Book of Common Prayer
The 3rd Hallelujah Psalm[a]
148 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the sky above!
Praise him high in the heavens.
2 Praise him, all his angels.
Praise him all his armies in heaven.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all bright stars.
4 Praise him, skies above,
and the water above the sky.
5 They should all praise the name of the Lord.
It was his command that created them.
6 He has fixed them in their places for all time.
Nothing can change the command that he has given.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth!
Praise him, sea monsters and all the deep seas.
8 Praise him, fire and hail, snow and clouds.
Praise him, wind and storm, as you obey his commands.
9 Praise him, mountains and all hills.
Praise him fruit trees and all trees in the forests.
10 Praise him, wild animals and farm animals.
Praise him, snakes and birds.
11 Praise him, kings all over the world,
and people of every nation.
Praise him, princes and all rulers on earth.
12 Praise him, young men and young women.
Praise him, old men, as well as children.
13 They should all praise the name of the Lord.
Only the Lord's name is great above all other names.
He is the king who rules over heaven and earth.
14 He has made his own people strong,
so that other nations respect them.
All the people who serve him should praise him.
They are the Israelite nation, who belong to him.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The 4th Hallelujah Psalm
149 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to worship the Lord.
When his own people meet together,
they should praise him.
2 People of Israel, be very happy,
because God made you.
People of Zion, be very happy,
because God is your king.
3 Yes, dance to praise the name of the Lord.
Take your harps and tambourines
and make music to praise him with your songs.
4 When the Lord's people serve him,
it makes him happy.
He is happy to help humble people,
so that people respect them.
5 The people who belong to God should be very happy,
because he has made them great.
They should always sing with joy,
even when they lie on their beds at night.
6 They should shout aloud to praise God,
while they hold sharp swords in their hands.
7 That is how they must fight against other nations,
to punish them for their sins.
8 They must tie up the foreign kings with chains,
and put the rulers in prison.
9 They must do that to punish their enemies
in the way that is right.
That is how God will cause his people to become great.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The 5th Hallelujah Psalm[b]
150 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him high in the sky,
where he shows his great strength.
2 Praise God for the great things that he has done.
Praise him because he is great and powerful.
3 Praise him with music!
Yes! Use trumpets, harps and lyres
to praise God![c]
4 Dance and hit drums to praise him!
Make music with harps and flutes
to praise him!
5 Make music with big cymbals and small cymbals
to praise him!
6 Everything that is alive should praise the Lord.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, God does great things[a]
114 God led Israel's people out of Egypt.
Jacob's descendants left that foreign land.
2 Then Judah became God's special place for his people.
There he ruled over Israel's people.
3 The sea looked and ran away!
Then the Jordan River turned back![b]
4 The mountains shook,
like sheep that are jumping.
The hills jumped like lambs.[c]
5 Tell me, sea, why did you run away?
Tell me, Jordan River, why did you turn back?
6 And you mountains and hills,
why did you jump like sheep?
7 Earth, you should shake with fear!
The Lord, Jacob's God, has come to you,
so be afraid!
8 He changes a rock into a pool of water!
Water pours out of a hard rock![d]
There is only one true God[e]
115 Lord, you are the one
who deserves that people praise you.
They should praise only you, not us!
Because you love us with a faithful love,
and you always do what you have promised.
2 Why should other nations say about us,
‘Where is their God?’
3 We know that our God is in heaven.
He does whatever he wants to do.
4 Those people's idols are made from silver and gold.
Yes, human hands make them!
5 Each idol has a mouth,
but it cannot speak!
It has eyes, but it cannot see!
6 It has ears, but it cannot hear!
It has a nose, but it cannot smell!
7 It has hands, but it cannot feel anything!
It has feet, but it cannot walk!
They cannot make a sound!
8 The people that make those idols
will become useless like them.
The same is true for everyone
who trusts their idols to help them.
9 People of Israel,
trust in the Lord.
He is the one who helps you
and keeps you safe.
10 Aaron's family,
trust in the Lord.[f]
He is the one who helps you
and keeps you safe.
11 Everyone who serves the Lord,
trust in the Lord.
He is the one who helps you
and keeps you safe.
12 The Lord will remember us,
and he will bless us.
He will bless Israel's people.
He will bless Aaron's family.
13 He will bless everybody who serves him,
whether they are important people or not.
14 I pray that the Lord will give you many children,
and your children too!
15 I pray that the Lord will bless you all.
He is the one who made the whole universe.
16 The heavens belong to the Lord,
but he has given the earth to us people.
17 Dead people cannot praise the Lord.
In their graves, they are unable to speak.
18 But we will praise the Lord,
now and for ever.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
50 In that way, David used a sling and a stone to win against the Philistine soldier. He knocked down the Philistine and he killed him. And David did not even hold a sword in his hand! 51 David then ran and stood over Goliath. He pulled Goliath's sword out and he killed him. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.
The Philistines saw that their best soldier was now dead. So they ran away.
52 When the soldiers from Israel and Judah saw what had happened, they chased after the Philistines. They shouted their war song as they ran. They chased the Philistines all the way to Gath, and then to the gates of Ekron town. The dead bodies of the Philistine soldiers were lying everywhere on the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelite soldiers had finished chasing and killing the Philistines, they returned. They went into the Philistines' camp and they took their things for themselves. 54 David picked up Goliath's head to take it to Jerusalem. But he put Goliath's weapons in his own tent.
55 Saul had watched David when he went out to fight the strong Philistine soldier. Saul said to Abner, the leader of his army, ‘Tell me Abner, who is that young man? Who is his father?’
Abner replied, ‘My king, I cannot tell you a lie. I do not know who he is.’ 56 The king said, ‘You must find out the name of that man's father.’
57 When David returned after he had killed Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was still holding Goliath's head in his hand.
58 Saul asked him, ‘Young man, who is your father?’ David answered, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem.’
18 David finished talking with Saul. After that, Saul's son Jonathan became a very good friend of David. Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own life. 2 Saul kept David with him from that day. He did not let David go home to his father's house. 3 Jonathan made a special promise to be David's friend, because he loved David as much as he loved his own life. 4 Jonathan took off his coat and he gave it to David. He also gave his armour to David, as well as his sword, his bow and his belt.
4 God gave his Law to Israel's people for a purpose. But Christ has finished that purpose. So now, every person who believes in Christ becomes right with God.
God wants to save everyone
5 Moses wrote about how God's Law could help people to be right with God. He said, ‘If a person obeys the rules in God's Law, then he will live by them.’[a] 6 But the Bible speaks also about another way. It shows how to become right with God because you trust him. It says: ‘Do not say to yourself, “Someone will have to go up into heaven.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ down from up there.’) 7 ‘Do not say to yourself either, “Someone will have to go down into the world below.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ up from the place where dead people are.’) 8 But the Bible says: ‘God's message is near you. You can talk about it, and you can think about it.’[b] That is the same message that we are teaching to people. We tell people to believe in Jesus Christ.
9 The message is this: You must say clearly that Jesus is the Lord. Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him to life again after his death. Then God will save you. 10 God accepts people as right with him when they believe like that, deep inside themselves. And when people say clearly that Jesus is Lord, God saves them. 11 It says in the Bible:
‘Everyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.’[c]
12 It says ‘everyone’. There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. There is the same Lord for all of them. He helps everyone who asks him with many good things. 13 As it says in the Bible: ‘The Lord God will save everyone who asks him for help.’[d]
14 But people will never ask Christ to help them if they have not believed in him. And they will never believe in him if they have not heard about him. And they will not hear about him unless somebody tells God's message to them. 15 And nobody can go to tell God's message to people unless God sends them. This is written in the Bible: ‘When people arrive to tell us good news, we say “welcome!” ’[e]
16 But not every person who hears the good news obeys its message. Isaiah said this: ‘Lord God, it seems that nobody has believed our message.’[f] 17 So then, people must hear the message before they can trust God. And people hear that message when someone tells them about Christ.
29 It will be very bad for you, teachers of God's Law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You build up the places where people have buried God's prophets. You make the places where they have buried good people to be beautiful. 30 You say, “Our ancestors killed God's prophets long ago. If we had lived at that time, we would not have helped our ancestors to do that.” 31 So you are speaking against yourselves. You show that you are the sons of those people who killed God's prophets. 32 Now you must finish the work that your ancestors began to do!
33 You are like a family of dangerous snakes! You will not be able to run away. God will surely punish you, and he will send you to hell. 34 So listen to this. God says, “I will send prophets to you. I will also send to you people who know many things. And I will send people to teach you what is true. But you will kill some of these people. You will kill some of them on a cross. In the places where you meet to pray, you will hit some of them with whips. They will run from one town to another town, but you will follow them.” 35 Because of all this, God will punish you for all the good people that you and your ancestors have killed. Long ago, Abel was the first of those good people. You also killed Zechariah, the son of Berekiah. He died in the yard of the temple near the altar.[a] 36 Yes, I tell you this: God will punish the people who are alive today for all those murders.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed God's prophets. They have thrown stones to kill other people that God has sent to you. Many times, I have wanted to bring all of your people near to me. A female bird covers her babies with her body to make them safe. But you would not let me keep you from danger like that. 38 So listen! Your place will now become like a wilderness where nobody lives. 39 And I tell you this. You will not see me again until the day when you say, “May the Lord God bless the man who comes with his authority!” ’[b]
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