Book of Common Prayer
The Lord is King![a]
93 The Lord rules as King!
He wears royal power as his clothes.
His strength is like a belt round his body.[b]
So the world is safe and strong.
Nothing can shake it from its place.
2 You, Lord, have always ruled as King,
since before the beginning of time.
3 The floods of water have risen up, Lord.
They have risen with a loud noise.
Their waves beat against the land.[c]
4 But the Lord rules as King
high above everything!
He rules over the powerful waves of the sea,
with all their great noise!
5 Lord, your rules remain strong and true.
Your house will always be holy,
because you are holy.
Sing a new song![a]
96 Sing a new song to praise the Lord!
All the world,
sing to praise the Lord!
2 Sing to praise the Lord's great name!
Every day, tell people the message
that he has rescued us.
3 Tell the other nations that he is very great.
Tell all of them
about the great things that he has done.
4 Yes, the Lord is great!
Everyone should praise him as he deserves.
People should respect him with fear,
more than all other gods.
5 All the other nations' gods are useless idols.
But the Lord made the heavens.
6 We see that he is a very great king.
His holy home is full of his power and his beauty.
7 You people of other nations,
recognize that the Lord is great and powerful.
8 Agree that the Lord's name is great.
Bring a gift to offer to him in his temple.
9 Worship the Lord,
who is beautiful and holy.
Everyone on earth must shake with fear in front of him.
10 Tell all the nations,
‘The Lord rules as King!’
He has fixed the world in its place,
so that nothing can shake it.
He will judge all the people of the world fairly.
11 The earth and the sky
should be happy!
The sea and everything in it
should shout aloud!
12 The fields and all their crops should shout with joy!
Then all the trees in the forests will also sing
because they are so happy!
13 They will sing to praise the Lord,
for he will come to judge the earth.
He is a fair judge.
He will judge all the people of the world with his truth.
The 3rd Hallelujah Psalm[a]
148 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the sky above!
Praise him high in the heavens.
2 Praise him, all his angels.
Praise him all his armies in heaven.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all bright stars.
4 Praise him, skies above,
and the water above the sky.
5 They should all praise the name of the Lord.
It was his command that created them.
6 He has fixed them in their places for all time.
Nothing can change the command that he has given.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth!
Praise him, sea monsters and all the deep seas.
8 Praise him, fire and hail, snow and clouds.
Praise him, wind and storm, as you obey his commands.
9 Praise him, mountains and all hills.
Praise him fruit trees and all trees in the forests.
10 Praise him, wild animals and farm animals.
Praise him, snakes and birds.
11 Praise him, kings all over the world,
and people of every nation.
Praise him, princes and all rulers on earth.
12 Praise him, young men and young women.
Praise him, old men, as well as children.
13 They should all praise the name of the Lord.
Only the Lord's name is great above all other names.
He is the king who rules over heaven and earth.
14 He has made his own people strong,
so that other nations respect them.
All the people who serve him should praise him.
They are the Israelite nation, who belong to him.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
The 5th Hallelujah Psalm[a]
150 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his temple.
Praise him high in the sky,
where he shows his great strength.
2 Praise God for the great things that he has done.
Praise him because he is great and powerful.
3 Praise him with music!
Yes! Use trumpets, harps and lyres
to praise God![b]
4 Dance and hit drums to praise him!
Make music with harps and flutes
to praise him!
5 Make music with big cymbals and small cymbals
to praise him!
6 Everything that is alive should praise the Lord.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
17 With your own eyes, you will see the king.
He will be great and beautiful.
You will see the land that he rules.
It will reach far and wide.
18 Then you will think about the time when you were afraid.
You will say, ‘Where is the enemy's important officer?
Where is the officer that we paid taxes to?
Where is the officer who counted our strong buildings?
They are no longer here to give us trouble!’
19 You will never see those cruel people again.
You could not understand their language.
They laughed at you with strange words.
20 Now, look at Zion, the city where we have our festivals.
Yes, you will see Jerusalem.
It will be a place that is quiet and safe.
It will be like a tent that people will never move.
They will never pull up its pegs.
They will never break its ropes.
21 The Lord will rule there as our powerful God.
Rivers and wide streams will run through it.
Our enemies will not be able to bring their ships there to attack us.
22 The Lord will keep us safe.
He is our judge, our ruler and our king.
The final message
6 Then the angel said to me, ‘All these words are true and everyone should believe them. The Lord God uses his prophets to speak his messages. He has sent his angel to speak to his servants. The angel will now show them what must happen soon.’
7 Jesus says, ‘Listen! I will come soon.[a] God will bless everyone who obeys the words of the prophecy that is in this book.’
John finishes his book
8 I am John. I myself heard these things and I saw them. When I had heard them and I had seen them, I bent down low at the angel's feet. I wanted to worship him because he had shown these things to me. 9 But the angel said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I serve God like all God's prophets, who are believers like you. I serve God like everyone who obeys God's message that is written in this book. God is the one that you must worship!’
10 Then he said to me, ‘Do not hide the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book. The time is near when these things will happen. 11 Let everybody continue to live as they choose. Everyone who does wrong things will continue to do wrong things. Everyone who is disgusting will continue to be disgusting. Everyone who does right things will continue to do right things. Everyone who belongs to God will continue to be holy.’[b]
18 Now John says this. I say clearly to everyone who hears the words of God's prophecy that are written in this book: If anyone adds any more words than are already in this book, God will punish them. The terrible troubles that this book describes will happen to them. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words that are in this book, God will punish them too. He will not let them eat the fruit from his tree that gives life. God will not let them live in his holy city either. This book describes all these things.
20 It is Jesus who tells us that all these messages are true. He says, ‘Yes, I will come soon!’
Amen! We agree! Come, Lord Jesus!
John the Baptist is born
57 The time arrived for Elizabeth to have her baby. She had a son. 58 Her family and the people who lived near her heard about her baby. They knew that the Lord had been very kind to her. They saw that she was happy. So they were happy too. 59 When the child was eight days old, people met together to circumcise him.[a] They wanted to call the child Zechariah. This was the same name that his father had.
60 Elizabeth said, ‘No. His name will be John.’
61 They replied, ‘But you do not have anyone in your family called John. That cannot be right.’ 62 So they used their hands to make signs to the baby's father. They wanted to ask him what his son's name should be.[b]
63 Zechariah asked for something to write on. He wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Everyone was very surprised at what he wrote. 64 Immediately, Zechariah could speak again. He could speak easily. He began to thank God aloud.[c]
65 The people who lived near Zechariah and Elizabeth were very surprised. They saw how great God was. Many people who lived in the hills of Judea also talked about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard about these things thought about them. They asked each other, ‘When this child becomes a man, what will he be?’ They could see that God really was with him.
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