of a horse,
no pleasure in a runner’s speed.
11 Adonai takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who wait for his grace.
12 Glorify Adonai, Yerushalayim!
Praise your God, Tziyon!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates,
he blesses your children within you,
14 he brings peace within your borders,
he gives you your fill of the finest wheat.
15 He sends his word out over the earth,
his command runs swiftly.
16 Thus he gives snow like wool,
scatters hoarfrost like ashes,
17 sends crystals of ice like crumbs of bread —
who can withstand such cold?
18 Then he sends his word out and melts them;
he makes the winds blow, and the water flows.
19 He reveals his words to Ya‘akov,
his laws and rulings to Isra’el.
20 He has not done this for other nations;
they do not know his rulings.
Halleluyah!
111 Halleluyah!
I will wholeheartedly give thanks to Adonai
in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
2 The deeds of Adonai are great,
greatly desired by all who enjoy them.
3 His work is full of majesty and splendor,
and his righteousness continues forever.
4 He has gained renown for his wonders.
Adonai is merciful and compassionate.
5 He gives food to those who fear him.
He remembers his covenant forever.
6 He shows his people how powerfully he works
by giving them the nations as their heritage.
7 The works of his hands are truth and justice;
all his precepts can be trusted.
8 They have been established forever and ever,
to be carried out truly and honestly.
9 He sent redemption to his people
and decreed that his covenant should last forever.
His name is holy and fearsome —
10 the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Adonai;
all those living by it gain good common sense.
His praise stands forever.
112 Halleluyah!
How happy is anyone who fears Adonai,
who greatly delights in his mitzvot.
2 His descendants will be powerful on earth,
a blessed generation of upright people.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness stands forever.
4 To the upright he shines like a light in the dark,
merciful, compassionate and righteous.
5 Things go well with the person who is merciful and lends,
who conducts his affairs with fairness;
6 for he will never be moved.
The righteous will be remembered forever.
7 He will not be frightened by bad news;
he remains steady, trusting in Adonai.
8 His heart is set firm, he will not be afraid,
till finally he looks in triumph at his enemies.
9 He distributes freely, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness stands forever.
His power will be increased honorably.
10 The wicked will be angry when they see this;
they will gnash their teeth and waste away,
the desires of the wicked will come to nothing.
113 Halleluyah!
Servants of Adonai, give praise!
Give praise to the name of Adonai!
2 Blessed be the name of Adonai
from this moment on and forever!
3 From sunrise until sunset
Adonai’s name is to be praised.
4 Adonai is high above all nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like Adonai our God,
seated in the heights,
6 humbling himself to look
on heaven and on earth.
7 He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts the needy from the rubbish heap,
8 in order to give him a place among princes,
among the princes of his people.
9 He causes the childless woman
to live at home happily as a mother of children.
Halleluyah!
4 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
2 Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love, 3 and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope. 5 And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion, 6 and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.
7 Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah’s bounty. 8 This is why it says,
“After he went up into the heights,
he led captivity captive
and he gave gifts to mankind.”[a]
9 Now this phrase, “he went up,” what can it mean if not that he first went down into the lower parts, that is, the earth? 10 The one who went down is himself the one who also went up, far above all of heaven, in order to fill all things. 11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. 12 Their task is to equip God’s people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah, 13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah’s perfection.
14 We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah. 16 Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.
1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing made had being.
4 In him was life,
and the life was the light of mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not suppressed it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan. 7 He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. 8 He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light.
9 This was the true light,
which gives light to everyone entering the world.
10 He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own homeland,
yet his own people did not receive him.
12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.
14 The Word became a human being and lived with us,
and we saw his Sh’khinah,
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”
16 We have all received from his fullness,
yes, grace upon grace.
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.