Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 145
Praising God’s Greatness
A hymn of David.
1 I[a] exalt you, my God the King,
and bless your name forever and ever.(A)
2 I will bless you every day;
I will praise your name forever and ever.(B)
3 The Lord is great and is highly praised;(C)
his greatness is unsearchable.(D)
4 One generation will declare your works to the next
and will proclaim your mighty acts.(E)
5 I[b] will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty
and[c] your wondrous works.(F)
6 They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts,
and I will declare your greatness.[d](G)
7 They will give a testimony of your great goodness
and will joyfully sing of your righteousness.(H)
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in faithful love.(I)
9 The Lord is good to everyone;(J)
his compassion rests on all he has made.(K)
10 All you have made will thank you, Lord;
the[e] faithful will bless you.(L)
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom
and will declare your might,(M)
12 informing all people of your mighty acts
and of the glorious splendor of your[f] kingdom.(N)
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule is for all generations.(O)
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and gracious in all his actions.[g](P)
14 The Lord helps all who fall;
he raises up all who are oppressed.[h](Q)
15 All eyes look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.(R)
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.(S)
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all his acts.(T)
18 The Lord is near all who call out to him,
all who call out to him with integrity.(U)
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry for help and saves them.(V)
20 The Lord guards all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.(W)
21 My mouth will declare the Lord’s praise;
let every living thing
bless his holy name forever and ever.(X)
Psalm 104
God the Creator
1 My soul, bless the Lord!
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.(A)
2 He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,(B)
3 laying the beams of his palace
on the waters above,(C)
making the clouds his chariot,(D)
walking on the wings of the wind,(E)
4 and making the winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.(F)
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be shaken.(G)
6 You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the water stood above the mountains.(H)
7 At your rebuke the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder they hurried away(I)—
8 mountains rose and valleys sank[b]—
to the place you established for them.(J)
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again.(K)
10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.(L)
11 They supply water for every wild beast;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.(M)
12 The birds of the sky live beside the springs;
they make their voices heard among the foliage.(N)
13 He waters the mountains from his palace;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of your labor.(O)
14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,(P)
15 wine that makes human hearts glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains human hearts.(Q)
16 The trees of the Lord flourish,[c]
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.(R)
17 There the birds make their nests;
storks make their homes in the pine trees.(S)
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.(T)
19 He made the moon to mark the[d] festivals;[e]
the sun knows when to set.(U)
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals stir.(V)
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.(W)
22 The sun rises; they go back
and lie down in their dens.(X)
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until evening.(Y)
24 How countless are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.[f](Z)
25 Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.(AA)
26 There the ships move about,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play there.(AB)
27 All of them wait for you
to give them their food at the right time.(AC)
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.(AD)
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.(AE)
30 When you send your breath,[g]
they are created,(AF)
and you renew the surface of the ground.(AG)
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works.(AH)
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.(AI)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(AJ)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.(AK)
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and wicked people be no more.(AL)
My soul, bless the Lord!
Hallelujah!
The Route of the Exodus
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.”(A) 18 So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.(B)
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph(C) with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear a solemn oath, saying, “God will certainly come to your aid; then you must take my bones with you from this place.”
20 They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. 21 The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud(D) to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.
14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.(E) 3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.(F)
16 Therefore we do not give up.(A) Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person(B) is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction(C) is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.(D) 18 So we do not focus on what is seen,(E) but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Our Future after Death
5 For we know that if our earthly tent we live in(F) is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens,(G) not made with hands.(H) 2 Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring(I) to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 since, when we are clothed,[a] we will not be found naked.(J) 4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality(K) may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
6 So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith,(L) not by sight.(M) 8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.(N) 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing(O) to him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat(P) of Christ,(Q) so that each may be repaid(R) for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
The Sadducees and the Resurrection
18 Sadducees,(A) who say there is no resurrection,(B) came to him and questioned him: 19 “Teacher,(C) Moses(D) wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child,(E) that man should take the wife(F) and raise up offspring for his brother.[a](G) 20 There were seven brothers. The first married a woman, and dying, left no offspring. 21 The second also took her, and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 None of the seven[b] left offspring. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise,[c] whose wife will she be, since the seven had married her?”
24 Jesus spoke to them, “Isn’t this the reason why you’re mistaken: you don’t know the Scriptures(H) or the power(I) of God?(J) 25 For when they rise(K) from the dead,(L) they neither marry nor are given in marriage(M) but are like angels(N) in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised—haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him: I(O) am the God of Abraham(P) and the God of Isaac(Q) and the God of Jacob?[d](R) 27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”
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