Book of Common Prayer
146 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, my soul!
2 I want to praise the Lord throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my God as long as I live.
3 Do not trust influential people,
mortals who cannot help you.
4 When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans come to an end.
5 Blessed are those who receive help from the God of Jacob.
Their hope rests on the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven, earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
The Lord remains faithful forever.
7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
He gives food to those who are hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free.
8 The Lord gives sight to blind people.
The Lord straightens ⌞the backs⌟ of those who are bent over.
The Lord loves righteous people.
9 The Lord protects foreigners.
The Lord gives relief to orphans and widows.
But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
10 The Lord rules as king forever.
Zion, your God rules throughout every generation.
Hallelujah!
147 Hallelujah!
It is good to sing psalms to our God.
It is pleasant to sing ⌞his⌟ praise beautifully.
2 The Lord is the builder of Jerusalem.
He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.
3 He is the healer of the brokenhearted.
He is the one who bandages their wounds.
4 He determines the number of stars.
He gives each one a name.
5 Our Lord is great, and his power is great.
There is no limit to his understanding.
6 The Lord gives relief to those who are oppressed.
He brings wicked people down to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord a song of thanksgiving.
Make music to our God with a lyre.
8 He covers the sky with clouds.
He provides rain for the ground.
He makes grass grow on the mountains.
9 He is the one who gives food to animals
and to young ravens when they call out.
10 He finds no joy in strong horses,
nor is he pleased by brave soldiers.
11 The Lord is pleased with those who fear him,
with those who wait with hope for his mercy.
12 Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 He makes the bars across your gates strong.
He blesses the children within you.
14 He is the one who brings peace to your borders
and satisfies your ⌞hunger⌟ with the finest wheat.
15 He is the one who sends his promise throughout the earth.
His word travels with great speed.
16 He is the one who sends snow like wool
and scatters frost like ashes.
17 He is the one who throws his hailstones like breadcrumbs.
Who can withstand his chilling blast?
18 He sends out his word and melts his hailstones.
He makes wind blow ⌞and⌟ water flow.
19 He speaks his word to Jacob,
his laws and judicial decisions to Israel.
20 He has done nothing like this for any other nation.
The other nations do not know the decisions he has handed down.
Hallelujah!
111 Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart
in the company of decent people and in the congregation.
2 The Lord’s deeds are spectacular.
They should be studied by all who enjoy them.
3 His work is glorious and majestic.
His righteousness continues forever.
4 He has made his miracles unforgettable.
The Lord is merciful and compassionate.
5 He provides food for those who fear him.
He always remembers his promise.[a]
6 He has revealed the power of his works to his people
by giving them the lands of other nations as an inheritance.
7 His works are done with truth and justice.
All his guiding principles are trustworthy.
8 They last forever and ever.
They are carried out with truth and decency.
9 He has sent salvation to his people.
He has ordered that his promise should continue forever.
His name is holy and terrifying.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Good sense is shown by everyone who follows ⌞God’s guiding principles⌟.
His praise continues forever.
112 Hallelujah!
Blessed is the person who fears the Lord
and is happy to obey his commands.
2 His descendants will grow strong on the earth.
The family of a decent person will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in his home.
His righteousness continues forever.
4 Light will shine in the dark for a decent person.
He is merciful, compassionate, and fair.
5 All goes well for the person who is generous and lends willingly.
He earns an honest living.
6 He will never fail.
A righteous person will always be remembered.
7 He is not afraid of bad news.
His heart remains secure, full of confidence in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady, and he is not afraid.
In the end he will look triumphantly at his enemies.
9 He gives freely to poor people.
His righteousness continues forever.
His head is raised in honor.
10 The wicked person sees this and becomes angry.
He angrily grits his teeth and disappears.
The hope that wicked people have will vanish.
113 Hallelujah!
You servants of the Lord, praise him.
Praise the name of the Lord.
2 Thank the name of the Lord now and forever.
3 From where the sun rises to where the sun sets,
the name of the Lord should be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all the nations.
His glory is above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God?
He is seated on his high throne.
6 He bends down to look at heaven and earth.
7 He lifts the poor from the dust.
He lifts the needy from a garbage heap.
8 He seats them with influential people,
with the influential leaders of his people.
9 He makes a woman who is in a childless home
a joyful mother.
Hallelujah!
The Creation
1 In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light!” So there was light. 4 God saw the light was good. So God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God named the light day, and the darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning—the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a horizon in the middle of the water in order to separate the water.” 7 So God made the horizon and separated the water above and below the horizon. And so it was. 8 God named ⌞what was above⌟ the horizon sky. There was evening, then morning—a second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear.” And so it was. 10 God named the dry land earth. The water which came together he named sea. God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type.” And so it was. 12 The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type. God saw that they were good. 13 There was evening, then morning—a third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years. 15 They will be lights in the sky to shine on the earth.” And so it was. 16 God made the two bright lights: the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God put them in the sky to give light to the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening, then morning—a fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with swimming creatures, and let birds fly through the sky over the earth.” 21 So God created the large sea creatures, every type of creature that swims around in the water and every type of flying bird. God saw that they were good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the sea, and let there be many birds on the earth.” 23 There was evening, then morning—a fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every type of living creature: every type of domestic animal, crawling animal, and wild animal.” And so it was. 25 God made every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, and every type of creature that crawls on the ground. God saw that they were good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his image.
In the image of God he created them.
He created them male and female.
28 God blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the earth, and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
29 God said, “I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food. 30 I have given all green plants as food to every land animal, every bird in the sky, and every animal that crawls on the earth—every living, breathing animal.” And so it was.
31 And God saw everything that he had made and that it was very good. There was evening, then morning—the sixth day.
2 Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.
God Chose Us Through Christ
3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer. 4 Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence. 5 Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this 6 so that the kindness [a] he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory.
7 Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness. 8 He poured out his kindness by giving us every kind of wisdom and insight 9 when he revealed the mystery of his plan to us. He had decided to do this through Christ. 10 He planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth. 11 God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends. 12 He planned all of this so that we who had already focused our hope on Christ would praise him and give him glory.
13 You heard and believed the message of truth, the Good News that he has saved you. In him you were sealed with the Holy Spirit whom he promised. 14 This Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will receive our inheritance. We have this guarantee until we are set free to belong to him. God receives praise and glory for this.
John Identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God
29 John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 30 He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ 31 I didn’t know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel.”
32 John said, “I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him. 33 I didn’t know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you’ll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God.”
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