Book of Common Prayer
103 I bless the holy name of God with all my heart. 2 Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins. He heals me. 4 He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. 5 He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle’s! 6 He gives justice to all who are treated unfairly. 7 He revealed his will and nature to Moses and the people of Israel.
8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. 9 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. 10 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, 11 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. 14 For he knows we are but dust 15 and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, 16 blown by the wind and gone forever.
17-18 But the loving-kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to those who reverence him; his salvation is to children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant and remember to obey him!
19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything there is. 20 Bless the Lord, you mighty angels of his who carry out his orders, listening for each of his commands. 21 Yes, bless the Lord, you armies of his angels who serve him constantly.
22 Let everything everywhere bless the Lord. And how I bless him too!
47 Then he brought me back to the door of the Temple. I saw a stream flowing eastward from beneath the Temple and passing to the right of the altar, that is, on its south side. 2 Then he brought me outside the wall through the north passageway[a] and around to the eastern entrance, where I saw the stream flowing along on the south side of the eastern passageway. 3 Measuring as he went, he took me 1,500 feet east along the stream and told me to go across. At that point the water was up to my ankles. 4 He measured off another 1,500 feet and told me to cross again. This time the water was up to my knees. 5 Fifteen hundred feet after that it was up to my waist. Another 1,500 feet and it had become a river so deep I wouldn’t be able to get across unless I were to swim. It was too deep to cross on foot.
6 He told me to keep in mind what I had seen, then led me back along the bank. 7 And now, to my surprise,[b] many trees were growing on both sides of the river!
8 He told me: “This river flows east through the desert and the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea, where it will heal the salty waters and make them fresh and pure. 9 Everything touching the water of this river shall live. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will be healed. Wherever this water flows, everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea, fishing all the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim. The shores will be filled with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea just as they do the Mediterranean! 11 But the marshes and swamps will not be healed; they will still be salty. 12 All kinds of fruit trees will grow along the riverbanks. The leaves will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit. There will be a new crop every month—without fail! For they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for medicine.”
1 1-2 Dear friend who loves God:[a]
Several biographies of Christ have already been written using as their source material the reports circulating among us from the early disciples and other eyewitnesses. 3 However, it occurred to me that it would be well to recheck all these accounts from first to last and after thorough investigation to pass this summary on to you,[b] 4 to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught.
67 O God, in mercy bless us; let your face beam with joy as you look down at us.
2 Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind. 3 How everyone throughout the earth will praise the Lord! 4 How glad the nations will be, singing for joy because you are their King[a] and will give true justice to their people! 5 Praise God, O world! May all the peoples of the earth give thanks to you. 6-7 For the earth has yielded abundant harvests. God, even our own God, will bless us. And peoples from remotest lands will worship him.
96 Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing it everywhere around the world! 2 Sing out his praises! Bless his name. Each day tell someone that he saves.
3 Publish his glorious acts throughout the earth. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. 4 For the Lord is great beyond description and greatly to be praised. Worship only him among the gods! 5 For the gods of other nations are merely idols, but our God made the heavens! 6 Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his Temple.
7 O nations of the world, confess that God alone is glorious and strong. 8 Give him the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him.[a] 9 Worship the Lord with the beauty of holy lives.[b] Let the earth tremble before him. 10 Tell the nations that Jehovah reigns! He rules the world. His power can never be overthrown. He will judge all nations fairly.
11 Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the vastness of the roaring seas demonstrate his glory. 12 Praise him for the growing fields, for they display his greatness. Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise. 13 For the Lord is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the nations fairly and with truth!
1 1-2 Dear friend who loves God:
In my first letter[a] I told you about Jesus’ life and teachings and how he returned to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit. 3 During the forty days after his crucifixion he appeared to the apostles from time to time, actually alive, and proved to them in many ways that it was really he himself they were seeing. And on these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
4 In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them.
5 “John baptized you with water,”[b] he reminded them, “but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days.”
6 And another time when he appeared to them, they asked him, “Lord, are you going to free Israel from Rome[c] now and restore us as an independent nation?”
7 “The Father sets those dates,” he replied, “and they are not for you to know. 8 But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.