Book of Common Prayer
The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of [a]Ascents.
121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills [of Jerusalem]—
From where shall my help come?(A)
2
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.(B)
4
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber [briefly] nor sleep [soundly].
5
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.(C)
6
The sun will not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.(D)
7
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your life.
8
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in [everything that you do]
From this time forth and forever.(E)
Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.
A Song of [b]Ascents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”(F)
2
Our feet are standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
3
Jerusalem, that is built
As a city that is firmly joined together;
4
To which the [twelve] tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord,
[As was decreed as] an ordinance for Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5
For there the thrones of judgment were set,
The thrones of the house of David.
6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you [holy city].
7
“May peace be within your walls
And prosperity within your palaces.”
8
For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
9
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God [which is Jerusalem],
I will seek your (the city’s) good.
Prayer for the Lord’s Help.
A Song of [c]Ascents.
123 Unto you I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
2
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
And as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious and favorable toward us.
3
Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious and favorable toward us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
4
Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud [who disregard God’s law].
Childlike Trust in the Lord.
A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.
131 Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
2
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child [resting] with his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me [composed and freed from discontent].
3
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
Prayer for the Lord’s Blessing Upon the Sanctuary.
A Song of [b]Ascents.
132 O Lord, remember on David’s behalf
All his hardship and affliction;
2
How he swore to the Lord
And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3
“I absolutely will not enter my house,
Nor get into my bed—
4
I certainly will not permit my eyes to sleep
Nor my eyelids to slumber,
5
Until I find a place for the Lord,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob (Israel).”(A)
6
Behold, we heard of it at Ephrathah;
We found it in the field of Jaar.(B)
7
Let us go into His tabernacle;
Let us worship at His footstool.
8
Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,
You and the ark [the symbol] of Your strength.
9
Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (right living),
And let Your godly ones shout for joy.
10
For the sake of Your servant David,
Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
11
The Lord swore to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“One of your [c]descendants I will set upon your throne.(C)
12
“If your children will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their children also shall sit upon your throne forever.”
13
For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
14
“This is My resting place forever” [says the Lord];
“Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
15
“I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16
“Her priests also I will clothe with salvation,
And her godly ones will shout aloud for joy.
17
“There I will make the horn (strength) of David grow;
I have prepared a lamp for My anointed [fulfilling the promises].(D)
18
“His enemies I will clothe with shame,
But upon himself shall his crown shine.”
14 For this is what the Lord says,
“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia)
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will come over to you and they will be yours;
They will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over,
And they will bow down before you;
They will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying,
[a]‘Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other,
No other God [besides Him].’”(A)
15
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, Savior!
16
They will be put to shame and also humiliated, all of them;
They who make idols will go away together in humiliation.
17
Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
for all eternity.(B)
18 For the Lord, who created the heavens [b](He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this,
“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.
19
“I have not spoken in secret,
In a corner of a land of darkness;
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’
I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],
Declaring things that are upright.(C)
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I [a]supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church. 25 In this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known [among you]— 26 that is, [b]the mystery which was hidden [from angels and mankind] for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints (God’s people). 27 God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory. 28 We proclaim Him, warning and instructing everyone in all wisdom [that is, with comprehensive insight into the word and purposes of God], so that we may present every person complete in Christ [mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him—the Anointed]. 29 For this I labor [often to the point of exhaustion], striving with His power and energy, which so greatly works within me.
You Are Built Up in Christ
2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those [believers] at [c]Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen me face to face. 2 [For my hope is] that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in [unselfish] [d]love, so that they may have all the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding [the joy of salvation], resulting in a true [and more intimate] knowledge of the [e]mystery of God, that is, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [regarding the word and purposes of God]. 4 I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive [but thoroughly deceptive] arguments. 5 For even though I am absent [from you] in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, [f]delighted to see your good discipline [as you stand shoulder to shoulder and form a solid front] and to see the stability of your faith in Christ [your steadfast reliance on Him and your unwavering confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in [union with] Him [reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin], 7 having been deeply rooted [in Him] and now being continually built up in Him and [becoming increasingly more] established [g]in your faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.
Jesus Is the Light of the World
12 Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, “[a]I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees told Him, “You are testifying on Your own behalf; Your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus replied, “Even if I do testify on My own behalf, My testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to [b]human standards [just by what you see]. I do not judge anyone. 16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true and My decision is right; for I am not alone [in making it], but I and the Father who sent Me [make the same judgment]. 17 Even in your own law it is written that the testimony of two persons is true [valid and admissible].(A) 18 I am One [of the Two] who testifies about Myself, and My Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” 19 Then the Pharisees said to Him, “Where is this Father of Yours?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.