Book of Common Prayer
ק Qoph
145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord.
I will obey your statutes.(A)
146 I call to you; save me,
and I will keep your decrees.(B)
147 I rise before dawn and cry out for help;(C)
I put my hope in your word.
148 I am awake through each watch of the night
to meditate on your promise.(D)
149 In keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice.
Lord, give me life in keeping with your justice.(E)
150 Those who pursue evil plans[a](F) come near;
they are far from your instruction.
151 You are near, Lord,(G)
and all your commands are true.(H)
152 Long ago I learned from your decrees
that you have established them forever.(I)
ר Resh
153 Consider my affliction and rescue me,(J)
for I have not forgotten your instruction.(K)
154 Champion my cause and redeem me;(L)
give me life as you promised.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked
because they do not study your statutes.(M)
156 Your compassions are many, Lord;(N)
give me life according to your judgments.
157 My persecutors and foes are many.(O)
I have not turned from your decrees.(P)
158 I have seen the disloyal(Q) and feel disgust(R)
because they do not keep your word.
159 Consider how I love your precepts;
Lord, give me life according to your faithful love.(S)
160 The entirety of your word is truth,
each of your righteous judgments endures forever.(T)
שׂ Sin
161 Princes have persecuted me without cause,
but my heart fears only your word.(U)
162 I rejoice over your promise(V)
like one who finds vast treasure.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,(W)
but I love your instruction.(X)
164 I praise you seven times a day
for your righteous judgments.(Y)
165 Abundant peace belongs to those(Z)
who love your instruction;
nothing makes them stumble.(AA)
166 Lord, I hope for your salvation(AB)
and carry out your commands.
167 I obey your decrees
and love them greatly.(AC)
168 I obey your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before you.(AD)
ת Taw
169 Let my cry reach you, Lord;(AE)
give me understanding according to your word.(AF)
170 Let my plea reach you;(AG)
rescue me according to your promise.(AH)
171 My lips pour out praise,(AI)
for you teach me your statutes.(AJ)
172 My tongue sings about your promise,(AK)
for all your commands are righteous.(AL)
173 May your hand be ready to help me,(AM)
for I have chosen your precepts.(AN)
174 I long for your salvation, Lord,
and your instruction is my delight.(AO)
175 Let me live, and I will praise you;(AP)
may your judgments help me.
176 I wander like a lost sheep;(AQ)
seek your servant,(AR)
for I do not forget your commands.(AS)
Psalm 128
Blessings for Those Who Fear God
A song of ascents.
1 How happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!(A)
2 You will surely eat
what your hands have worked for.(B)
You will be happy,
and it will go well for you.(C)
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house,
your children, like young olive trees
around your table.(D)
4 In this very way
the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed.(E)
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life(F)
6 and will see your children’s children!
Peace be with Israel.(G)
Psalm 129
Protection of the Oppressed
A song of ascents.
1 Since my youth they have often attacked me—
let Israel say—
2 since my youth they have often attacked me,
but they have not prevailed against me.(H)
3 Plowmen plowed over my back;
they made their furrows long.(I)
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the ropes of the wicked.(J)
5 Let all who hate Zion
be driven back in disgrace.(K)
6 Let them be like grass on the rooftops,
which withers before it grows up[a](L)
7 and can’t even fill the hands of the reaper
or the arms of the one who binds sheaves.(M)
8 Then none who pass by will say,
“May the Lord’s blessing be on you.
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”(N)
Psalm 130
Awaiting Redemption
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I call to you, Lord!(O)
2 Lord, listen to my voice;
let your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.(P)
3 Lord, if you kept an account of iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?(Q)
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you may be revered.(R)
Financial Entanglements
6 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor[a]
or entered into an agreement with[b] a stranger,(A)
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth—
trapped by the words from your mouth.
3 Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,
for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:
Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.
4 Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.(B)
5 Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,[c]
like a bird from a hunter’s trap.[d](C)
Laziness
6 Go to the ant,(D) you slacker!(E)
Observe its ways and become wise.
7 Without leader, administrator, or ruler,
8 it prepares its provisions in summer;
it gathers its food during harvest.(F)
9 How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
11 and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.(G)
The Malicious Man
12 A worthless person,(H) a wicked man
goes around speaking dishonestly,(I)
13 winking(J) his eyes, signaling with his feet,
and gesturing with his fingers.
14 He always plots evil(K) with perversity in his heart;
he stirs up trouble.(L)
15 Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly;
he will be shattered instantly, beyond recovery.(M)
What the Lord Hates
16 The Lord hates six things;
in fact, seven are detestable to him:
17 arrogant eyes,(N) a lying tongue,(O)
hands that shed innocent blood,(P)
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,(Q)
feet eager to run to evil,(R)
19 a lying witness who gives false testimony,(S)
and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.(T)
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,(A) and everyone who loves the Father[a] also loves the one born of him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey[b] his commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,(B) 4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
The Certainty of God’s Testimony
5 Who is the one who conquers the world(C) but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D) 6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water(E) and by blood.(F) And the Spirit is the one who testifies,(G) because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify:[c](H) 8 the Spirit,(I) the water, and the blood(J)—and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony(K) is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar,(L) because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life.(M) The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.(A) 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees(B) and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin(C) and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans(D) will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 One of them, Caiaphas,(E) who was high priest(F) that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You’re not considering that it is to your[a] advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”(G) 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die(H) for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children(I) of God. 53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him.(J)
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly(K) among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,(L) to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.