Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148[a]
Song of the Universe
1 [b]Alleluia.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
offer praise to him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
offer praise to him, all his hosts![c]
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
offer praise to him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,[d]
and you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name[e] of the Lord,
for it was at his command that they were created.
6 He established them in place forever and ever;
he issued a law that will never pass away.[f]
7 [g]Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds,
storm winds that carry out his word,[h]
9 all mountains and hills,
all fruit trees and cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
creeping creatures and flying birds,[i]
11 kings of the earth and all nations,
princes and all rulers on the earth,
12 young men and women,
the elderly, as well as children.[j]
13 [k]Let them all praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above the earth and the heavens.[l]
14 He has raised high a horn[m] for his people,
to the glory of all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Alleluia.
Psalm 149[n]
Glorification of God, Lord and Creator
1 [o]Alleluia.
Sing to the Lord a new song,[p]
his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name[q] with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people,
and he crowns the humble with salvation.[r]
5 Let the saints exult in their glory
and sing for joy on their beds.[s]
6 [t]May the praises of God be on their lips
and a double-edged sword in their hands[u]
7 to wreak vengeance[v] on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to shackle their kings with chains
and their nobles with iron fetters,
9 to execute the judgments decreed against them:
such is the glory for all his saints.[w]
Alleluia.
Psalm 150[x]
Harmonious Praise of God
1 Alleluia.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in the firmament of his power.[y]
2 Praise him for his awesome acts,[z]
praise him for his immeasurable greatness.
3 [aa]Praise him with the sound of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre.
4 Praise him with tambourines and dancing,
praise him with strings and flutes.
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals,
praise him with crashing cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes
offer praise to the Lord.
Alleluia.[ab]
Psalm 114[a]
The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus
1 [b]When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary
and Israel his domain.
3 [c]The sea fled at the sight;
the Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs of the flock.
5 [d]What causes you to flee, O sea?
Why, O Jordan, do you turn back?
6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
and like lambs of the flock, O hills?
7 [e]Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
and flint into a flowing spring.
Psalm 115[f]
Hymn to the Lord, the One God
1 [g]Not to us,[h] O Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory
because of your kindness and faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”[i]
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever he pleases.[j]
4 Their idols are merely silver and gold,
the work of human hands.[k]
5 They have mouths but they cannot speak;
they have eyes but they cannot see.
6 They have ears but they cannot hear;
they have noses but they cannot smell.
7 They have hands but they cannot feel;
they have feet but they cannot walk;
their throats can emit no sound.
8 Those who make them end up like them,
as do all who place their trust in them.
9 [l]The house of Israel trusts in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
10 The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
11 Those who fear the Lord trust in the Lord;
he is their help and their shield.
12 [m]The Lord will be mindful of us and bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the Lord,
the small no less than the great.[n]
14 [o]May the Lord cause you to increase,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
16 [p]The heavens belong to the Lord,
but he has given the earth to humanity.
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who sink into silence.[q]
18 It is we who bless the Lord
from this time forward and forevermore.[r]
Alleluia.
Chapter 48
In the Northern Kingdom: Elijah and Elisha[a]
1 Then arose like a fire the prophet Elijah,
whose words were like a flaming torch.
2 He brought a famine on the people,
and by his zeal he decimated their number.
3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens
and three times he called down fire from the skies.
4 How glorious you were, Elijah, in your miracles!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
5 You raised a corpse from death
and from the netherworld, by the word of the Most High.
6 You dragged down kings to their destruction,
and also nobles from their sickbeds.
7 You heard a rebuke at Sinai
and avenging judgments at Horeb.
8 You anointed kings to effect retribution
and prophets to succeed you.
9 You were taken up to the heavens in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot drawn by fiery horses.
10 It is written that you are destined at the appointed time
to allay the wrath of God before it erupts in fury,
to turn the hearts of parents back to their children
and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
11 Blessed is he who will see you
and those who have fallen asleep in love,
for we also shall certainly live.[b]
Ministers of a New Covenant.[a] 7 Now if the ministry of death, engraved with letters on stone, was so glorious that the Israelites could not fix their glance on the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory that would soon fade, 8 how much greater will be the glory of the ministry of the Spirit?
9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much richer in glory will be the ministry of righteousness! 10 Indeed, what was once glorious is now without any glory in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 For if what was destined to fade away was glorious, how much greater will be the glory of that which endures!
12 The Lord Is the Spirit.[b] Therefore, since we have such hope, we can act with complete confidence, 13 and not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not observe the radiance that was fading away. 14 However, their minds were hardened. Even to this very day, the same veil remains unlifted during the reading of the old covenant,[c] since only in Christ is it set aside. 15 Indeed, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
16 However, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now this Lord is the Spirit,[d] and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And as we gaze upon the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, all of us are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
18 Peter’s Confession That Jesus Is the Christ.[a]Once while Jesus was praying by himself, he asked his disciples who were standing close by, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” 20 “But you,” he said to them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him: “The Christ of God.” 21 Thereupon he gave them strict orders and commanded them not to tell this to anyone.
22 Jesus Predicts His Passion. He then went on to say, “The Son of Man must endure great suffering, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised.”
23 The Conditions of Discipleship.[b] Then he said to all who were with him, “Anyone who wishes to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
26 “If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
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