Book of Common Prayer

³ Do not put your trust in princes
    or other people, who cannot save you.
⁴ When people die, they are buried.
    Then all of their plans come to an end.
⁵ Happy are those who are helped by the God of Jacob.
    Their hope is in the Lord their God.
⁶ He made heaven and earth,
    the sea and everything in it.
    He remains loyal forever.
⁷ The Lord does what is fair for those who have been wronged.
    He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
⁸     The Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up people who are in trouble.
    The Lord loves those who do right.
⁹ The Lord protects the foreigners.
    He defends the orphans and widows.
    But he overthrows the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord will be King forever.
    Jerusalem, your God is everlasting.

Praise the Lord!

It is good to sing praises to our God.
    It is good and pleasant to praise him.
² The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem.
    He brings back the scattered Israelites who were taken captive.
³ He heals the brokenhearted.
    He bandages their wounds.

⁴ He counts the stars
    and names each one.
⁵ Our Lord is great and very powerful.
    There is no limit to what he knows.
⁶ The Lord defends those who are not proud.
    But he throws the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing praises to the Lord.
    Praise our God with harps.
⁸ He fills the sky with clouds.
    He sends rain to the earth.
    He makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He gives food to cattle
    and to the little birds that call.

¹⁰ He is not pleased by the strength of a horse
    or the power of a man.
¹¹ The Lord is pleased with those who fear him,
    with those who trust his love.

¹² Jerusalem, praise the Lord.
    Jerusalem, praise your God.
¹³ He makes your city gates strong.
    He blesses the people inside.
¹⁴ He brings peace to your country.
    He fills you with the finest grain.

¹⁵ He gives a command to the earth,
    and it quickly obeys him.
¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool.
    He scatters the frost like ashes.
¹⁷ He throws down hail like rocks.
    No one can stand the cold he sends.
¹⁸ Then he gives a command, and it melts.
    He sends the breezes, and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He gave his word to Jacob.
    He gave his laws and demands to Israel.
²⁰ He didn’t do this for any other nation.
    They don’t know his laws.

Praise the Lord!

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
    in the meeting of his good people.
² The Lord does great things.
    Those people who love them think about them.
³ What he does is glorious and splendid.
    His goodness continues forever.
⁴ His miracles are unforgettable.
    The Lord is kind and merciful.
⁵ He gives food to those who fear him.
    He remembers his agreement forever.
⁶ He has shown his people his power
    when he gave them the lands of other nations.

⁷ Everything he does is good and fair.
    All his orders can be trusted.
⁸ They will continue forever.
    They were made true and right.
⁹ He sets his people free.
    He made his agreement everlasting.
    He is holy and wonderful.

¹⁰ Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord.
    Those who obey his orders have good understanding.
    He should be praised forever.

Happy is the person who fears the Lord.
    He loves what the Lord commands.
² His descendants will be powerful in the land.
    The children of honest people will be blessed.
³ His house will be full of wealth and riches.
    His goodness will continue forever.

⁴ A light shines in the dark for honest people.
    It shines for those who are good and kind and merciful.
⁵ It is good to be kind and generous.
    Whoever is fair in his business
⁶ will never be defeated.
    A good person will be remembered from now on.
⁷ He won’t be afraid of bad news.
    He is safe because he trusts the Lord.
⁸ That person is confident. He will not be afraid.
    He will look down on his enemies.
⁹ He gives freely to the poor.
    The things he does are right and will continue forever.
    He will be given great honor.

¹⁰ The wicked will see this and become angry.
    They will grind their teeth in anger and then disappear.
    The wishes of the wicked will come to nothing.

Praise him, you servants of the Lord.
    Praise the name of the Lord.
² The Lord’s name should be praised
    now and forever.
³ The Lord’s name should be praised
    from where the sun rises to where it sets.
⁴ The Lord is supreme over all the nations.
    His glory reaches to the skies.

⁵ No one is like the Lord our God.
    He rules from heaven.
⁶ He bends down to look
    at the skies and the earth.
⁷ The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt.
    He takes the helpless from the ashes.
⁸ And he seats them with princes,
    the princes of his people.
⁹ He gives children to the woman who has none.
    He makes her a happy mother.

Praise the Lord!

“The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem.
    His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem.
The green pastures of the shepherds will become dry.
    Even Mount Carmel will dry up.”

“For the many crimes Damascus is doing,
    I will punish them.
They beat the people of Gilead
    with threshing boards that had iron teeth.
⁴ So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael.
    That fire will destroy the strong towers of Ben-Hadad.
⁵ I will break down the gate of Damascus.
    I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven.
I will also destroy the king of Beth Eden.
    The people of Aram will be taken captive to the country of Kir,” says the Lord.

“For the many crimes Ammon is doing,
    I will punish them.
They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead.
    They did this so they could take over that land
    and make their own country larger.
¹⁴ So I will send fire on the walls of Rabbah.
    That fire will destroy the city’s strong towers.
It will come during a day of battle.
    There will be strong winds on a stormy day.
¹⁵ Then their king and leaders will be captured.
    They will all be taken away together,” says the Lord.

“For the many crimes Moab is doing,
    I will punish them.
    They burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.
² So I will send fire on Moab.
    And it will destroy the strong towers of the city of Kerioth.
The people of Moab will die in a great noise.
    They will die in the middle of sounds of war and trumpets.
³ So I will bring an end to the king of Moab.
    And I will kill all its leaders with him,” says the Lord.

“For the many crimes Judah is doing,
    I will punish them.
They rejected the teachings of the Lord.
    They did not keep his commands.
Their ancestors followed false gods.
    And Judah followed those same gods.
⁵ So I will send fire on Judah.
    It will destroy the strong towers of Jerusalem.”

“For the many crimes Israel is doing,
    I will punish them.
For silver they sell people who have done nothing wrong.
    They sell poor people for the price of a pair of sandals.
⁷ They walk on poor people
    as if they were dirt.
    They refuse to be fair to those who are suffering.
Fathers and sons have physical relations with the same woman.
    By doing this they ruin my holy name.
⁸ As they worship at their altars,
    they lie down on clothes taken from poor people.
They make people pay money as punishment.
    With that money they buy wine to drink in the house of their god.