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.
Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel
21 Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. 22 The anger of God was inflamed because he went, and the angel[a] of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and His sword was drawn in His hand, so the donkey turned out of the way and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey to turn her onto the road.
24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she threw herself into the wall and crushed the foot of Balaam against the wall, and he struck her again.
26 The angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, and the anger of Balaam was inflamed, and he struck the donkey with a staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have mocked me. O that there was a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, whom you have ridden since I became yours, to this day? Do I normally do this to you?”
And he said, “No.”
31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and His sword was drawn in His hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.
32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before Me. 33 And the donkey saw Me and turned from Me these three times. If she had not turned from Me, surely by now I would have slain you and saved her alive.”
34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned because I did not know that You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will return.”
35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men. But only speak the word that I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went with the leaders of Balak.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him in a city of Moab which is on the border of Arnon, which is at the furthest end of the border. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Indeed am I not able to honor you?”
38 And Balaam said to Balak, “I have come to you now. But am I able to speak just anything? The word God puts in my mouth is what I will speak. ”
An Analogy From Marriage
7 Do you not know, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding her husband. 3 So then, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she would not be an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may be married to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, so that we may bear fruit for God. 5 When we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, through the law, worked in our members to bear fruit leading to death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, having died to things in which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter of the law.
The Problem of Indwelling Sin
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I did not know sin, except through the law. I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a] 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was intended for life, proved to be death in me. 11 For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and killed me through it. 12 So then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.
The Question of Jesus’ Authority(A)
23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Where did the baptism of John come from? From heaven or from men?”
They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
Then He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
29 “He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he repented and went.
30 “Then he came to the second, and said likewise. He answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but did not go.
31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.