Book of Common Prayer
A Hymn of Thanksgiving
136 (A)Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good;
his love is eternal.
2 Give thanks to the greatest of all gods;
his love is eternal.
3 Give thanks to the mightiest of all lords;
his love is eternal.
4 He alone performs great miracles;
his love is eternal.
5 (B)By his wisdom he made the heavens;
his love is eternal;
6 (C)he built the earth on the deep waters;
his love is eternal.
7 (D)He made the sun and the moon;
his love is eternal;
8 the sun to rule over the day;
his love is eternal;
9 the moon and the stars to rule over the night;
his love is eternal.
10 (E)He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians;
his love is eternal.
11 (F)He led the people of Israel out of Egypt;
his love is eternal;
12 with his strong hand, his powerful arm;
his love is eternal.
13 (G)He divided the Red Sea;
his love is eternal;
14 he led his people through it;
his love is eternal;
15 but he drowned the king of Egypt and his army;
his love is eternal.
16 He led his people through the desert;
his love is eternal.
17 He killed powerful kings;
his love is eternal;
18 he killed famous kings;
his love is eternal;
19 (H)Sihon, king of the Amorites;
his love is eternal;
20 (I)and Og, king of Bashan;
his love is eternal.
21 He gave their lands to his people;
his love is eternal;
22 he gave them to Israel, his servant;
his love is eternal.
23 He did not forget us when we were defeated;
his love is eternal;
24 he freed us from our enemies;
his love is eternal.
25 He gives food to every living creature;
his love is eternal.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven;
his love is eternal.
A Prayer of Thanks for Victory
118 (A)Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.
2 Let the people of Israel say,
“His love is eternal.”
3 Let the priests of God say,
“His love is eternal.”
4 Let all who worship him say,
“His love is eternal.”
5 In my distress I called to the Lord;
he answered me and set me free.
6 (B)The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid;
what can anyone do to me?
7 It is the Lord who helps me,
and I will see my enemies defeated.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to depend on people.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord
than to depend on human leaders.
10 Many enemies were around me;
but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!
11 They were around me on every side;
but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord!
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they burned out as quickly as a brush fire;
by the power of the Lord I destroyed them.
13 I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated,
but the Lord helped me.
14 (C)The Lord makes me powerful and strong;
he has saved me.
15 Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God's people:
“The Lord's mighty power has done it!
16 His power has brought us victory—
his mighty power in battle!”
17 I will not die; instead, I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 He has punished me severely,
but he has not let me die.
19 Open to me the gates of the Temple;
I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
only the righteous can come in.
21 I praise you, Lord, because you heard me,
because you have given me victory.
22 (D)The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
turned out to be the most important of all.
23 This was done by the Lord;
what a wonderful sight it is!
24 This is the day of the Lord's victory;
let us be happy, let us celebrate!
25 (E)Save us, Lord, save us!
Give us success, O Lord!
26 (F)May God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
From the Temple of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God; he has been good to us.
With branches in your hands, start the festival
and march around the altar.
28 You are my God, and I give you thanks;
I will proclaim your greatness.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good,
and his love is eternal.
Dedication of the First-Born
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 (A)“Dedicate all the first-born males to me, for every first-born male Israelite and every first-born male animal belongs to me.”
The First-Born
11 “The Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, which he solemnly promised to you and your ancestors. When he gives it to you, 12 (A)you must offer every first-born male to the Lord. Every first-born male of your animals belongs to the Lord, 13 but you must buy back from him every first-born male donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not want to buy back the donkey, break its neck. You must buy back every first-born male child of yours. 14 In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, ‘By using great power the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves. 15 When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the Lord killed every first-born male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every first-born male animal to the Lord, but buy back our first-born sons. 16 This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on our hands or on our foreheads; it will remind us that the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his great power.’”
51-52 (A)Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed. 53 For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. 54 (B)So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: “Death is destroyed; victory is complete!”
55 (C)“Where, Death, is your victory?
Where, Death, is your power to hurt?”
56 Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. 57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58 So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless.
The Resurrection(A)
24 Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, 3 so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. 5 Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? 6 (B)He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”
8 Then the women remembered his words, 9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. 10 The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. 11 But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.[a]
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.