Book of Common Prayer
Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.
To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
66 Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
2
Sing of the honor and glory and magnificence of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
3
Say to God, “How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will pretend to be obedient to You.
4
“All the earth will [bow down to] worship You [in submissive wonder],
And will sing praises to You;
They will praise Your name in song.” Selah.
5
Come and see the works of God,
He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of men.
6
He turned the sea into dry land;
They crossed through the river on foot;
There we rejoiced in Him.(A)
7
Who rules by His might forever,
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
8
Bless our God, O peoples,
And make the sound of His praise be heard abroad,
9
Who keeps us among the living,
And does not allow our feet to slip or stumble.
10
For You have tested us, O God;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11
You brought us into the net;
You laid a heavy burden [of servitude] on [a]us.
12
You made men (charioteers) [b]ride over our heads [in defeat];
We went through fire and through water,
Yet You brought us out into a [broad] place of abundance [to be refreshed].
13
I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;
I shall pay You my vows,
14
Which my lips uttered
And my mouth spoke as a promise when I was in distress.
15
I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat lambs,
With the [sweet] smoke of rams;
I will offer bulls with male goats. Selah.
16
Come and hear, all who fear God [and worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and obedience],
And I will tell what He has done for me.
17
I cried aloud to Him;
He was highly praised with my tongue.
18
If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],
The Lord will not hear [me];(B)
19
But certainly God has heard [me];
He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
20
Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer
Nor His lovingkindness from me.
The Nations Exhorted to Praise God.
To the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
67 God be gracious and kind-hearted to us and bless us,
And make His face shine [with favor] on us— Selah.
2
That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation and deliverance among all nations.
3
Let the [c]peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
For You will judge the people fairly
And guide the nations on earth. Selah.
5
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
6
The earth has yielded its harvest [as evidence of His approval];
God, our God, blesses us.
7
God blesses us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].
Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.
116 I love the Lord, because He hears [and continues to hear]
My voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs).
2
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
3
The cords and sorrows of death encompassed me,
And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;
I found distress and sorrow.
4
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, please save my life!”
5
Gracious is the Lord, and [consistently] righteous;
Yes, our God is compassionate.
6
[a]The Lord protects the simple (childlike);
I was brought low [humbled and discouraged], and He saved me.
7
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.(A)
8
For You have rescued my life from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from stumbling and falling.
9
I will walk [in submissive wonder] before the Lord
In the land of the living.
10
I believed [and clung to my God] when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”(B)
11
I said in my alarm,
“All men are liars.”
12
What will I give to the Lord [in return]
For all His benefits toward me?
[How can I repay Him for His precious blessings?]
13
I will lift up the cup of salvation
And call on the name of the Lord.
14
I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people.
15
[b]Precious [and of great consequence] in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His godly ones [so He watches over them].
16
O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid;
You have unfastened my chains.
17
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call on the name of the Lord.
18
I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people,
19
In the courts of the Lord’s house (temple)—
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
A Psalm of Praise.
117 O praise the Lord, all you nations!
Praise Him, all you people!(C)
2
For His lovingkindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him],
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
10
Then in that day
The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.(A)
The Restored Remnant
11
Then it will happen on that day that the Lord
Will again acquire with His hand a second time
The remnant of His people, who will remain,
From Assyria, from [Lower] Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush (Ethiopia), from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Aram],
And from the coastlands bordering the [Mediterranean] Sea.(B)
12
And He will lift up a signal for the nations
And assemble the [a]outcasts of Israel,
And will gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13
Then the jealousy of [b]Ephraim will depart,
And those who harass [c]Judah will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14
Ephraim and Judah will [unite and] swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they will plunder the sons (Arabs) of the east.
They will possess Edom and Moab,
And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.
15
And the Lord will utterly destroy
The tongue of the [d]Sea of Egypt;
And with His scorching wind
He will wave His hand over the River;
He will strike and divide it into seven channels
And make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.
16
And there will be a highway from Assyria
For the remnant of His people who will be left,
Just as there was for Israel
In the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt.
The Final Judgment
11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them [for this heaven and earth are passing away].(A) 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged according to what they had done as written in the books [that is, everything done while on earth].(B) 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades (the realm of the dead) surrendered the dead who were in them; and they were judged and sentenced, every one according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades [the realm of the dead] were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire [the eternal separation from God].(C) 15 And if [a]anyone’s name was not found [b]written in the Book of Life, he was hurled into the lake of fire.
The New Heaven and Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (vanished), and there is no longer any [c]sea.(D) 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed like a bride adorned for her husband;(E) 3 and then I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “See! The tabernacle of God is among men, and He will live among them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them [d][as their God,](F) 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death; there will no longer be sorrow and anguish, or crying, or pain; for the [e]former order of things has passed away.”(G)
5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true [they are accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy].”(H) 6 And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I will give [water] from the fountain of the water of life without cost.(I) 7 [f]He who overcomes [the world by adhering faithfully to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior] will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.(J) 8 But as for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable [who are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice or tolerate immorality], and murderers, and sorcerers [with intoxicating drugs], and idolaters and occultists [who practice and teach false religions], and all the liars [who knowingly deceive and twist truth], their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 In the days of Herod [the Great], king of Judea, there was a certain priest whose name was [a]Zacharias, of [b]the division of Abijah. His wife was [c]a descendant of Aaron [the first high priest of Israel], and her name was Elizabeth. 6 They both were righteous (approved) in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 7 But they were childless, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both far advanced in years.
8 Now it happened while Zacharias was serving as priest before God in the appointed order of his priestly division, 9 as was the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and [d]burn incense [on the altar of incense].(A) 10 And all the congregation was praying outside [in the court of the temple] at the hour of the incense offering. 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zacharias saw the angel, he was troubled and overcome with fear. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition [in prayer] was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him [e]John. 14 You will have great joy and delight, and many will rejoice over his birth, 15 for he will be great and distinguished in the sight of the Lord; and will never drink wine or liquor, and he will be filled with and empowered to act by the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.(B) 16 He will turn many of the sons of Israel back [from sin] to [love and serve] the Lord their God. 17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous [which is to seek and submit to the will of God]—in order to make ready a people [perfectly] prepared [spiritually and morally] for the Lord.”(C)
18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I be certain of this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in age.” 19 The angel replied and said to him, “I am Gabriel; I stand and minister in the [very] presence of God, and I have been sent [by Him] to speak to you and to bring you this good news.(D) 20 [f]Listen carefully, you will be continually silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe what I told you; but my words will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
21 The people [outside in the court] were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering about his long delay in the temple. 22 But when he did come out, he was unable to speak to them. They realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When his time of priestly service was finished, he returned to his home.
24 Now after this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and for five months she secluded herself completely, saying, 25 “This is how the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor on me, to take away my [g]disgrace among men.”(E)
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