Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights!
2 Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts!
3 Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you stars of light!
4 Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.
6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps!
8 You lightning, hail, fog, and frost, you stormy wind fulfilling His orders!
9 Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers and judges of the earth!
12 Both young men and maidens, old men and children!
13 Let them praise and exalt the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted and supreme! His glory and majesty are above earth and heaven!
14 He has lifted up a horn for His people [giving them power, prosperity, dignity, and preeminence], a song of praise for all His godly ones, for the people of Israel, who are near to Him. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(A)
Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, praise Him in the assembly of His saints!
2 Let Israel rejoice in Him, their Maker; let Zion’s children triumph and be joyful in their King!(B)
3 Let them praise His name in chorus and choir and with the [single or group] dance; let them sing praises to Him with the tambourine and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory.
5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands,(C)
7 To wreak vengeance upon the nations and chastisement upon the peoples,
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 To execute upon them the judgment written. He [the Lord] is the honor of all His saints. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!(D)
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with tambourine and [single or group] dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!
5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Psalm 114
1 When Israel came forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became [God’s] sanctuary (the Holy Place of His habitation), and Israel His dominion.(A)
3 The [Red] Sea looked and fled; the Jordan [River] was turned back.(B)
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O [Red] Sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 You mountains, that you skip like rams, and you little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.(C)
Psalm 115
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say, Where is now their God?
3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
4 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
6 They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not;
7 They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither can they make a sound with their throats.
8 They who make idols are like them; so are all who trust in and lean on them.(D)
9 O Israel, trust and take refuge in the Lord! [Lean on, rely on, and be confident in Him!] He is their Help and their Shield.
10 O house of Aaron [the priesthood], trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.
11 You who [reverently] fear the Lord, trust in and lean on the Lord! He is their Help and their Shield.
12 The Lord has been mindful of us, He will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel, He will bless the house of Aaron [the priesthood],
13 He will bless those who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, both small and great.(E)
14 May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children.
15 May you be blessed of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth has He given to the children of men.
17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord from this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
5 Let me [as God’s representative] sing of and for my greatly Beloved [God, the Son] a tender song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard [His chosen people]. My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.(A)
2 And He dug and trenched the ground and gathered out the stones from it and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and hewed out a winepress in it. And He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard [My people, says the Lord].
4 What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to bring forth grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten and burned up; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down [by enemies].
6 And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or cultivated, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant planting [the plant of His delight]. And He looked for justice, but behold, [He saw] oppression and bloodshed; [He looked] for righteousness (for uprightness and right standing with God), but behold, [He heard] a cry [of oppression and distress]!
11 Since all these things are thus [a]in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought [each of] you to be [in the meanwhile] in consecrated and holy behavior and devout and godly qualities,
12 While you wait and earnestly long for (expect and hasten) the coming of the day of God by reason of which the flaming heavens will be dissolved, and the [[b]material] elements [of the universe] will flare and melt with fire?(A)
13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, in which righteousness (uprightness, freedom from sin, and right standing with God) is to abide.(B)
14 So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, [c]free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].
15 And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [[d]His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation ([e]that which is conducive to the soul’s safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,
16 Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own [f]utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].
18 But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and [g]recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!
28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; but [a]he that is inferior [to the other citizens] in the kingdom of God is greater [in incomparable privilege] than he.
29 And all the people who heard Him, even the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God [in [b]calling them to repentance and in pronouncing future wrath on the impenitent], being baptized with the baptism of John.
30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers [of the Mosaic Law] annulled and rejected and brought to nothing God’s purpose concerning themselves, by [refusing and] not being baptized by him [John].
31 So to what shall I compare the men of this generation? And what are they like?
32 They are like little children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another and saying, We piped to you [playing wedding], and you did not dance; we sang dirges and wailed [playing funeral], and you did not weep.
33 For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, He has a demon.
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Behold, a Man Who is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and notorious sinners.
35 Yet wisdom is vindicated ([c]shown to be true and divine) by all her children [[d]by their life, character, and deeds].
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