Book of Common Prayer
Qoph
145 I called to You wholeheartedly: “Answer me, O Eternal One!”
I will respect, I will follow Your statutes.
146 I cried out to You: “Rescue me,
and I will live according to Your decrees.”
147 I wake before the dawn and call for help;
I hope in Your words.
148 My eyes do not shut before each watch of the night
so that I can fix my mind on Your word.
149 Listen to my voice, in keeping with Your unfailing love.
Preserve my life, O Eternal One, according to Your just rulings.
150 Those who wish me harm are moving closer to me;
they are far away from Your teaching.
151 But You are near me, O Eternal One,
and all You have commanded is true.
152 I learned a long time ago
that You established Your decrees to last forever.
Resh
153 Give attention to my misery and rescue me
because I have not forgotten Your teaching.
154 Fight for me, and set me free;
give me life in keeping with Your promise.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked
because they do not live in pursuit of Your precepts.
156 Your mercies are tender and great, O Eternal One;
grant me life in keeping with Your ordinances.
157 I have many oppressors and foes;
still I do not swerve from Your decrees.
158 I observe the faithless and detest them
because they turn away from Your word.
159 Reflect, O God, on how I love Your precepts;
give me life, O Eternal One, in keeping with Your unfailing love.
160 The entirety of Your word is truth,
and every one of Your right rulings will surely last forever.
Shin
161 Princes persecute me without reason,
but my heart remains true and is awed by Your words.
162 I celebrate because of Your promise,
like someone who discovers great treasure.
163 I despise and abhor lies,
but I love Your law.
164 Seven times every day I praise You
because of Your right rulings.
165 Those who love Your law have an abundance of peace,
and nothing along their paths can cause them to stumble.
166 I wait for Your salvation, O Eternal One,
and I live out Your commands.
167 My soul is faithful to Your decrees,
and my love for them is extraordinary.
168 I live according to Your precepts and decrees
because everything I do is right before Your eyes.
Tav
169 Let my cry come before You, O Eternal One.
Grant me understanding in keeping with Your word.
170 Let my plea come before You;
liberate me in keeping with Your word.
171 Praise will pour from my lips
because You help me learn what You require.
172 My tongue will sing of Your word
because every command of Yours is right.
173 Let Your hand be poised to help me
because I have chosen to live by Your precepts.
174 I long for Your salvation, O Eternal One.
Meanwhile, Your teaching brings me great joy.
175 Let my soul live on so that I may praise You,
and let Your precepts guide me.
176 I have wandered down the wrong path like a lost sheep; come find me, Your servant,
because I do not forget Your commands.
Psalm 128
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 Those who stand in awe of the Eternal—
who follow wherever He leads, committed in their hearts—experience His blessings!
2 God will use your hard work to provide you food.
You will prosper in your labor, and it will go well for you.
3 Your wife will be like a healthy vine producing plenty of fruit,
a spring of life in your home.
Your children will be like young olive shoots;
you will watch them bud and bloom around your table.
4 Such are the blessings the Eternal lavishes
on those who stand in awe of Him!
5 May the Eternal continue to pour out His love on you,
showering down blessings from His holy mountain, Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper
all your days.
6 May you have the privilege of seeing your grandchildren as they grow.
May peace flourish in Israel!
Psalm 129
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 “This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
they have often attacked me since I was young.”
So let Israel now proclaim,
2 “This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
they have attacked me since I was young,
and yet they have not been able to overpower me.
3 The plowers plowed over me;
they plowed their furrows deep and long down my back.”
4 The Eternal is just.
He’s severed the bindings of the wicked so they can’t hurt me anymore.
5 May all who despise Zion
hang their heads in shame.
May all who despise Zion recoil and run away.
6 Let them grow like grass upon rooftops
that withers and dies in the sun long before it has time to grow,
7 Unfit to be harvested by the worker,
not worthy of the effort to carry off to the binder.
8 Unwanted, uncared for—no passersby to greet them, no one to say,
“May the favor of the Eternal be upon you;
We bless you in His name.”
Psalm 130
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 From the depths of disaster I appeal to You, O Eternal One:
2 Lord, hear my cry!
Attune Your ears to my humble prayer!
3 If You, Eternal One, recorded each offense,
Lord, who on earth could stand innocent?
4 But with You forgiveness exists;
that’s why true respect of You might flow.
5 So I wait for the Eternal—my soul awaits rescue—
and I put my hope in His transforming word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord to break into the world
more than night watchmen expect the break of day,
even more than night watchmen expect the break of day.
7 O Israel, ground your hope in the Eternal.
For in the Eternal lives the most loyal love,
and with Him comes the most abundant redemption.
8 He will ransom Israel
from all the sinful acts that stole you away.
12 This is the message with which the Eternal burdened His prophet concerning Israel—the Eternal One, who began existence by stretching out the sky and founding the earth and forming the spirit deep in man.
Eternal One: 2 Watch what I’m about to do! I’m going to make Jerusalem like a cup of strong alcohol to confuse all her neighboring peoples. When they lay siege to Jerusalem, Judah will also be in the fight.[a] 3 On that day, when the enemies begin the attack, I will make Jerusalem a solid stone which cannot be moved; any who try to lift her will only be weighed down and seriously hurt themselves. All the nations on earth will come together to oppose her. 4 And on that day I promise I, the Eternal One, will confound every horse and drive every rider to madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the people of Judah even as I blind every war horse from every enemy nation. 5 Every clan of Judah will see what I am doing and believe, “The people of Jerusalem cannot be beaten because the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and their True God, leads them.”[b] 6 On that day, I will make the clans of Judah unstoppable against their enemies, a blazing pot igniting a pile of tinder, a flaming torch consuming dry bundles of wheat. They will devour all the surrounding peoples, those to the right and those to the left, but Jerusalem will remain safe and secure, bustling with citizens. 7 The Eternal will ensure that victory comes first to the tents of Judah, so that the respect due the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem will not outstrip the respect owed to Judah as a whole. So Jerusalem need not boast, but neither should it fear. 8 When that day comes, the Eternal will protect her citizens as a shield does. He will make the weak who stumble become like David, brave in battle; the royal line of David will be like God, like the Special Messenger of the Eternal One who goes before them in travels and in battle.
9 On that day, rest assured, I will set out to destroy all the nations who attack Jerusalem. 10 And I pledge that I will pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy on the family of David and the citizens of Jerusalem. As a result, they will look upon Me whom they pierced,[c] they will grieve over Him as one grieves for an only child, and they will moan and weep for Him as one weeps for a firstborn son.
This letter begins with praise and thanksgiving to
- God the Father, who blesses us
- Jesus, who redeems us
- the Holy Spirit, who seals us.
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms where we live in the Anointed—not because of anything we have done, but because of what He has done for us. 4 God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him. 5 He destined us to be adopted as His children through the covenant Jesus the Anointed inaugurated in His sacrificial life. This was His pleasure and His will for us. 6 Ultimately God is the one worthy of praise for showing us His grace; He is merciful and marvelous, freely giving us these gifts in His Beloved. 7 Visualize this: His blood freely flowing down the cross, setting us free! We are forgiven for our sinful ways by the richness of His grace, 8 which He has poured all over us. With all wisdom and insight, 9 He has enlightened us to the great mystery at the center of His will. With immense pleasure, He laid out His intentions through Jesus, 10 a plan that will climax when the time is right as He returns to create order and unity—both in heaven and on earth—when all things are brought together under the Anointed’s royal rule. In Him 11 we stand to inherit even more. As His heirs, we are predestined to play a key role in His unfolding purpose that is energizing everything to conform to His will. 12 As a result, we—the first to place our hope in the Anointed One—will live in a way to bring Him glory and praise. 13 Because you, too, have heard the word of truth—the good news of your salvation—and because you believed in the One who is truth, your lives are marked with His seal. This is none other than the Holy Spirit who was promised 14 as the guarantee toward the inheritance we are to receive when He frees and rescues all who belong to Him. To God be all praise and glory!
19 Jesus enters Jericho and seems only to be passing through. 2 Living in Jericho is a man named Zaccheus. He’s the head tax collector and is very rich. 3 He is also very short. He wants to see Jesus as He passes through the center of town, but he can’t get a glimpse because the crowd blocks his view. 4 So he runs ahead of the crowd and climbs up into a sycamore tree so he can see Jesus when He passes beneath him.
5 Jesus comes along and looks up into the tree[, and there He sees Zaccheus].[a]
Jesus: Zaccheus, hurry down from that tree because I need to stay at your house tonight.
6 Zaccheus scrambles down and joyfully brings Jesus back to his house. 7 Now the crowd sees this, and they’re upset.
Crowd (grumbling): Jesus has become the houseguest of this fellow who is a notorious sinner.
Zaccheus: 8 Lord, I am giving half of my goods to the poor, and whomever I have cheated I will pay back four times what I took.
Jesus: 9 Today liberation has come to this house, since even Zaccheus is living as a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to liberate the lost.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.