Book of Common Prayer

God’s Power over the Earth

97 The Lord rules. Let the earth be full of joy. Let the many islands be glad. ² Clouds and darkness are all around Him. His throne is built upon what is right and fair. ³ Fire goes before Him and burns up those who hate Him on every side. ⁴ His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and shakes. ⁵ The mountains melt like a candle before the Lord, before the Lord of the whole earth. ⁶ The heavens tell about how right and good He is. And all the people see His shining-greatness.

⁷ Let all those who serve false gods be ashamed, those who talk about how great their gods are. Worship Him, all you gods! ⁸ Zion heard this and was glad. The people of Judah have been full of joy because of what You decide, O Lord. ⁹ For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth. You are honored above all gods.

¹⁰ Let those who love the Lord hate what is bad. For He keeps safe the souls of His faithful ones. He takes them away from the hand of the sinful. ¹¹ Light is spread like seed for those who are right and good, and joy for the pure in heart. ¹² Be glad in the Lord, you who are right and good. Give thanks to His holy name.

A Call to Praise the Lord

98 Sing a new song to the Lord. For He has done great things. His right hand and His holy arm have won the fight for Him. ² The Lord has made His saving power known. He has shown to the nations how right and good He is. ³ He has shown His loving-kindness and how beautiful He is to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of our God.

⁴ Call out for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Sing out loud songs of joy and sing praises. ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with harps, with harps and the voice of singing. ⁶ Call out for joy with the sound of horns before the King, the Lord.

⁷ Let the sea and all that is in it make a loud noise, and the world and all who live in it. ⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing together for joy ⁹ before the Lord. For He is coming to say who is guilty or not on the earth. He will be right in what He decides about the world. And He will be fair to the people.

²² “The Lord made me at the beginning of His work, before His first works long ago. ²³ I was set apart long ago, from the beginning, before the earth was. ²⁴ I was born when there were no seas, when there were no pools full of water. ²⁵ I was born before the mountains and hills were in their places. ²⁶ It was before He had made the earth or the fields, or the first dust of the world. ²⁷ I was there when He made the heavens, and when He drew a mark around the top of the sea. ²⁸ I was there when He put the skies above, and when He put the wells of the waters in their place. ²⁹ I was there when He marked out the places for the sea, so that the waters would not go farther than what He said. I was there when He marked out the ground for the earth. ³⁰ I was beside Him as the leading workman. I was His joy every day. I was always happy when I was near Him.

²⁰ For sure, I tell you, he who receives the one I send out, receives Me. He who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Jesus Tells of the One Who Will Hand Him Over to the Leaders ^(A)

²¹ When Jesus had said this, He was troubled in heart. He told them in very plain words, saying, “For sure, I tell you, one of you is going to hand Me over to the leaders of the country.”

²² The followers began to look at each other. They did not know which one He was speaking of. ²³ One follower, whom Jesus loved, was beside Jesus. ²⁴ Simon Peter got this follower to look his way. He wanted him to ask Jesus which one He was speaking of. ²⁵ While close beside Jesus, he asked, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one I give this piece of bread to after I have put it in the dish.” Then He put the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷ After Judas had eaten the piece of bread, Satan went into him. Jesus said to Judas, “What you are going to do, do in a hurry.”

²⁸ No one at the supper knew why Jesus had said this to Judas. ²⁹ They thought it was because Judas carried the bag of money, and Jesus had said that Judas should buy what they needed for the religious gathering. Or they thought Judas should give something to poor people. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread, he went out. It was night.

Love—the Greatest Law

³¹ After Judas went out, Jesus said, “The Son of Man is now honored and God has been honored in Him. ³² If God is honored in Him, God will also honor Him in Himself right now. ³³ Little children, I will be with you only a little while. You will look for Me. I say to you what I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come!’ ³⁴ I give you a new Law. You are to love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. ³⁵ If you love each other, all men will know you are My followers.”

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.

5 The person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. The person who loves the Father loves His children also. ² This is the way we know we love God’s children. It is when we love God and obey His Word. ³ Loving God means to obey His Word, and His Word is not hard to obey. ⁴ Every child of God has power over the sins of the world. The way we have power over the sins of the world is by our faith. ⁵ Who could have power over the world except by believing that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶ Jesus Christ came by water and blood. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. The Holy Spirit speaks about this and He is truth. ⁷ There are three Who speak of this in heaven: the Father and the Word and the Holy Spirit. These three are one. ⁸ There are three who speak of this on the earth: the Holy Spirit and the water and the blood. These three speak the same thing. ⁹ If we believe what men say, we can be sure what God says is more important. God has spoken as He has told us about His Son. ¹⁰ The person who puts his trust in God’s Son knows in his own heart that Jesus is the Son of God. The person who does not have his trust in God’s Son makes God a liar. It is because he has not believed the word God spoke about His Son. ¹¹ This is the word He spoke: God gave us life that lasts forever, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life.