Book of Common Prayer
The Love of God[a]
103 Praise the Lord, my soul!
All my being, praise his holy name!
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and do not forget how kind he is.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He keeps me from the grave
and blesses me with love and mercy.
5 He fills my life[b] with good things,
so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.
6 The Lord judges in favor of the oppressed
and gives them their rights.
7 He revealed his plans to Moses
and let the people of Israel see his mighty deeds.
8 (A)The Lord is merciful and loving,
slow to become angry and full of constant love.
9 He does not keep on rebuking;
he is not angry forever.
10 He does not punish us as we deserve
or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.
11 As high as the sky is above the earth,
so great is his love for those who honor him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our sins from us.
13 As a father is kind to his children,
so the Lord is kind to those who honor him.
14 He knows what we are made of;
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for us, our life is like grass.
We grow and flourish like a wild flower;
16 then the wind blows on it, and it is gone—
no one sees it again.
17 But for those who honor the Lord, his love lasts forever,
and his goodness endures for all generations
18 of those who are true to his covenant
and who faithfully obey his commands.
19 The Lord placed his throne in heaven;
he is king over all.
20 Praise the Lord, you strong and mighty angels,
who obey his commands,
who listen to what he says.
21 Praise the Lord, all you heavenly powers,
you servants of his, who do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, all his creatures
in all the places he rules.
Praise the Lord, my soul!
The Stream Flowing from the Temple
47 (A)The man led me back to the entrance of the Temple. Water was coming out from under the entrance and flowing east, the direction the Temple faced. It was flowing down from under the south part of the Temple past the south side of the altar. 2 The man then took me out of the Temple area by way of the north gate and led me around to the gate that faces east. A small stream of water was flowing out at the south side of the gate. 3 With his measuring rod the man measured 560 yards downstream to the east and told me to wade through the stream there. The water came only to my ankles. 4 Then he measured another 560 yards, and the water came up to my knees. Another 560 yards farther down, the water was up to my waist. 5 He measured 560 yards more, and there the stream was so deep I could not wade through it. It was too deep to cross except by swimming. 6 He said to me, “Mortal man, note all this carefully.”
Then the man took me back to the riverbank, 7 and when I got there, I saw that there were very many trees on each bank. 8 He said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east and down into the Jordan Valley and to the Dead Sea. When it flows into the Dead Sea, it replaces the salt water of that sea with fresh water. 9 Wherever the stream flows, there will be all kinds of animals and fish. The stream will make the water of the Dead Sea fresh, and wherever it flows, it will bring life. 10 From the Springs of Engedi all the way to the Springs of Eneglaim, there will be fishermen on the shore of the sea, and they will spread out their nets there to dry. There will be as many different kinds of fish there as there are in the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the water in the marshes and ponds along the shore will not be made fresh. They will remain there as a source of salt. 12 (B)On each bank of the stream all kinds of trees will grow to provide food. Their leaves will never wither, and they will never stop bearing fruit. They will have fresh fruit every month, because they are watered by the stream that flows from the Temple. The trees will provide food, and their leaves will be used for healing people.”
Introduction
1 Dear Theophilus:
Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us. 2 They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. 3 And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you. 4 I do this so that you will know the full truth about everything which you have been taught.
A Song of Thanksgiving[a]
67 God, be merciful to us and bless us;
look on us with kindness,
2 so that the whole world may know your will;
so that all nations may know your salvation.
3 May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
because you judge the peoples with justice
and guide every nation on earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
6 The land has produced its harvest;
God, our God, has blessed us.
7 God has blessed us;
may all people everywhere honor him.
God the Supreme King(A)
96 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing to the Lord, all the world!
2 Sing to the Lord, and praise him!
Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.
3 Proclaim his glory to the nations,
his mighty deeds to all peoples.
4 The Lord is great and is to be highly praised;
he is to be honored more than all the gods.
5 The gods of all other nations are only idols,
but the Lord created the heavens.
6 Glory and majesty surround him;
power and beauty fill his Temple.
7 (B)Praise the Lord, all people on earth;
praise his glory and might.
8 Praise the Lord's glorious name;
bring an offering and come into his Temple.
9 Bow down before the Holy One when he appears;[a]
tremble before him, all the earth!
10 Say to all the nations, “The Lord is king!
The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with justice.”
11 Be glad, earth and sky!
Roar, sea, and every creature in you;
12 be glad, fields, and everything in you!
The trees in the woods will shout for joy
13 when the Lord comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the peoples of the world
with justice and fairness.
1 (A)Dear Theophilus:
In my first book I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the time he began his work 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before he was taken up, he gave instructions by the power of the Holy Spirit to the men he had chosen as his apostles. 3 For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God. 4 (B)And when they came together,[a] he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised. 5 (C)John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus Is Taken Up to Heaven
6 When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?”
7 Jesus said to them, “The times and occasions are set by my Father's own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. 8 (D)But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.