Book of Common Prayer
A song to sing as we climb.
Lord, please help me[a]
120 I cried to the Lord to help me in my trouble.
He answered me.
2 I prayed, ‘Lord, keep me safe from people who tell lies.
Save me from people who want to deceive me.’
3 How will God punish you,
you people who deceive others?
He will punish you properly!
4 Yes, the sharp arrows of a soldier will hurt you.
They will give you pain, like wood that burns with fire.
5 I am so sad! I live in Meshek as a stranger.
I live among the people of Kedar.
6 I have lived too long with people that hate peace.
7 I want to live here in peace.
But when I say this, they only want war!
A song to sing as we climb.
Only God can keep me safe[b]
121 As I travel, I look up towards the hills.
I will find no help there.
2 My help comes from the Lord.
He made the heaven and the earth.
3 He will take care of you,
so that you do not fall.
The one who keeps you safe will not sleep.
4 Yes! The Lord keeps Israel's people safe.
He never gets tired or sleeps at all!
5 The Lord is the one who keeps you safe.
He is very near to you.
He will give you shade from the hot sun.
6 The hot sun will not hurt you in the daytime.
At night, the moon cannot hurt you.
7 The Lord is the one who takes care of you in all danger.
He keeps your life safe.
8 Whatever you do and wherever you go,
the Lord will always keep you safe,
now and for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
122 It made me very happy when people said to me,
‘We will go to the house of the Lord.’[c]
2 Now we have arrived!
We are standing inside your gates, Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem is a strong city where many people can meet together.
4 Israel's tribes who belong to the Lord go up there.[d]
They go there to thank the Lord,
as he has commanded them.
5 Israel's leaders sit there to judge the people.
They sit on the thrones of King David's descendants.
6 Pray that there will be peace in Jerusalem.
Pray that people who love Jerusalem will be safe.
7 Yes, I pray that there will be peace inside the city's walls.
I pray people will be safe in their strong houses.
8 Because of my family and my friends I will pray,
‘Please let there be peace in Jerusalem.’
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I will pray for good things to happen in Jerusalem.
A song to sing as we climb.
Servants of the Lord
123 I look up to you, God,
as you rule from your throne in heaven.
2 Yes, our eyes look up to the Lord our God.
We want him to be kind to us, so we wait for his help.
We wait like servants who want help from their master.
3 Please be kind to us, Lord. Please forgive us.
People have insulted us more and more!
4 We have had too much!
Proud people laugh at us,
and they do not respect us.
Please stop them!
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.[e]
124 If the Lord was not fighting for us,
what would have happened?
Israel's people, now answer:
2 ‘If the Lord was not fighting for us when men attacked us,
3 our enemies would have eaten us alive![f]
They would have destroyed us,
because they were so angry against us.
4 They would have been too strong for us,
like rivers of waters that covered us,
5 They would have been like deep water over our heads
that drowned us.[g]
6 We should praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies destroy us,
like wild animals that kill their food and eat it.
7 Now we have become free,
like a bird that got free out of a trap.
Our enemies lost their power, and we are free![h]
8 The one who helped us is the Lord.
He made the whole universe.’
A song to sing as we climb.
125 People who trust in the Lord are strong,
like Mount Zion.[i]
Nothing can shake it. It will always be there.
2 The Lord is always near to his people,
like the mountains round Jerusalem.
He keeps his people safe, now and for ever.[j]
3 Wicked people will not rule over God's own people.
They will not rule the land where righteous people live.
If they did, the righteous people might also do bad things.
4 Lord, please do good things to good, honest people.
Be kind to those who follow your good ways.
5 But as for people who follow their own bad ways,
Lord, please remove them!
Take them away, along with people who do evil things.
May Israel have peace!
A song to sing as we climb.
The Lord has done great things for us![k]
126 When the Lord turned us round,
so that we enjoyed a good life in Zion again,
we thought that we were dreaming!
2 At that time, we laughed a lot.
We shouted because we were so happy!
People in other countries said to each other,
‘The Lord has done great things for them!’
3 Yes, the Lord has done great things for us.
So we are very happy.
4 Lord, please bless us like before.
That will be like streams of water that return to the desert.[l]
5 When people went out to plant their seeds,
they were crying.
But they will be happy when they bring in the harvest!
6 People were weeping when they took their bags of seeds to plant.[m]
But when they carry their crops back home,
they will shout because they are so happy![n]
A song to sing as we climb.
Solomon wrote this song.
Every good thing comes from God[o]
127 The Lord must build your house.
If not, the work of the builders is useless.
The Lord must keep the city safe.
If not, the city guards are useless.
2 It will not help you to work all day for food, and never stop.
God gives food to the people that he loves.
Even while they sleep, God takes care of them.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord.
He blesses us with descendants.
4 If you have sons while you are a young man,
they are like a soldier's arrows.
5 If a man has many sons,
God has blessed him.[p]
When his enemies speak against him at the city gate,
they will not win.[q]
God will destroy the city of Samaria
1 These are the messages that the Lord gave to Micah.[a] Then Micah told them to the people during the times that Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah ruled the country called Judah. Micah was born in a small town called Moresheth. God showed Micah about what would happen to the cities called Samaria and Jerusalem.[b]
2 Listen, all of you people everywhere!
Hear this, everyone who lives on the earth!
The Lord God will speak against you.
You have done what is wrong. That is why he will speak against you.
He will speak from his special house.
3 Look! The Lord is leaving his place and he is coming down to the earth.
He will come to the high places (where you worship false gods).
He will destroy those places when he comes.
4 The mountains will melt when he comes,
like wax melts near a fire.
The valleys will also break into pieces.
They will move like water when it rushes down a hill.
5 All these bad things will happen because Jacob's people have refused to obey God.
These things will happen because Israel's people have done wrong things.
You may ask who has caused this.
It is the leaders in your capital cities, Samaria and Jerusalem.
They have kept the high places there for people to offer gifts to false gods.
6 So God says to you:
‘I will destroy Samaria so that just a few stones are lying in the fields there.[c]
Then people will plant vines in that place.[d]
I will throw the stones from the city down into the valley,
when I completely destroy all the buildings.
7 I will break all the false gods into pieces and I will destroy them.
I will burn all the gifts that the people brought for those false gods.
The people have paid so that they could have sex with bad women in those places.
Your enemies will come and they will take away this money.
They will give it to their gods in the same way.’
Micah is sad for the people in Israel and Judah
8 Because of what God has said, I will cry aloud. And I will weep.
I will walk about without shoes or clothes.
I will scream like a wild dog,
and I will cry like a bird in the night.
9 Because Samaria has such bad wounds it can never get well.
And the same will happen also to Judah's people.
The enemies have already reached the gates of my people, that is, Jerusalem itself.
The Jews in Jerusalem decide to kill Paul
12 The next morning, a group of Jews talked together about how they might kill Paul. They agreed to make a promise to God. They would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. 13 More than 40 men were in the group that decided this. 14 They went to the leaders of the priests and the important Jews. They said to them, ‘We have agreed together to make a serious promise to God. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 So now we want you and the group of Jewish leaders to send a message to the leader of the Roman soldiers. Ask him, “Please bring Paul to the meeting of the Jewish leaders. We want to know more about the wrong things that he has done.” That will be the message. But, we will wait for Paul and we will be ready to kill him. We will do this before he arrives here at the meeting.’
16 But the son of Paul's sister heard what the Jews had decided to do. He went into the soldiers' building and he told Paul about it.
17 So Paul asked one of the soldiers' officers to come to him. He said, ‘Please take this young man to your leader. He has something important to tell him.’ 18 Then the officer led the young man to the soldiers' leader. He said to him, ‘Paul, who is here in the prison, spoke to me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.’
19 The leader of the soldiers held the young man's hand and he led him to another place. When they were alone, he asked the young man, ‘What do you want to tell me?’
20 The young man said, ‘Some Jewish men have agreed together to send a message to you. They will ask you to take Paul down to the meeting of the Jewish leaders tomorrow. They will say that they want to ask him more questions. But that is not true. 21 Do not agree to do what they want. There are more than 40 men who will be hiding somewhere. They are waiting for Paul. They have made a serious promise to God. They will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are now ready to do this. They will be waiting to hear your answer.’
22 The leader of the soldiers said to him, ‘Do not tell anyone that you told me about this.’ Then he sent the young man away.
The soldiers' leader sends Paul to Felix
23 Then the soldiers' leader told two of his officers to come to him. He said to them, ‘Tell 200 of our soldiers to prepare themselves. They must go to Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight. 70 soldiers who ride on horses must also go. There must also be another 200 soldiers with their weapons. 24 Take some horses for Paul to ride on. Take him to Felix the Roman ruler, and keep him safe on the journey.’
A Roman officer believes that Jesus can help him
7 After Jesus had finished speaking to the people, he went to Capernaum.[a] 2 A Roman officer there had a servant that he liked very much. The servant was very ill and he was dying.
3 The officer heard about Jesus, so he sent some important Jews to speak to him. ‘Please go to Jesus,’ he said to them. ‘I would like him to make my servant well. Ask him if he would come to do that.’ 4 The Jewish leaders went to Jesus. They asked him, ‘Please would you do something to help this Roman officer. 5 He loves the Jewish people. He himself built a meeting place for us.’
6 So Jesus went with them. When he was not very far away from the house, the officer sent some friends to talk to him. He told them to say to Jesus, ‘Sir, I do not want to be a trouble to you. I am not good enough for you to come into my house. 7 That is why I did not come to talk to you myself. Instead, just say that my servant will get better. I know that he will then be well again. 8 In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’
9 When Jesus heard this message from the officer, he was very surprised. He turned towards the crowd that was following him. He said to them, ‘I tell you, I have not found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does.’
10 The friends of the officer then returned to his house. When they arrived there, they saw that the servant was well again.
Jesus makes a dead man alive again
11 The next day, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large group of other people went with him. 12 When he had almost reached the gate of the town, lots of people were coming out. They were carrying a dead man on a wooden board. They were taking him to bury him. His mother had no other sons and her husband was also dead. A large crowd of people from the town was going with her.
13 When the Lord Jesus saw her, he felt very sorry for her. He said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ 14 He went to the board and he touched it. The people who were carrying the dead man stopped. Jesus said, ‘Young man, I am telling you, get up!’ 15 Immediately, the dead man sat up and he began to talk. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.
16 Everyone there was very afraid. They praised God and said, ‘A great prophet of God has appeared among us. God has come to save his people!’
17 This news about Jesus went everywhere in Judea. The people in the places that were near there also heard about it.
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