Book of Common Prayer
145 [a]I call out to you with my whole heart;
answer me, O Lord, so that I may observe your decrees.
146 I cry out to you;
save me so that I may obey your statutes.
147 I arise before dawn and cry out for help;
I place my hope in your word.
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night[b]
so that I may meditate on your word.
149 In accordance with your kindness[c] hear my voice, O Lord;
grant me life in accordance with your judgments.
150 [d]Those who plot wickedness draw near me,
but they are far from your law.
151 Yet you, O Lord, are near,
and all your precepts are true.
152 Long have I known your decrees
and that you have established them forever.
Resh
153 [e]See my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;[f]
let me live in accord with your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked[g]
because they do not consider your decrees.
156 Great is your compassion, O Lord;
let me live in accord with your judgments.
157 My persecutors and my enemies are many,
but I do not cast aside your statutes.
158 I regard the faithless with indignation[h]
because they do not observe your word.
159 Consider how I love your precepts, O Lord;
let me live in accord with your kindness.[i]
160 Every word you utter is true,
and all your righteous judgments[j] are everlasting.
Shin
161 [k]The powerful persecute me without cause,
but it is your word that awes my heart.[l]
162 I rejoice in your word
like one who discovers a great treasure.
163 Falsehood I abhor and detest,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times[m] a day I praise you
for your righteous judgments.
165 Those who love your law have great peace;[n]
they encounter no stumbling blocks.
166 I await your salvation, O Lord,
and I carry out your precepts.
167 I obey your statutes,
for I love them dearly.
168 I obey your commands and your statutes;
indeed, all my ways are known to you.[o]
Taw
169 [p]May my cry come before you, O Lord;
grant me understanding according to your word.[q]
170 May my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your word.
171 May my lips proclaim your praise
because you teach me your decrees.
172 May my tongue sing of your word,
for all of your precepts are upright.
173 May your hand[r] be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your commandments.
174 [s]I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Give life to my soul that I may praise you,
and let your judgments sustain me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost sheep;[t]
seek out your servant,
for I have not forgotten your precepts.
Psalm 128[a]
Happy Home of the Righteous
1 [b]A song of ascents.
Blessed[c] are all those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labors;
you will enjoy both blessings and prosperity.[d]
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine[e]
within your house;
your sons will be like shoots of an olive tree
around your table.
4 Such are the blessings that will be bestowed
on the man who fears the Lord.
5 [f]May the Lord bless you from Zion[g]
all the days of your life.
May you rejoice in the prosperity of Jerusalem
6 and live to see your children’s children.[h]
Peace be upon Israel.
Psalm 129[i]
Prayer in Time of Persecution
1 [j]A song of ascents.
They have greatly oppressed me from my youth—[k]
let Israel say—
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but never have my enemies prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back,[l]
making deep furrows.
4 However, the Lord is righteous,
freeing me from the bonds of the wicked.
5 [m]May all those who hate Zion
be thrown back in shame and confusion.[n]
6 [o]May they be like grass on the rooftops
that withers before it can be plucked,
7 so that it can never fill the hands of the reapers
or the arms of the binders of sheaves.
8 May those who pass by never cry out,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
Psalm 130[p]
Prayer for Pardon and Peace
1 A song of ascents.
Out of the depths[q] I cry to you, O Lord;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cries of supplication.[r]
3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins,
O Lord, who could stand[s] upright?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you may be revered.[t]
5 I wait for the Lord[u] in anxious expectation;
I place my hope in his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the dawn.
More than watchmen wait for the dawn[v]
7 [w]let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is kindness,
as well as plenteous redemption.
8 He alone will redeem Israel
from all its sins.
41 The next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal so that he might see the outposts of the people.
Chapter 23
Balaam’s First Oracle.[a] 1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven oxen and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did what Balaam had told him to do. Then Balak and Balaam offered a young bull and a ram on each altar. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your offerings, and I will go off a bit. Perhaps the Lord will come to visit me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” He then went off to a high place.
4 God visited Balaam. He said, “I have prepared seven altars and I have offered a young bull and a ram upon each altar.” 5 The Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and proclaim this.”
6 So he returned to him and found him standing by his sacrifice, he and the leaders of Moab. 7 Then he proclaimed his oracle:
“Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains saying,
‘Come, and curse Jacob,
come and denounce Israel!’
8 How shall I curse those whom God has not cursed,
how shall I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?[b]
9 From the top of the rocks I see him,
from the hills I behold him.
Behold, a people dwelling alone,
not counted among the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number one-fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
let my end be like his.”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have bountifully blessed them.” 12 But he answered, “Must I not proclaim what the Lord has put into my mouth?”
13 Did what is good, then, cause my death? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as such, it brought about my death through what is good, and therefore through the commandment sin became completely sinful.
14 Sin and Death. We clearly understand that the Law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want; rather, I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, then I agree that the Law is good.[a] 17 This indicates that it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot do what is good. 19 For I do not do the good I desire; rather, it is the evil I do not desire that I end up doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not desire, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I have thus discovered this principle: when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 In my innermost self, I delight in the Law of God, 23 but I perceive in the members of my body another law at war with the Law that I cherish in my mind. Thus, I am made captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body destined for death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with my mind I am a slave to the Law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.
33 The Parable of the Tenants.[a]“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, fenced it in on all sides, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went off on a journey.
34 “When the time for harvest approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the produce. 35 But the tenants seized his servants and beat one of them, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again, he sent more servants, but they treated them in the same manner.
37 “Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 And so they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “Now what do you think the owner of the vineyard will do to those tenants when he comes?” 41 They said to him, “He will kill those evil men, and then he will lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest.”
42 Jesus then said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes’?
43 Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce fruit in abundance. [ 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken into pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.]”[b]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who regarded him as a prophet.
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