Book of Common Prayer
A Call for the Universe to Praise God
148 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from heaven,
you that live in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels,
all his heavenly armies.
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,
and the waters above the sky.[a]
5 Let them all praise the name of the Lord!
He commanded, and they were created;
6 by his command they were fixed in their places forever,
and they cannot disobey.[b]
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
sea monsters and all ocean depths;
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
strong winds that obey his command.
9 Praise him, hills and mountains,
fruit trees and forests;
10 all animals, tame and wild,
reptiles and birds.
11 Praise him, kings and all peoples,
princes and all other rulers;
12 young women and young men,
old people and children too.
13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord!
His name is greater than all others;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
14 He made his nation strong,
so that all his people praise him—
the people of Israel, so dear to him.
Praise the Lord!
A Hymn of Praise
149 Praise the Lord!
Sing a new song to the Lord;
praise him in the assembly of his faithful people!
2 Be glad, Israel, because of your Creator;
rejoice, people of Zion, because of your king!
3 Praise his name with dancing;
play drums and harps in praise of him.
4 The Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he honors the humble with victory.
5 Let God's people rejoice in their triumph
and sing joyfully all night long.
6 (A)Let them shout aloud as they praise God,
with their sharp swords in their hands
7 to defeat the nations
and to punish the peoples;
8 to bind their kings in chains,
their leaders in chains of iron;
9 to punish the nations as God has commanded.
This is the victory of God's people.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
150 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his Temple!
Praise his strength in heaven!
2 Praise him for the mighty things he has done.
Praise his supreme greatness.
3 Praise him with trumpets.
Praise him with harps and lyres.
4 Praise him with drums and dancing.
Praise him with harps and flutes.
5 Praise him with cymbals.
Praise him with loud cymbals.
6 Praise the Lord, all living creatures!
Praise the Lord!
A Passover Song
114 (A)When the people of Israel left Egypt,
when Jacob's descendants left that foreign land,
2 Judah became the Lord's holy people,
Israel became his own possession.
3 (B)The Red Sea looked and ran away;
the Jordan River stopped flowing.
4 The mountains skipped like goats;
the hills jumped around like lambs.
5 What happened, Sea, to make you run away?
And you, O Jordan, why did you stop flowing?
6 You mountains, why did you skip like goats?
You hills, why did you jump around like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the Lord's coming,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 (C)who changes rocks into pools of water
and solid cliffs into flowing springs.
The One True God
115 To you alone, O Lord, to you alone,
and not to us, must glory be given
because of your constant love and faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations ask us,
“Where is your God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever he wishes.
4 (D)Their gods are made of silver and gold,
formed by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
and eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
and noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
and feet, but cannot walk;
they cannot make a sound.
8 May all who made them and who trust in them
become[a] like the idols they have made.
9 Trust in the Lord, you people of Israel.
He helps you and protects you.
10 Trust in the Lord, you priests of God.
He helps you and protects you.
11 Trust in the Lord, all you that worship him.
He helps you and protects you.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us;
he will bless the people of Israel
and all the priests of God.
13 (E)He will bless everyone who honors him,
the great and the small alike.
14 May the Lord give you children—
you and your descendants!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
16 Heaven belongs to the Lord alone,
but he gave the earth to us humans.
17 The Lord is not praised by the dead,
by any who go down to the land of silence.[b]
18 But we, the living, will give thanks to him
now and forever.
Praise the Lord!
11 1-2 Will no one answer all this nonsense?
Does talking so much put you in the right?
3 Job, do you think we can't answer you?
That your mocking words will leave us speechless?
4 You claim that what you say is true;
you claim you are pure in the sight of God.
5 How I wish God would answer you!
6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom;
there are things too deep for human knowledge.
God is punishing you less than you deserve.
7 Can you discover the limits and bounds
of the greatness and power of God?
8 The sky is no limit for God,
but it lies beyond your reach.
God knows the world of the dead,
but you do not know it.
9 God's greatness is broader than the earth,
wider than the sea.
13 Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God.
14 Put away evil and wrong from your home.
15 Then face the world again, firm and courageous.
16 Then all your troubles will fade from your memory,
like floods that are past and remembered no more.
17 Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon,
and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn.
18 You will live secure and full of hope;
God will protect you and give you rest.
19 You won't be afraid of your enemies;
many people will ask you for help.
20 But the wicked will look around in despair
and find that there is no way to escape.
Their one hope is that death will come.
The Scroll and the Lamb
5 (A)I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne; it was covered with writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel, who announced in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But there was no one in heaven or on earth or in the world below[a] who could open the scroll and look inside it. 4 I cried bitterly because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside it. 5 (B)Then one of the elders said to me, “Don't cry. Look! The Lion from Judah's tribe, the great descendant of David, has won the victory, and he can break the seven seals and open the scroll.”
6 (C)Then I saw a Lamb standing in the center of the throne, surrounded by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb appeared to have been killed. It had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that have been sent through the whole earth. 7 The Lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne. 8 (D)As he did so, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people. 9 (E)They sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to break open its seals.
For you were killed, and by your sacrificial death you bought for God
people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.
10 (F)You have made them a kingdom of priests to serve our God,
and they shall rule on earth.”
11 (G)Again I looked, and I heard angels, thousands and millions of them! They stood around the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders, 12 and sang in a loud voice:
“The Lamb who was killed is worthy
to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and strength,
honor, glory, and praise!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, in the world below, and in the sea—all living beings in the universe—and they were singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb,
be praise and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever!”
14 The four living creatures answered, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
The Sermon on the Mount
5 Jesus saw the crowds and went up a hill, where he sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them:
True Happiness(A)
3 “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
4 (B)“Happy are those who mourn;
God will comfort them!
5 (C)“Happy are those who are humble;
they will receive what God has promised!
6 (D)“Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires;
God will satisfy them fully!
7 “Happy are those who are merciful to others;
God will be merciful to them!
8 (E)“Happy are the pure in heart;
they will see God!
9 “Happy are those who work for peace;
God will call them his children!
10 (F)“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!
11 (G)“Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. 12 (H)Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.
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.