Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer of Thanks

118 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Let Israel say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.” ³ Let the house of Aaron say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.” ⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say, “His loving-kindness lasts forever.”

⁵ I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me and put me in a good place. ⁶ The Lord is with me. I will not be afraid of what man can do to me. ⁷ The Lord is with me. He is my Helper. I will watch those lose who fight against me. ⁸ It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man. ⁹ It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in rulers.

¹⁰ All nations gathered around me. But I cut them off in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ They gathered around me. Yes, they were on every side. But I cut them off in the name of the Lord. ¹² They were all around me like bees and they died out fast like burning thorns. I will destroy them in the name of the Lord. ¹³ You pushed me back so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. ¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my song. He is the One Who saves me.

¹⁵ The joy of being saved is being heard in the tents of those who are right and good. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁶ The Lord’s right hand is lifted high. The right hand of the Lord does powerful things. ¹⁷ I will not die but live. And I will tell of what the Lord has done. ¹⁸ The Lord has punished me but He has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of what is right and good. I will go through them and give thanks to the Lord. ²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord. Those who are right with God will pass through it. ²¹ I will give thanks to You, for You have answered me. And You are the One Who saves me.

²² The stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important stone in the building. ²³ The Lord has done this. We think it is great! ²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be full of joy and be glad in it. ²⁵ O Lord, we beg You to save us! O Lord, we ask that You let everything go well for us! ²⁶ Great and honored is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We honor you from the house of the Lord. ²⁷ The Lord is God. He has given us light. Tie the gift with rope to the horns of the altar on this special day. ²⁸ You are my God and I will give You thanks. You are my God and I will praise You. ²⁹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever.

A Song of Praise

145 I will praise You, my God and King. I will honor Your name forever and ever. ² I will honor You every day, and praise Your name forever and ever. ³ The Lord is great and our praise to Him should be great. He is too great for anyone to understand. ⁴ Families of this time will praise Your works to the families-to-come. They will tell about Your powerful acts. ⁵ I will think about the shining-greatness of Your power and about Your great works. ⁶ Men will speak of Your powerful acts that fill us with fear. And I will tell of Your greatness. ⁷ Many words will come from their mouths about how good You are. They will sing for joy about how right You are.

⁸ The Lord is full of loving-favor and pity, slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. ⁹ The Lord is good to all. And His loving-kindness is over all His works. ¹⁰ All Your works will give thanks to You, O Lord. And all those who belong to You will honor You. ¹¹ They will speak of the shining-greatness of Your holy nation, and talk of Your power. ¹² They will make Your powerful acts and the great power of Your holy nation known to the sons of men. ¹³ Your holy nation is a nation that lasts forever. And Your rule lasts for all time.

¹⁴ The Lord holds up all who fall. He raises up all who are brought down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You. And You give them their food at the right time. ¹⁶ You open Your hand and fill the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is right and good in all His ways, and kind in all His works. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fill the desire of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰ The Lord takes care of all who love Him. But He will destroy all the sinful. ²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord. And all flesh will honor His holy name forever and ever.

⁴ “I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of Egypt. You were not to know any god but Me, for there is no one who can save you but Me. ⁵ I cared for you in the desert, in the land where there was no water. ⁶ When I fed them, they were filled. And when they were filled, their heart became proud and they forgot Me. ⁷ So I will be like a lion to them. I will lie in wait by the road like a leopard. ⁸ I will fight them like a bear robbed of her young ones. I will tear open their chests. I will eat them there like a female lion, and tear them like a wild animal.

⁹ “I will destroy you, O Israel, because you are against Me, against your Helper. ¹⁰ Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your cities, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and leaders’? ¹¹ I gave you a king in My anger, and in My anger I took him away.

¹² “The wrong-doing of Ephraim is being kept. His sin is being stored up. ¹³ The pains like a woman giving birth will come upon him, but he is not a wise son. He is not willing to be born. ¹⁴ I will pay the price to free them from the power of the grave. I will save them from death. O Death, where are your thorns? O Grave, where is your power to destroy? I will have no loving-pity.

True Wisdom Comes from God

⁶ We speak wisdom to full-grown Christians. This wisdom is not from this world or from the leaders of today. They die and their wisdom dies with them. ⁷ What we preach is God’s wisdom. It was a secret until now. God planned for us to have this honor before the world began. ⁸ None of the world leaders understood this wisdom. If they had, they would not have put Christ up on a cross to die. He is the Lord of shining-greatness. ⁹ The Holy Writings say, “No eye has ever seen or no ear has ever heard or no mind has ever thought of the wonderful things God has made ready for those who love Him.” ^{(A) 10} God has shown these things to us through His Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit Who looks into all things, even the secrets of God, and shows them to us. ¹¹ Who can know the things about a man, except a man’s own spirit that is in him? It is the same with God. Who can understand Him except the Holy Spirit? ¹² We have not received the spirit of the world. God has given us His Holy Spirit that we may know about the things given to us by Him. ¹³ We speak about these things also. We do not use words of man’s wisdom. We use words given to us by the Holy Spirit. We use these words to tell what the Holy Spirit wants to say to those who put their trust in Him. ¹⁴ But the person who is not a Christian does not understand these words from the Holy Spirit. He thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand them because he does not have the Holy Spirit to help him understand. ¹⁵ The full-grown Christian understands all things, and yet he is not understood. ¹⁶ For who has the thoughts of the Lord? Who can tell Him what to do? But we have the thoughts of Christ.

John the Baptist Is Put in Prison ^(A)

14 At that time King Herod heard much about Jesus. ² He said to his helpers, “This must be John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead. That is why these powerful works are done by him.” ³ For Herod had taken John and put him in prison. It was because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ For John had said to him, “It is against the Law for you to have her.” ⁵ He would have killed John but he was afraid of the people. The people thought John was one who spoke for God.

John the Baptist Is Killed ^(B)

⁶ On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of them. Herod was made happy by her. ⁷ He promised he would give her anything she asked. ⁸ Because her mother told her to do it, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a plate.” ⁹ The king was sorry. But he said for it to be given because he had promised and because of those who were eating with him. ¹⁰ He sent to the prison and had John’s head cut off. ¹¹ It was brought in on a plate and given to the girl. She brought it to her mother. ¹² Then the followers of John came and took his body and buried it. They went and told Jesus.