Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120
A Song of Ascents.
1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord,
and He heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given to you,
or what shall be done to you, you false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the warrior,
with coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me, that I have sojourned in Meshek,
or that I have dwelled among the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul has long lived
with those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!
Psalm 121
A Song of Ascents.
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills,
from where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who guards Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not harm you during the day,
nor the moon during the night.
7 The Lord shall protect you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
from now and for evermore.
Psalm 122
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet shall stand
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
that is designed for a multitude,
4 where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as a decree of Israel,
to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.
5 There are set thrones of judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions’ sake,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
Psalm 123
A Song of Ascents.
1 To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who dwell in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look upon the Lord our God,
until He has mercy upon us.
3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have been completely filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the ridicule of those who are at ease,
and with the contempt of the proud ones.
Psalm 124
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
now may Israel say,
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when men rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up,
when their wrath was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have overwhelmed us,
the torrent would have passed over our lives;
5 then the surging waters
would have gone over us.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us for a prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped
as a bird out of the snare of the hunters;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 125
A Song of Ascents.
1 Those who trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion,
which cannot be removed, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds His people,
from now and forever.
3 For the scepter of the wicked shall not rest
upon the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous put forth
their hands to do iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, for those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 As for those who turn aside to their twisted ways,
the Lord shall lead them away with the other workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 126
A Song of Ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the captives of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.
4 Restore our captives, O Lord,
as the streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
shall reap in joy.
6 He who goes forth and weeps,
bearing precious seed to sow,
shall come home again with rejoicing,
bringing his grain sheaves with him.
Psalm 127
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Except the Lord build the house,
those who build labor in vain;
except the Lord guards the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain for you to rise up early,
to stay up late,
and to eat the bread of hard toil,
for He gives sleep to His beloved.
3 Look, children are a gift of the Lord,
and the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man
who has his quiver full of them;
he shall not be ashamed
when he speaks with the enemies at the gate.
Wisdom Is Supreme
4 Hear, O children, the instruction of a father,
and attend to know understanding.
2 For I give you good precepts;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I was my father’s son,
tender and the only beloved in the sight of my mother.
4 He also taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart retain my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget it, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is principal; therefore get wisdom.
And with all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;
she will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
a crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in right paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered,
and when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let her go;
keep her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not go in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and pass on.
16 For they do not sleep unless they have done mischief;
and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light,
that shines more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness;
they do not know at what they stumble.
20 My son, attend to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them,
and health to all their body.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
and put perverse lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look right on,
and let your eyelids look straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet,
and let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;
remove your foot from evil.
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this way the love of God was revealed to us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 We know that we live in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way God’s love is perfected in us, so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 We have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 When the Jews who were with Mary in the house, comforting her, saw that she quickly rose up and went out, they followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32 When Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him.”
37 But some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have also kept this man from dying?”
Lazarus Brought to Life
38 Then Jesus, again groaning within Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I know that You always hear Me. But because of the people standing around, I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 When He had said this, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 He who was dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped with grave clothes, and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.