Book of Common Prayer
God is good, so thank him[a]
118 Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
2 Israel's people must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
3 Aaron's family, the priests, must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
4 Everyone who serves the Lord must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
5 I was in trouble,
so I called to the Lord to help me.
The Lord answered me
and he made me free.
6 The Lord is there to help me,
so I will not be afraid.
What can any person do to hurt me?
7 The Lord is with me as my helper.
As for those people who hate me,
I will win against them.
8 It is better to go to the Lord to keep you safe,
than to trust in people.
9 It is better to trust the Lord to keep you safe,
than to trust even in important people.
10 All the nations were ready to attack me,
but I turned them away
by the power of the Lord.
11 Yes, they were all round me, ready to attack,
but I won against them
in the name of the Lord.
12 They were all round me like a cloud of bees!
But they were like a fire in a thorn bush
that burns quickly and has soon gone.
I turned them away
by the power of the Lord.
13 My enemies attacked me
and they tried to knock me down!
But the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord makes me strong
and he takes care of me.
He is the one who keeps me safe.
15 Listen to the happy shouts of God's people in their tents!
They have won against their enemies,
because the Lord has power to do great things.
16 Yes, the Lord has lifted up his strong right hand.
He has the strength to win the battle!
17 I will not die. Instead, I will live.
I will tell everyone what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me very much,
but he has not let me die.
19 Open the gates of the temple!
I will go in there,
and I will thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord's gate.
Righteous people can go in through it.
21 I will thank you, Lord,
because you answered my prayer.
You have rescued me.
22 The builders threw away a certain stone.
But now that stone has become the most important stone
at the corner of the building.
23 The Lord has done this.
And we can see that it is wonderful![b]
24 This is the day that the Lord has done a great thing.
We will be very happy today!
25 Lord, please save us now!
Lord, please help us to do well!
26 May the Lord bless the man who comes with his authority![c]
We praise you from here,
in the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is our God.
He has caused his light to shine on us.
Make a happy festival!
Take branches in your hands,
and go to offer a sacrifice on the altar.
28 You are my God,
and I will thank you.
You are my God,
and I will say how great you are.
29 Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
This is a song that David wrote to praise God.
An alphabet of praise[a]
145 Always I will praise you, my God and my king,
and I will say how great you are!
2 Because you are good, I will praise you every day.
Yes, I will always praise your name.
3 Clearly the Lord is great!
He is so great that we cannot understand it.
4 Down from father to son, people will praise you.
They will tell each other about the powerful things that you have done.
5 Everyone will speak about your glory and authority.
I also will think carefully about your great miracles.
6 Famous are the powerful things that you have done.
People will talk about them.
I also will speak about the great things that you do.
7 Good things are what everybody will remember about you.
They will sing about your justice.
8 How very kind the Lord is!
He is very patient and his faithful love continues.
9 It is the Lord who takes care of everybody.
He is kind to everything that he has made.
10 Join together to thank the Lord!
Everything that he has made will praise him.
Your own people will praise you, Lord!
11 King is who you are and your kingdom is great!
People will speak about your royal authority.
12 Let everyone agree that you do great things!
Let them say that you rule with great authority.
13 Many years your kingdom will remain, even for ever.
You will always rule your people and their descendants.
Nothing that the Lord promises is false.
He is kind in everything that he does.[b]
14 Often people fall, but the Lord lifts them up.
He helps everyone who has trouble.
15 People look to you for help.
You give them food when they need it.
16 Ready to help, you open your hand.
You give to every living thing the good things that they want.
17 So the Lord is fair in all that he does.
He always shows how much he loves us.
18 The Lord is ready to help everyone who asks him.
He is near to everyone who prays honestly.
19 Very kindly he gives his own people the things that they need.
He saves them when they call to him for help.
20 Whoever loves the Lord, he keeps safe.
But he destroys wicked people.
21 Yes, I will praise the Lord!
Everyone who lives should praise his holy name for ever!
4 The Lord says,
‘I am the Lord your God.
I brought you out from Egypt.
You must not serve any other God.
No one else can save you except me.
5 I took care of you in the wilderness,
where it was very hot and dry.
6 I gave food to my people, so that they were not hungry.
But when they had enough to eat, they became proud.
As a result, they forgot about me.[a]
7 So I will attack them like a lion.
I will be like a leopard that waits beside the road.
It is ready to catch anything that goes that way.
8 I will attack them like an angry bear that has lost her children.
I will tear them into pieces.
I will eat them like a hungry lion.
I will attack them and kill them, like a wild animal.
9 I will destroy you, Israel.
There will be nobody to help you.
10 What has happened to your king?
He cannot save you!
Where are your rulers?
You asked me to give you rulers like the other nations have.
You said, “Give us a king and rulers.”
11 I was angry, but I agreed to give you a king.
Now I am even more angry and I will take your king away!
12 I have a record of Ephraim's sin.
Ephraim's people will certainly receive their punishment.
13 They will be in pain like a woman who is giving birth.
Her child is foolish. He refuses to be born!
14 Will I save these people from the power of death?
Will I rescue them from their graves?
Death, what diseases can you bring?
What can you do to hurt my people?[b]
I will not be kind to my people and forgive them.’
6 But we do speak about wise thoughts to those of you who know Christ very well. But those wise thoughts do not belong to this world. They are not the ideas that the rulers of this world think are important. Those rulers will not be powerful for long. 7 No, the wise thoughts that we speak about belong to God. He has hidden them from people until now. But before God made the world, he decided to let us know these secrets. He wanted us to enjoy his glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world understood God's wise plan. If they had understood, they would not have killed Jesus on a cross. He is the Lord who rules heaven and earth. 9 This is written in the Bible:
‘Nobody ever saw or heard anything about this.
Nobody ever thought that it could happen.
But these are the things that God has prepared for his people who love him.’[a]
10 But God has sent his Spirit to show these secrets to us. God's Spirit looks carefully into everything. He even knows God's secret thoughts. 11 Only a person's own spirit can know everything that is in his thoughts. And it is the same with God. Only God's Spirit knows everything that is in God's thoughts. 12 We have received God's own Spirit, not a spirit that belongs to this world. As a result, we can understand all the good things that God has given to us. 13 Those are the things that we speak about. We do not use clever words to speak about human ideas. Instead, we speak the message that God's Spirit has taught us. In that way, we explain a spiritual message to people who have God's Spirit.
14 If someone does not believe in God, they cannot accept the message that comes from God's Spirit. They think that God's message is silly. They cannot even understand those things. Only God's Spirit can explain them to people. 15 But we have God's Spirit with us. So we can understand the true value of all things. But other people cannot truly understand us, who belong to God. 16 As it says in the Bible:
‘Nobody can know what the Lord God is thinking.
Nobody can tell him what he should do.’[b]
But we think about these things in the same way that Christ thinks.
Herod's soldiers kill John the Baptist
14 At that time, people told Herod about the things that Jesus was doing.[a] 2 Herod said to his servants, ‘That man Jesus is really John the Baptist. John died but he has become alive again. That is the reason why this man can do these very powerful things.’
3 Before that, Herod had commanded his soldiers, ‘Take hold of John. Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done this because of his wife Herodias. Before Herod married her, she was the wife of Herod's brother Philip. 4 John had said to Herod, ‘Herodias was your brother's wife. So it is not right for you to have her as your wife.’[b]
5 Herod wanted to tell his soldiers that they must kill John. But the people thought that John was a prophet from God. So Herod was afraid to kill him.
6 One day, when it was Herod's birthday, he asked people to come to a special meal. The daughter of Herodias danced in front of him and his visitors. Her dance caused Herod to become very happy. 7 He said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I make a strong promise that I will give it to you.’ 8 Herodias suggested to her daughter, ‘Ask Herod to give you John's head.’ So the girl said to Herod, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist on a plate.’ 9 Then Herod felt sad. But he had made a special promise to the girl, and his visitors had heard him. So he sent his men to do what she had asked for. 10 He said to a soldier, ‘Go to the prison and cut off John's head.’ 11 The soldier did this. Then he brought the head on a plate and he gave it to the girl. The girl took it and gave it to her mother.
12 After this, John's disciples went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it. Then they went and they told Jesus what had happened.
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