Book of Common Prayer
(A)Longing for God[a]
63 O God, you are my God,
and I long for you.
My whole being desires you;
like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land,
my soul is thirsty for you.
2 Let me see you in the sanctuary;
let me see how mighty and glorious you are.
3 Your constant love is better than life itself,
and so I will praise you.
4 I will give you thanks as long as I live;
I will raise my hands to you in prayer.
5 My soul will feast and be satisfied,
and I will sing glad songs of praise to you.
6 As I lie in bed, I remember you;
all night long I think of you,
7 because you have always been my help.
In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8 I cling to you,
and your hand keeps me safe.
9 Those who are trying to kill me
will go down into the world of the dead.
10 They will be killed in battle,
and their bodies eaten by wolves.
11 Because God gives him victory,
the king will rejoice.
Those who make promises in God's name will praise him,
but the mouths of liars will be shut.
God the Ruler of the World[a]
98 Sing a new song to the Lord;
he has done wonderful things!
By his own power and holy strength
he has won the victory.
2 The Lord announced his victory;
he made his saving power known to the nations.
3 He kept his promise to the people of Israel
with loyalty and constant love for them.
All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God.
4 Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth;
praise him with songs and shouts of joy!
5 Sing praises to the Lord!
Play music on the harps!
6 Blow trumpets and horns,
and shout for joy to the Lord, our king.
7 Roar, sea, and every creature in you;
sing, earth, and all who live on you!
8 Clap your hands, you rivers;
you hills, sing together with joy before the Lord,
9 because he comes to rule the earth.
He will rule the peoples of the world
with justice and fairness.
The Love of God[a]
103 Praise the Lord, my soul!
All my being, praise his holy name!
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and do not forget how kind he is.
3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He keeps me from the grave
and blesses me with love and mercy.
5 He fills my life[b] with good things,
so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.
6 The Lord judges in favor of the oppressed
and gives them their rights.
7 He revealed his plans to Moses
and let the people of Israel see his mighty deeds.
8 (A)The Lord is merciful and loving,
slow to become angry and full of constant love.
9 He does not keep on rebuking;
he is not angry forever.
10 He does not punish us as we deserve
or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.
11 As high as the sky is above the earth,
so great is his love for those who honor him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our sins from us.
13 As a father is kind to his children,
so the Lord is kind to those who honor him.
14 He knows what we are made of;
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for us, our life is like grass.
We grow and flourish like a wild flower;
16 then the wind blows on it, and it is gone—
no one sees it again.
17 But for those who honor the Lord, his love lasts forever,
and his goodness endures for all generations
18 of those who are true to his covenant
and who faithfully obey his commands.
19 The Lord placed his throne in heaven;
he is king over all.
20 Praise the Lord, you strong and mighty angels,
who obey his commands,
who listen to what he says.
21 Praise the Lord, all you heavenly powers,
you servants of his, who do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, all his creatures
in all the places he rules.
Praise the Lord, my soul!
Life Is Useless
1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.
2 It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. 3 You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? 4 (A)Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. 5 The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again. 6 The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again. 7 Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again. 8 Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. 9 What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. 10 “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. 11 No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.
Philip and the Ethiopian Official
26 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south[a] to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is not used nowadays.)[b] 27-28 So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.” 30 Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 The official replied, “How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him. 32 (A)The passage of scripture which he was reading was this:
“He was like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered,
like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off.
He did not say a word.
33 He was humiliated, and justice was denied him.
No one will be able to tell about his descendants,
because his life on earth has come to an end.”
34 The official asked Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus. 36 As they traveled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, “Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” 37 [c]
38 The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy. 40 Philip found himself in Azotus; he went on to Caesarea, and on the way he preached the Good News in every town.
Jesus' Teaching on Prayer(A)
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:
‘Father:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come.
3 Give us day by day the food we need.[a]
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
And do not bring us to hard testing.’”
5 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!’ 7 And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’ 8 Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. 9 And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. 11 Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? 12 Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13 As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.