Book of Common Prayer
The Lord’s Wonderful Works in Behalf of Israel.
105 O give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the people.
2
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonderful acts and devoutly praise them.
3
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those who seek and require the Lord [as their most essential need] rejoice.
4
Seek and deeply long for the Lord and His strength [His power, His might];
Seek and deeply long for His face and His presence continually.
5
Remember [with awe and gratitude] the wonderful things which He has done,
His amazing deeds and the judgments uttered by His mouth [on His enemies, as in Egypt],(A)
6
O you offspring of Abraham, His servant,
O you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
7
He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8
He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded and established to a [a]thousand generations,
9
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His sworn oath to Isaac,(B)
10
Which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11
Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the measured portion of your inheritance.”
12
When there were only a few men in number,
Very few [in fact], and strangers in it;
13
And they wandered from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
14
He allowed no man to oppress them;
He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying,(C)
15
“Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”(D)
16
And He called for a famine upon the land [of Egypt];
He [b]cut off every source of bread.(E)
17
He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.(F)
18
His feet they hurt with shackles;
[c]He was put in chains of iron,
19
Until the time that his word [of prophecy regarding his brothers] came true,
The word of the Lord tested and refined him.
20
The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the peoples [of Egypt], and set him free.
21
He made Joseph lord of his house
And ruler of all his possessions,(G)
22
To imprison his princes at his will,
That he might teach his elders wisdom.
23
Israel also came into Egypt;
Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.(H)
24
There the Lord greatly increased [the number of] His people,
And made them more powerful than their enemies.
25
He turned the heart [of the Egyptians] to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
26
He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron, whom He had chosen.
27
They exhibited His wondrous signs among them,
Great miracles in the land of Ham (Egypt).
28
He sent [thick, oppressive] darkness and made the land dark;
And Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His words.(I)
29
He turned Egypt’s waters into blood
And caused their fish to die.(J)
30
Their land swarmed with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.(K)
31
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies
And gnats in all their territory.(L)
32
He gave them hail for rain,
With flaming fire in their land.(M)
33
He struck their vines also and their fig trees,
And shattered the [ice-laden] trees of their territory.(N)
34
He spoke, and the [migratory] locusts came,
And the young locusts, even without number,(O)
35
And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
36
He also struck down all the firstborn in their land,
The first fruits and chief substance of all their strength.(P)
37
He brought the sons of Israel out [of Egypt] with silver and gold,
And among their tribes there was not one who stumbled.(Q)
38
Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the dread and fear of them had fallen on the Egyptians.(R)
39
The Lord spread a cloud as a covering [by day],
And a fire to illumine the night.(S)
40
The Israelites asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.(T)
41
He opened the rock and water flowed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.(U)
42
For He remembered His holy word
To Abraham His servant;(V)
43
He brought out His people with joy,
And His chosen ones with a joyful shout,
44
He gave them the lands of the nations [of Canaan],
So that they would possess the fruits of those peoples’ labor,(W)
45
So that they might observe His precepts
And keep His laws [obediently accepting and honoring and valuing them].
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all] and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to give light to it, for the glory (splendor, radiance) of God has illumined it, and the Lamb is its lamp and light.(A) 24 The nations [the redeemed people from the earth] will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring into it their glory.(B) 25 By day (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed [in fear of evil];(C) 26 and they will bring the glory (splendor, majesty) and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing that defiles or profanes or is unwashed will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices abominations [detestable, morally repugnant things] and lying, but only those [will be admitted] whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.(D)
The Perfect Life
22 Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Christ),(E) 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.(F) 3 There will no longer exist anything that is cursed [because sin and illness and death are gone]; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve and worship Him [with great awe and joy and loving devotion];(G) 4 they will [be privileged to] see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.(H) 5 And there will no longer be night; they have no need for lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign [as kings] forever and ever.(I)
Rank in the Kingdom
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”(A) 2 He called a little child and set him before them, 3 and said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever [a]humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives and welcomes one [b]child like this in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin [by leading him away from My teaching], it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone [as large as one turned by a donkey] hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.(B)
Stumbling Blocks
7 “Woe (judgment is coming) to the world because of stumbling blocks and temptations to sin! It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person on whose account or through whom the stumbling block comes!(C)
8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble and sin, cut it off and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into everlasting fire. 9 If your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life with only one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell.
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