Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for the Prosperity of God’s Anointed King
Of Solomon.[a]
72 O God, give your judgments to the king,
and your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 Let the mountains yield prosperity[b] for the people,
and the hills in righteousness.
4 May he provide justice for the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live long[c] while the sun endures[d]
as long as the moon[e] for all generations.[f]
6 May he descend like rain on mown grass,
like showers watering the earth.
7 May what is right blossom in his days
and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8 And may he rule from sea up to sea,
and from the River[g] to the edges of the land.
9 Let the desert dwellers bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 Let the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute.
Let the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts,
11 and let all kings bow down to him.
Let all nations serve him.
12 Indeed he will deliver the needy who is crying for help,
and the afflicted who has no helper.
13 He will take pity on the helpless and needy,
and the lives of the needy he will save.
14 From oppression and from violence
he will redeem their lives,
and their blood will be precious in his eyes.
15 So may he live, and may gold from Sheba be given to him,
and may prayers be offered for him continually.
May blessings be invoked for him all day long.[h]
16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land
even on the top of the mountains.
May his crop[i] sway like the trees of Lebanon,
and may those from the city blossom like the grass of the earth.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name increase as long as the sun shines,[j]
and let them be blessed in him.
Let all nations call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are completed.
Praise to God for His Work and Commands
111 Praise Yah![a]
I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart,
in the assembly of the upright and the congregation.
2 The works of Yahweh are great,
studied[b] by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has made his wonders to be remembered;[c]
Yahweh is gracious and compassionate.
5 He gives food to those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
6 He has declared the power of his works for his people,
by giving to them the inheritance of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice;
all his precepts are reliable.
8 They are sustained forever and ever,
done with faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever;
holy and fearful is his name.
10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom;
all who do them[d] have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever.
God’s Majesty and Care for the Needy
113 Praise Yah![a]
Praise, O servants of Yahweh,
praise the name of Yahweh.
2 Let the name of Yahweh be blessed,
from now until forever.
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
let the name of Yahweh be blessed.
4 Yahweh is high above all nations;
his glory is above the heavens.
5 Who is like Yahweh our God,
who is enthroned on high,[b]
6 who condescends to look at[c]
what is in the heavens and in the earth?
7 He raises the helpless from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He causes the barren woman of the house to dwell
as the happy mother of children.
Praise Yah![d]
9 To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk,
those taken from the breast?
10 For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah,
blah-blah upon blah-blah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,
gah-gah upon gah-gah,[a]
a little here, a little there.
11 For he will speak with stammering[b] and another tongue to this people, 12 to whom he has said,
“This is rest; give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”; yet[c] they were not willing to hear.
13 And to them the word of Yahweh will be
blah-blah upon blah-blah
blah-blah upon blah-blah
gah-gah upon gah-gah
gah-gah upon gah-gah,[d]
a little here, a little there,
so that they may go and stumble backward
and be broken and ensnared and captured.
The Cornerstone of Zion
14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,
rulers of these people in Jerusalem:
15 Because you have said,
“We have made[e] a covenant with death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol.
The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,
for we have made lies[f] our refuge,
and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.”
16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this:
“Look! I am laying a stone in Zion,
a tested[g] stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a founded foundation:
‘The one who trusts will not panic.’[h]
17 And I will make justice the measuring line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,[i]
and waters will flood over the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.
19 As often as it passes through,[j] it will take you,
for morning by morning[k] it will pass through,
in the day and in the night,
and understanding the message will be only terror.”
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,[l]
and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.
21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
he will rave as in the valley at Gibeon
to do his deed—his deed is strange—
and to work his work—his work is alien!
22 And now you must not scoff,
or your bonds will be strong,
for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:
complete destruction
decreed upon all the land.
A Description of the New Jerusalem
9 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 that has the glory of God. Its radiance is like a precious stone, something like a jasper stone, shining like crystal. 12 It has[a] a great and high wall that has twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on the gates which are[b] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel— 13 on the east, three gates, and on the north, three gates, and on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me was holding a golden measuring rod in order that he could measure the city and its gates and its wall. 16 And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is the same as its width. And he measured the city with the measuring rod at twelve thousand stadia;[c] the length and the width and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits[d] according to human measure[e], which is the angel’s. 18 And the material of its wall is jasper, and the city is pure gold, similar in appearance to pure glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every kind of precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each one of the gates was from a single pearl. And the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
The Prediction of Jesus’ Birth
26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named[a] Nazareth, 27 to a virgin legally promised in marriage to a man named[b] Joseph of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary. 28 And he came to her and[c] said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly perplexed at the statement, and was pondering what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in the womb and will give birth to a son,
and you will call his name Jesus.
32 This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,[d]
and of his kingdom there will be no end.
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” 35 And the angel answered and[e] said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth—she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”[f]
38 So Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s female slave! May it happen to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
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