Book of Common Prayer
146 Praise the Lord!
My soul, praise the Lord!
2 I will praise the Lord all my life.
I will sing praises to him as long as I live.
3 Don’t depend on your leaders for help.
Don’t depend on people, because they cannot save you.
4 People die and are buried.
Then all their plans to help are gone.
5 It is a great blessing for people to have the God of Jacob to help them.
They depend on the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth.
He made the sea and everything in it.
He can be trusted to do what he says.
7 He does what is right for those who have been hurt.
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord frees people locked up in prison.
8 The Lord makes the blind see again.
The Lord helps those who are in trouble.
The Lord loves those who do right.
9 The Lord protects strangers in our country.
He cares for widows and orphans,
but he destroys the wicked.
10 The Lord will rule forever!
Zion, your God will rule forever and ever!
Praise the Lord!
147 Praise the Lord because he is good.
Sing praises to our God.
It is good and pleasant to praise him.
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem.
He brings back the Israelites who were taken as prisoners.
3 He heals their broken hearts
and bandages their wounds.
4 He counts the stars
and knows each of them by name.
5 Our Lord is great and powerful.
There is no limit to what he knows.
6 The Lord supports the humble,
but he shames the wicked.
7 Give thanks to the Lord.
Praise our God with harps.
8 He fills the sky with clouds.
He sends rain to the earth.
He makes the grass grow on the mountains.
9 He gives food to the animals.
He feeds the young birds that cry out.
10 War horses and powerful soldiers
are not what he cares about.
11 The Lord enjoys people who worship him
and trust in his faithful love.
12 Jerusalem, praise the Lord!
Zion, praise your God!
13 He makes your gates strong,
and he blesses the people in your city.
14 He brought peace to your country,
so you have plenty of grain for food.
15 He gives a command to the earth,
and it quickly obeys.
16 He makes the snow fall until the ground is as white as wool.
He makes sleet blow through the air like dust.
17 He makes hail fall like rocks from the sky.
No one can stand the cold he sends.
18 Then he gives another command, and warm air begins to blow.
The ice melts, and water begins to flow.
19 He gave his commands to Jacob.
He gave his laws and rules to Israel.
20 He did not do this for any other nation.
He did not teach his laws to other people.
Praise the Lord!
111 [a] Praise the Lord!
I thank the Lord with all my heart
in the assembly of his good people.
2 The Lord does wonderful things,
more than anyone could ask for.[b]
3 The things he does are great and glorious!
There is no end to his goodness.
4 He does amazing things so that we will remember
that the Lord is kind and merciful.
5 He gives food to his followers.
He remembers his agreement forever.
6 He has shown his people how powerful he is
by giving them the land of other nations.
7 Everything he does is good and fair.
All his commands can be trusted.
8 His commands will continue forever.
They must be done with truth and honesty.
9 He rescued his people and made his agreement with them forever.
His name is awesome and holy.
10 Wisdom begins with fear and respect for the Lord.
Those who obey him are very wise.
Praises will be sung to him forever.
112 [c] Praise the Lord!
Great blessings belong to those who fear and respect the Lord,
who are happy to do what he commands.
2 Their descendants will be given power on earth.
Those who do right will be greatly blessed.
3 Their family will be very rich,
and their goodness will continue forever.
4 A light shines in the dark for those who are good,
for those who are merciful, kind, and fair.
5 It is good for people to be kind and generous
and to be fair in business.
6 Such good people will never fall.
They will always be remembered.
7 They will not be afraid of bad news.
They are confident because they trust in the Lord.
8 They remain confident and without fear,
so they defeat their enemies.
9 They freely give to the poor.
Their goodness will continue forever.
They will be honored with victory.
10 The wicked become angry when they see this.
They grind their teeth in anger, but then they disappear.
They will never get what they want most.
113 Praise the Lord!
Servants of the Lord, praise him!
Praise the Lord’s name.
2 May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forever.
3 May the Lord’s name be praised
from where the sun rises to where it goes down.
4 The Lord is higher than all nations.
His glory rises to the skies.
5 There is no one like the Lord our God.
He sits on his throne high in heaven.
6 He is so high above us that he must look down
to see the sky and the earth.
7 He lifts the poor out of the dirt
and rescues beggars from the garbage dump.
8 He puts them in important positions,
giving them a place among the leaders of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman whose home is empty.
He makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
The Lord’s Complaint
6 Now hear what the Lord says:
“Present your argument to the mountains.
Let the hills hear your story.[a]
2 The Lord has a complaint against his people.
Mountains, listen to the Lord’s complaint.
Foundations of the earth, hear the Lord.
He will prove that Israel is wrong!”
3 He says, “My people, tell me what I did!
Did I do something wrong against you?
Did I make life too hard for you?
4 I will tell you what I did.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to you.
I brought you from the land of Egypt.
I freed you from slavery.
5 My people, remember the evil plans of Balak king of Moab.
Remember what Balaam son of Beor said to Balak.
Remember what happened from Acacia to Gilgal,[b]
and you will know the Lord is right!”
What Does God Want From Us?
6 What must I bring when I come to meet with the Lord?
What must I do when I bow down to God above?
Should I come to him with burnt offerings
and a year-old calf?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams
or with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Should I offer him my first child to pay for my wrongs?
Should I sacrifice my very own child for my sins?
8 Human, the Lord has told you what goodness is.
This is what he wants from you:
Be fair to other people.
Love kindness and loyalty,
and humbly obey your God.
9 But it seems to me that God has given me and the other apostles the last place. We are like prisoners condemned to die, led in a parade for the whole world to see—not just people but angels too. 10 We are fools for Christ, but you think you are so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you think you are so strong. People give you honor, but they don’t honor us. 11 Even now we still don’t have enough to eat or drink, and we don’t have enough clothes. We often get beatings. We have no homes. 12 We work hard with our own hands to feed ourselves. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people treat us badly, we accept it. 13 When people say bad things about us, we try to say something that will help them. But people still treat us like the world’s garbage—everyone’s trash.
14 I am not trying to make you feel ashamed, but I am writing this to counsel you as my own dear children. 15 You may have ten thousand teachers in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus. 16 So I beg you to be like me.
Jesus Helps a Non-Jewish Woman(A)
21 Jesus went from there to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came out and began shouting, “Lord, Son of David, please help me! My daughter has a demon inside her, and she is suffering very much.”
23 But Jesus did not answer her. So the followers came to him and said, “Tell her to go away. She keeps crying out and will not leave us alone.”
24 Jesus answered, “God sent me only to the lost people[a] of Israel.”
25 Then the woman came over to Jesus and bowed before him. She said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered her with this saying: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”
27 The woman said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the pieces of food that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! You will get what you asked for.” And right then the woman’s daughter was healed.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International