Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 145
Praising God’s Greatness
A hymn of David.
1 I[a] exalt you, my God the King,
and bless your name forever and ever.(A)
2 I will bless you every day;
I will praise your name forever and ever.(B)
3 The Lord is great and is highly praised;(C)
his greatness is unsearchable.(D)
4 One generation will declare your works to the next
and will proclaim your mighty acts.(E)
5 I[b] will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty
and[c] your wondrous works.(F)
6 They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts,
and I will declare your greatness.[d](G)
7 They will give a testimony of your great goodness
and will joyfully sing of your righteousness.(H)
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in faithful love.(I)
9 The Lord is good to everyone;(J)
his compassion rests on all he has made.(K)
10 All you have made will thank you, Lord;
the[e] faithful will bless you.(L)
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom
and will declare your might,(M)
12 informing all people of your mighty acts
and of the glorious splendor of your[f] kingdom.(N)
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule is for all generations.(O)
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and gracious in all his actions.[g](P)
14 The Lord helps all who fall;
he raises up all who are oppressed.[h](Q)
15 All eyes look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.(R)
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.(S)
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all his acts.(T)
18 The Lord is near all who call out to him,
all who call out to him with integrity.(U)
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry for help and saves them.(V)
20 The Lord guards all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.(W)
21 My mouth will declare the Lord’s praise;
let every living thing
bless his holy name forever and ever.(X)
Psalm 104
God the Creator
1 My soul, bless the Lord!
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.(A)
2 He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,(B)
3 laying the beams of his palace
on the waters above,(C)
making the clouds his chariot,(D)
walking on the wings of the wind,(E)
4 and making the winds his messengers,[a]
flames of fire his servants.(F)
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be shaken.(G)
6 You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the water stood above the mountains.(H)
7 At your rebuke the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder they hurried away(I)—
8 mountains rose and valleys sank[b]—
to the place you established for them.(J)
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again.(K)
10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.(L)
11 They supply water for every wild beast;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.(M)
12 The birds of the sky live beside the springs;
they make their voices heard among the foliage.(N)
13 He waters the mountains from his palace;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of your labor.(O)
14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,(P)
15 wine that makes human hearts glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains human hearts.(Q)
16 The trees of the Lord flourish,[c]
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.(R)
17 There the birds make their nests;
storks make their homes in the pine trees.(S)
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.(T)
19 He made the moon to mark the[d] festivals;[e]
the sun knows when to set.(U)
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals stir.(V)
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.(W)
22 The sun rises; they go back
and lie down in their dens.(X)
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until evening.(Y)
24 How countless are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.[f](Z)
25 Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.(AA)
26 There the ships move about,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play there.(AB)
27 All of them wait for you
to give them their food at the right time.(AC)
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.(AD)
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.(AE)
30 When you send your breath,[g]
they are created,(AF)
and you renew the surface of the ground.(AG)
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works.(AH)
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.(AI)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(AJ)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.(AK)
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and wicked people be no more.(AL)
My soul, bless the Lord!
Hallelujah!
Salvation and Judgment on That Day
25 Lord, you are my God;(A)
I will exalt you. I will praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks,(B)
a fortified city, into ruins;
the fortress of barbarians(C) is no longer a city;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, a strong people will honor you.
The cities of violent nations will fear you.
4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor person,
a stronghold for the needy(D) in his distress,
a refuge from storms and a shade from heat.(E)
When the breath of the violent
is like a storm against a wall,
5 like heat in a dry land,
you will subdue the uproar of barbarians.
As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,
so he will silence the song of the violent.
6 On this mountain,[a](F)
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat,(G)
a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat,[b] fine vintage wine.
7 On this mountain
he will swallow up the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations.(H)
8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all,(I)
the Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face(J)
and remove his people’s disgrace(K)
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, this is our God;
we have waited for him, and he has saved us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”(L)
The Boldness of the Disciples
13 When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.(A) 14 And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 After they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign has been done through them, clear to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.(B) 17 But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.” 18 So they called for them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide;(C) 20 for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”(D)
21 After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done.(E) 22 For this sign of healing had been performed on a man over forty years old.
Prayer for Boldness
23 After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.(F) 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant:[a]
Why do the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot futile things?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers assemble together
against the Lord and against his Messiah.[b](G)
27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,(H) 28 to do whatever your hand and your will had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness,(I) 30 while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders(J) are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.(K)
Sorrow Turned to Joy
16 “In a little while,(A) you will no longer see me; (B) again in a little while, you will see me.”[a]
17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this he’s telling us: ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’(C)?” 18 They said, “What is this he is saying,[b] ‘In a little while’? We don’t know what he’s talking about.”
19 Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, and so he said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me’? 20 Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn,(D) but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful,(E) but your sorrow will turn to joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain(F) because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child,(G) she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. 22 So you also have sorrow[c] now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice,(H) and no one will take away your joy from you.(I)
23 “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.(J) 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in my name.(K) Ask and you will receive,(L) so that your joy may be complete.(M)
Jesus the Victor
25 “I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask(N) in my name, and(O) I am not telling you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved(P) me and have believed that I came from God.[d](Q) 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”(R)
29 His disciples said, “Look, now you’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. 30 Now we know that you know everything(S) and don’t need anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”(T)
31 Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? 32 Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come,(U) when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.(V) 33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
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