Book of Common Prayer
Praise God for What He Has Done
For the director of music. A song. A psalm.
66 Everything on earth, shout with joy to God!
2 Sing about his glory!
Make his praise glorious!
3 Say to God, “Your works are amazing!
Because your power is great,
your enemies fall before you.
4 All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you.
They sing praises to your name.” Selah
5 Come and see what God has done,
the amazing things he has done for people.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
The people crossed the river on foot.
So let us rejoice because of what he did.
7 He rules forever with his power.
He keeps his eye on the nations,
so people should not turn against him. Selah
8 You people, praise our God;
loudly sing his praise.
9 He protects our lives
and does not let us be defeated.
10 God, you have tested us;
you have purified us like silver.
11 You let us be trapped
and put a heavy load on us.
12 You let our enemies walk on our heads.
We went through fire and flood,
but you brought us to a place with good things.
13 I will come to your Temple with burnt offerings.
I will give you what I promised,
14 things I promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will bring you offerings of fat animals,
and I will offer sheep, bulls, and goats. Selah
16 All of you who fear God, come and listen,
and I will tell you what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth
and praised him with my tongue.
18 If I had known of any sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened to me.
19 But God has listened;
he has heard my prayer.
20 Praise God,
who did not ignore my prayer
or hold back his love from me.
Everyone Should Praise God
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
67 God, have mercy on us and bless us
and show us your kindness Selah
2 so the world will learn your ways,
and all nations will learn that you can save.
3 God, the people should praise you;
all people should praise you.
4 The nations should be glad and sing
because you judge people fairly.
You guide all the nations on earth. Selah
5 God, the people should praise you;
all people should praise you.
6 The land has given its crops.
God, our God, blesses us.
7 God blesses us
so people all over the earth will fear him.
Thanksgiving for Escaping Death
116 I love the Lord,
because he listens to my prayers for help.
2 He paid attention to me,
so I will call to him for help as long as I live.
3 The ropes of death bound me,
and the fear of the grave took hold of me.
I was troubled and sad.
4 Then I called out the name of the Lord.
I said, “Please, Lord, save me!”
5 The Lord is kind and does what is right;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord watches over the foolish;
when I was helpless, he saved me.
7 I said to myself, “Relax,
because the Lord takes care of you.”
8 Lord, you saved me from death.
You stopped my eyes from crying;
you kept me from being defeated.
9 So I will walk with the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, so I said,
“I am completely ruined.”
11 In my distress I said,
“All people are liars.”
12 What can I give the Lord
for all the good things he has given to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation,
and I will pray to the Lord.
14 I will give the Lord what I promised
in front of all his people.
15 The death of one that belongs to the Lord
is precious in his sight.
16 Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant and the son of your female servant.
You have freed me from my chains.
17 I will give you an offering to show thanks to you,
and I will pray to the Lord.
18 I will give the Lord what I promised
in front of all his people,
19 in the Temple courtyards
in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
A Hymn of Praise
117 All you nations, praise the Lord.
All you people, praise him
2 because the Lord loves us very much,
and his truth is everlasting.
Praise the Lord!
10 At that time the new king from the family of Jesse will stand as a banner for all peoples. The nations will come together around him, and the place where he lives will be filled with glory. 11 At that time the Lord will again reach out and take his people who are left alive in Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Cush, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the islands of the sea.
12 God will raise a banner as a sign for all nations,
and he will gather the people of Israel who were forced from their country.
He will gather the scattered people of Judah
from all parts of the earth.
13 At that time Israel will not be jealous anymore,
and Judah will have no more enemies.
Israel will not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah will not hate Israel.
14 But Israel and Judah will attack the Philistines on the west.
Together they will take the riches from the people of the east.
They will conquer Edom and Moab,
and the people of Ammon will be under their control.
15 The Lord will dry up
the Red Sea of Egypt.
He will wave his arm over the Euphrates River
and dry it up with a scorching wind.
He will divide it into seven small rivers
so that people can walk across them with their sandals on.
16 So God’s people who are left alive
will have a way to leave Assyria,
just like the time the Israelites
came out of Egypt.
People of the World Are Judged
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. Earth and sky ran away from him and disappeared. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and the book of life was opened. The dead were judged by what they had done, which was written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades[a] gave up the dead who were in them. Each person was judged by what he had done. 14 And Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The New Jerusalem
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and there was no sea anymore. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,[b] coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Now God’s presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God.[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.”
5 The One who was sitting on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”
6 The One on the throne said to me, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega,[d] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. 7 Those who win the victory will receive this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But cowards, those who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who sin sexually, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Zechariah and Elizabeth
5 During the time Herod ruled Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to Abijah’s group.[a] Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, came from the family of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth truly did what God said was good. They did everything the Lord commanded and were without fault in keeping his law. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth could not have a baby, and both of them were very old.
8 One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God, because his group was on duty. 9 According to the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to go into the Temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 There were a great many people outside praying at the time the incense was offered. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing on the right side of the incense table. 12 When he saw the angel, Zechariah was startled and frightened. 13 But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to a son, and you will name him John. 14 He will bring you joy and gladness, and many people will be happy because of his birth. 15 John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer, and even from birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will help many people of Israel return to the Lord their God. 17 He will go before the Lord in spirit and power like Elijah. He will make peace between parents and their children and will bring those who are not obeying God back to the right way of thinking, to make a people ready for the coming of the Lord.”
18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is old, too.”
19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand before God, who sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. 20 Now, listen! You will not be able to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe what I told you. But they will really happen.”
21 Outside, the people were still waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he was staying so long in the Temple. 22 When Zechariah came outside, he could not speak to them, and they knew he had seen a vision in the Temple. He could only make signs to them and remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service at the Temple was finished, he went home.
24 Later, Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and did not go out of her house for five months. Elizabeth said, 25 “Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed[b] of me, but now the Lord has taken away that shame.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.