Book of Common Prayer

Praise in Zion

87 The city God built stands on the holy mountains. ² The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other places of Jacob. ³ Great things are said about you, O city of God. ⁴ I will say that Rahab and Babylon are among those who know Me. Look, Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia say, “This one was born there.” ⁵ But it will be said of Zion, “This one and that one were born in her.” And the Most High Himself will make her strong. ⁶ The Lord will write in the book of the people, “This one was born there.” ⁷ Then those who sing and those who play music will say, “All my wells of joy are in you.”

God Is Forever—Man’s Short Life

90 Lord, You have been the place of comfort for all people of all time. ² Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, forever and ever, You are God.

³ You change man into dust again, and say, “Return, O children of men.” ⁴ For a thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday when it passes by, or like the hours of the night. ⁵ You carry men away as with a flood. They fall asleep. In the morning they are like the new grass that grows. ⁶ It grows well in the morning, but dries up and dies by evening.

⁷ For we are burned up by Your anger. By Your anger we are troubled and afraid. ⁸ You have set our wrong-doing before You, our secret sins in the light of Your face. ⁹ For all our days pass away in Your anger. We finish our years with a quiet cry. ¹⁰ The days of our life are seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength. Yet the best of them are only hard work and sorrow. For they are soon gone and we fly away. ¹¹ Who understands the power of Your anger? Your anger is as great as the fear that we should have for You. ¹² Teach us to understand how many days we have. Then we will have a heart of wisdom to give You.

¹³ Return, O Lord. How long will it be? Have pity upon those who work for You. ¹⁴ Fill us in the morning with Your loving-kindness. Let us sing for joy and be glad all our days. ¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as You have made us suffer, and for the years we have seen trouble. ¹⁶ Let Your work be shown to Your servants. And let Your wonderful greatness be shown to their children. ¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. And make the work of our hands stand strong. Yes, make the work of our hands stand strong.

A Song of Thanks

136 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ² Give thanks to the God of gods, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁴ Give thanks to Him Who alone does great works, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁵ Give thanks to Him Who by wisdom made the heavens, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁶ Give thanks to Him Who spread out the earth upon the waters, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁷ Give thanks to Him Who made the great lights, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁸ He made the sun to rule during the day, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ⁹ He made the moon and stars to rule during the night, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

¹⁰ Give thanks to Him Who killed the first-born of Egypt, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹¹ He brought Israel out from among them, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹² He put out His arm and brought them out with a strong hand, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹³ Give thanks to Him Who divided the Red Sea in two, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁴ He led Israel through, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁵ But He caused the death of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁶ Give thanks to Him Who led His people through the desert, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁷ Give thanks to Him Who destroyed great kings, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁸ He killed powerful kings, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ¹⁹ He put to death Sihon, king of the Amorites, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁰ He put to death Og, king of Bashan, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²¹ He gave their land as a gift, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²² He gave it as a gift to Israel His servant, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

²³ Give thanks to Him Who remembered us when we had nothing, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁴ He took us away from those who hated us, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁵ He gives food to all men, for His loving-kindness lasts forever. ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His loving-kindness lasts forever.

⁹ Make this known among the nations: Get ready for war! Call your strong men! Gather all the soldiers and let them come up! ¹⁰ Beat your plows into swords, and your vine hooks into spears. Let the weak say, “I am a powerful soldier.” ¹¹ Hurry and come, all you nations on every side, and gather yourselves there. Bring down Your men of war, O Lord. ¹² Let the nations get ready and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. ¹³ Use the long, sharp knife, for the fruit is full-grown. Come and crush the grapes, for the crushing-place is full. They flow over, for their sins are many. ¹⁴ Thousands and thousands are in the valley of God’s punishment. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of God’s punishment. ¹⁵ The sun and moon become dark, and the stars stop shining. ¹⁶ The Lord makes a loud noise from Zion. He lets His voice be heard from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a safe place for His people, a strong place to the sons of Israel.

¹⁷ “Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will never pass through it again.

The Rich and the Poor

2 My Christian brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of shining-greatness. Since your trust is in Him, do not look on one person as more important than another. ² What if a man comes into your church wearing a gold ring and good clothes? And at the same time a poor man comes wearing old clothes. ³ What if you show respect to the man in good clothes and say, “Come and sit in this good place”? But if you say to the poor man, “Stand up over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ are you not thinking that one is more important than the other? This kind of thinking is sinful. ⁵ Listen, my dear Christian brothers, God has chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich in faith. The holy nation of heaven is theirs. That is what God promised to those who love Him. ⁶ You have not shown respect to the poor man. Is it not the rich men who make it hard for you and take you to court? ⁷ They speak against the name of Christ. And it was Christ Who called you. ⁸ You do well when you obey the Holy Writings which say, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ⁹ But if you look on one man as more important than another, you are sinning. And the Law says you are sinning.

Keep the Whole Law

¹⁰ If you obey all the Laws but one, you are as guilty as the one who has broken them all. ¹¹ The One Who said, “You must not do any sex sins,” also said, “You must not kill another person.” If you do no sex sins but kill someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law. ¹² Keep on talking and acting as people who will be told they are guilty or not by the Law that makes men free. ¹³ Anyone who shows no loving-kindness will have no loving-kindness shown to him when he is told he is guilty. But if you show loving-kindness, God will show loving-kindness to you when you are told you are guilty.

¹⁰ He that is faithful with little things is faithful with big things also. He that is not honest with little things is not honest with big things. ¹¹ If you have not been faithful with riches of this world, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² If you have not been faithful in that which belongs to another person, who will give you things to have as your own? ¹³ No servant can have two bosses. He will hate the one and love the other. Or, he will be faithful to one and not faithful to the other. You cannot be faithful to God and to riches at the same time.”

Jesus Teaches That the Law Is Not Finished

¹⁴ The proud religious law-keepers heard all these things. They loved money so they made fun of Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, “You are the kind of people who make yourselves look good before other people. God knows your hearts. What men think is good is hated in the eyes of God. ¹⁶ Until John came, you had the writings of the Law and of the early preachers. From that time until now the Good News of the holy nation of God has been preached. Everyone is pushing his way in. ¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one small part of a word in the Law to be of no more use.

¹⁸ “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman is not faithful in marriage and is guilty of sex sins.