Book of Common Prayer
Let All Creation Praise Yahweh
148 Praise Yah.[a]
Praise Yahweh from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts.[b]
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all stars of light.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,[c]
and waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of Yahweh,
because he commanded and they were created.
6 And he put them in place forever and ever,
by a decree he gave that will not pass away.
7 Praise Yahweh from the earth—
great sea creatures and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and cloud,[d]
stormy wind doing his bidding,[e]
9 the mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 beasts and all cattle,[f]
creeping things and flying birds,[g]
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women as well,
the old together with the young—
13 let them praise the name of Yahweh,
because his name alone is is exalted.
His splendor is above earth and heavens.
14 And he has raised high a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful—
for the children of Israel,
a people close to him.
Praise Yah.[h]
Praise to God for His Future Judgment
149 Praise Yah.[i]
Sing to Yahweh a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing;
let them sing praises to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people;
he glorifies the afflicted with salvation.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the extolling of God be in their throat,
and a double-edged sword in their hand,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,[j]
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles[k] with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment that is decreed.[l]
This will be honor for all his faithful ones;
Praise Yah.[m]
Let Everything Praise Yahweh
150 Praise Yah.[n]
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament.
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to the abundance of his greatness.
3 Praise him with blast of horn;
praise him with harp and lyre.
4 Praise him with tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flute.
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with clashing cymbals.
6 Every breathing thing,
let it praise Yah.[o]
Praise Yah.[p]
Praise to God for His Works During the Exodus
114 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea looked and fled;
the Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.[a]
5 What’s with you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 At the presence of the Lord writhe, O earth,[b]
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turned the rock into a pool of water,
flinty stone into a spring of water.
Dead Idols and the Living God
115 Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
because of your loyal love,
because of your faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where, pray tell,[c] is their God?”
3 But our God is in the heavens;
all that he desires, he does.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak;
they have eyes, but cannot see;
6 they have ears, but cannot hear;
they have noses, but cannot smell;
7 they have their hands, but they cannot feel,
their feet, but they cannot walk;
they cannot utter a sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them become like them,
as does everyone who trusts in them.
9 O Israel, trust Yahweh;
he is their help and their shield.
10 O 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,
the small with the great.
14 May Yahweh give you increase,
you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by Yahweh,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of humankind.
17 The dead do not praise Yah,[d]
nor any descending into silence.
18 It is we, we will bless Yah[e]
from now until forever.
Praise Yah![f]
Yahweh Rescues His People
14 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer,
the holy one of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
and I will cause all of them to fall down as fugitives,
and the Chaldeans,[a] their rejoicing on the ships.
15 I am Yahweh, your holy one,
the creator of Israel, your king.”
16 Thus says Yahweh, who makes[b] a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and mighty one.
Together they lie down;
they cannot rise.
They are extinguished,
quenched like a wick.
18 “You must not remember the former things,
and you not must consider the former things.
19 Look! I am about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts!
Do you not perceive[c] it?
Indeed, I will make[d] a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
20 The animals of the field will honor me,
jackals and daughters of the ostrich,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give a drink to my chosen people,
21 this people whom I formed for myself,
so they might make known[e] my praise.
22 But[f] you did not call me, Jacob;
for you have become weary of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me your sheep for a burnt offering
nor[g] honored me with your sacrifice.
I have not made you serve with offerings,[h]
nor have I made you weary with frankincense.
24 You have not bought me spice reed with money
or[i] satisfied me with the fat of sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have made me weary with your iniquities.
25 I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Take me to court; let us enter into judgment together.
You, make an account[j] so that you may be in the right.
27 Your first ancestor[k] sinned,
and your representatives[l] transgressed against me.
28 And I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel to reviling.
Yahweh Blesses Chosen Israel
44 “But now hear, Jacob my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 Thus says Yahweh, who made you,
and who formed you in[m] the womb and will help you:
you must not fear, my servant Jacob,
and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour out water on a thirsty land
and streams on dry ground.
I will pour my spirit out on your descendants[n]
and my blessing on your offspring.
4 And they shall sprout among[o] the grass
like willows by a watercourse of water.
5 This one will say, ‘I belong to Yahweh!’
And that one will be called by the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand ‘Yahweh’s’
and take the name[p] of Israel.”
17 In the same way God, because he[a] wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, 18 in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, 19 which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast, and entering into the inside of the curtain, 20 where Jesus, the forerunner for us, entered, because he[b] became a high priest forever[c] according to the order of Melchizedek.
The Greatness of Melchizedek
7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham as he[d] was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,[e] 2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything[f]—in the first place, his name is translated “king of righteousness,” and then also “king of Salem,” that is, “king of peace”; 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God—he remains a priest for all time.
4 But see how great this man was, to whom Abraham[g] the patriarch gave a tenth from the spoils! 5 And indeed those of the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have a commandment to collect a tenth from the people according to the law, that is, from their brothers, although they are descended from Abraham[h]. 6 But the one who did not trace his descent from them collected tithes from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 Now without any dispute the inferior is blessed by the more prominent. 8 And in this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case it is testified that he lives. 9 And, so to speak[i], even Levi, the one who receives tithes, has paid tithes through Abraham. 10 For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
The Disciples and the Harvest
27 And at this point[a] his disciples came, and they were astonished that he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you seek?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people,[b] 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I have ever done! Perhaps this one is the Christ?” 30 They went out from the town and were coming to him.
31 In the meanwhile the disciples were asking him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something!”[c] 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples began to say[d] to one another, “No one brought him anything[e] to eat, did they?”[f] 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.[g] 36 The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, in order that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 37 For in this instance[h] the saying is true, ‘It is one who sows and another who reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have worked, and you have entered into their work.”
The Samaritans and the Savior of the World
39 Now from that town many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking[i] him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word, 42 And they were saying to the woman, “No longer because of what you said[j] do we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world!”
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