Book of Common Prayer
The Lord is King![a]
93 The Lord rules as King!
He wears royal power as his clothes.
His strength is like a belt round his body.[b]
So the world is safe and strong.
Nothing can shake it from its place.
2 You, Lord, have always ruled as King,
since before the beginning of time.
3 The floods of water have risen up, Lord.
They have risen with a loud noise.
Their waves beat against the land.[c]
4 But the Lord rules as King
high above everything!
He rules over the powerful waves of the sea,
with all their great noise!
5 Lord, your rules remain strong and true.
Your house will always be holy,
because you are holy.
Sing a new song![a]
96 Sing a new song to praise the Lord!
All the world,
sing to praise the Lord!
2 Sing to praise the Lord's great name!
Every day, tell people the message
that he has rescued us.
3 Tell the other nations that he is very great.
Tell all of them
about the great things that he has done.
4 Yes, the Lord is great!
Everyone should praise him as he deserves.
People should respect him with fear,
more than all other gods.
5 All the other nations' gods are useless idols.
But the Lord made the heavens.
6 We see that he is a very great king.
His holy home is full of his power and his beauty.
7 You people of other nations,
recognize that the Lord is great and powerful.
8 Agree that the Lord's name is great.
Bring a gift to offer to him in his temple.
9 Worship the Lord,
who is beautiful and holy.
Everyone on earth must shake with fear in front of him.
10 Tell all the nations,
‘The Lord rules as King!’
He has fixed the world in its place,
so that nothing can shake it.
He will judge all the people of the world fairly.
11 The earth and the sky
should be happy!
The sea and everything in it
should shout aloud!
12 The fields and all their crops should shout with joy!
Then all the trees in the forests will also sing
because they are so happy!
13 They will sing to praise the Lord,
for he will come to judge the earth.
He is a fair judge.
He will judge all the people of the world with his truth.
David wrote this song when he made the Philistine king think that he was crazy. He wanted the king to send him away.[a]
God is great![b]
34 I will always praise the Lord.
All the time I will sing to praise him.
2 I will boast that the Lord is great!
I want weak people to hear that.
I want them to be happy!
3 Join with me to tell people that the Lord is great!
Together we will make his name famous.
4 I asked the Lord to help me,
and he answered me.
He saved me from everything that made me afraid.
5 People who trust the Lord to help them
will be very happy.
Their faces will be bright,
and they will not be ashamed.
6 I was weak and helpless,
so I called out to the Lord.
The Lord heard me.
He saved me from all my troubles.
7 The Lord's angel is very near
to people who respect and obey the Lord.
He keeps them safe from danger.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good!
God blesses people who turn to him
to keep them safe.
9 All you people who belong to the Lord,
continue to obey him.
People who respect the Lord
will have the things that they need.
10 Even young lions may not have food,
so that they become hungry.
But people who trust the Lord for help
will receive every good thing that they need.
11 Children, come and listen to me!
I will teach you how to respect the Lord.
12 Do you want to live a good life?
Do you want your life to be long and happy?
13 If so, do not speak any evil words.
Do not tell lies to deceive people.
14 Do good things instead of evil things.
Try to bring peace into people's lives.
15 The Lord watches over righteous people.
He hears them when they call to him for help.
16 But the Lord turns against people who do evil things.
He causes everybody to forget that they ever lived.
17 The Lord hears his righteous people
when they call for help.
He saves them from all their troubles.
18 When people are upset,
the Lord is near to them.
He saves those who feel very weak and upset.
19 Righteous people may often have troubles,
but the Lord saves them from every danger.
20 The Lord keeps them safe.
Not even one of their bones is broken!
21 Evil things will return to kill wicked people.
Whoever hates God's own people
will receive punishment.
22 The Lord saves the lives of his servants.
Everyone who trusts the Lord to keep them safe
will not receive punishment as a guilty person.
12 People told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that belongs to him, because of the Covenant Box.’
So David went back to Obed-Edom's house. He was now happy to bring the Covenant Box from there to the City of David. 13 The men who were carrying it walked six steps and they stopped. Then David offered a bull and a fat calf as sacrifices to God. 14 David was wearing a linen ephod.[a] He danced with all his strength to worship the Lord. 15 He and all the Israelites brought the Lord's Covenant Box to Jerusalem. They shouted and they made a loud noise with trumpets.
16 While they were bringing the Lord's Covenant Box into the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked out through a window. She saw what King David was doing. He was jumping and dancing to worship the Lord. Michal felt ashamed of him.
17 David had put up a special tent for the Covenant Box, so they took it there. They put it in its place inside the tent. Then David offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.
18 After David had offered those sacrifices, he prayed that the Lord Almighty would bless the people. 19 Then he gave a gift to every man and woman in the crowd of Israelite people. Each person received a loaf of bread, some dates and some raisins. Then all the people went to their homes.
20 David returned to his home to bless his own family. As he arrived, Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him. She said, ‘The king of Israel has brought honour to himself today, has he? No, he has brought shame on himself! Even your officers' slave girls have seen how stupid you are. You have made your body bare like a useless fool!’
21 David said to Michal, ‘I was worshipping the Lord with joy! It was the Lord who chose me to be the ruler of his people, Israel. He chose me instead of your father or any of his family. 22 I am ready to bring even more shame on myself. Even I will be ashamed of myself! But the slave girls that you spoke about will still give me honour!’
23 Saul's daughter Michal gave birth to no children all her life.
7 None of us lives only to please ourselves. And we do not die to please ourselves. 8 While we live, we want to please the Lord. And when we die, we want that to please the Lord too. So, while we live, or if we die, we continue to belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and then he became alive again. That happened so that he could be the Lord of all people, those who have died and those who are still alive.
10 So then, if you eat only vegetables, you must not judge other believers. Also, if you eat anything, you must not think that you are better than other believers. Remember that all of us will have to stand in front of God. He will decide whether we have done what is right or wrong. 11 This is written in the Bible:
‘The Lord God says,
“As surely as I live, this will certainly happen:
Everyone will go down on their knees in front of me.
Everyone will praise me that I am God.” ’[a]
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done.
43 The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip, and Jesus said to Philip, ‘Follow me.’ 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, came from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip went to find Nathanael. He told Nathanael, ‘We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about him. He is Jesus, who is Joseph's son, from Nazareth.’ 46 Nathanael said, ‘I did not think that anything good could come from Nazareth!’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’
47 Jesus saw Nathanael, who was coming towards him. Jesus said, ‘Here is a completely honest man. That is what a person from Israel should really be like.’ 48 Nathanael asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you before Philip asked you to come. I saw you when you were under the fig tree.’ 49 Nathanael said, ‘Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.’ 50 Jesus said to him, ‘I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. Now you believe me because I told you that. But you will see much greater things than that.’ 51 And Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you this: You will see heaven open. You will see God's angels. They will be going up and they will be coming down on the Son of Man.’[a]
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