Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 148
Creation’s Praise of the Lord
1 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.(A)
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly armies.(B)
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.(C)
4 Praise him, highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens.(D)
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded, and they were created.(E)
6 He set them in position forever and ever;
he gave an order that will never pass away.(F)
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
all sea monsters and ocean depths,(G)
8 lightning[a] and hail, snow and cloud,
stormy wind that executes his command,(H)
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,(I)
10 wild animals and all cattle,
creatures that crawl and flying birds,(J)
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth,(K)
12 young men as well as young women,
old and young together.(L)
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted.
His majesty covers heaven and earth.(M)
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
resulting in praise to all his faithful ones,
to the Israelites, the people close to him.(N)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 149
Praise for God’s Triumph
1 Hallelujah!
Sing to the Lord a new song,(O)
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.(P)
2 Let Israel celebrate its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.(Q)
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and lyre.(R)
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;(S)
he adorns the humble with salvation.(T)
5 Let the faithful celebrate in triumphal glory;
let them shout for joy on their beds.(U)
6 Let the exaltation of God be in their mouths[b]
and a double-edged sword in their hands,(V)
7 inflicting vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,(W)
8 binding their kings with chains
and their dignitaries with iron shackles,(X)
9 carrying out the judgment decreed against them.
This honor is for all his faithful people.(Y)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord
1 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him in his mighty expanse.(Z)
2 Praise him for his powerful acts;(AA)
praise him for his abundant greatness.(AB)
3 Praise him with the blast of a ram’s horn;(AC)
praise him with harp and lyre.(AD)
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;(AE)
praise him with strings and flute.(AF)
5 Praise him with resounding cymbals;
praise him with clashing cymbals.(AG)
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.(AH)
Hallelujah!
Psalm 114
God’s Deliverance of Israel
1 When Israel came out of Egypt—
the house of Jacob from a people
who spoke a foreign language(A)—
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel, his dominion.(B)
3 The sea looked and fled;(C)
the Jordan turned back.(D)
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills, like lambs.(E)
5 Why was it, sea, that you fled?
Jordan, that you turned back?(F)
6 Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
Hills, like lambs?(G)
7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,(H)
8 who turned the rock into a pool,
the flint into a spring.(I)
Psalm 115
Glory to God Alone
1 Not to us, Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory
because of your faithful love, because of your truth.(J)
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?” (K)
3 Our God is in heaven
and does whatever he pleases.(L)
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.(M)
5 They have mouths but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.(N)
7 They have hands but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk.(O)
They cannot make a sound with their throats.(P)
8 Those who make them are[a] just like them,
as are all who trust in them.(Q)
9 Israel,[b] trust in the Lord!(R)
He is their help and shield.(S)
10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord!(T)
He is their help and shield.(U)
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!(V)
He is their help and shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;(W)
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.(X)
14 May the Lord add to your numbers,
both yours and your children’s.(Y)
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.(Z)
16 The heavens are the Lord’s,[c]
but the earth he has given to the human race.(AA)
17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
nor any of those descending into the silence of death.(AB)
18 But we will bless the Lord,
both now and forever.(AC)
Hallelujah!
Song of the Vineyard
5 I will sing about the one I love,
a song about my loved one’s vineyard:(A)
The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with the finest vines.(B)
He built a tower in the middle of it
and even dug out a winepress there.
He expected(C) it to yield good grapes,
but it yielded worthless grapes.(D)
3 So now, residents of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
please judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
than I did?(E)
Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,
did it yield worthless grapes?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,(F)
and it will be consumed;
I will tear down its wall,(G)
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland.(H)
It will not be pruned or weeded;
thorns and briers will grow up.(I)
I will also give orders to the clouds
that rain should not fall on it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of Armies
is the house of Israel,(J)
and the men[a] of Judah,
the plant he delighted in.
He expected justice
but saw injustice;
he expected righteousness
but heard cries of despair.
11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness 12 as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.[a](A) Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. 13 But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth,(B) where righteousness dwells.(C)
Conclusion
14 Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace.(D) 15 Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.(E) 16 He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction,(F) as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard,(G) so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge(H) of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.[b](I)
28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John,[a] but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 (And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.(A) 30 But since the Pharisees and experts in the law(B) had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.(C))
An Unresponsive Generation
31 “To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other:
We played the flute for you,
but you didn’t dance;
we sang a lament,
but you didn’t weep!
33 For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine,(D) and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’(E) 35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
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