Book of Common Prayer
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Hope in the Lord
131 Lord, my heart is not arrogant,
nor do I look haughty.
I do not aspire[a] to great things,
nor concern myself with things beyond my ability.
2 Instead, I have composed and quieted myself
like a weaned child with its mother;
I am like a weaned child.
3 Place your hope in the Lord, Israel,
both now and forever.
A Song of Ascents
The Lord Lives in Zion
132 Lord, remember in David’s favor
all of his troubles;
2 how he swore an oath to the Lord,
vowing to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter[b] my house,
or lie down on[c] my bed,
4 or let myself go to sleep[d]
or even take a nap,[e]
5 until I locate a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard about it[f] in Ephrata;[g]
we found it in the fields of Jaar.[h]
7 Let’s go to his dwelling place
and worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, Lord,
and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness
and may your godly ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord made an oath to David
from which he will not retreat:
“One of your sons
I will set in place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my statutes that I will teach them,
then their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion,
desiring it as his dwelling place.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live,
because I desire to do so.
15 I will bless its provisions abundantly;
I will satiate its poor with food.[i]
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation
and its godly ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will create a power base[j] for David—
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with disgrace,
but on him his crown will shine.”
A Davidic Song of Ascents
The Significance of Unity
133 Look how good and how pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil on the head,
descending to the beard—
even to Aaron’s beard—
and flowing down to the edge of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon
falling on Zion’s mountains.
For there the Lord commanded his blessing—
life everlasting.
A Song of Ascents
Praise to the Creator
134 Now bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord
who serve[k] nightly in the Lord’s Temple.
2 Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
and bless the Lord.
3 May the Lord who fashions heaven and earth
bless you from Zion.
Praising God for His Graciousness
135 Hallelujah!
Praise the name of the Lord!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord,
2 you who are standing in the Lord’s Temple,
in the courtyards of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord,
because the Lord is good;
Sing to his name,
for he is gracious.
4 It is Jacob whom the Lord chose for himself—
Israel as his personal possession.
5 Indeed, I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord[l] surpasses all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever pleases him
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all its[m] deep regions.
7 He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth,
fashioning lightning for the rain,
bringing the wind from his storehouses.
8 It was the Lord[n] who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
including both men and animals.
9 He sent signs and wonders among you, Egypt,
before[o] Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations,
killing many kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
and every kingdom of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.
13 Your name, Lord, exists forever,
and your reputation, Lord, throughout the ages.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people,
and he will show compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
worked by[p] the hands of human beings.
16 Mouths are attributed to them,
but they cannot speak;
sight is attributed to them,
but they cannot see;
17 ears are attributed to them,
but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who craft them—
and all[q] who trust in them—
will become like them.
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord!
House of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who lives in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
On Avoiding the Immoral Woman
7 My son, guard what I say
and treasure my commands.
2 Keep my commands and you’ll live.
Guard[a] my teaching as you do your eyesight.
3 Strap them to your fingers
and engrave them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You’re my sister!”
and call understanding your close relative,
5 so they can keep you from an adulterous woman,
from the immoral woman with her seductive words.
A Father’s Warning
6 For from a window in my house
I peered through the lattice work,
7 and I noticed among the naïve—
that is, I discerned among the youths—
a senseless young man.
8 Proceeding down the street near her corner,
he makes his way toward her house
9 at twilight, during the evening,
even during the darkest part of the night.
10 Look! A woman makes her way to meet him,
dressed as a prostitute
and intending to entrap him.
11 She is brazen and defiant—
her feet don’t remain at home.
12 Now she is in the street, now in the plazas,
she lurks near every corner.
13 So she grabs hold of him and kisses him,
with a brazen face she speaks to him,
14 “I have given[b] my peace offerings,
and today I fulfilled my vows.
15 Therefore, I’ve come out to meet you,
I’ve looked just for you,
and I found you!
16 I’ve decorated my bed with new coverings—
embroidered linen from Egypt.
17 I’ve perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let’s make love until dawn;
let’s comfort ourselves with love,
19 because my husband isn’t home.
He left on a long trip.
20 He took a fist full of cash
and he’ll return home in a month.”
Conclusion
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15 And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God[a] would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that. 17 Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.
18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son[b] of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.[c] We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah,[d] who is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.[e]
55 Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and before the Passover many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Surely he won’t come to the festival, will he?” 57 Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where he was should tell them so that they could arrest him.
Mary Anoints Jesus(A)
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived,[a] the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a litron[b] of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, asked, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 denarii[c] and the money[d] given to the destitute?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.
7 Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial, 8 because you will always have the destitute with you, but you won’t always have me.”
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