Book of Common Prayer
120 In my troubles I pled with God to help me and he did!
2 Deliver me, O Lord, from liars. 3 O lying tongue, what shall be your fate? 4 You shall be pierced with sharp arrows and burned with glowing coals.[a]
5-6 My troubles pile high among these haters of the Lord, these men of Meshech and Kedar. I am tired of being here among these men who hate peace. 7 I am for peace, but they are for war, and my voice goes unheeded in their councils.
121 Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too! 3-4 He will never let me stumble, slip, or fall. For he is always watching, never sleeping.
5 Jehovah himself is caring for you! He is your defender.[b] 6 He protects you day and night. 7 He keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. 8 He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go and always guards you.
122 I was glad for the suggestion of going to Jerusalem, to the Temple of the Lord. 2-3 Now we are standing here inside the crowded city. 4 All Israel—Jehovah’s people—have come to worship as the law requires, to thank and praise the Lord. 5 Look! There are the judges holding court beside the city gates, deciding all the people’s arguments.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. 7 O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. 8 This I ask for the sake of all my brothers and my friends who live here; 9 and may there be peace as a protection to the Temple of the Lord.
123 O God enthroned in heaven, I lift my eyes to you.
2 We look to Jehovah our God for his mercy and kindness just as a servant keeps his eyes upon his master or a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
3-4 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. For we have had our fill of contempt and of the scoffing of the rich and proud.
124 If the Lord had not been on our side (let all Israel admit it), if the Lord had not been on our side, 2-3 we would have been swallowed alive by our enemies, destroyed by their anger. 4-5 We would have drowned beneath the flood of these men’s fury and pride.
6 Blessed be Jehovah who has not let them devour us. 7 We have escaped with our lives as a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare is broken and we are free!
8 Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
125 Those who trust in the Lord are steady as Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance.
2 Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects his people. 3 For the wicked shall not rule the godly, lest the godly be forced to do wrong. 4 O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are right with the Lord; 5 but lead evil men to execution. And let Israel have quietness and peace.
126 When Jehovah brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! 2 How we laughed and sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
3 Yes, glorious things! What wonder! What joy! 4 May we be refreshed[c] as by streams in the desert.
5 Those who sow tears shall reap joy. 6 Yes, they go out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, and return singing, carrying their sheaves.
127 Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders’ work is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, sentries do no good. 2 It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest.
3 Children are a gift from God; they are his reward. 4 Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows to defend him.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. That man shall have the help he needs when arguing with his enemies.[d]
15 “See,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; you should do the same.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God; 17 I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us.”
18 And when Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind and could not be persuaded otherwise, she stopped urging her. 19 So they both came to Bethlehem, and the entire village was stirred by their arrival.
“Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.
20 But she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” (Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter”) “for Almighty God has dealt me bitter blows. 21 I went out full and the Lord has brought me home empty; why should you call me Naomi when the Lord has turned his back on me and sent such calamity!”
22 (Their return from Moab and arrival in Bethlehem was at the beginning of the barley harvest.)
12 We are so glad that we can say with utter honesty that in all our dealings we have been pure and sincere, quietly depending upon the Lord for his help and not on our own skills. And that is even more true, if possible, about the way we have acted toward you. 13-14 My letters have been straightforward and sincere; nothing is written between the lines! And even though you don’t know me very well (I hope someday you will), I want you to try to accept me and be proud of me as you already are to some extent; just as I shall be of you on that day when our Lord Jesus comes back again.
15-16 It was because I was so sure of your understanding and trust that I planned to stop and see you on my way to Macedonia, as well as afterwards when I returned, so that I could be a double blessing to you and so that you could send me on my way to Judea.
17 Then why, you may be asking, did I change my plan? Hadn’t I really made up my mind yet? Or am I like a man of the world who says yes when he really means no? 18 Never! As surely as God is true, I am not that sort of person. My yes means yes.
19 Timothy and Silvanus and I have been telling you about Jesus Christ the Son of God. He isn’t one to say yes when he means no. He always does exactly what he says. 20 He carries out and fulfills all of God’s promises, no matter how many of them there are; and we have told everyone how faithful he is, giving glory to his name. 21 It is this God who has made you and me into faithful Christians and commissioned us apostles to preach the Good News. 22 He has put his brand upon us—his mark of ownership—and given us his Holy Spirit in our hearts as guarantee that we belong to him and as the first installment of all that he is going to give us.
13 “You are the world’s seasoning, to make it tolerable. If you lose your flavor, what will happen to the world? And you yourselves will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 You are the world’s light—a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see. 15-16 Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.
17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come—it isn’t to cancel the laws of Moses and the warnings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them and to make them all come true. 18 With all the earnestness I have I say: Every law in the Book will continue until its purpose is achieved.[a] 19
20 “But I warn you—unless your goodness[b] is greater than that of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, you can’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven at all!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.