Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 145[a]
The Greatness and Goodness of God
1 Praise. Of David.
I will extol you, my God and king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.(A)
3 Great is the Lord and worthy of much praise,(B)
whose grandeur is beyond understanding.
4 One generation praises your deeds to the next
and proclaims your mighty works.(C)
5 They speak of the splendor of your majestic glory,
tell of your wonderful deeds.(D)
6 They speak of the power of your awesome acts
and recount your great deeds.(E)
7 They celebrate your abounding goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.(F)
9 The Lord is good to all,
compassionate toward all your works.(G)
10 All your works give you thanks, Lord
and your faithful bless you.(H)
11 They speak of the glory of your reign
and tell of your mighty works,
12 Making known to the sons of men your mighty acts,
the majestic glory of your rule.
13 Your reign is a reign for all ages,
your dominion for all generations.(I)
The Lord is trustworthy in all his words,
and loving in all his works.
14 The Lord supports all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.(J)
15 The eyes of all look hopefully to you;
you give them their food in due season.(K)
16 You open wide your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is just in all his ways,
merciful in all his works.(L)
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon him,
to all who call upon him in truth.(M)
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.(N)
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.(O)
21 My mouth will speak the praises of the Lord;
all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 104[a]
Praise of God the Creator
I
1 Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and splendor,
2 robed in light as with a cloak.
You spread out the heavens like a tent;(A)
3 setting the beams of your chambers upon the waters.[b]
You make the clouds your chariot;
traveling on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers;
flaming fire, your ministers.(B)
II
5 [c]You fixed the earth on its foundation,
so it can never be shaken.
6 The deeps covered it like a garment;
above the mountains stood the waters.
7 At your rebuke they took flight;
at the sound of your thunder they fled.(C)
8 They rushed up the mountains, down the valleys
to the place you had fixed for them.
9 You set a limit they cannot pass;
never again will they cover the earth.(D)
III
10 You made springs flow in wadies
that wind among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field;(E)
here wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of heaven nest;
among the branches they sing.
13 You water the mountains from your chambers;
from the fruit of your labor the earth abounds.
14 You make the grass grow for the cattle
and plants for people’s work
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 wine to gladden their hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread to sustain the human heart.
16 [d]The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted.
17 There the birds build their nests;
the stork in the junipers, its home.(F)
18 The high mountains are for wild goats;
the rocky cliffs, a refuge for badgers.
IV
19 You made the moon to mark the seasons,(G)
the sun that knows the hour of its setting.
20 You bring darkness and night falls,
then all the animals of the forest wander about.
21 Young lions roar for prey;
they seek their food from God.(H)
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and settle down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work,
to their labor till evening falls.
V
24 How varied are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.(I)
25 There is the sea, great and wide!
It teems with countless beings,
living things both large and small.(J)
26 There ships ply their course
and Leviathan,[e] whom you formed to play with.(K)
VI
27 All of these look to you
to give them food in due time.(L)
28 When you give it to them, they gather;
when you open your hand, they are well filled.
29 [f]When you hide your face, they panic.
Take away their breath, they perish
and return to the dust.(M)
30 Send forth your spirit, they are created
and you renew the face of the earth.
VII
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord be glad in his works!
32 Who looks at the earth and it trembles,
touches the mountains and they smoke!(N)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(O)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners vanish from the earth,
and the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Hallelujah![g]
Chapter 25
Praise for God’s Deliverance and the Celebration in Zion[a]
1 O Lord, you are my God,
I extol you, I praise your name;
For you have carried out your wonderful plans of old,
faithful and true.(A)
2 For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin,
The castle of the insolent, a city no more,
not ever to be rebuilt.(B)
3 Therefore a strong people will honor you,
ruthless nations will fear you.
4 For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress;
Shelter from the rain,
shade from the heat.(C)
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rain,
5 the roar of strangers like heat in the desert,
You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud,
the rain of the tyrants was vanquished.
6 On this mountain[b] the Lord of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations.
8 He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.(D)
9 On that day it will be said:
“Indeed, this is our God; we looked to him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord to whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”(E)
13 Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus. 14 Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them, they could say nothing in reply. 15 So they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, and conferred with one another, saying, 16 “What are we to do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign was done through them, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it may not be spread any further among the people, let us give them a stern warning never again to speak to anyone in this name.”(A)
18 So they called them back and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 Peter and John, however, said to them in reply, “Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.(B) 20 It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” 21 After threatening them further, they released them, finding no way to punish them, on account of the people who were all praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been done was over forty years old.
Prayer of the Community. 23 After their release they went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them. 24 And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, 25 you said by the holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant:
‘Why did the Gentiles rage(C)
and the peoples entertain folly?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand
and the princes gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed.’
27 Indeed they gathered in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, Herod[a] and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,(D) 28 to do what your hand and [your] will had long ago planned to take place. 29 And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30 as you stretch forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 [b]As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.(E)
Life in the Christian Community.[c]
16 “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.”(A) 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ [of which he speaks]? We do not know what he means.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.(B) 21 When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.(C) 22 So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.(D) 23 On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.(E) 24 Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
25 [a](F)“I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.(G) 27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”(H) 29 His disciples said, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. 30 Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.”[b] 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? 32 Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered[c] to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.(I) 33 I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”(J)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.