Book of Common Prayer
ק Qof
145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord.
I will obey Your statutes.(A)
146 I call to You; save me,
and I will keep Your decrees.(B)
147 I rise before dawn and cry out for help;(C)
I put my hope in Your word.
148 I am awake through each watch of the night
to meditate on Your promise.(D)
149 In keeping with Your faithful love, hear my voice.
Lord, give me life in keeping with Your justice.(E)
150 Those who pursue evil plans[a](F) come near;
they are far from Your instruction.
151 You are near, Lord,(G)
and all Your commands are true.(H)
152 Long ago I learned from Your decrees
that You have established them forever.(I)
ר Resh
153 Consider my affliction and rescue me,(J)
for I have not forgotten Your instruction.(K)
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;(L)
give me life as You promised.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked
because they do not seek Your statutes.(M)
156 Your compassions are many, Lord;(N)
give me life according to Your judgments.
157 My persecutors and foes are many.(O)
I have not turned from Your decrees.(P)
158 I have seen the disloyal(Q) and feel disgust(R)
because they do not keep Your word.
159 Consider how I love Your precepts;
Lord, give me life according to Your faithful love.(S)
160 The entirety of Your word is truth,
and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.(T)
שׂ Sin/ שׁ Shin
161 Princes have persecuted me without cause,
but my heart fears only Your word.(U)
162 I rejoice over Your promise(V)
like one who finds vast treasure.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,(W)
but I love Your instruction.(X)
164 I praise You seven times a day
for Your righteous judgments.(Y)
165 Abundant peace belongs to those(Z)
who love Your instruction;
nothing makes them stumble.(AA)
166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation(AB)
and carry out Your commands.
167 I obey Your decrees
and love them greatly.(AC)
168 I obey Your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before You.(AD)
ת Tav
169 Let my cry reach You, Lord;(AE)
give me understanding according to Your word.(AF)
170 Let my plea reach You;(AG)
rescue me according to Your promise.(AH)
171 My lips pour out praise,(AI)
for You teach me Your statutes.(AJ)
172 My tongue sings about Your promise,(AK)
for all Your commands are righteous.(AL)
173 May Your hand be ready to help me,(AM)
for I have chosen Your precepts.(AN)
174 I long for Your salvation, Lord,
and Your instruction is my delight.(AO)
175 Let me live, and I will praise You;(AP)
may Your judgments help me.
176 I wander like a lost sheep;(AQ)
seek Your servant,(AR)
for I do not forget Your commands.(AS)
Psalm 128
Blessings for Those Who Fear God
A song of ascents.
1 How happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in His ways!(A)
2 You will surely eat
what your hands have worked for.(B)
You will be happy,
and it will go well for you.(C)
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house,
your sons, like young olive trees
around your table.(D)
4 In this very way
the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed.(E)
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life(F)
6 and will see your children’s children!
Peace be with Israel.(G)
Psalm 129
Protection of the Oppressed
A song of ascents.
1 Since my youth they have often attacked me—
let Israel say—
2 Since my youth they have often attacked me,
but they have not prevailed against me.(H)
3 Plowmen plowed over my back;
they made their furrows long.(I)
4 The Lord is righteous;
He has cut the ropes of the wicked.(J)
5 Let all who hate Zion
be driven back in disgrace.(K)
6 Let them be like grass on the rooftops,
which withers before it grows up[a](L)
7 and can’t even fill the hands of the reaper
or the arms of the one who binds sheaves.(M)
8 Then none who pass by will say,
“May the Lord’s blessing be on you.”
We bless you in the name of Yahweh.(N)
Psalm 130
Awaiting Redemption
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I call to You, Yahweh!(O)
2 Lord, listen to my voice;
let Your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.(P)
3 Yahweh, if You considered sins,
Lord, who could stand?(Q)
4 But with You there is forgiveness,
so that You may be revered.(R)
Oppressors Judged
2 Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil plans(A) on their beds!
At morning light(B) they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.(C)
2 They covet fields(D) and seize them;(E)
they also take houses.
They deprive a man of his home,(F)
a person of his inheritance.(G)
3 Therefore, the Lord says:
I am now planning(H) a disaster
against this nation;(I)
you cannot free your necks from it.(J)
Then you will not walk so proudly(K)
because it will be an evil time.(L)
4 In that day one will take up(M) a taunt against you,
and lament mournfully,(N) saying,
“We are totally ruined!(O)
He measures out the allotted land of my people.
How He removes it from me!
He allots our fields(P) to traitors.”
5 Therefore, there will be no one
in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land by casting lots.[a](Q)
God’s Word Rejected
6 “Quit your preaching,”(R) they[b] preach.
“They should not preach these things;(S)
shame will not overtake us.”[c](T)
7 House of Jacob, should it be asked,
“Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?(U)
Are these the things He does?”
Don’t My words bring good(V)
to the one who walks uprightly?(W)
8 But recently My people have risen up
like an enemy:(X)
You strip off the splendid robe(Y)
from those who are passing through confidently,(Z)
like those returning from war.
9 You force(AA) the women of My people
out of their comfortable homes,
and you take My blessing[d](AB)
from their children forever.
10 Get up and leave,
for this is not your place of rest,(AC)
because defilement(AD) brings destruction—
a grievous destruction!(AE)
11 If a man of wind[e] comes
and invents lies:(AF)
“I will preach to you about wine and beer,”(AG)
he would be just the preacher for this people!(AH)
The Remnant Regathered
12 I will indeed gather(AI) all of you, Jacob;
I will collect the remnant of Israel.(AJ)
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in the middle of its fold.
It will be noisy with people.(AK)
13 One who breaks open the way
will advance before them;
they will break out, pass through the gate,
and leave by it.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord as their leader.
To Caesarea by Night
23 He summoned two of his centurions and said, “Get 200 soldiers ready with 70 cavalry and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight.[a](A) 24 Also provide mounts so they can put Paul on them and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
25 He wrote a letter of this kind:
26 Claudius Lysias,
To the most excellent governor Felix:
Greetings.(B)
27 When this man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I arrived with my troops and rescued him because I learned that he is a Roman citizen.(C) 28 Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin. 29 I found out that the accusations were about disputed matters in their law,(D) and that there was no charge that merited death or chains.(E) 30 When I was informed that there was a plot against the man,[b](F) I sent him to you right away. I also ordered his accusers(G) to state their case against him in your presence.[c]
31 Therefore, the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris as they were ordered. 32 The next day, they returned to the barracks, allowing the cavalry to go on with him. 33 When these men entered Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.(H) 34 After he[d] read it, he asked what province he was from. So when he learned he was from Cilicia,(I) 35 he said, “I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers get here too.” And he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.(J)
In Praise of John the Baptist
18 Then John’s disciples told him about all these things.(A) So John summoned two of his disciples 19 and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are You the One(B) who is to come, or should we look for someone else?”
20 When the men reached Him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask You, ‘Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?’”
21 At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases,(C) plagues, and evil spirits,(D) and He granted sight to many blind people.(E) 22 He replied to them, “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed,[a] the deaf hear,(F) the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news.(G) 23 And anyone who is not offended because of Me is blessed.” 24 After John’s messengers left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft robes? Look, those who are splendidly dressed[b] and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet?(H) Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet. 27 This is the one it is written about:
28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John,[e] but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 (And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness,[f] because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.(J) 30 But since the Pharisees and experts in the law(K) had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.(L))
An Unresponsive Generation
31 “To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other:
We played the flute for you,
but you didn’t dance;
we sang a lament,
but you didn’t weep!
33 For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine,(M) and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’(N) 35 Yet wisdom is vindicated[g] by all her children.”
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