Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148[a]
All Creation Summoned to Praise
1 Hallelujah!
I
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all you his angels;
give praise, all you his hosts.(A)
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens,[b]
you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them all praise the Lord’s name;
for he commanded and they were created,(B)
6 Assigned them their station forever,
set an order that will never change.
II
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all the deeps of the sea;(C)
8 Lightning and hail, snow and thick clouds,
storm wind that fulfills his command;
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars;(D)
10 Animals wild and tame,
creatures that crawl and birds that fly;(E)
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all who govern on earth;
12 Young men and women too,
old and young alike.
13 Let them all praise the Lord’s name,
for his name alone is exalted,
His majesty above earth and heaven.(F)
14 [c]He has lifted high the horn of his people;
to the praise of all his faithful,
the Israelites, the people near to him.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 149[d]
Praise God with Song and Sword
1 Hallelujah!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.(G)
2 Let Israel be glad in its maker,
the people of Zion rejoice in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in dance,
make music with tambourine and lyre.[e](H)
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people,
honors the poor with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
cry out for joy on their couches,[f]
6 With the praise of God in their mouths,
and a two-edged sword in their hands,(I)
7 To bring retribution on the nations,
punishment on the peoples,(J)
8 To bind their kings in shackles,
their nobles in chains of iron,
9 To execute the judgments decreed for them—
such is the glory[g] of all God’s faithful.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 150[h]
Final Doxology
1 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy sanctuary;[i](K)
give praise in the mighty dome of heaven.
2 Give praise for his mighty deeds,(L)
praise him for his great majesty.
3 Give praise with blasts upon the horn,(M)
praise him with harp and lyre.
4 Give praise with tambourines and dance,
praise him with strings and pipes.(N)
5 Give praise with crashing cymbals,
praise him with sounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath
give praise to the Lord!(O)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 114[a]
The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus
1 When Israel came forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from an alien people,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel, God’s domain.(A)
3 [b]The sea saw and fled;
the Jordan turned back.(B)
4 The mountains skipped like rams;
the hills, like lambs.(C)
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Jordan, that you turned back?
6 Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
You hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, before the Lord,(D)
before the God of Jacob,
8 [c]Who turned the rock into pools of water,
flint into a flowing spring.(E)
Psalm 115[d]
The Greatness of the True God
I
1 Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name give glory
because of your mercy and faithfulness.(F)
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”[e](G)
3 Our God is in heaven
and does whatever he wills.(H)
II
4 Their idols are silver and gold,(I)
the work of human hands.(J)
5 They have mouths but do not speak,
eyes but do not see.
6 They have ears but do not hear,
noses but do not smell.
7 They have hands but do not feel,
feet but do not walk;
they produce no sound from their throats.
8 Their makers will be like them,
and anyone who trusts in them.
III
9 [f]The house of Israel trusts in the Lord,(K)
who is their help and shield.(L)
10 The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord,
who is their help and shield.
11 Those who fear the Lord trust in the Lord,
who is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us,
will bless the house of Israel,
will bless the house of Aaron,
13 Will bless those who fear the Lord,
small and great alike.
14 May the Lord increase your number,
yours and your descendants.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
maker of heaven and earth.
16 [g]The heavens belong to the Lord,
but he has given the earth to the children of Adam.(M)
17 [h]The dead do not praise the Lord,
not all those go down into silence.(N)
18 It is we who bless the Lord,
both now and forever.
Hallelujah!
Chapter 7
1 Then the Lord said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this generation have I found to be righteous before me.(A) 2 Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate; 3 likewise, of every bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep their progeny alive over all the earth. 4 For seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the face of the earth every being that I have made.(B) 5 Noah complied, just as the Lord had commanded.
The Great Flood. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth. 7 Together with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, Noah went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.(C) 8 Of the clean animals and the unclean, of the birds, and of everything that crawls on the ground, 9 two by two, male and female came to Noah into the ark, just as God had commanded him.(D) 10 When the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
17 The flood continued upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18 The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth, but the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 Higher and higher on the earth the waters swelled, until all the highest mountains under the heavens were submerged. 20 The waters swelled fifteen cubits higher than the submerged mountains. 21 All creatures that moved on earth perished: birds, tame animals, wild animals, and all that teemed on the earth, as well as all humankind.(A) 22 Everything on dry land with the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 The Lord wiped out every being on earth: human beings and animals, the crawling things and the birds of the air; all were wiped out from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.
Chapter 4
Unity in the Body. 1 [a]I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,(A) 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,(B) 3 striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:(C) 4 [b]one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;(D) 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;(E) 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.(F)
Diversity of Gifts. 7 But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.(G) 8 Therefore, it says:
9 What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended into the lower [regions] of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
11 [d]And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,(I) 12 to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,[e] for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[f] to the extent of the full stature of Christ,(J) 14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.(K) 15 Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head,(L) Christ,[g] 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love.(M)
Renewal in Christ.[h]
The Mercy of Jesus. 7 [a]Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.(A) A large number of people [followed] from Galilee and from Judea. 8 Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. 10 He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.(B) 11 [b]And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.”(C) 12 He warned them sternly not to make him known.
The Mission of the Twelve. 13 (D)He went up the mountain[c] and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. 14 (E)He appointed twelve [whom he also named apostles] that they might be with him[d] and he might send them forth to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons: 16 [e][he appointed the twelve:] Simon, whom he named Peter; 17 James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;(F) 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, 19 and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
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