Book of Common Prayer
146 Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise him! 2 I will praise him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath.
3 Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail; 4 for every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended. 5 But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God— 6 the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise, 7 who gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners 8 and opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men. 9 He protects the immigrants and cares for the orphans and widows. But he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.
10 The Lord will reign forever. O Jerusalem,[a] your God is King in every generation! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
147 Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! How good it is to sing his praises! How delightful, and how right!
2 He is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing back the exiles. 3 He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. 4 He counts the stars and calls them all by name. 5 How great he is! His power is absolute! His understanding is unlimited. 6 The Lord supports the humble, but brings the wicked into the dust.
7 Sing out your thanks to him; sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps. 8 He covers the heavens with clouds, sends down the showers, and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures. 9 He feeds the wild animals, and the young ravens cry to him for food. 10 The speed of a horse is nothing to him. How puny in his sight is the strength of a man. 11 But his joy is in those who reverence him, those who expect him to be loving and kind.
12 Praise him, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! 13 For he has fortified your gates against all enemies and blessed your children. 14 He sends peace across your nation and fills your barns with plenty of the finest wheat. 15 He sends his orders to the world. How swiftly his word flies. 16 He sends the snow in all its lovely whiteness, scatters the frost upon the ground, 17 and hurls the hail upon the earth. Who can stand before his freezing cold? 18 But then he calls for warmer weather, and the spring winds blow and all the river ice is broken. 19 He has made known his laws and ceremonies of worship to Israel— 20 something he has not done with any other nation; they have not known his commands.
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!
111 1-2 Hallelujah! I want to express publicly before his people my heartfelt thanks to God for his mighty miracles. All who are thankful should ponder them with me. 3 For his miracles demonstrate his honor, majesty, and eternal goodness.
4 Who can forget the wonders he performs—deeds of mercy and of grace? 5 He gives food to those who trust him; he never forgets his promises. 6 He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the land of Israel, though it was the home of many nations living there. 7 All he does is just and good, and all his laws are right, 8 for they are formed from truth and goodness and stand firm forever. 9 He has paid a full ransom for his people; now they are always free to come to Jehovah (what a holy, awe-inspiring name that is).
10 How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.
112 Praise the Lord! For all who fear God and trust in him are blessed beyond expression. Yes, happy is the man who delights in doing his commands.
2 His children shall be honored everywhere, for good men’s sons have a special heritage. 3 He himself shall be wealthy, and his good deeds will never be forgotten. 4 When darkness overtakes him, light will come bursting in. He is kind and merciful— 5 and all goes well for the generous man who conducts his business fairly.
6 Such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. God’s constant care of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. 7 He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him. 8 That is why he is not afraid but can calmly face his foes. 9 He gives generously to those in need. His deeds will never be forgotten.[a] He shall have influence and honor.
10 Evil-minded men will be infuriated when they see all this; they will gnash their teeth in anger and slink away, their hopes thwarted.
113 Hallelujah! O servants of Jehovah, praise his name. 2 Blessed is his name forever and forever. 3 Praise him from sunrise to sunset! 4 For he is high above the nations; his glory is far greater than the heavens.
5 Who can be compared with God enthroned on high? 6 Far below him are the heavens and the earth; he stoops to look, 7 and lifts the poor from the dirt and the hungry from the garbage dump, 8 and sets them among princes! 9 He gives children to the childless wife, so that she becomes a happy mother.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.
36 Afterwards Saul said, “Let’s chase the Philistines all night and destroy every last one of them.”
“Fine!” his men replied. “Do as you think best.”
But the priest said, “Let’s ask God first.”
37 So Saul asked God, “Shall we go after the Philistines? Will you help us defeat them?” But the Lord made no reply all night.
38 Then Saul said to the leaders, “Something’s wrong![a] We must find out what sin was committed today. 39 I vow by the name of the God who saved Israel that though the sinner be my own son Jonathan, he shall surely die!” But no one would tell him what the trouble was.
40 Then Saul proposed, “Jonathan and I will stand over here, and all of you stand over there.” And the people agreed.
41 Then Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel, why haven’t you answered my question? What is wrong? Are Jonathan and I guilty, or is the sin among the others? O Lord God, show us who is guilty.” And Jonathan and Saul were chosen by sacred lot as the guilty ones, and the people were declared innocent.
42 Then Saul said, “Now draw lots between me and Jonathan.” And Jonathan was chosen as the guilty one.
43 “Tell me what you’ve done,” Saul demanded of Jonathan.
“I tasted a little honey,” Jonathan admitted. “It was only a little bit on the end of a stick; but now I must die.”
44 “Yes, Jonathan,” Saul said, “you must die; may God strike me dead if you are not executed for this.”
45 But the troops retorted, “Jonathan, who saved Israel today, shall die? Far from it! We vow by the life of God that not one hair on his head will be touched, for he has been used of God to do a mighty miracle today.” So the people rescued Jonathan.
5 So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 For because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. 4 And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. 5 Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
6 When we were utterly helpless, with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him. 7 Even if we were good, we really wouldn’t expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God’s wrath to come. 10 And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us!
11 Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins—making us friends of God.
22 1-2 Jesus told several other stories to show what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
“For instance,” he said, “it can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding dinner for his son. 3 Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent messengers to notify everyone that it was time to come. But all refused! 4 So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘Everything is ready and the roast is in the oven. Hurry!’
5 “But the guests he had invited merely laughed and went on about their business, one to his farm, another to his store; 6 others beat up his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them.
7 “Then the angry king sent out his army and destroyed the murderers and burned their city. 8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’
10 “So the servants did, and brought in all they could find, good and bad alike; and the banquet hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the wedding robe provided for him.[a]
12 “‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how does it happen that you are here without a wedding robe?’ And the man had no reply.
13 “Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.