Book of Common Prayer
148 Praise Yah!
Praise Yahweh from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his army!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you heavens of heavens,
you waters that are above the heavens.
5 Let them praise Yahweh’s name,
for he commanded, and they were created.
6 He has also established them forever and ever.
He has made a decree which will not pass away.
7 Praise Yahweh from the earth,
you great sea creatures, and all depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy wind, fulfilling his word,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all livestock,
small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth,
12 both young men and maidens,
old men and children.
13 Let them praise Yahweh’s name,
for his name alone is exalted.
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.
14 He has lifted up the horn of his people,
the praise of all his saints,
even of the children of Israel, a people near to him.
Praise Yah!
149 Praise Yahweh!
Sing to Yahweh a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him who made them.
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance!
Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp!
4 For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people.
He crowns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints rejoice in honor.
Let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the high praises of God be in their mouths,
and a two-edged sword in their hand,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations,
and punishments on the peoples;
8 to bind their kings with chains,
and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 to execute on them the written judgment.
All his saints have this honor.
Praise Yah!
150 Praise Yah!
Praise God in his sanctuary!
Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power!
2 Praise him for his mighty acts!
Praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet!
Praise him with harp and lyre!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dancing!
Praise him with stringed instruments and flute!
5 Praise him with loud cymbals!
Praise him with resounding cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise Yah!
Praise Yah!
114 When Israel went out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign 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 was it, you sea, that you fled?
You Jordan, that you turned back?
6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams?
You little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, you 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 spring of waters.
115 Not to us, Yahweh, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God, now?”
3 But our God is in the heavens.
He does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they don’t speak.
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
6 They have ears, but they don’t hear.
They have noses, but they don’t smell.
7 They have hands, but they don’t feel.
They have feet, but they don’t walk,
neither do they speak through their throat.
8 Those who make them will be like them;
yes, everyone who trusts in them.
9 Israel, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh!
He is their help and their shield.
12 Yahweh remembers us. He will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh,
both small and great.
14 May Yahweh increase you more and more,
you and your children.
15 Blessed are you by Yahweh,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens,
but he has given the earth to the children of men.
17 The dead don’t praise Yah,
nor any who go down into silence,
18 but we will bless Yah,
from this time forward and forever more.
Praise Yah!
5 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up,
gathered out its stones,
planted it with the choicest vine,
built a tower in the middle of it,
and also cut out a wine press in it.
He looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
please judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.
6 I will lay it a wasteland.
It won’t be pruned or hoed,
but it will grow briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression,
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight. 15 Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”
29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism. 30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
31 [a]“To what then should I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’ 33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
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