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!)
36 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
2 Take a scroll [of parchment] for a book and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you in the days of [King] Josiah until this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, so that each one may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.(A)
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon the scroll of the book all the words which Jeremiah dictated, [words] that the Lord had spoken to him.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am [in hiding, virtually] restrained and shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
6 Therefore you go, and on a day of fasting, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord’s house, you shall read the words of the Lord which you have written on the scroll at my dictation. Also you shall read them in the hearing of all who come out of the cities of Judah.
7 It may be that they will make their supplication [for mercy] before the Lord, and each one will turn back from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.
8 And Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from [Jeremiah’s] book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
9 And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah.
10 Then Baruch read in the hearing of all the people the words of Jeremiah from the scroll of the book in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.
8 Now at Lystra a man sat who found it impossible to use his feet, for he was a cripple from birth and had never walked.
9 He was listening to Paul as he talked, and [Paul] gazing intently at him and observing that he had faith to be healed,
10 Shouted at him, saying, Stand erect on your feet! And he leaped up and walked.
11 And the crowds, when they saw what Paul had done, lifted up their voices, shouting in the Lycaonian language, The gods have come down to us in human form!
12 They called Barnabas Zeus, and they called Paul, because he led in the discourse, Hermes [god of speech].
13 And the priest of Zeus, whose [temple] was at the entrance of the town, brought bulls and garlands to the [city’s] gates and wanted to join the people in offering sacrifice.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothing and dashed out among the crowd, shouting,
15 Men, why are you doing this? We also are [only] human beings, of nature like your own, and we bring you the good news (Gospel) that you should turn away from these foolish and vain things to the living God, Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that they contain.(A)
16 In generations past He permitted all the nations to walk in their own ways;
17 Yet He did not neglect to leave some witness of Himself, for He did you good and [showed you] kindness and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with nourishment and happiness.
18 Even in [the light of] these words they with difficulty prevented the people from offering sacrifice to them.
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to dine with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.
37 And behold, a woman of the town who was [a]an especially wicked sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment (perfume).
38 And standing behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with [her] tears; and she wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet [affectionately] and anointed them with the ointment (perfume).
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw it, he said to himself, If this Man were a prophet, He would surely know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him—for she is a notorious sinner (a social outcast, devoted to sin).
40 And Jesus, replying, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, Teacher, say it.
41 A certain lender of money [at interest] had two debtors: one owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 When they had no means of paying, he freely forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?
43 Simon answered, The one, I take it, for whom he forgave and cancelled more. And Jesus said to him, You have decided correctly.
44 Then turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You gave Me no kiss, but she from the moment I came in has not ceased [[b]intermittently] to kiss My feet tenderly and caressingly.
46 You did not anoint My head with [c][cheap, ordinary] oil, but she has anointed My feet with [d][costly, rare] perfume.
47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, many [as they are], are forgiven her—because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little.
48 And He said to her, Your sins are forgiven!
49 Then those who were at table with Him began to say among themselves, Who is this Who even forgives sins?
50 But Jesus said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go (enter) [e]into peace [[f]in freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin].
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