Book of Common Prayer

146 Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise him! ² I will praise him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath.

³ Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail; ⁴ for every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended. ⁵ But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God— ⁶ the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise, ⁷ who gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners ⁸ and opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men. ⁹ He protects the immigrants and cares for the orphans and widows. But he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever. O Jerusalem,^[a] your God is King in every generation! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

147 Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! How good it is to sing his praises! How delightful, and how right!

² He is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing back the exiles. ³ He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. ⁴ He counts the stars and calls them all by name. ⁵ How great he is! His power is absolute! His understanding is unlimited. ⁶ The Lord supports the humble, but brings the wicked into the dust.

⁷ Sing out your thanks to him; sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps. ⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds, sends down the showers, and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures. ⁹ He feeds the wild animals, and the young ravens cry to him for food. ¹⁰ The speed of a horse is nothing to him. How puny in his sight is the strength of a man. ¹¹ But his joy is in those who reverence him, those who expect him to be loving and kind.

¹² Praise him, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! ¹³ For he has fortified your gates against all enemies and blessed your children. ¹⁴ He sends peace across your nation and fills your barns with plenty of the finest wheat. ¹⁵ He sends his orders to the world. How swiftly his word flies. ¹⁶ He sends the snow in all its lovely whiteness, scatters the frost upon the ground, ¹⁷ and hurls the hail upon the earth. Who can stand before his freezing cold? ¹⁸ But then he calls for warmer weather, and the spring winds blow and all the river ice is broken. ¹⁹ He has made known his laws and ceremonies of worship to Israel— ²⁰ something he has not done with any other nation; they have not known his commands.

Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!

111 ^1-2 Hallelujah! I want to express publicly before his people my heartfelt thanks to God for his mighty miracles. All who are thankful should ponder them with me. ³ For his miracles demonstrate his honor, majesty, and eternal goodness.

⁴ Who can forget the wonders he performs—deeds of mercy and of grace? ⁵ He gives food to those who trust him; he never forgets his promises. ⁶ He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the land of Israel, though it was the home of many nations living there. ⁷ All he does is just and good, and all his laws are right, ⁸ for they are formed from truth and goodness and stand firm forever. ⁹ He has paid a full ransom for his people; now they are always free to come to Jehovah (what a holy, awe-inspiring name that is).

¹⁰ How can men be wise? The only way to begin is by reverence for God. For growth in wisdom comes from obeying his laws. Praise his name forever.

112 Praise the Lord! For all who fear God and trust in him are blessed beyond expression. Yes, happy is the man who delights in doing his commands.

² His children shall be honored everywhere, for good men’s sons have a special heritage. ³ He himself shall be wealthy, and his good deeds will never be forgotten. ⁴ When darkness overtakes him, light will come bursting in. He is kind and merciful— ⁵ and all goes well for the generous man who conducts his business fairly.

⁶ Such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. God’s constant care of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. ⁷ He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him. ⁸ That is why he is not afraid but can calmly face his foes. ⁹ He gives generously to those in need. His deeds will never be forgotten.^[a] He shall have influence and honor.

¹⁰ Evil-minded men will be infuriated when they see all this; they will gnash their teeth in anger and slink away, their hopes thwarted.

113 Hallelujah! O servants of Jehovah, praise his name. ² Blessed is his name forever and forever. ³ Praise him from sunrise to sunset! ⁴ For he is high above the nations; his glory is far greater than the heavens.

⁵ Who can be compared with God enthroned on high? ⁶ Far below him are the heavens and the earth; he stoops to look, ⁷ and lifts the poor from the dirt and the hungry from the garbage dump, ⁸ and sets them among princes! ⁹ He gives children to the childless wife, so that she becomes a happy mother.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.

4 A reply to Job from Eliphaz the Temanite:

² “Will you let me say a word? For who could keep from speaking out? ^3-4 In the past^[a] you have told many a troubled soul to trust in God and have encouraged those who are weak or falling, or lie crushed upon the ground or are tempted to despair. ⁵ But now when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken.

⁶ “At such a time as this should not trust in God still be your confidence? Shouldn’t you believe that God will care for those who are good?^[b]

¹² “This truth was given me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. ¹³ It came in a nighttime vision as others slept. ¹⁴ Suddenly, fear gripped me; I trembled and shook with terror, ¹⁵ as a spirit passed before my face—my hair stood up on end. ¹⁶ I felt the spirit’s presence, but couldn’t see it standing there. Then out of the dreadful silence came this voice:

¹⁷ “‘Is mere man more just than God? More pure than his Creator?’

^18-19 “If God cannot trust his own messengers (for even angels make mistakes), how much less men made of dust, who are crushed to death as easily as moths! ²⁰ They are alive in the morning, but by evening they are dead, gone forever with hardly a thought from anyone. ²¹ Their candle of life is snuffed out. They die and no one cares.

4 Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before, which sounded like a mighty trumpet blast, spoke to me and said, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen in the future!”

² And instantly I was in spirit there in heaven and saw—oh, the glory of it!—a throne and someone sitting on it! ³ Great bursts of light flashed forth from him as from a glittering diamond or from a shining ruby, and a rainbow glowing like an emerald encircled his throne. ⁴ Twenty-four smaller thrones surrounded his, with twenty-four Elders sitting on them; all were clothed in white, with golden crowns upon their heads. ⁵ Lightning and thunder issued from the throne, and there were voices in the thunder. Directly in front of his throne were seven lighted lamps representing the sevenfold Spirit of God.^{[a] 6} Spread out before it was a shiny crystal sea. Four Living Beings, dotted front and back with eyes, stood at the throne’s four sides. ⁷ The first of these Living Beings was in the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had the face of a man; and the fourth, the form of an eagle, with wings spread out as though in flight. ⁸ Each of these Living Beings had six wings, and the central sections of their wings were covered with eyes. Day after day and night after night they kept on saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty—the one who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ And when the Living Beings gave glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four Elders fell down before him and worshiped him, the Eternal Living One, and cast their crowns before the throne, singing, ¹¹ “O Lord, you are worthy to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for you have created all things. They were created and called into being by your act of will.”

6 Soon afterwards he left that section of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. ^2-3 The next Sabbath he went to the synagogue to teach, and the people were astonished at his wisdom and his miracles because he was just a local man like themselves.

“He’s no better than we are,” they said. “He’s just a carpenter, Mary’s boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” And they were offended!

⁴ Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his hometown and among his relatives and by his own family.” ⁵ And because of their unbelief he couldn’t do any mighty miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶ And he could hardly accept the fact that they wouldn’t believe in him.

Then he went out among the villages, teaching.