Book of Common Prayer
A Song of Ascents[a]
A Prayer for Deliverance
120 I cried to the Lord in my distress,
and he responded to me.
2 “Lord, deliver me[b] from lips that lie
and tongues that deceive.”
3 What will be given to you,
and what will be done to you,
you treacherous tongue?
4 Like a[c] sharp arrow from a warrior,
along with fiery coals from juniper trees!
5 How terrible for me,
that I am an alien in Meshech,
that I reside among the tents of Kedar!
6 I have resided too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I am in favor of peace;
but when I speak,
they are in favor of war.
A Song of Ascents
The Guardian of God’s People
121 I lift up my eyes toward the mountains—
from where will my help come?
2 My help is from the Lord,
maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will never let[d] your foot slip,
nor[e] will[f] your guardian become drowsy.
4 Look! The one who is guarding Israel
never sleeps and does not take naps.
5 The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade at your right side.
6 The sun will not ravage you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will guard you from all evil,
preserving[g] your life.
8 The Lord will guard your goings and comings,[h]
from this time on and forever.
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Up to Jerusalem
122 I rejoiced when they kept on asking me,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Our feet are standing
inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem stands built up,
a city knitted together.
4 To it the tribes ascend—
the tribes of the Lord—
as decreed to Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For thrones are established there for judgment,
thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for peace for Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be at peace![i]
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
and[j] prosperity[k] within your fortresses.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will now say, “May there be peace within you.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I will seek your welfare.
A Song of Ascents
A Prayer for Relief
123 To you, who sit enthroned in heaven,
I lift up my eyes.
2 Consider this: as the eyes of a servant focus
on what his master provides,[l]
and as the eyes of a female servant focus[m]
on what her mistress provides,[n]
so our eyes focus on the Lord our God,
until he has mercy on us.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4 Our lives overflow
with scorn from those who live at ease,
with contempt from those who are proud.
A Davidic Song of Ascents
God is for Us
124 If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel now say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men came against us,
3 then they would have devoured us alive,
when their anger burned against us.
4 Then the flood waters would have overwhelmed us,
the torrent would have flooded over us;
5 the swollen waters would have swept us away.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who did not give us as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s trap.
The trap has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
A Song of Ascents
God is Secure
125 Those who are trusting in the Lord
are like Mount Zion, which cannot be overthrown.
They remain forever.
2 Just as mountains encircle Jerusalem,
so the Lord encircles his people,
from now to eternity.
3 For evil’s scepter will not rest
on the land that has been allotted to the righteous,
and so the righteous will not direct themselves[o] to do wrong.
4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in heart.[p]
5 But for those who choose their own devious paths,
the Lord will lead them away,
along with those who practice evil.
Peace be upon Israel.
A Song of Ascents
The Exiles Restored
126 When the Lord brought back Zion’s exiles,[q]
we were like dreamers.[r]
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues formed joyful shouts.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The great things that the Lord has done for us
gladden us.
4 Restore our exiles,[s] Lord,
like the streams of the Negev.[t]
5 Those who weep while they plant
will sing for joy while they harvest.
6 The one who goes out weeping,[u]
carrying a bag of seeds,
will surely return with a joyful song,
bearing sheaves from his harvest.[v]
A Solomonic Song of Ascents
God’s Blessing in the Family
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor uselessly.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
its security forces keep watch uselessly.
2 It is useless to get up early
and to stay up late,[w]
eating the food of exhausting labor—
truly he gives sleep to those he loves.
3 Children[x] are a gift[y] from the Lord;
a productive womb, the Lord’s[z] reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so also are children[aa] born during one’s[ab] youth.
5 How blessed[ac] is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He[ad] will not be ashamed
as they confront their enemies at the city gate.
21 The next morning, Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started to leave, accompanied by the Moabite officials.
Balaam’s Donkey Rebukes its Owner
22 At this, the anger of the Lord flared up against Balaam, because he was leaving. So the angel of the Lord stood in the way to oppose him. As Balaam[a] was riding his donkey, accompanied by two of his servants, 23 all of a sudden the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with an unsheathed sword in his hand! The donkey turned off the road and went into an open field. Balaam started beating the donkey in order to turn her back to the road, 24 but the angel of the Lord stood on a narrow path that crossed the vineyards. It had walls on both sides of the path. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she squeezed herself so close to the wall that Balaam’s foot was pressed to the wall. So he beat her again!
26 Then the angel of the Lord went along a little further and stood in a much narrower space, where it was impossible[b] to turn either right or left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she crouched down under Balaam. As a result, Balaam got so angry that he started to whip[c] the donkey with his staff.
28 That’s when the Lord enabled the donkey to speak.[d] She asked Balaam, “What did I do to you that you would beat me in the space of only[e] three footsteps?”
29 “Because you’re playing a dirty trick on me,” Balaam answered the donkey. “If only I had a sword in my hand! I’d kill you right now!”
30 But in response, the donkey asked Balaam, “I’m your donkey that you’ve ridden on in the past without incident,[f] am I not, and I’m the same donkey you’re riding on right now, am I not? Am I in the habit of treating you like this?”
“No,” he admitted.
31 Then the Lord enabled Balaam to see, so he observed the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with an unsheathed sword in his hand. So he bowed down and prostrated himself on his face.
32 Then the angel of the Lord asked him, “Why did you beat your donkey in the space of only[g] three footsteps? I’ve come to oppose you, because I say that what you’re doing is perverted. 33 The donkey saw me and turned in front of me in the space of those three footsteps. 34 If she hadn’t turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and left her alive!”
At this, Balaam replied to the angel of the Lord, “I’ve sinned! I didn’t know that you were standing to meet me on the road. So now, since it displeases you, let me go back.”[h]
35 But the angel of the Lord told Balaam, “Go with the men, but deliver only the message that I’m going to give you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam had arrived, he went out to meet him in the city of Moab on the border of Arnon at the extreme end of his territory. 37 Balak asked Balaam, “Didn’t I repeatedly send for you to summon you? Why didn’t you come to me? I can pay you well,[i] can’t I?”
38 Balaam answered Balak, “Well, I’m here now. I’ve come to you, but I can’t just say anything, can I? I’ll speak only what God puts in my mouth to say.”
Now We are Released from the Law
7 Don’t you realize, brothers—for I am speaking to people who know the Law—that the Law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive? 2 For a married woman is bound by the Law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband. 3 So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.
4 In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah’s[a] body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living according to our human nature,[b] sinful passions were at work in our bodies[c] by means of the Law, to bear fruit resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.
The Law Shows Us What Sin Is
7 What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn’t have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.”[d] 8 But sin seized the opportunity provided by this commandment and produced in me all kinds of sinful desires, since apart from the Law, sin is dead. 9 At one time I was alive without any connection to[e] the Law.[f] But when the rule was revealed, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. I found that the very rule that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the rule, deceived me and used it to kill me. 12 So then, the Law[g] itself is holy, and the rule is holy, just, and good.
Jesus’ Authority is Challenged(A)
23 Then Jesus[a] went into the Temple. While he was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people came to him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I, too, will ask you one question.[b] If you answer it for me, I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 Where did John’s authority to baptize[c] come from? From heaven or from humans?”
They began discussing this among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From humans,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because everyone regards John as a prophet.” 27 So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”
He in turn told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
The Parable about Two Sons
28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 His son[d] replied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the father[e] went to the other son[f] and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will,[g] sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did the father’s will?”
They answered, “The first one.”
Jesus told them, “I tell all of you[h] with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32 John came to you living a righteous life,[i] and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your minds[j] at last and believe him.”
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.