Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 146
146 Praise the Lord!
Let my whole being[a] praise the Lord!
2 I will praise the Lord with all my life;
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.
3 Don’t trust leaders;
don’t trust any human beings—
there’s no saving help with them!
4 Their breath leaves them,
then they go back to the ground.
On that very same day, their plans die too.
5 The person whose help is the God of Jacob—
the person whose hope rests on the Lord their God—
is truly happy!
6 God: the maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
God: who is faithful forever,
7 who gives justice to people who are oppressed,
who gives bread to people who are starving!
The Lord: who frees prisoners.
8 The Lord: who makes the blind see.
The Lord: who straightens up those who are bent low.
The Lord: who loves the righteous.
9 The Lord: who protects immigrants,
who helps orphans and widows,
but who makes the way of the wicked twist and turn!
10 The Lord will rule forever!
Zion, your God will rule from one generation to the next!
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 147
147 Praise the Lord!
Because it is good to sing praise to our God!
Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise!
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.
3 God heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
4 God counts the stars by number,
giving each one a name.
5 Our Lord is great and so strong!
God’s knowledge can’t be grasped!
6 The Lord helps the poor,
but throws the wicked down on the dirt!
7 Sing to the Lord with thanks;
sing praises to our God with a lyre!
8 God covers the skies with clouds;
God makes rain for the earth;
God makes the mountains sprout green grass.
9 God gives food to the animals—
even to the baby ravens when they cry out.
10 God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;
God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.
11 No. The Lord treasures the people
who honor him,
the people who wait for his faithful love.
12 Worship the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 Because God secures the bars on your gates,
God blesses the children you have there.
14 God establishes your borders peacefully.
God fills you full with the very best wheat.
15 God issues his command to the earth—
God’s word speeds off fast!
16 God spreads snow like it was wool;
God scatters frost like it was ashes;
17 God throws his hail down like crumbs—
who can endure God’s freezing cold?
18 Then God issues his word and melts it all away!
God makes his winds blow;
the water flows again.
19 God proclaims his word to Jacob;
his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 God hasn’t done that with any other nation;
those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules.[b]
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 111[a]
111 Praise the Lord!
I thank the Lord with all my heart
in the company of those who do right, in the congregation.
2 The works of the Lord are magnificent;
they are treasured by all who desire them.
3 God’s deeds are majestic and glorious.
God’s righteousness stands forever.
4 God is famous for his wondrous works.
The Lord is full of mercy and compassion.
5 God gives food to those who honor him.
God remembers his covenant forever.
6 God proclaimed his powerful deeds to his people
and gave them what had belonged to other nations.
7 God’s handiwork is honesty and justice;
all God’s rules are trustworthy—
8 they are established always and forever:
they are fulfilled with truth and right doing.
9 God sent redemption for his people;
God commanded that his covenant last forever.
Holy and awesome is God’s name!
10 Fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins;
sure knowledge is for all who keep God’s laws.
God’s praise lasts forever!
Psalm 112[b]
112 Praise the Lord!
Those who honor the Lord,
who adore God’s commandments, are truly happy!
2 Their descendants will be strong throughout the land.
The offspring of those who do right will be blessed;
3 wealth and riches will be in their houses.
Their righteousness stands forever.
4 They shine in the dark for others who do right.
They are merciful, compassionate, and righteous.
5 Those who lend generously are good people—
as are those who conduct their affairs with justice.
6 Yes, these sorts of people will never be shaken;
the righteous will be remembered forever!
7 They won’t be frightened at bad news.
Their hearts are steady, trusting in the Lord.
8 Their hearts are firm; they aren’t afraid.
In the end, they will witness their enemies’ defeat.
9 They give freely to those in need.
Their righteousness stands forever.
Their strength increases gloriously.
10 The wicked see all this and fume;
they grind their teeth, but disappear to nothing.
What the wicked want to see happen comes to nothing!
Psalm 113
113 Praise the Lord!
You who serve the Lord—praise!
Praise the Lord’s name!
2 Let the Lord’s name be blessed
from now until forever from now!
3 From sunrise to sunset,
let the Lord’s name be praised!
4 The Lord is high over all the nations;
God’s glory is higher than the skies!
5 Who could possibly compare to the Lord our God?
God rules from on high;
6 he has to come down to even see heaven and earth!
7 God lifts up the poor from the dirt
and raises up the needy from the garbage pile
8 to seat them with leaders—
with the leaders of his own people!
9 God nests the once barren woman at home—
now a joyful mother with children!
Praise the Lord!
David’s census
24 The Lord burned with anger against Israel again, and he incited David against them: Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.
2 So the king said to Joab and the military commanders[a] who were with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people so I know how many people there are.”
10 But after this David felt terrible that he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, please take away the guilt of your servant because I have done something very foolish.”
11 When David got up the next morning, the Lord’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: 12 Go and tell David, This is what the Lord says: I’m offering you three punishments. Choose one of them, and that is what I will do to you.
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Will three[a] years of famine come on your land? Or will you run from your enemies for three months while they chase you? Or will there be three days of plague in your land? Decide now what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”
14 “I’m in deep trouble,” David said to Gad. “Let’s fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercy is great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that very morning until the allotted time. Seventy thousand people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16 But when the divine messenger stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord regretted doing this disaster and said to the messenger who was destroying the people, “That’s enough! Withdraw your hand.” At that time the Lord’s messenger was by the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus.
17 When David saw the messenger who was striking down the people, he said, “I’m the one who sinned! I’m the one who has done wrong. But these sheep—what have they done wrong? Turn your hand against me and my household.”
18 That same day Gad came to David and told him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus.” 19 So David went up, following Gad’s instructions, just as the Lord had commanded.
20 Araunah looked up and saw the king and his servants approaching him. Araunah rushed out and bowed low before the king, his nose to the ground. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my master and king come to his servant?”
David said, “To buy this threshing floor from you to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague among the people may come to an end.”
22 Then Araunah said to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my master the king do what he thinks is best. Here are oxen for the entirely burned offering, and here are threshing boards and oxen yokes for wood. 23 All this, Your Majesty, Araunah gives to the king.” Then he added, “May the Lord your God respond favorably to you!”
24 “No,” the king said to Araunah. “I will buy them from you at a fair price. I won’t offer up to the Lord my God entirely burned offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built an altar there for the Lord and offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices. The Lord responded to the prayers for the land, and the plague against Israel came to an end.
23 Before faith came, we were guarded under the Law, locked up until faith that was coming would be revealed, 24 so that the Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith.
God’s children are heirs in Christ
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.
26 You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.
4 I’m saying that as long as the heirs are minors, they are no different from slaves, though they really are the owners of everything. 2 However, they are placed under trustees and guardians until the date set by the parents. 3 In the same way, when we were minors, we were also enslaved by this world’s system. 4 But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. 5 This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted. 6 Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and if you are his child, then you are also an heir through God.
Jesus continues to teach in the temple
12 Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.”
14 Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. 18 I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.”
19 They asked him, “Where is your Father?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible