Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 145[a]
A psalm of praise; by David.
145 I will extol you, my God, O King.
I will praise your name continually.[b]
2 Every day I will praise you.
I will praise your name continually.[c]
3 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise.
No one can fathom his greatness.[d]
4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,
and tell about your mighty acts.[e]
5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,
and your amazing deeds.[f]
6 They will proclaim[g] the power of your awesome acts.
I will declare your great deeds.
7 They will talk about the fame of your great kindness,[h]
and sing about your justice.[i]
8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;
he is patient[j] and demonstrates great loyal love.[k]
9 The Lord is good to all,
and has compassion on all he has made.[l]
10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord.
Your loyal followers will praise you.
11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;
they will tell about your power,
12 so that mankind[m] might acknowledge your mighty acts,
and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom,[n]
and your dominion endures through all generations.
14 [o] The Lord supports all who fall,
and lifts up all who are bent over.[p]
15 Everything looks to you in anticipation,[q]
and you provide them with food on a regular basis.[r]
16 You open your hand,
and fill every living thing with the food it desires.[s]
17 The Lord is just in all his actions,[t]
and exhibits love in all he does.[u]
18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,
all who cry out to him sincerely.[v]
19 He satisfies the desire[w] of his loyal followers;[x]
he hears their cry for help and delivers them.
20 The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.
21 My mouth will praise the Lord.[y]
Let all who live[z] praise his holy name forever.
Psalm 104[a]
104 Praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are magnificent.[b]
You are robed in splendor and majesty.
2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.
He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,
3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds.[c]
He makes the clouds his chariot,
and travels on the wings of the wind.[d]
4 He makes the winds his messengers,
and the flaming fire his attendant.[e]
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be moved.
6 The watery deep covered it[f] like a garment;
the waters reached[g] above the mountains.[h]
7 Your shout made the waters retreat;
at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off—
8 as the mountains rose up,
and the valleys went down—
to the place you appointed for them.[i]
9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again.[j]
10 He turns springs into streams;[k]
they flow between the mountains.
11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky live beside them;
they chirp among the bushes.[l]
13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace;[m]
the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow.[n]
14 He provides grass[o] for the cattle,
and crops for people to cultivate,[p]
so they can produce food from the ground,[q]
15 as well as wine that makes people glad,[r]
and olive oil to make their faces shine,[s]
as well as bread that sustains them.[t]
16 The trees of the Lord[u] receive all the rain they need,[v]
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,
17 where the birds make nests,
near the evergreens in which the herons live.[w]
18 The wild goats live in the high mountains;[x]
the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.
19 He made the moon to mark the months,[y]
and the sun sets according to a regular schedule.[z]
20 You make it dark and night comes,[aa]
during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
21 The lions roar for prey,
seeking their food from God.[ab]
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and sleep[ac] in their dens.
23 People then go out to do their work,
and they labor until evening.[ad]
24 How many living things you have made, O Lord![ae]
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;[af]
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,[ag]
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,[ah]
living things both small and large.
26 The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale[ai] you made to play in it.
27 All your creatures[aj] wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis.[ak]
28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food.[al]
29 When you ignore them, they panic.[am]
When you take away their life’s breath,
they die and return to dust.
30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,
and you replenish the surface of the ground.
31 May the splendor of the Lord endure.[an]
May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made.[ao]
32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;
he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.[ap]
34 May my thoughts[aq] be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners disappear[ar] from the earth,
and the wicked vanish.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord.
The Leading of God
17 [a] When Pharaoh released[b] the people, God did not lead them[c] by the way to the land[d] of the Philistines,[e] although[f] that was nearby, for God said,[g] “Lest[h] the people change their minds[i] and return to Egypt when they experience[j] war.” 18 So God brought the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea,[k] and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle.[l]
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph[m] had made the Israelites solemnly swear,[n] “God will surely attend to[o] you, and you will carry[p] my bones up from this place with you.”
20 They journeyed from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the desert. 21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light,[q] so that they could[r] travel day or night.[s] 22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.[t]
The Victory at the Red Sea
14 [u] The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp[v] before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it.[w] 3 Pharaoh will think[x] regarding the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around confused[y] in the land—the desert has closed in on them.’[z] 4 I will harden[aa] Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them. I will gain honor[ab] because of Pharaoh and because of all his army, and the Egyptians will know[ac] that I am the Lord.” So this is what they did.[ad]
16 Therefore we do not despair,[a] but even if our physical body[b] is wearing away, our inner person[c] is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light suffering[d] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
Living by Faith, Not by Sight
5 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in,[e] is dismantled,[f] we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this earthly house[g] we groan, because we desire to put on[h] our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed, after we have put on[i] our heavenly house,[j] we will not be found naked. 4 For we groan while we are in this tent,[k] since we are weighed down,[l] because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose[m] is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.[n] 6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth[o] we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we live[p] by faith, not by sight. 8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away[q] from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So then whether we are alive[r] or away, we make it our ambition to please him.[s] 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,[t] so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.[u]
Marriage and the Resurrection
18 Sadducees[a] (who say there is no resurrection)[b] also came to him and asked him,[c] 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man[d] must marry[e] the widow and father children[f] for his brother.’[g] 20 There were seven brothers. The first one married,[h] and when he died he had no children. 21 The second married her and died without any children, and likewise the third. 22 None of the seven had children. Finally, the woman died too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again,[i] whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”[j] 24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived[k] for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels[l] in heaven. 26 Now as for the dead being raised,[m] have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush,[n] how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the[o] God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[p] 27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living.[q] You are badly mistaken!”
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