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.

Praises to God for Being Saved from Death

116 I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my prayers. ² I will call on Him as long as I live, because He has turned His ear to me. ³ The strings of death are all around me. And the fear of the grave came upon me. I suffered with trouble and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beg You, save my life!”

⁵ The Lord is loving and right. Yes, our God is full of loving-kindness. ⁶ The Lord takes care of the child-like. I was brought down, and He saved me. ⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul. For the Lord has been good to you. ⁸ For You, O Lord, have saved my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. ⁹ I will walk with the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁰ I believed when I said, “I am very troubled.” ¹¹ I said in my fear, “All men are liars.”

¹² What should I give to the Lord for all the good things He has done for me? ¹³ I will show Him my thanks for saving me with a gift of wine and praise His name. ¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people. ¹⁵ The death of His holy ones is of great worth in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁶ For sure I am Your servant, O Lord. I am Your servant, the son of the woman who served You. You have set me free from my chains. ¹⁷ I will give a gift of thanks to You and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁸ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people, ¹⁹ in the holy place of the Lord, and in the center of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

A Psalm of Praise

117 Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise Him, all people! ² For His loving-kindness toward us is great. And the truth of the Lord lasts forever. Praise the Lord!

The People of Israel and Judah Return

¹⁰ In that day the nations will turn to the One from the family of Jesse. He will be honored by the people as someone special to see. And His place of rest will be full of His shining-greatness. ¹¹ In that day the Lord will put out His hand a second time to bring back His people who are left. He will bring them back from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹² He will lift up flags for the nations, and will gather together the people of Israel and of Judah who had been sent away. He will bring them back from the four corners of the earth. ¹³ Ephraim will not be jealous. Those who made it hard for Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not make it hard for Ephraim. ¹⁴ But they will go down against the Philistines in the west. Together they will take what belongs to the sons of the east. They will go against Edom and Moab. And they will rule the sons of Ammon. ¹⁵ The Lord will dry up all the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. He will wave His hand over the Euphrates River with His burning wind, and will break it into seven rivers. Men will be able to walk over it with dry feet. ¹⁶ And there will be a road from Assyria for those of His people who will be left just as it was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

The Guilty Will Be Punished

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne. I saw the One Who sat on it. The earth and the heaven left Him in a hurry and they could be found no more. ¹² I saw all the dead people standing before God. There were great people and small people. The books were opened. Then another book was opened. It was the book of life. The dead people were judged by what they had done as it was written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead people who were in it. Death and hell gave up the dead people who were in them. Each one was judged by what he had done. ¹⁴ Then death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ If anyone’s name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

All Things New

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away. There was no more sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem. It was coming down out of heaven from God. It was made ready like a bride is made ready for her husband. ³ I heard a loud voice coming from heaven. It said, “See! God’s home is with men. He will live with them. They will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will be their God. ⁴ God will take away all their tears. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All the old things have passed away.” ⁵ Then the One sitting on the throne said, “See! I am making all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “These things have happened! I am the First and the Last. I am the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty, I will give the water of life. It is a free gift. ⁷ He who has power and wins will receive these things. I will be his God and he will be My son. ⁸ But those who are afraid and those who do not have faith and the sinful-minded people and those who kill other people and those who do sex sins and those who follow witchcraft and those who worship false gods and all those who tell lies will be put into the lake of fire and sulphur. This is the second death.”

An Angel Tells of the Birth of John the Baptist

⁵ When Herod was king of the country of Judea, there was a Jewish religious leader named Zacharias. He worked for Abijah. His wife was of the family group of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They were right with God and obeyed the Jewish Law and did what the Lord said to do. ⁷ They had no children because Elizabeth was not able to have a child. Both of them were older people.

⁸ Zacharias was doing his work as a religious leader for God. ⁹ The religious leaders were given certain kinds of work to do. Zacharias was chosen to go to the house of God to burn special perfume. ¹⁰ Many people stood outside praying during the time the special perfume was burning.

¹¹ Zacharias saw an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar where the special perfume was burning. ¹² When he saw the angel, Zacharias was troubled and afraid. ¹³ The angel said to him, “Zacharias, do not be afraid. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. You are to name him John. ¹⁴ You will be glad and have much joy. Many people will be happy because he is born. ¹⁵ He will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or any strong drink. Even from his birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ Many of the Jews will be turned to the Lord their God by him. ¹⁷ He will be the one to go in the spirit and power of Elijah before Christ comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children. He will teach those who do not obey to be right with God. He will get people ready for the Lord.” ^(A)

Zacharias Does Not Believe the Angel

¹⁸ Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I know this for sure? I am old and my wife is old also.” ¹⁹ The angel said to him, “My name is Gabriel. I stand near God. He sent me to talk to you and bring to you this good news. ²⁰ See! You will not be able to talk until the day this happens. It is because you did not believe my words. What I said will happen at the right time.”

²¹ The people outside were waiting. They were surprised and wondered why Zacharias stayed so long in the house of God. ²² When he came out, he could not talk to them. They knew he had seen something special from God while he was in the house of God. He tried to talk to them with his hands but could say nothing. ²³ When his days of working in the house of God were over, he went to his home.

The Lord Did What He Promised

²⁴ Some time later Elizabeth knew she was to become a mother. She kept herself hidden for five months. She said, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord has done for me. He has looked on me and has taken away my shame from among men.”