Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 145
A Psalm of Praise. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God and King,
and I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
and I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and His greatness is unfathomable.
4 One generation shall praise Your works to another
and shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty
and of Your wondrous works.
6 They shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
and I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall abundantly declare the fame of Your great goodness
and shall sing of Your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger, and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and His compassion is over all His works.
10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
and Your godly ones shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
and talk of Your power,
12 to make known to people His mighty acts,
and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait upon You,
and You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways
and loving in all His works.
18 The Lord is near to all those who call upon Him,
to all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and will save them.
20 The Lord preserves all those who love Him,
but all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all people bless His holy name
forever and ever.
Psalm 104
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great!
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 covering Yourself with light as a garment,
who stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain,
3 who lays the upper beams of His chambers on the waters above,
who makes the clouds His chariot,
who rides upon the wings of the wind,
4 who makes His angels as winds,
His ministers a flaming fire.
5 You laid the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they departed away.
8 The mountains rose up;
the valleys went down
to the place that You appointed them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
that they may not again cover the earth.
10 You send the springs to gush forth in the valleys,
which flow between the hills.
11 They give drink to every animal of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
13 You water the mountains from Your lofty chamber;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle
and plants for the cultivation of man,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine that makes glad the heart of man,
and oil that makes shine his face,
and bread that strengthens his heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that He has planted,
17 where the birds make their nests,
where the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats,
and the rocks a refuge for the badgers.
19 He set the moon to mark the appointed seasons;
the sun knows its time for going down.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest go forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun arises, they gather themselves together
and lay down in their dens.
23 Man goes forth to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
With wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures—
25 so is this great and wide sea,
which is full of innumerable creatures,
living animals both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and there is Leviathan, which You have made to play in it.
27 These all wait upon You,
that You may give them their food in due season.
28 When You give it to them,
they gather it;
when You open Your hand,
they are filled with good food.
29 When You hide Your face,
they are troubled;
You take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
30 When You send forth Your Spirit,
they are created,
and You renew the surface of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in His works.
32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 May my meditation be sweet to Him,
for I will be glad in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
Praise to the Lord
25 O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You, I will praise Your name,
for You have done wonderful things;
Your plans formed of old
are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city into a heap,
a fortified city into a ruin;
a palace of strangers is a city no longer;
it shall never be built.
3 Therefore a strong people shall glorify You;
cities of ruthless nations shall fear You.
4 For You have been a defense to the poor,
a defense to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm,
a shadow from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless ones
is as a storm against the wall.
5 You bring down the noise of strangers,
as heat in drought;
as the heat by the shadow of a cloud,
the song of the ruthless ones shall be brought low.
6 In this mountain the Lord of Hosts shall prepare
for all people a lavish feast,
a feast of aged wines,
choice pieces full of marrow, and refined, aged wines.
7 He will destroy in this mountain
the covering which is over all peoples,
even the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death for all time,
and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from all faces;
and the reproach of His people He shall take away
from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken it.
9 It shall be said in that day:
Look, this is our God
for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were illiterate and uneducated men, they marveled. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against it. 15 So when they had commanded them to go outside of the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that an acknowledged miracle has been done through them is revealed to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But lest it spread further among the people, let us threaten them that they no longer speak to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot help but declare what we have seen and heard.”
21 When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people. For all glorified God for what was done, 22 for the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was over forty years old.
The Believers Pray for Boldness
23 On being released, they went to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they lifted their voices in unity to God and prayed, “Lord, You are God, who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 and who by the mouth of Your servant David said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
and the people devise vain things?
26 The kings of the earth came,
and the rulers were assembled together
against the Lord
and against His Christ.’[a]
27 Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were assembled together against Your holy Son Jesus whom You have anointed, 28 to do what Your hand and Your counsel had foreordained to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant that Your servants may speak Your word with great boldness, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be performed in the name of Your holy Son Jesus.”
31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
Sorrow Will Turn Into Joy
16 “In a little while you will not see Me. And then after a little while you will see Me, because I am going to the Father.”
17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this He is telling us: ‘In a little while you will not see Me; and then after a little while you will see Me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’? ” 18 Then they said, “What is this He is telling us: ‘In a little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”
19 Then Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him. So He said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning what I said: ‘In a little while you will not see Me; and then after a little while you will see Me’? 20 Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has pain, because her hour has come. But as soon as she delivers the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow. But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 On that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
I Have Overcome the World
25 “I have told you these things in proverbs. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, for I will speak to you plainly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying to you that I shall ask the Father on your behalf. 27 For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. As I said, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”
29 His disciples said to Him, “Yes! Now You are speaking plainly and with no figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know everything and do not need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Listen, the hour is coming. Yes, it has now come that you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.
33 “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.