Book of Common Prayer
A song for going up to the Temple.
120 I was in trouble.
I called to the Lord for help,
and he answered me!
2 I said, “Lord, save me from liars,
from those who say things that are not true.”
3 Liars, do you know what the Lord has for you?
Do you know what you will get?
4 You will get a soldier’s sharp arrow
and hot coals to punish you.
5 How I hate living here among these people!
It’s like living in Meshech or in the tents of Kedar.[a]
6 I have lived too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I ask for peace,
but they want war.
A song for going up to the Temple.
121 I look up to the hills,
but where will my help really come from?
2 My help will come from the Lord,
the Creator of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall.
Your Protector will not fall asleep.
4 Israel’s Protector does not get tired.
He never sleeps.
5 The Lord is your Protector.
The Lord stands by your side, shading and protecting you.
6 The sun cannot harm you during the day,
and the moon cannot harm you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from every danger.
He will protect your soul.
8 The Lord will protect you as you come and go,[b]
both now and forever!
A song of David for going up to the Temple.
122 I was happy when the people said,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Here we are, standing at the gates of Jerusalem.
3 This is New Jerusalem!
The city has been rebuilt as one united city.
4 This is where the tribes come, the tribes who belong to the Lord.
The people of Israel come here to praise the Lord’s name.
5 The kings from David’s family put their thrones here.
They set up their thrones to judge the people.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“May those who love you find peace.
7 May there be peace within your walls.
May there be safety in your great buildings.”
8 For the good of my family and neighbors,
I pray that there will be peace here.
9 For the good of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I pray that good things will happen to this city.
A song for going up to the Temple.
123 Lord, I look up and pray to you.
You sit as King in heaven.
2 A slave looks to his master to provide what he needs,
and a servant girl depends on the woman she serves.
So we depend on the Lord our God,
waiting for him to have mercy on us.
3 Lord, be merciful to us,
because we have been insulted much too long.
4 We have had enough of the hateful words of those proud people
who make fun of us and show us no respect.
A song of David for going up to the Temple.
124 What would have happened to us if the Lord had not been on our side?
Tell us about it, Israel.
2 What would have happened to us if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us?
3 They would have swallowed us alive
when they became angry with us.
4 Their armies would have been
like a flood washing over us,
like a river drowning us.
5 Those proud people would have been
like water rising up to our mouth and drowning us.
6 Praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies tear us apart.
7 We escaped like a bird from the net of a hunter.
The net broke, and we escaped!
8 Our help came from the Lord,
the one who made heaven and earth!
A song for going up to the Temple.
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
They will never be shaken.
They will continue forever.
2 Like the mountains that surround Jerusalem,
the Lord surrounds and protects his people now and forever.
3 The wicked will not always control the land of those who do right.
If they did, even those who do right might start doing wrong.
4 Lord, be good to those who are good,
to those who have pure hearts.
5 But, Lord, when you punish those who do evil,
also punish those who have stopped following your way.
Let Israel always enjoy peace!
A song for going up to the Temple.
126 It will be like a dream
when the Lord comes back with the captives of Zion.[c]
2 We will laugh and sing happy songs!
Then the other nations will say,
“The Lord did a great thing for Zion!”
3 Yes, we will be happy
because the Lord did a great thing for us.
4 So, Lord, bring back the good times,
like a desert stream filled again with flowing water.
5 Then those who were sad when they planted
will be happy when they gather the harvest!
6 Those who cried as they carried the seeds[d]
will be happy when they bring in the crops!
A song from Solomon for going up to the Temple.
127 If it is not the Lord who builds a house,
the builders are wasting their time.
If it is not the Lord who watches over the city,
the guards are wasting their time.
2 It is a waste of time to get up early and stay up late,
trying to make a living.
The Lord provides for those he loves,
even while they are sleeping.
Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh
5 After Moses and Aaron talked to the people, they went to Pharaoh and said, “The Lord,[a] the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go into the desert so that they can have a festival to honor me.’”
2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don’t even know who this Lord is, so I refuse to let Israel go.”
3 Then Aaron and Moses said, “The God of the Hebrews[b] has talked with us. So we beg you to let us travel three days into the desert. There we will offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God. If we don’t do this, he might become angry and destroy us. He might make us die from sickness or war.”
4 But Pharaoh said to them, “Moses and Aaron, you are bothering the workers. Let them do their work. Go back to your own work! 5 There are very many workers, and you are keeping them from doing their jobs.”
Pharaoh Punishes the People
6 That same day Pharaoh gave a command to the slave masters and Hebrew foremen. 7 He said, “You have always given the people straw to use to make bricks. But now, tell them they have to go and find their own straw to make bricks. 8 But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. They have gotten lazy. That is why they are asking me to let them go. They don’t have enough work to do. That is why they asked me to let them make sacrifices to their God. 9 So make these people work harder. Keep them busy. Then they will not have enough time to listen to the lies of Moses.”
10 So the Egyptian slave masters and the Hebrew foremen went to the Israelites and said, “Pharaoh has decided that he will not give you straw for your bricks. 11 You must go and get the straw for yourselves. So go and find straw, but you must still make as many bricks as you made before.”
12 So the people went everywhere in Egypt looking for straw. 13 The slave masters forced the people to work even harder. They forced the people to make as many bricks as before. 14 The Egyptian slave masters had chosen the Hebrew foremen and had made them responsible for the work the people did. The Egyptian slave masters beat these foremen and said to them, “Why aren’t you making as many bricks as you made in the past? If you could do it then, you can do it now!”
15 Then the Hebrew foremen went to Pharaoh. They complained and said, “We are your servants. Why are you treating us like this? 16 You give us no straw, but you tell us to make as many bricks as before. And now our masters are beating us. Your people are wrong for doing this.”
17 Pharaoh answered, “You are lazy, and you don’t want to work! That is why you ask me to let you go. And that is why you want to leave here and make sacrifices to the Lord. 18 Now, go back to work! We will not give you any straw. And you must still make as many bricks as you did before.”
19 The Hebrew foremen knew they were in trouble, because the Pharaoh had told them, “You must still make as many bricks as you made before.”
20 When they were leaving the meeting with Pharaoh, they passed Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron were waiting for them. 21 So they said to Moses and Aaron, “May the Lord judge and punish you for what you did! You made Pharaoh and his rulers hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us.”
Moses Complains to God
22 Then Moses prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have you done this terrible thing to your people? Why did you send me here? 23 I went to Pharaoh and said what you told me to say. But since that time he has made the people suffer, and you have done nothing to help them!”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will use my great power against him, and he will let my people go. He will be so ready for them to leave that he will force them to go.”
20 Brothers and sisters, don’t think like children. In evil things be like babies, but in your thinking you should be like full-grown adults. 21 As the Scriptures[a] say,
“Using those who speak a different language
and using the lips of foreigners,
I will speak to these people.
But even then, they will not obey me.” (A)
This is what the Lord says.
22 And from this we see that the use of different languages shows how God deals with those who don’t believe, not with those who believe. And prophecy shows how God works through those who believe, not through unbelievers. 23 Suppose the whole church meets together and you all speak in different languages. If some people come in who are without understanding or don’t believe, they will say you are crazy. 24 But suppose you are all prophesying and someone comes in who does not believe or who is without understanding. Their sin will be shown to them, and they will be judged by everything you say. 25 The secret things in their heart will be made known. So they will bow down and worship God. They will say, “Without a doubt, God is here with you.”[b]
Your Meetings Should Be Helpful to All
26 So, brothers and sisters, what should you do? When you meet together, one person has a song, another has a teaching, and another has a new truth from God. One person speaks in a different language, and another interprets that language. The purpose of whatever you do should be to help everyone grow stronger in faith. 27 When you meet together, if anyone speaks to the group in a different language, it should be only two or no more than three people who do this. And they should speak one after the other. And someone else should interpret what they say. 28 But if there is no interpreter, then anyone who speaks in a different language should be quiet in the church meeting. They should speak only to themselves and to God.
29 And only two or three prophets should speak. The others should judge what they say. 30 And if a message from God comes to someone who is sitting, the first speaker should be quiet. 31 You can all prophesy one after the other. This way everyone can be taught and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are under the control of the prophets themselves. 33 God is not a God of confusion but a God of peace. This is the rule for all the meetings of God’s people.
39 So my brothers and sisters, continue to give your attention to prophesying. And don’t stop anyone from using the gift of speaking in different languages. 40 But everything should be done in a way that is right and orderly.
Jesus Warns About Causes of Sin(A)
42 “If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, it will be very bad for that person. It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be drowned in the sea. 43 If your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body and have eternal life than to have two hands and go to hell. There the fire never stops. 44 [a] 45 If your foot makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body and have eternal life than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 [b] 47 If your eye makes you sin, take it out. It is better for you to have only one eye and enter God’s kingdom than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. 48 The worms that eat the people in hell never die. The fire there is never stopped.
49 “Everyone will be salted with fire.[c]
50 “Salt is good. But if it loses its salty taste, you can’t make it good again. So, don’t lose that good quality of salt you have. And live in peace with each other.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International