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.

Habakkuk’s Question

1 This is the special word which Habakkuk the man of God saw. ² O Lord, how long must I call for help before You will hear? I cry out to You, “We are being hurt!” But You do not save us. ³ Why do you make me see sins and wrong-doing? People are being destroyed in anger in front of me. There is arguing and fighting. ⁴ The Law is not followed. What is right is never done. For the sinful are all around those who are right and good, so what is right looks like sin.

The Lord’s Answer

⁵ “Look among the nations, and see! Be surprised and full of wonder! For I am doing something in your days that you would not believe if you were told. ⁶ I am bringing the Babylonians to power. They are people filled with anger who go across the whole earth to take homes that are not theirs. ⁷ They fill others with fear. They make their own law about what is fair and honored. ⁸ Their horses are faster than leopards, and show less pity than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come on running horses from far away. They fly like an eagle coming down to get food. ⁹ They all come in anger. Their armies move like the desert wind. They gather prisoners like sand. ¹⁰ They make fun of kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every strong city and build a battle-wall to take it. ¹¹ Then they move through like the wind and keep going. They are guilty men, whose strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Question

¹² Have You not lived forever, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Lord, You have chosen them to judge. You, O Rock, have chosen them to punish us. ¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look at sin. You cannot look on wrong. Why then do You look with favor on those who do wrong? Why are You quiet when the sinful destroy those who are more right and good than they? ¹⁴ Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, like things which move along the ground that have no ruler? ¹⁵ The Babylonians bring all of them up with a hook, and pull them away with their net. They gather them together in their fishing net, and so they have joy and are glad. ¹⁶ So they give gifts in worship to their net. They burn special perfume to their fishing net, because their net catches all the good things and good food they need. ¹⁷ Will they empty their net forever and keep on destroying nations without pity?

2 I will take my stand and keep watch. I will take my place on the tower. And I will keep watch to see what the Lord will say, and how I should answer when He speaks strong words to me.

¹³ No, Christian brothers, I do not have that life yet. But I do one thing. I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me. ¹⁴ My eyes are on the crown. I want to win the race and get the crown of God’s call from heaven through Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are full-grown Christians should think this way. If you do not think this way, God will show it to you. ¹⁶ So let us keep on obeying the same truth we have already been following.

¹⁷ Christian brothers, live your lives as I have lived mine. Watch those who live as I have taught you to live. ¹⁸ There are many whose lives show they hate the cross of Christ. I have told you this before. Now I tell you again with tears in my eyes. ¹⁹ Their god is their stomach. They take pride in things they should be ashamed of. All they think about are the things of this world. In the end they will be destroyed. ²⁰ But we are citizens of heaven. Christ, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin, will be coming down from heaven again. We are waiting for Him to return. ²¹ He will change these bodies of ours of the earth and make them new. He will make them like His body of shining-greatness. He has the power to do this because He can make all things obey Him.

4 So, my dear Christian brothers, you are my joy and crown. I want to see you. Keep on staying true to the Lord, my dear friends.

Jesus Speaks Sharp Words to the Proud Religious Law-Keepers

¹³ “It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You keep men from going into the holy nation of heaven. You are not going in yourselves, and you do not allow those to go in who are about to go in. ¹⁴ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! (*You take houses from poor women whose husbands have died. Then you try to cover it up by making long prayers. You will be punished all the more because of this.) ¹⁵ It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You go over land and sea to win one follower. When you have him, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are.

¹⁶ “It is bad for you, blind leaders! You say, ‘Whoever makes a promise by the house of God, his promise is worth nothing. But whoever makes a promise by the gold of the house of God, then his promise has to be kept.’ ¹⁷ You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gold or the house of God that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ You say, ‘Whoever will promise by the altar, his promise does not have to be kept. But whoever makes a promise by the gift on the altar, then his promise has to be kept.’ ¹⁹ You fools and blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ Whoever makes a promise by the altar, promises by it and by everything on it. ²¹ Whoever makes a promise by the house of God, promises by it and by Him Who is in it. ²² Whoever makes a promise by heaven, promises by the throne of God and by Him Who sits there.

²³ “It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You give one-tenth part of your spices, and have not done the most important things of the Law, such as thinking what is right and wrong, and having pity and faith. These you should have done and still have done the other things also. ²⁴ You blind leaders, you take a small bug out of your cup but you swallow a camel!