Book of Common Prayer
Praise to Yahweh for His Help
146 Praise Yah.[a]
Praise Yahweh, O my soul.
2 I will praise Yahweh while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I am still alive.
3 Do not place trust in princes,
in a son of humankind with whom there is no deliverance.
4 His breath departs; he returns to his plot;[b]
on that day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is on Yahweh as his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them,
the one who keeps faith[c] forever,
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food for the hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free;
8 Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind;
Yahweh raises up those bowed down;
Yahweh loves the righteous;
9 Yahweh protects[d] the strangers.
He helps up the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.[e]
10 Yahweh will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.[f]
Praise Yah.[g]
Praise to Yahweh for His Providence
147 Praise Yah.[h]
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant; praise is fitting.
2 Yahweh is building Jerusalem;
he gathers the scattered ones of Israel.
3 He is the one who heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars;
he gives names to all of them.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is unlimited.
6 Yahweh helps the afflicted up;
he brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh with thanksgiving;
sing praises to our God with lyre,
8 who covers the heavens with clouds,
who provides rain for the earth,
who causes grass to grow on the mountains.
9 He gives to the animal its food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
he takes no pleasure in the legs of the man.
11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him,
the ones who hope[i] for his loyal love.
12 Laud Yahweh, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion,
13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates.
He blesses your children within you;
14 he makes your border peaceful;
he satisfies you with the finest of wheat.[j]
15 He sends out his command[k] to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes;
17 he throws his hail like crumbs.
Who can stand before his cold?[l]
18 He sends out his word and melts them;
he blows his breath, the water flows.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not done so for any nation,
and they do not know his ordinances.
Praise Yah.[m]
Let All Creation Praise Yahweh
148 Praise Yah.[n]
Praise Yahweh from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts.[o]
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all stars of light.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,[p]
and waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of Yahweh,
because he commanded and they were created.
6 And he put them in place forever and ever,
by a decree he gave that will not pass away.
7 Praise Yahweh from the earth—
great sea creatures and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and cloud,[q]
stormy wind doing his bidding,[r]
9 the mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 beasts and all cattle,[s]
creeping things and flying birds,[t]
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women as well,
the old together with the young—
13 let them praise the name of Yahweh,
because his name alone is is exalted.
His splendor is above earth and heavens.
14 And he has raised high a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful—
for the children of Israel,
a people close to him.
Praise Yah.[u]
Praise to God for His Future Judgment
149 Praise Yah.[v]
Sing to Yahweh a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing;
let them sing praises to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people;
he glorifies the afflicted with salvation.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the extolling of God be in their throat,
and a double-edged sword in their hand,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,[w]
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles[x] with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment that is decreed.[y]
This will be honor for all his faithful ones;
Praise Yah.[z]
A Valley of Dried Bones; A Renewed Nation of Israel
37 The hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he brought me by the Spirit of Yahweh, and he let me rest[a] in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2 And he led me all around[b] over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man,[c] can these bones live?” And I said, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” 4 And he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, to the dry bones, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh! 5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: “Look! I am bringing into you breath, and you will live! 6 And I will lay on you sinews, and I will let flesh come upon you, and I will cover you over with skin, and I will put breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”
7 And I prophesied just as[d] I had been commanded, and there was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together—the bones! Bone to its bone! 8 And I looked, and indeed, sinews were on them, and flesh went up,[e] and skin covered over[f] them upward,[g] but breath was not in them. 9 And he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man,[h] and you must say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh from the four winds,[i] “Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!”’” 10 And I prophesied as[j] he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group.
11 And he said to me, “Son of man,[k] these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; we are cut off as far as we are concerned.’[l] 12 Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel! 13 And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people! 14 And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!”’ declares[m] Yahweh.”
Peter’s Sermon in Solomon’s Portico
11 And while[a] he was holding fast to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, utterly astonished. 12 And when he[b] saw it,[c] Peter replied to the people, “Men and Israelites, why are you astonished at this? Or why are you staring at us, as if by our own power or godliness we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac[d] and of Jacob,[e] the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, after[f] he had decided to release him.[g] 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and demanded that a man—a murderer—be granted to you. 15 And you killed the originator of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses! 16 And on the basis of faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. 17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18 But the things which God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ[h] would suffer, he has fulfilled in this way. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send the Christ[i] appointed for you—Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from earliest times. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God[j] will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you.[k] 23 And it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed utterly from the people.’[l] 24 And indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and all those who followed him[m] have spoken about and proclaimed these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’[n] 26 God, after he[o] had raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each of you back from your wickedness!”
12 This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 17 These things I command you: that you love one another.
The World’s Hatred for the Disciples
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated[a] you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened[b] so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a reason.’
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—that one will testify about me. 27 And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
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