Book of Common Prayer
148 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heavens above.
2 Praise him, all his angels.
Praise him, all his angels in heaven.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens.
Praise him, you waters above the skies.
5 Let all of them praise the name of the Lord,
because at his command they were created.
6 He established them for ever and ever.
He gave them laws they will always have to obey.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all the deepest parts of the ocean.
8 Praise him, lightning and hail, snow and clouds.
Praise him, you stormy winds that obey him.
9 Praise him, all you mountains and hills.
Praise him, all you fruit trees and cedar trees.
10 Praise him, all you wild animals and cattle.
Praise him, you small creatures and flying birds.
11 Praise him, you kings of the earth and all nations.
Praise him, all you princes and rulers on earth.
12 Praise him, young men and women.
Praise him, old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord.
His name alone is honored.
His glory is higher than the earth and the heavens.
14 He has given his people a strong king.
All his faithful people praise him for that gift.
All the people of Israel are close to his heart.
Praise the Lord.
149 Praise the Lord.
Sing a new song to the Lord.
Sing praise to him in the assembly of his faithful people.
2 Let Israel be filled with joy because God is their Maker.
Let the people of Zion be glad because he is their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing.
Let them make music to him with harps and tambourines.
4 The Lord takes delight in his people.
He awards with victory those who are humble.
5 Let his faithful people be filled with joy because of that honor.
Let them sing for joy even when they are lying in bed.
6 May they praise God with their mouths.
May they hold in their hands a sword that has two edges.
7 Let them pay the nations back.
Let them punish the people of the earth.
8 Let them put the kings of those nations in chains.
Let them put their nobles in iron chains.
9 Let them carry out God’s sentence against those nations.
This will bring glory to all his faithful people.
Praise the Lord.
150 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his holy temple.
Praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his powerful acts.
Praise him because he is greater than anything else.
3 Praise him by blowing trumpets.
Praise him with harps and lyres.
4 Praise him with tambourines and dancing.
Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes.
5 Praise him with clashing cymbals.
Praise him with clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
114 The people of Israel came out of Egypt.
The people of Jacob left a land where a different language was spoken.
2 Then Judah became the holy place where God lived.
Israel became the land he ruled over.
3 The Red Sea saw him and parted.
The Jordan River stopped flowing.
4 The mountains leaped like rams.
The hills skipped like lambs.
5 Red Sea, why did you part?
Jordan River, why did you stop flowing?
6 Why did you mountains leap like rams?
Why did you hills skip like lambs?
7 Earth, tremble with fear when the Lord comes.
Tremble when the God of Jacob is near.
8 He turned the rock into a pool.
He turned the hard rock into springs of water.
115 Lord, may glory be given to you, not to us.
You are loving and faithful.
2 Why do the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven.
He does anything he wants to do.
4 But the statues of their gods are made out of silver and gold.
They are made by human hands.
5 They have mouths but can’t speak.
They have eyes but can’t see.
6 They have ears but can’t hear.
They have noses but can’t smell.
7 They have hands but can’t feel.
They have feet but can’t walk.
They have throats but can’t say anything.
8 Those who make statues of gods will be like them.
So will all those who trust in them.
9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord.
He helps you like a shield that keeps you safe.
10 Priests of Aaron, trust in the Lord.
He helps you like a shield that keeps you safe.
11 You who have respect for the Lord, trust in him.
He helps you like a shield that keeps you safe.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
He will bless Israel, his people.
He will bless the priests of Aaron.
13 The Lord will bless those who have respect for him.
He will bless important and unimportant people alike.
14 May the Lord give you many children.
May he give them to you and to your children after you.
15 May the Lord bless you.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord.
But he has given the earth to human beings.
17 Dead people don’t praise the Lord.
Those who lie quietly in the grave don’t praise him.
18 But we who are alive praise the Lord,
both now and forever.
Praise the Lord.
7 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark with your whole family. I know that you are a godly man among the people of today. 2 Take seven pairs of every kind of ‘clean’ animal with you. Take a male and a female of each kind. Take one pair of every kind of animal that is not ‘clean.’ Take a male and a female of each kind. 3 Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. Take a male and a female of each kind. Then every kind will be kept alive. They can spread out again over the whole earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights. I will destroy from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 Noah did everything the Lord commanded him to do.
6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came on the earth. 7 He and his sons entered the ark. His wife and his sons’ wives went with them. They entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Male and female pairs of “clean” animals and pairs of animals that were not “clean” came to Noah. So did male and female pairs of birds and of all the creatures that move along the ground. 9 All of them came to Noah and entered the ark. Everything happened just as God had commanded Noah. 10 After seven days the flood came on the earth.
17 For 40 days the flood kept coming on the earth. As the waters rose higher, they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose higher and higher on the earth. And the ark floated on the water. 19 The waters rose on the earth until all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 20 The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet. 21 Every living thing that moved on land died. The birds, the livestock and the wild animals died. All of the creatures that fill the earth also died. And so did every human being. 22 Every breathing thing on dry land died. 23 Every living thing on earth was wiped out. People and animals were destroyed. The creatures that move along the ground and the birds in the sky were wiped out. Everything on earth was destroyed. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.
Growing Up Together in the Body of Christ
4 I am a prisoner because of the Lord. So I am asking you to live a life worthy of what God chose you for. 2 Don’t be proud at all. Be completely gentle. Be patient. Put up with one another in love. 3 The Holy Spirit makes you one in every way. So try your best to remain as one. Let peace keep you together. 4 There is one body and one Spirit. You were appointed to one hope when you were chosen. 5 There is one Lord, one faith and one baptism. 6 There is one God and Father of all. He is over everything. He is through everything. He is in everything.
7 But each one of us has received a gift of grace. These gifts are given to us by Christ. 8 That is why Scripture says,
“When he went up to his place on high,
he took many prisoners.
He gave gifts to his people.” (Psalm 68:18)
9 What does “he went up” mean? It can only mean that he also came down to the lower, earthly places. 10 The one who came down is the same one who went up. He went up higher than all the heavens. He did it in order to fill all creation. 11 So Christ himself gave the gift of the apostles to the church. He gave the prophets and those who preach the good news. And he also gave the pastors and teachers as a gift to the church. 12 He gave all these people so that they might prepare God’s people to serve. Then the body of Christ will be built up. 13 That will continue until we all become one in the faith. We will also become one in the knowledge of God’s Son. Then we will be grown up in the faith. We will receive everything that Christ has for us.
14 We will no longer be babies in the faith. We won’t be like ships tossed around by the waves. We won’t be blown here and there by every new teaching. We won’t be blown around by cleverness and tricks. Certain people use them to hide their evil plans. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love. So we will grow up in every way to become the body of Christ. Christ is the head of the body. 16 He makes the whole body grow and build itself up in love. Under the control of Christ, each part of the body does its work. It supports the other parts. In that way, the body is joined and held together.
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus went off to the Sea of Galilee with his disciples. A large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 People heard about all that Jesus was doing. And many came to him. They came from Judea, Jerusalem and Idumea. They came from the lands east of the Jordan River. And they came from the area around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd, Jesus told his disciples to get a small boat ready for him. This would keep the people from crowding him. 10 Jesus had healed many people. So those who were sick were pushing forward to touch him. 11 When people controlled by evil spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him. The spirits shouted, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But Jesus ordered them not to tell people about him.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve Disciples
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside. He called for certain people to come to him, and they came. 14 He appointed 12 of them so that they would be with him. He would also send them out to preach. 15 And he gave them authority to drive out demons.
16 So Jesus appointed the 12 disciples.
Simon was one of them. Jesus gave him the name Peter.
17 There were James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. Jesus gave them the name Boanerges. Boanerges means Sons of Thunder.
18 There were also Andrew,
Philip,
Bartholomew,
Matthew,
Thomas,
and James, son of Alphaeus.
And there were Thaddaeus
and Simon the Zealot.
19 Judas Iscariot was one of them too. He was the one who was later going to hand Jesus over to his enemies.
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