Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer for Help

120 I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me. ² O Lord, save me from lying lips and a false tongue. ³ What will be given to you and what more will be done to you, you false tongue? ⁴ He will punish you with sharp arrows of the soldier, and with the hot fire of the broom tree.

⁵ It is bad for me, for I travel in Meshech and live among the tents of Kedar! ⁶ I have lived too long with those who hate peace. ⁷ I am for peace. But when I speak, they are for war.

The Lord—Our Helper

121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where will my help come from? ² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. ³ He will not let your feet go out from under you. He Who watches over you will not sleep. ⁴ Listen, He Who watches over Israel will not close his eyes or sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you. The Lord is your safe cover at your right hand. ⁶ The sun will not hurt you during the day and the moon will not hurt you during the night. ⁷ The Lord will keep you from all that is sinful. He will watch over your soul. ⁸ The Lord will watch over your coming and going, now and forever.

A Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem

122 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” ² Our feet are standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem. ³ Jerusalem is built as a city where people come together. ⁴ That is where the different families go, the families of the Lord. There they give thanks to the name of the Lord, by the Law that was given to Israel. ⁵ For thrones were set there for telling who is guilty or not, the thrones of the house of David.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all go well for those who love you. ⁷ May there be peace within your walls. May all go well within your houses. ⁸ I will now say, “May peace be within you,” for the good of my brothers and my friends. ⁹ Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will pray for your good.

A Prayer for the Lord’s Help

123 I lift up my eyes to You, O You Whose throne is in the heavens. ² See, the eyes of servants look to the hand of their owner. The eyes of a woman servant look to the hand of her owner. So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He shows us loving-kindness.

³ Show loving-kindness to us, O Lord. Show loving-kindness to us. For we have had our fill of hate. ⁴ The proud have laughed at us too long. We have had more than enough of their hate.

God Watches Over His People

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side,” let Israel say, ² “If the Lord had not been on our side when men came against us, ³ they would have eaten us up alive. Because their anger burned against us. ⁴ The waters would have covered us. The river would have passed over our soul. ⁵ The angry waters would have passed over our soul.”

⁶ Honor and thanks be to the Lord! He has not let us be torn by their teeth. ⁷ We have become free like a bird out of a trap. The net is broken and now we are free. ⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

God’s People Are Safe

125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but stands forever. ² The Lord is around His people like the mountains are around Jerusalem, now and forever. ³ For the sinful will not rule over the land of those who are right with God. So those who are right and good may not use their hands to do wrong.

⁴ O Lord, do good to those who are good, and to those who are right in their hearts. ⁵ But the Lord will let all those who turn aside to their sinful ways go with those who are sinners. Peace be upon Israel.

A Prayer for Help

126 It was like a dream when the Lord brought back to Zion those who had been held in another land. ² Then we laughed with our mouths, and we sang with our tongues. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” ³ The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad.

⁴ Bring back our people, O Lord, like the rivers in the South. ⁵ Those who plant with tears will gather fruit with songs of joy. ⁶ He who goes out crying as he carries his bag of seed will return with songs of joy as he brings much grain with him.

God Is Good to His People

127 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders work for nothing. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the men who watch over it stay awake for nothing. ² You rise up early, and go to bed late, and work hard for your food, all for nothing. For the Lord gives to His loved ones even while they sleep.

³ See, children are a gift from the Lord. The children born to us are our special reward. ⁴ The children of a young man are like arrows in the hand of a soldier. ⁵ Happy is the man who has many of them. They will not be put to shame when they speak in the gate with those who hate them.

⁹ Absalom met the servants of David. He was going on his horse, and the horse went under the many branches of a large oak tree. Absalom’s hair caught in the branches of the oak. He was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the horse under him kept going. ¹⁰ When a certain man saw it, he told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” ¹¹ Joab said to the man, “You saw him! Why did you not kill him and let him fall to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” ¹² The man said to Joab, “Even for a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not go against the king’s son. For we heard the king tell you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Keep the young man Absalom safe for me.’ ¹³ If I had gone against his life, there is nothing hidden from the king. And you would not have helped me.” ¹⁴ Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.” He took three spears in his hand and threw them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the oak. ¹⁵ And ten young men who carried Joab’s battle clothes gathered around and hit Absalom and killed him.

¹⁶ Then Joab sounded the horn, and all the people returned from going after Israel, for Joab stopped them. ¹⁷ They took Absalom and threw him into a deep hole among the trees, and set many stones over him. And all Israel ran away, every one to his own home. ¹⁸ While Absalom was alive, he had set up stones in his honor in the King’s Valley. For he said, “I have no son to let my name be remembered.” So he called the stones after his own name. And they are there to have Absalom be remembered to this day.

The Plan to Kill Paul

¹² In the morning some of the Jews gathered together and made a plan to kill Paul. They promised each other that they would not eat or drink until they had killed him. ¹³ There were more than forty of them who had made this promise. ¹⁴ These people came to the head religious leader and to the leaders of the people and said, “We have made a promise not to eat any food until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ We ask you and the court to have the captain bring Paul down to you tomorrow. It will look as if you want to ask him some things. Before he gets near you, we will be waiting to kill him.”

¹⁶ Paul’s nephew heard about the plan. He went to the soldiers’ building and told Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called one of the soldiers and said, “Take this young man to the captain. He has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ The soldiers brought the young man to the captain and said, “Paul asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.” ¹⁹ The captain took him by the hand and they walked over where they could be alone. He said, “What is it that you have to tell me?” ²⁰ The young man said, “The Jews have made a plan to ask you to bring Paul to the courtroom tomorrow. It would look as if they were going to ask him some things. ²¹ Do not let them talk you into it. More than forty men are waiting in secret to kill him. They have promised each other not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are all waiting for you to say the word.” ²² The captain told the young man to go. He said, “Do not tell anyone you have told me this.”

Paul Is Sent to Felix in Caesarea

²³ Then the captain called two soldiers and said, “Get 200 men ready to go to the city of Caesarea by nine o’clock tonight. Also have seventy men ride on horses and 200 men carry spears. ²⁴ Get horses ready for Paul to ride. Take him to Felix, the leader of the people.”

²⁷ They came again to Jerusalem. Jesus was walking around in the house of God. The religious leaders and the teachers of the Law and other leaders came to Him. ²⁸ They asked, “How do You have the right and the power to do these things? Who gave You the right and the power to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing also. If you tell Me, then I will tell you by what right and power I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Tell Me.” ³¹ They talked among themselves. They said, “If we say from heaven, He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ³² But how can we say, ‘From men’?” They were afraid of the people because everyone believed that John was one who spoke for God. ³³ So they said, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said, “Then I will not tell you by what right and power I do these things.”

The Picture-Story of the Grape-Field ^(A)

12 Jesus began to teach them by using picture-stories, saying, “There was a man who planted grapes in a field. He put a fence around it and made a place for making wine. He built a tower to look over the field. Then he let farmers rent it and went into another country.

² “The time came for gathering the grapes. He sent his servant to the farmers to get some of the grapes. ³ The farmers took him and beat him. They sent him back with nothing. ⁴ The owner sent another servant. The farmers threw stones at him and hit him on the head and did other bad things to him. ⁵ Again the owner sent another servant. The farmers killed that one. Many other servants were sent. They beat some and they killed others.

⁶ “He had a much-loved son to send yet. So last of all he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ The farmers said to themselves, ‘This is the one who will get everything when the owner dies. Let us kill him and we will get everything.’ ⁸ They took him and killed him. They threw his body outside the field. ⁹ What will the owner of the field do? He will come and kill the farmers. He will give the field to other farmers.

¹⁰ “Have you not read what the Holy Writings say? ‘The Stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important Stone in the corner of the building. ¹¹ The Lord has done this. It is great in our eyes.’” ^{(B) 12} The leaders wanted to take Him but they were afraid of the people. They knew He had told the picture-story against them. They left Him and went away.