Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Ascents[a]
A Prayer for Deliverance
120 I cried to the Lord in my distress,
and he responded to me.
2 “Lord, deliver me[b] from lips that lie
and tongues that deceive.”
3 What will be given to you,
and what will be done to you,
you treacherous tongue?
4 Like a[c] sharp arrow from a warrior,
along with fiery coals from juniper trees!
5 How terrible for me,
that I am an alien in Meshech,
that I reside among the tents of Kedar!
6 I have resided too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I am in favor of peace;
but when I speak,
they are in favor of war.
A Song of Ascents
The Guardian of God’s People
121 I lift up my eyes toward the mountains—
from where will my help come?
2 My help is from the Lord,
maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will never let[d] your foot slip,
nor[e] will[f] your guardian become drowsy.
4 Look! The one who is guarding Israel
never sleeps and does not take naps.
5 The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade at your right side.
6 The sun will not ravage you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will guard you from all evil,
preserving[g] your life.
8 The Lord will guard your goings and comings,[h]
from this time on and forever.
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Up to Jerusalem
122 I rejoiced when they kept on asking me,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Our feet are standing
inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem stands built up,
a city knitted together.
4 To it the tribes ascend—
the tribes of the Lord—
as decreed to Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For thrones are established there for judgment,
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for peace for Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be at peace![i]
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
and[j] prosperity[k] within your fortresses.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will now say, “May there be peace within you.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I will seek your welfare.
A Song of Ascents
A Prayer for Relief
123 To you, who sit enthroned in heaven,
I lift up my eyes.
2 Consider this: as the eyes of a servant focus
on what his master provides,[l]
and as the eyes of a female servant focus[m]
on what her mistress provides,[n]
so our eyes focus on the Lord our God,
until he has mercy on us.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our lives overflow
with scorn from those who live at ease,
with contempt from those who are proud.
A Davidic Song of Ascents
God is for Us
124 If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel now say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men came against us,
3 then they would have devoured us alive,
when their anger burned against us.
4 Then the flood waters would have overwhelmed us,
the torrent would have flooded over us;
5 the swollen waters would have swept us away.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who did not give us as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s trap.
The trap has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
A Song of Ascents
God is Secure
125 Those who are trusting in the Lord
are like Mount Zion, which cannot be overthrown.
They remain forever.
2 Just as mountains encircle Jerusalem,
so the Lord encircles his people,
from now to eternity.
3 For evil’s scepter will not rest
on the land that has been allotted to the righteous,
and so the righteous will not direct themselves[o] to do wrong.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in heart.[p]
5 But for those who choose their own devious paths,
the Lord will lead them away,
along with those who practice evil.
Peace be upon Israel.
A Song of Ascents
The Exiles Restored
126 When the Lord brought back Zion’s exiles,[q]
we were like dreamers.[r]
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues formed joyful shouts.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The great things that the Lord has done for us
gladden us.
4 Restore our exiles,[s] Lord,
like the streams of the Negev.[t]
5 Those who weep while they plant
will sing for joy while they harvest.
6 The one who goes out weeping,[u]
carrying a bag of seeds,
will surely return with a joyful song,
bearing sheaves from his harvest.[v]
A Solomonic Song of Ascents
God’s Blessing in the Family
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor uselessly.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
its security forces keep watch uselessly.
2 It is useless to get up early
and to stay up late,[w]
eating the food of exhausting labor—
truly he gives sleep to those he loves.
3 Children[x] are a gift[y] from the Lord;
a productive womb, the Lord’s[z] reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so also are children[aa] born during one’s[ab] youth.
5 How blessed[ac] is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He[ad] will not be ashamed
as they confront their enemies at the city gate.
Diligently Pursue Wisdom
4 Listen, children,[a] to your father’s instruction,
and pay attention in order to gain understanding.
2 I give you sound teaching,
so do not abandon my instruction.[b]
3 When I was a son to my father,
not yet strong[c] and an only son to my mother,
4 he taught me and told me,
“Let your heart fully embrace what I have to say;[d]
keep my commandments and live!
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget or turn aside from the words of my mouth!
6 Do not abandon her, and she will protect you.
Love her, and she will watch over you.
7 Wisdom is of utmost importance, therefore get wisdom,
and with all your effort work to acquire understanding.
8 Prize her and she will exalt you.
Indeed, if you embrace her, she will honor you.
9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will present to you a crown of beauty.”
10 Listen, my son: accept my words,
and you’ll live a long, long time.[e]
11 I have directed you in the way of wisdom,
and I have led you along straight[f] paths.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hindered,
and when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go!
Guard wisdom,[g] because she is your life!
Avoiding the Ways of the Wicked
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
or go along the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it! Don’t travel on it!
Turn away from it, and pass on by.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they are doing evil,
and they are robbed of their sleep unless they cause someone to stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness,
and they drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn
that grows brighter until the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness,
and they do not know what they are stumbling over.
Remembering the Counsel of a Wise Father
20 My son, pay attention to my words,
and listen closely[h] to what I say.
21 Do not let them out of your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.[i]
23 Above everything else[j] guard your heart,
because from it flow the springs of life.
24 Never talk deceptively
and don’t keep company with people whose speech is corrupt.[k]
25 Let your eyes look directly ahead;
fix your gaze straight in front of you.
26 Carefully measure[l] the paths for your feet,
and all your ways will be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
God’s Love Lives in Us
7 Dear friends, let us continuously love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent his uniquely existing Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved[a] God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God. 16 We have come to know and rely on[b] the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him. 18 There is no fear where love exists.[c] Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.
19 We love[d] because God[e] first loved us. 20 Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love the God whom he has not seen. 21 And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.
30 Now Jesus had not yet arrived at the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with her, consoling her in the house, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she had gone to the tomb to cry there.
32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was greatly troubled in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He asked, “Where have you put him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus burst into tears.
36 So the Jews said, “See how much he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Surely the one who opened the eyes of the blind man could have kept this man from dying, couldn’t he?”
Jesus Brings Lazarus Back to Life
38 Groaning deeply again, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of it. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there must be a stench by now, because he’s been dead for four days.”
40 Jesus told her, “I told you that if you believed you would see God’s glory, didn’t I?” 41 So they removed the stone.
Then Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 After saying this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet tied with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a handkerchief. Jesus told them, “Untie him, and let him go.”
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