Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 93
1 The Eternal reigns, clothed in majesty;
He is dressed in power;
He has surrounded Himself with strength.
He has established the world, and it will never be toppled.
2 Your throne was established from the beginning of the world, O God,
and You are everlasting.
3 The waters have risen, O Eternal One;
the sound of pounding waves is deafening.
The waters have roared with power.
4 More powerful than the thunder of mighty rivers,
more powerful than the mighty waves in the ocean
is the Eternal on high!
5 Your teachings are true;
Your decrees sure.
Sacredness adorns Your house, O Eternal One, forevermore.
Psalm 98
A song.
1 Compose a new song, and sing it to the Eternal
because of the unbelievable things He has done;
He has won the victory
with the skill of His right hand and strength of His holy arm.
2 The Eternal has made it clear that He saves,
and He has shown the nations that He does what is right.
3 He has been true to His promises;
fresh in His mind is His unfailing love
for all of Israel.
Even the ends of the earth have witnessed how our God saves.
This hymn invites all the people on earth and creation itself to join in singing a new song of “beautiful noise” celebrating God’s justice and victories.
4 Raise your voices; make a beautiful noise to the Eternal, all the earth.
Let your joy explode into song and praise;
5 Make music to the Eternal with the harp;
sing a beautiful melody with the harp and chorus.
6 With trumpets and horns,
fill the air with joyful sounds to the King, the Eternal.
7 Let the sea rumble and roar, and all the creatures it holds shout praise;
let the whole world and all those who live in it join the celebration.
8 Let the rivers applaud
and the mountains join in joyful song
9 In the presence of the Eternal because He is coming
to judge the earth.
He is coming,
and His judgment will be what is right for the world
and just to all people.
Psalm 66
For the worship leader. A song.
1 Shout out to God, all the earth.
Erupt with joy to the one True God!
2 Sing of the glory due His name!
Offer Him the most magnificent praises!
3 Say to God, “All You have done is wondrous and causes fear!
Your power is mighty, and Your enemies pretend to submit to You.
4 The entire earth will bow down to worship You
and will sing glory-songs to You;
they will sing praises to Your name!
[pause][a]
5 Come and witness the True God’s endless works.
His miraculous deeds done on behalf of humanity inspire fear.
6 He transformed the sea into dry land;
our people passed through the river on foot!
Rejoice in Him; celebrate what He did there!
7 By His great might, He rules forever;
His eyes watch over all the nations,
so no one should go up against Him.
[pause]
8 Everyone, bless our True God!
Let praise-filled voices be heard near and far—at home and on foreign soil!
9 Praise the One who gives us life and keeps us safe,
who does not allow us to stumble in the darkness.
10 For You have put us to the test, O God;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11 You trapped us with a snare;
You have laid upon our backs a heavy burden.
12 You allowed us to be conquered and let our enemies run over us.
We journeyed through dangers, through fire and flood,
But You led us finally to a safe place, a land rich and abundant.
13 I will come into Your temple with burnt offerings;
I will fulfill my promises to You—
14 The oaths that parted my lips
and were promises my mouth freely made when I was suffering and in anguish.
15 I will bring You my sacrifices—plump beasts
and the sweet smoke of consecrated rams—
I will also offer You bulls and goats.
[pause]
16 Come and listen, everyone who reveres the True God,
and I will tell you what He has done for me.
17 I cried out to Him with my mouth,
and I praised Him with my tongue.
18 If I entertain evil in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me.
19 But surely God has heard me;
He has paid attention to the urgency of my request.
20 May the True God be blessed,
for He did not turn away from my prayer
nor did He hold back His loyal love from me.
14 This will be a day for you to always remember. I want you and all generations after you to commemorate this day with a festival to Me. Celebrate this feast as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. 15 You are to eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day get rid of any yeast you find in your house. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven festival days must be cut off from the rest of Israel. 16 On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh, gather the community together for a time of sacred worship. No one may work on those two days except to prepare what every person needs to eat. 17 Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread because it commemorates the day that I led your forces out of Egypt. Honor and celebrate this day throughout all your generations as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. 18 From the evening of the fourteenth day of that first month to the evening of the twenty-first day of that month, eat bread made without yeast. 19-20 No yeast is to be found in any of your houses during the seven festival days. Whoever eats anything that has yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. It doesn’t matter whether he is a foreigner or a native; the same standards apply. During the seven festival days, do not eat anything made with yeast; wherever you live and gather together, be sure you eat only unleavened bread.
21 Then Moses called all of Israel’s elders together and gave them instructions.
Moses: Go and pick out lambs for each of your families, and then slaughter your family’s Passover lamb. 22 Take a handful of hyssop branches, dip them down into the bowl of blood you drained from the sacrifice, and mark the top of the doorway and the two doorposts with blood from the bowl. After you do this, no one should go out that door until the next morning.
23 The Eternal will pass through the land during the night and bring death to the Egyptians. But when He sees the blood-markings across the tops of your doorways and down your two doorposts, He will pass over your houses and not allow His messenger of death to enter into your houses and strike you down. 24 You and all your descendants are obligated to keep these instructions for all time. 25 Even after you arrive in the land the Eternal has promised you—the land flowing with milk and honey—you must keep these instructions and perform this ritual. 26 When your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean to you?” 27 you will answer them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Eternal, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites when we were slaves in Egypt. And although He struck the Egyptians, He spared our lives and our houses.”
The name of this festival, “Passover,” comes from the fact that God “passes over” those houses where the Israelites gather and eat the sacrifice.
When Moses finished these instructions, the people bowed down and worshiped.
15 Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; 2 and through this gospel, you are liberated—unless, of course, your faith has come to nothing. 3-4 For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story. 5 Afterward He appeared alive to Cephas[a] (you may know him as Simon Peter), then to the rest of the twelve. 6 If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep[b] in Jesus. 7 Soon He appeared to James, His brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, and then to all the rest of the emissaries[c] He Himself commissioned.[d] 8 Last of all, He appeared to me;[e] I was like a child snatched from his mother’s womb. 9 You see, I am the least of all His emissaries, not fit to be called His emissary because I hunted down and persecuted God’s church. 10 Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted. I have worked harder, longer, and smarter than all the rest; but I realize it is not me—it is God’s grace with me that has made the difference. 11 In the end, it doesn’t matter whether it was I or the other witnesses who brought you the message. What matters is that we keep preaching and that you have faith in this message.
16 1-2 At the rising of the sun, after the Sabbath on the first day of the week, the two Marys and Salome brought sweet-smelling spices they had purchased to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. 3 Along the way, they wondered to themselves how they would roll the heavy stone away from the opening. 4 But when they arrived, the stone was already rolled away in spite of its weight and size.
5 Stepping through the opening, they were startled to see a young man in a white robe seated inside and to the right.
Man in White: 6 Don’t be afraid. You came seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the One who was crucified. He is gone. He has risen. See the place where His body was laid. 7 Go back, and tell Peter and His disciples that He goes before you into Galilee, just as He said. You will see Him there when you arrive.
8 The women went out quickly; and when they were outside the tomb, they ran away trembling and astonished. Along their way, they didn’t stop to say anything to anyone because they were too afraid.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.