Book of Common Prayer

Song of Praise and Thanks to God

66 Raise the voice of joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing out the honor of His name! Make His praise great! ³ Say to God, “How Your great works make those who hate You afraid! They will have to obey You because of Your great power. ⁴ All the earth will worship You and sing praises to You. They will sing praises to Your name.”

⁵ Come and see what God has done. There is much fear because of His great works toward the children of men. ⁶ He changed the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we were full of joy in Him. ⁷ He rules forever by His power. His eyes keep watch over the nations. Do not let those who do not obey You honor themselves.

⁸ Give honor and thanks to God, O people, and let all hear how great He is! ⁹ He keeps us alive, and does not let our feet go out from under us. ¹⁰ For You have tested us, O God. You have made us pure like silver is made pure. ¹¹ You brought us into the net. And You laid a heavy load on our back. ¹² You made men travel over our heads. We went through fire and through water. But You brought us out into a place where we have much more than we need. ¹³ I will come into Your house with burnt gifts. I will give You what I promised, ¹⁴ promises made by my lips and spoken by my mouth when I was in trouble. ¹⁵ I will give You burnt gifts of fat animals with the smoke of rams. I will give You bulls with male goats.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for me. ¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue. ¹⁸ The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart. ¹⁹ But it is sure that God has heard. He has listened to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Honor and thanks be to God! He has not turned away from my prayer or held His loving-kindness from me.

Nations Praise God

67 May God show loving-kindness toward us and bring good to us. May He make His face shine upon us. ² May Your way be known on the earth, and Your saving power among all nations. ³ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy. For You will be fair when You judge the people and rule the nations of the earth. ⁵ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁶ The earth has given its fruit. God, our God, will bring good to us. ⁷ God will bring good to us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

The Works and the Word of God

19 The heavens are telling of the greatness of God and the great open spaces above show the work of His hands. ² Day to day they speak. And night to night they show much learning. ³ There is no speaking and no words where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun. ⁵ It is as a man soon to be married coming out of his room and as a strong man who is happy to run his race. ⁶ Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and it makes its way to the other end. Nothing is hidden from its heat.

⁷ The Law of the Lord is perfect, giving new strength to the soul. The Law He has made known is sure, making the child-like wise. ⁸ The Laws of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The Word of the Lord is pure, giving light to the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The Lord is always true and right in how He judges. ¹⁰ The Word of the Lord is worth more than gold, even more than much fine gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey straight from the comb. ¹¹ And by them Your servant is told to be careful. In obeying them there is great reward.

¹² Who can see his own mistakes? Forgive my sins that I do not see. ¹³ And keep Your servant from sinning by going my own way. Do not let these sins rule over me. Then I will be without blame. And I will not be found guilty of big sins. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing in Your eyes, O Lord, my Rock and the One Who saves me.

God Is with Us

46 God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.

⁴ There is a river whose waters make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High lives. ⁵ God is in the center of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when the morning comes. ⁶ The people made noise. The nations fell. He raised His voice and the earth melted. ⁷ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

⁸ Come and see the works of the Lord. He has destroyed parts of the earth. ⁹ He stops wars to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the war-wagons with fire. ¹⁰ Be quiet and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth. ¹¹ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

11 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a powerful soldier. But he was the son of a woman who sold the use of her body. Jephthah’s father was Gilead. ² Gilead’s wife gave birth to his sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah away. They told him, “You will not have any share in our father’s house. For you are the son of another woman.” ³ So Jephthah ran away from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Men of no worth gathered around Jephthah and went fighting and stealing with him.

⁴ The time came when the men of Ammon fought against Israel. ⁵ When the men of Ammon fought against Israel, the leaders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. ⁶ They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, so we may fight against the men of Ammon.” ⁷ Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in trouble?” ⁸ The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have returned to you now. So you may go with us and fight the men of Ammon. You will be the head of all the people of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight the men of Ammon and the Lord gives them to me, will I become your head?” ¹⁰ The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is listening to what we say. For sure we will do as you have said.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. And the people made him head and leader over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord at Mizpah.

²⁹ The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. So he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and through Mizpah of Gilead. He went from Mizpah of Gilead to the people of Ammon. ³⁰ Jephthah made a promise to the Lord and said, “You give the people of Ammon into my hand. ³¹ And I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the people of Ammon. I will give it to the Lord as a burnt gift.” ³² Then Jephthah crossed over to fight against the people of Ammon. And the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ He killed many of them from Aroer to Minnith, through twenty cities, as far as Abelkeramin. The people of Ammon were destroyed in front of the people of Israel.

Jephthah’s Daughter

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. His daughter came out to meet him with music and dancing. She was his one and only child. He had no other sons or daughters. ³⁵ When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “It is bad, my daughter! You have made me very sad. You have brought much trouble to me. For I have made a promise to the Lord, and I must keep it.” ³⁶ She said to him, “My father, you have made a promise to the Lord. Do to me what you have promised you would do. Because the Lord has punished the people of Ammon, who fought against you. ³⁷ But do this for me. Let me alone for two months. So I and my friends may go to the mountains and cry because I will never have a man.” ³⁸ Jephthah said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months with her friends. And they cried on the mountains because she would never have a man. ³⁹ She returned to her father after two months. And he did what he promised the Lord and she died without having a man. So it became the way in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went to have sorrow for the daughter of Jephthah for four days each year.

²¹ I am ashamed to say that I am weak! But I do not do as they do. Whatever they say about themselves, I can say about myself also. (I know what I am saying sounds foolish.)

²² Are they Jews? So am I. Are they from the family of Israel? So am I. Are they from the family of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Do they work for Christ? I have worked for Him much more than they have. (I speak as if I am crazy.) I have done much more work. I have been in prison more times. I cannot remember how many times I have been whipped. Many times I have been in danger of death. ²⁴ Five different times the Jews whipped me across my back thirty-nine times. ²⁵ Three times they beat me with sticks. One time they threw stones at me. Three times I was on ships that were wrecked. I spent a day and a night in the water. ²⁶ I have made many hard trips. I have been in danger from high water on rivers. I have been in danger from robbers. I have been in danger from the Jews. I have been in danger from people who do not know God. I have been in danger in cities and in the desert. I have been in danger on the sea. I have been in danger among people who say they belong to Christ but do not. ²⁷ I have worked hard and have been tired and have had pain. I have gone many times without sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. I have gone without food and clothes. I have been out in the cold. ²⁸ More than all these things that have happened to my body, the care of all the churches is heavy on me. ²⁹ When someone is weak, I feel weak also. When someone is led into sin, I have a strong desire to help him. ³⁰ If I must talk about myself, I will do it about the things that show how weak I am. ³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be honored and thanked forever. He knows I am telling the truth.

The Wind and Waves Obey Jesus ^(A)

³⁵ It was evening of that same day. Jesus said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After sending the people away, they took Jesus with them in a boat. It was the same boat He used when He taught them. Other little boats went along with them. ³⁷ A bad wind storm came up. The waves were coming over the side of the boat. It was filling up with water. ³⁸ Jesus was in the back part of the boat sleeping on a pillow. They woke Him up, crying out, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?” ³⁹ He got up and spoke sharp words to the wind. He said to the sea, “Be quiet! Be still.” At once the wind stopped blowing. There were no more waves. ⁴⁰ He said to His followers, “Why are you so full of fear? Do you not have faith?” ⁴¹ They were very much afraid and said to each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him!”