Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul!

² While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.

³ Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

⁴ When his breath leaves him, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans, and purposes perish.^(A)

⁵ Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,^(B)

⁶ Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,

⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners,

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright in heart and in right standing with Him).^(C)

⁹ The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow and sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin).

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign forever, even Your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(D)

Psalm 147

¹ Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God, for He is gracious and lovely; praise is becoming and appropriate.

² The Lord is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering together the exiles of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].^(E)

⁴ He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

⁵ Great is our Lord and of great power; His understanding is inexhaustible and boundless.

⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises with the harp or the lyre to our God!—

⁸ Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

⁹ He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens that for which they cry.

¹⁰ He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹ The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.^(F)

¹² Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

¹³ For He has strengthened and made hard the bars of your gates, and He has blessed your children within you.

¹⁴ He makes peace in your borders; He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

¹⁵ He sends forth His commandment to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.

¹⁶ He gives [to the earth] snow like [a blanket of] wool; He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.

¹⁷ He casts forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold?

¹⁸ He sends out His word, and melts [ice and snow]; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.^(G)

²⁰ He has not dealt so with any [other] nation; they have not known (understood, appreciated, given heed to, and cherished) His ordinances. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(H)

Psalm 111

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) I will praise and give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the council of the upright and in the congregation.

² The works of the Lord are great, sought out by all those who have delight in them.

³ His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.

⁴ He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious, merciful, and full of loving compassion.

⁵ He has given food and provision to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever and imprint it [on His mind].^(A)

⁶ He has declared and shown to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations [of Canaan].

⁷ The works of His hands are [absolute] truth and justice [faithful and right]; and all His decrees and precepts are sure (fixed, established, and trustworthy).

⁸ They stand fast and are established forever and ever and are done in [absolute] truth and uprightness.

⁹ He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant to be forever; holy is His name, inspiring awe, reverence, and godly fear.

¹⁰ The reverent fear and worship of the Lord is the beginning of ^[a]Wisdom and skill [the preceding and the first essential, the prerequisite and the alphabet]; a good understanding, wisdom, and meaning have all those who do [the will of the Lord]. Their praise of Him endures forever.^(B)

Psalm 112

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.^(C)

² His [spiritual] offspring shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

³ Prosperity and welfare are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

⁴ Light arises in the darkness for the upright, gracious, compassionate, and just [who are in right standing with God].

⁵ It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.^(D)

⁶ He will not be moved forever; the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall be in everlasting remembrance.^(E)

⁷ He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firmly fixed, trusting (leaning on and being confident) in the Lord.

⁸ His heart is established and steady, he will not be afraid while he waits to see his desire established upon his adversaries.

⁹ He has distributed freely [he has given to the poor and needy]; his righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) endures forever; his horn shall be exalted in honor.^(F)

¹⁰ The wicked man will see it and be grieved and angered, he will gnash his teeth and disappear [in despair]; the desire of the wicked shall perish and come to nothing.

Psalm 113

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord!

² Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever

³ From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised!

⁴ The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens!

⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, Who has His seat on high,

⁶ Who humbles Himself to regard the heavens and the earth!^(G)

⁷ [The Lord] raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap and the dung hill,

⁸ That He may seat them with princes, even with the princes of His people.

⁹ He makes the barren woman to be a homemaker and a joyful mother of [spiritual] children. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

⁸ Bring forth the blind people who have eyes and the deaf who have ears.

⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together and let the peoples be assembled. Who among [the idolaters] could predict this [that Cyrus would be the deliverer of Israel] and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear and acknowledge, It is the truth.^(A)

¹⁰ You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.

¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

¹² I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]—when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God.

¹³ Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand. I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it?

² Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurtured and grow unto [completed] salvation,

³ Since you have [already] tasted the goodness and kindness of the Lord.^(A)

⁴ Come to Him [then, to that] Living Stone which men ^[a]tried and threw away, but which is chosen [and] precious in God’s sight.^(B)

⁵ [Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶ For thus it stands in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen (^[b]honored), precious chief Cornerstone, and he who believes in Him [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] shall never be ^[c]disappointed or put to shame.^(C)

⁷ To you then who believe (who adhere to, trust in, and rely on Him) is the preciousness; but for those who disbelieve [it is true], The [very] Stone which the builders rejected has become the main Cornerstone,^(D)

⁸ And, A Stone that will cause stumbling and a Rock that will give [men] offense; they stumble because they disobey and disbelieve [God’s] Word, as those [who reject Him] were destined (appointed) to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own ^[d]purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.^(E)

¹⁰ Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you were unpitied, but now you are pitied and have received mercy.^(F)

14 Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.

² In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you.

³ And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.

⁴ And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way.

⁵ Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?

⁶ Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.

⁷ If you had known Me [had learned to recognize Me], you would also have known My Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.