Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Help
120 When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Save me, Lord,
from liars and deceivers.
3 You liars, what will God do to you?
How will he punish you?
4 With a soldier's sharp arrows,
with red-hot coals!
5 Living among you is as bad as living in Meshech
or among the people of Kedar.[a]
6 I have lived too long
with people who hate peace!
7 When I speak of peace,
they are for war.
The Lord Our Protector
121 I look to the mountains;
where will my help come from?
2 My help will come from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall;
your protector is always awake.
4 The protector of Israel
never dozes or sleeps.
5 The Lord will guard you;
he is by your side to protect you.
6 The sun will not hurt you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all danger;
he will keep you safe.
8 He will protect you as you come and go
now and forever.
In Praise of Jerusalem[b]
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the Lord's house.”
2 And now we are here,
standing inside the gates of Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem is a city restored
in beautiful order and harmony.
4 This is where the tribes come,
the tribes of Israel,
to give thanks to the Lord
according to his command.
5 Here the kings of Israel
sat to judge their people.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
7 May there be peace inside your walls
and safety in your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I say to Jerusalem, “Peace be with you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God
I pray for your prosperity.
A Prayer for Mercy
123 Lord, I look up to you,
up to heaven, where you rule.
2 As a servant depends on his master,
as a maid depends on her mistress,
so we will keep looking to you, O Lord our God,
until you have mercy on us.
3 Be merciful to us, Lord, be merciful;
we have been treated with so much contempt.
4 We have been mocked too long by the rich
and scorned by proud oppressors.
God the Protector of His People[c]
124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
Answer, O Israel!
2 “If the Lord had not been on our side
when our enemies attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us alive
in their furious anger against us;
4 then the flood would have carried us away,
the water would have covered us,
5 the raging torrent would have drowned us.”
6 Let us thank the Lord,
who has not let our enemies destroy us.
7 We have escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap;
the trap is broken, and we are free!
8 Our help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The Security of God's People
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which can never be shaken, never be moved.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forever.
3 The wicked will not always rule over the land of the righteous;
if they did, the righteous themselves might do evil.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
to those who obey your commands.
5 But when you punish the wicked,
punish also those who abandon your ways.
Peace be with Israel!
A Prayer for Deliverance
126 When the Lord brought us back to Jerusalem,[d]
it was like a dream!
2 How we laughed, how we sang for joy!
Then the other nations said about us,
“The Lord did great things for them.”
3 Indeed he did great things for us;
how happy we were!
4 Lord, make us prosperous again,[e]
just as the rain brings water back to dry riverbeds.
5 Let those who wept as they planted their crops,
gather the harvest with joy!
6 Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed
will come back singing for joy,
as they bring in the harvest.
In Praise of God's Goodness[f]
127 If the Lord does not build the house,
the work of the builders is useless;
if the Lord does not protect the city,
it does no good for the sentries to stand guard.
2 It is useless to work so hard for a living,
getting up early and going to bed late.
For the Lord provides for those he loves,
while they are asleep.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a real blessing.
4 The sons a man has when he is young
are like arrows in a soldier's hand.
5 Happy is the man who has many such arrows.
He will never be defeated
when he meets his enemies in the place of judgment.
Saul Defeats the Ammonites
11 About a month later King Nahash of Ammon led his army against the town of Jabesh in the territory of Gilead and besieged it. The men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will accept you as our ruler.”
2 Nahash answered, “I will make a treaty with you on one condition: I will put out everyone's right eye and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”
3 The leaders of Jabesh said, “Give us seven days to send messengers throughout the land of Israel. If no one will help us, then we will surrender to you.”
4 The messengers arrived at Gibeah, where Saul lived, and when they told the news, the people started crying in despair. 5 Saul was just then coming in from the field with his oxen, and he asked, “What's wrong? Why is everyone crying?” They told him what the messengers from Jabesh had reported. 6 When Saul heard this, the spirit of God took control of him, and he became furious. 7 He took two oxen, cut them in pieces, and had messengers carry the pieces throughout the land of Israel with this warning: “Whoever does not follow Saul and Samuel into battle will have this done to his oxen!”
The people of Israel were afraid of what the Lord might do, and all of them, without exception, came out together. 8 Saul gathered them at Bezek: there were 300,000 from Israel and 30,000 from Judah. 9 They said to the messengers from Jabesh, “Tell your people that before noon tomorrow they will be rescued.” When the people of Jabesh received the message, they were overjoyed 10 and said to Nahash, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do with us whatever you wish.”
11 That night Saul divided his men into three groups, and at dawn the next day they rushed into the enemy camp and attacked the Ammonites. By noon they had slaughtered them. The survivors scattered, each man running off by himself.
12 Then the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Where are the people who said that Saul should not be our king? Hand them over to us, and we will kill them!”
13 But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for this is the day the Lord rescued Israel.” 14 And Samuel said to them, “Let us all go to Gilgal and once more proclaim Saul as our king.” 15 So they all went to Gilgal, and there at the holy place they proclaimed Saul king. They offered fellowship sacrifices, and Saul and all the people of Israel celebrated the event.
8 And Saul approved of his murder.
Saul Persecutes the Church
That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.
3 (A)But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.
The Gospel Is Preached in Samaria
4 The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message. 5 Philip went to the principal city[a] in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there. 6 The crowds paid close attention to what Philip said, as they listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed. 7 Evil spirits came out from many people with a loud cry, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
9 A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great, 10 and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. “He is that power of God known as ‘The Great Power,’” they said. 11 They paid this attention to him because for such a long time he had astonished them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip's message about the good news of the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself also believed; and after being baptized, he stayed close to Philip and was astounded when he saw the great wonders and miracles that were being performed.
Jesus Is Mocked and Beaten(A)
63 The men who were guarding Jesus made fun of him and beat him. 64 They blindfolded him and asked him, “Who hit you? Guess!” 65 And they said many other insulting things to him.
Jesus before the Council(B)
66 When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council. 67 “Tell us,” they said, “are you the Messiah?”
He answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me; 68 and if I ask you a question, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of Almighty God.”
70 They all said, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”
He answered them, “You say that I am.”
71 And they said, “We don't need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.