Book of Common Prayer
The whole Creation invoked to praise Jehovah.
[a]148 Praise ye Jehovah.
Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens:
Praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels:
Praise ye him, all his host.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon:
Praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that are above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of Jehovah;
For he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree [b]which shall not pass away.
7 Praise Jehovah from the earth,
Ye sea-monsters, and all deeps;
8 Fire and hail, snow and vapor;
Stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
9 Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
10 Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying birds;
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
12 Both young men and virgins;
Old men and children:
13 Let them praise the name of Jehovah;
For his name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.
14 And he hath lifted up [c]the horn of his people,
The praise of all his saints;
Even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him.
[d]Praise ye Jehovah.
Israel invoked to praise Jehovah.
[e]149 Praise ye Jehovah.
Sing unto Jehovah a new song,
And his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance:
Let them sing praises unto him with timbrel and harp.
4 For Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people:
He will beautify the meek with [f]salvation.
5 Let the saints exult in glory:
Let them sing for joy upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their [g]mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the nations,
And punishments upon the peoples;
8 To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written:
[h]This honor have all his saints.
[i]Praise ye Jehovah.
Call to praise God with musical instruments.
[j]150 Praise ye Jehovah.
Praise God in his sanctuary:
Praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts:
Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3 Praise him with trumpet sound:
Praise him with psaltery and harp.
4 Praise him with timbrel and dance:
Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe.
5 Praise him with loud cymbals:
Praise him with high sounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that hath breath praise [k]Jehovah.
[l]Praise ye Jehovah.
God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
114 When Israel went forth out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled;
The Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5 What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest?
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back?
6 Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams;
Ye little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.
Heathen idols contrasted with Jehovah.
115 Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us,
But unto thy name give glory,
For thy lovingkindness, and for thy truth’s sake.
2 Wherefore should the nations say,
Where is now their God?
3 But our God is in the heavens:
He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not;
Eyes have they, but they see not;
6 They have ears, but they hear not;
Noses have they, but they smell not;
7 They have hands, but they handle not;
Feet have they, but they walk not;
Neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them shall be like unto them;
Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
9 O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah:
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah:
He is their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah:
He is their help and their shield.
12 Jehovah hath been mindful of us; he will bless us:
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless them that fear Jehovah,
Both small and great.
14 Jehovah increase you more and more,
You and your children.
15 Blessed are ye of Jehovah,
Who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah;
But the earth hath he given to the children of men.
17 The dead praise not [a]Jehovah,
Neither any that go down into silence;
18 But we will bless [b]Jehovah
From this time forth and for evermore.
[c]Praise ye Jehovah.
5 Let me sing [a]for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in [b]a very fruitful hill: 2 and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a [c]winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be [d]eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah [e]his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, [f]oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.
11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and [a]earnestly desiring the [b]coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the [c]elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and [d]for ever. Amen.
28 I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there is none greater than John: yet he that is [a]but little in the kingdom of God is greater than he. 29 And all the people when they heard, and the [b]publicans, justified God, [c]being baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, [d]being not baptized of him. 31 Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children that sit in the marketplace, and call one to another; who say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not weep. 33 For John the Baptist is come eating no bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a demon. 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of [e]publicans and sinners! 35 And wisdom [f]is justified of all her children.
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