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.
16 The six hundred armed men, the Danites, stood by the entrance to the gate.
17 The five men who had gone out to investigate the land then arrived there. They took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image. The priest stood at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred men who were armed for war. 18 When they went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Be quiet! Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us to be a father and a priest to us. Is it better to be a father and a priest to one man’s household, or to be father and priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?” 20 This pleased the priest. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the carved image and traveled with those people. 21 They then turned and departed, with their children, their cattle, and their possessions in the front of the march.
22 When they had traveled some distance from the house of Micah, the men who lived in the houses near Micah’s house overtook the Danites. 23 When they shouted out, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, calling out such a group?” 24 [a]He replied, “You took the gods that I made and the priest, and then you went on your way. What else do I have? How could you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” 25 The Danites said to him, “Keep quiet, or these men could get angry, and you and your household could lose their lives.” 26 So the Danites continued on their journey. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned back and went home.
27 They took away the things that Micah had made and his priest, and they arrived in Laish. This land was quiet, with people who lived in security, and they put them to the sword and burned the city down. 28 There was no one to deliver them, for Sidon was far away and they had no allies. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob. They built a city and dwelt there. 29 They named the city Dan after their forefather who was called Dan. He was the son of Israel. The city had originally been called Laish. 30 The Danites set up the carved idol, and they chose Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons as priests to the Danites, and they continued to serve until they were exiled from the land.[b] 31 They maintained the carved idol that Micah had made, and it remained there the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
14 The Holy Spirit. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived there, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for as yet he had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 Condemnation of Simony. When Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power too so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought that you could obtain God’s gift with money. 21 You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not upright in the eyes of God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours and beg the Lord that if possible you may be forgiven for devising your evil scheme. 23 I see that you are engulfed in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.”
24 Simon said in reply, “Pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have spoken about may befall me.” 25 Then, after giving their testimony and proclaiming the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the good news to many Samaritan villages.
The Bread of Life[a]
Chapter 6
Signs of Salvation
Jesus Feeds the Crowds.[b] 1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, 2 and a large crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he performed on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was approaching.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for them to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, because Jesus himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages[c] would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what help will they be among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they all had eaten enough, he said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that are left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign he had performed, they began to say, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Then Jesus realized that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, so he again withdrew to the mountain by himself.
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