Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148[a]
All Creation Summoned to Praise
1 Hallelujah!
I
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all you his angels;
give praise, all you his hosts.(A)
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,[b]
you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them all praise the Lord’s name;
for he commanded and they were created,(B)
6 Assigned them their station forever,
set an order that will never change.
II
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all the deeps of the sea;(C)
8 Lightning and hail, snow and thick clouds,
storm wind that fulfills his command;
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars;(D)
10 Animals wild and tame,
creatures that crawl and birds that fly;(E)
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all who govern on earth;
12 Young men and women too,
old and young alike.
13 Let them all praise the Lord’s name,
for his name alone is exalted,
His majesty above earth and heaven.(F)
14 [c]He has lifted high the horn of his people;
to the praise of all his faithful,
the Israelites, the people near to him.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 149[d]
Praise God with Song and Sword
1 Hallelujah!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.(G)
2 Let Israel be glad in its maker,
the people of Zion rejoice in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in dance,
make music with tambourine and lyre.[e](H)
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people,
honors the poor with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
cry out for joy on their couches,[f]
6 With the praise of God in their mouths,
and a two-edged sword in their hands,(I)
7 To bring retribution on the nations,
punishment on the peoples,(J)
8 To bind their kings in shackles,
their nobles in chains of iron,
9 To execute the judgments decreed for them—
such is the glory[g] of all God’s faithful.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 150[h]
Final Doxology
1 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy sanctuary;[i](K)
give praise in the mighty dome of heaven.
2 Give praise for his mighty deeds,(L)
praise him for his great majesty.
3 Give praise with blasts upon the horn,(M)
praise him with harp and lyre.
4 Give praise with tambourines and dance,
praise him with strings and pipes.(N)
5 Give praise with crashing cymbals,
praise him with sounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath
give praise to the Lord!(O)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 113[a]
Praise of God’s Care for the Poor
1 Hallelujah!
I
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.(A)
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
both now and forever.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting(B)
let the name of the Lord be praised.
II
4 High above all nations is the Lord;
above the heavens his glory.(C)
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
enthroned on high,
6 (D)looking down on heaven and earth?
7 He raises the needy from the dust,
lifts the poor from the ash heap,(E)
8 Seats them with princes,
the princes of the people,
9 Gives the childless wife a home,
the joyful mother of children.(F)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 114[b]
The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus
1 When Israel came forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from an alien people,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel, God’s domain.(G)
3 [c]The sea saw and fled;
the Jordan turned back.(H)
4 The mountains skipped like rams;
the hills, like lambs.(I)
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Jordan, that you turned back?
6 Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
You hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, before the Lord,(J)
before the God of Jacob,
8 [d]Who turned the rock into pools of water,
flint into a flowing spring.(K)
Psalm 118[a]
Hymn of Thanksgiving
I
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,(A)
his mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
his mercy endures forever.
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,(B)
his mercy endures forever.
II
5 In danger I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
6 The Lord is with me; I am not afraid;
what can mortals do against me?(C)
7 The Lord is with me as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on my foes.
8 Better to take refuge in the Lord(D)
than to put one’s trust in mortals.
9 Better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put one’s trust in princes.
III
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
11 They surrounded me on every side;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
12 They surrounded me like bees;(E)
they burned up like fire among thorns;
in the Lord’s name I cut them off.
13 I was hard pressed and falling,
but the Lord came to my help.(F)
14 The Lord, my strength and might,
has become my savior.(G)
IV
15 The joyful shout of deliverance
is heard in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand works valiantly;
16 the Lord’s right hand is raised;
the Lord’s right hand works valiantly.”
17 I shall not die but live
and declare the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord chastised me harshly,
but did not hand me over to death.
V
19 Open the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and thank the Lord.(H)
20 This is the Lord’s own gate,
through it the righteous enter.
21 I thank you for you answered me;
you have been my savior.
22 [b]The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.(I)
23 By the Lord has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice in it and be glad.
25 Lord, grant salvation![c]
Lord, grant good fortune!
VI
26 Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord.(J)
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God and has enlightened us.
Join in procession with leafy branches
up to the horns of the altar.
VII
28 You are my God, I give you thanks;
my God, I offer you praise.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
his mercy endures forever.
Chapter 12
The Passover Ritual Prescribed.[a] 1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 [b]This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year.(A) 3 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost[c] in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. 5 Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. 7 They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. 10 You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up.
11 This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord!(B) 13 But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.(C)
14 This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord; you will celebrate it as a statute forever.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
arm of the Lord!
Awake as in the days of old,
in ages long ago!
Was it not you who crushed Rahab,[a]
you who pierced the dragon?(A)
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,[b]
You who made the depths of the sea into a way
for the redeemed to pass through?
11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
I. Prologue[a]
Chapter 1
1 In the beginning[b] was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.(A)
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 [c]All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.(B)
What came to be 4 through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;(C)
5 [d]the light shines in the darkness,(D)
and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 [e]A man named John was sent from God.(E) 7 He came for testimony,[f] to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.(F) 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.(G) 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.(H)
10 He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
11 He came to what was his own,
but his own people[g] did not accept him.
12 (I)But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 [h](J)who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh[i]
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.(K)
15 [j]John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said,(L) ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace,[k] 17 because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.(M) 18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God,[l] who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.(N)
13 Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles[a] from Jerusalem called Emmaus,(A) 14 and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. 15 And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, 16 [b](B)but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,(C) 20 how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. 21 (D)But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. 22 (E)Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning 23 and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. 24 (F)Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” 25 (G)And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer[c] these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.(H) 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. 29 But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. 31 With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. 32 Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” 33 So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them 34 who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”(I) 35 Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
19 On the evening of that first day of the week,(A) when the doors were locked, where the disciples[a] were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.[b] The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.(B) 21 [c][Jesus] said to them again,(C) “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 [d]And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,(D) “Receive the holy Spirit. 23 [e](E)Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.