Book of Common Prayer
Praise to the Lord from Creation
148 Praise[a] 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, (A)you heavens of heavens,
And (B)you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For (C)He commanded and they were created.
6 (D)He also established them forever and ever;
He made a decree which shall not pass away.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
(E)You great sea creatures and all the depths;
8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
9 (F)Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
10 Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl;
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
12 Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His (G)name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 And He (H)has exalted the [b]horn of His people,
The praise of (I)all His saints—
Of the children of Israel,
(J)A people near to Him.
[c]Praise the Lord!
Praise to God for His Salvation and Judgment
149 Praise[d] the Lord!
(K)Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise in the assembly of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
Let the children of Zion be joyful in their (L)King.
3 (M)Let them praise His name with the dance;
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For (N)the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
(O)He will beautify the [e]humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory;
Let them (P)sing aloud on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And (Q)a two-edged sword in their hand,
7 To execute vengeance on the nations,
And punishments on the peoples;
8 To bind their kings with chains,
And their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 (R)To execute on them the written judgment—
(S)This honor have all His saints.
[f]Praise the Lord!
Let All Things Praise the Lord
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty [h]firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent (U)greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the [i]trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
[j]Praise the Lord!
The Power of God in His Deliverance of Israel(A)
114 When (B)Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob (C)from a people [a]of strange language,
2 (D)Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.
3 (E)The sea saw it and fled;
(F)Jordan turned back.
4 (G)The mountains skipped like rams,
The little hills like lambs.
5 (H)What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 (I)Who turned the rock into a pool of water,
The flint into a fountain of waters.
The Futility of Idols and the Trustworthiness of God
115 Not (J)unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
2 Why should the [b]Gentiles say,
(K)“So where is their God?”
3 (L)But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 (M)Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 (N)Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
9 (O)O Israel, trust in the Lord;
(P)He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord [c]has been mindful of us;
He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 (Q)He will bless those who fear the Lord,
Both small and great.
14 May the Lord give you increase more and more,
You and your children.
15 May you be (R)blessed by the Lord,
(S)Who made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s;
But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17 (T)The dead do not praise the Lord,
Nor any who go down into silence.
18 (U)But we will bless the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!
God’s Disappointing Vineyard
5 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved (A)regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
[a]On a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also [b]made a winepress in it;
(B)So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
(C)Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in (D)it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
(E)I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will lay it (F)waste;
It shall not be pruned or [c]dug,
But there shall come up briers and (G)thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, [d]a cry for help.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be (A)in holy conduct and godliness, 12 (B)looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will (C)be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will (D)melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for (E)new heavens and a (F)new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Be Steadfast
14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent (G)to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that (H)the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his (I)epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the (J)rest of the Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, (K)since you know this beforehand, (L)beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 (M)but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
(N)To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is [a]not a (A)greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors [b]justified God, (B)having been baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and [c]lawyers rejected (C)the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.
31 [d]And the Lord said, (D)“To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not weep.’
33 For (E)John the Baptist came (F)neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come (G)eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a [e]winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 (H)But wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.