Book of Common Prayer
A song for going up to the Temple.
120 I was in trouble.
I called to the Lord for help,
and he answered me!
2 I said, “Lord, save me from liars,
from those who say things that are not true.”
3 Liars, do you know what the Lord has for you?
Do you know what you will get?
4 You will get a soldier’s sharp arrow
and hot coals to punish you.
5 How I hate living here among these people!
It’s like living in Meshech or in the tents of Kedar.[a]
6 I have lived too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I ask for peace,
but they want war.
A song for going up to the Temple.
121 I look up to the hills,
but where will my help really come from?
2 My help will come from the Lord,
the Creator of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall.
Your Protector will not fall asleep.
4 Israel’s Protector does not get tired.
He never sleeps.
5 The Lord is your Protector.
The Lord stands by your side, shading and protecting you.
6 The sun cannot harm you during the day,
and the moon cannot harm you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from every danger.
He will protect your soul.
8 The Lord will protect you as you come and go,[b]
both now and forever!
A song of David for going up to the Temple.
122 I was happy when the people said,
“Let us go to the Lord’s Temple.”
2 Here we are, standing at the gates of Jerusalem.
3 This is New Jerusalem!
The city has been rebuilt as one united city.
4 This is where the tribes come, the tribes who belong to the Lord.
The people of Israel come here to praise the Lord’s name.
5 The kings from David’s family put their thrones here.
They set up their thrones to judge the people.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“May those who love you find peace.
7 May there be peace within your walls.
May there be safety in your great buildings.”
8 For the good of my family and neighbors,
I pray that there will be peace here.
9 For the good of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I pray that good things will happen to this city.
A song for going up to the Temple.
123 Lord, I look up and pray to you.
You sit as King in heaven.
2 A slave looks to his master to provide what he needs,
and a servant girl depends on the woman she serves.
So we depend on the Lord our God,
waiting for him to have mercy on us.
3 Lord, be merciful to us,
because we have been insulted much too long.
4 We have had enough of the hateful words of those proud people
who make fun of us and show us no respect.
A song of David for going up to the Temple.
124 What would have happened to us if the Lord had not been on our side?
Tell us about it, Israel.
2 What would have happened to us if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us?
3 They would have swallowed us alive
when they became angry with us.
4 Their armies would have been
like a flood washing over us,
like a river drowning us.
5 Those proud people would have been
like water rising up to our mouth and drowning us.
6 Praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies tear us apart.
7 We escaped like a bird from the net of a hunter.
The net broke, and we escaped!
8 Our help came from the Lord,
the one who made heaven and earth!
A song for going up to the Temple.
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
They will never be shaken.
They will continue forever.
2 Like the mountains that surround Jerusalem,
the Lord surrounds and protects his people now and forever.
3 The wicked will not always control the land of those who do right.
If they did, even those who do right might start doing wrong.
4 Lord, be good to those who are good,
to those who have pure hearts.
5 But, Lord, when you punish those who do evil,
also punish those who have stopped following your way.
Let Israel always enjoy peace!
A song for going up to the Temple.
126 It will be like a dream
when the Lord comes back with the captives of Zion.[c]
2 We will laugh and sing happy songs!
Then the other nations will say,
“The Lord did a great thing for Zion!”
3 Yes, we will be happy
because the Lord did a great thing for us.
4 So, Lord, bring back the good times,
like a desert stream filled again with flowing water.
5 Then those who were sad when they planted
will be happy when they gather the harvest!
6 Those who cried as they carried the seeds[d]
will be happy when they bring in the crops!
A song from Solomon for going up to the Temple.
127 If it is not the Lord who builds a house,
the builders are wasting their time.
If it is not the Lord who watches over the city,
the guards are wasting their time.
2 It is a waste of time to get up early and stay up late,
trying to make a living.
The Lord provides for those he loves,
even while they are sleeping.
4 The Lord my God says, “Care for the sheep that have been raised to be killed. 5 Buyers kill their sheep and are not punished. Those who sell the sheep say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ The shepherds don’t feel sorry for their sheep. 6 And I don’t feel sorry for the people who live in this country.” This is what the Lord said: “Look, I will let everyone be under the control of their neighbor and king. I will let them destroy the country—I will not stop them!”
7 So I took care of the sheep that had been raised to be killed—those poor sheep. I found two sticks. I called one stick Favor, and I called the other stick Union. Then I began caring for the sheep. 8 I fired the three shepherds all in one month. I got angry at the sheep, and they began to hate me. 9 Then I said, “I quit! I will not take care of you! I will let those who want to die, die. I will let those who want to be destroyed, be destroyed, and those who are left will destroy each other.” 10 Then I took the stick named Favor, and I broke it. I did this to show that God’s agreement with his people was broken. 11 So that day the agreement was finished, and those poor sheep watching me knew that this message was from the Lord.
12 Then I said, “If you want to pay me, pay me. If not, don’t!” So they paid me 30 pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord told me, “So that’s how much they think I’m worth. Throw that large amount of money[a] into the Temple treasury.” So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury at the Lord’s Temple. 14 Then I cut the stick named Union into two pieces. I did this to show that the union between Judah and Israel had been broken.
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Now, get the things a foolish shepherd might use. 16 This will show that I will get a new shepherd for this country. But this young man will not be able to take care of the sheep that are being destroyed. He will not be able to heal the hurt sheep or feed those that are left alive. And the healthy ones will be eaten completely—only their hoofs will be left.”
17 Too bad for you, you worthless shepherd!
You abandoned my sheep.
Punish him!
Strike his arm and right eye with a sword.
His arm will be useless.
His right eye will be blind.
10 Like an expert builder I built the foundation of that house. I used the gift that God gave me to do this. Other people are building on that foundation. But everyone should be careful how they build. 11 The foundation that has already been built is Jesus Christ, and no one can build any other foundation. 12 People can build on that foundation using gold, silver, jewels, wood, grass, or straw. 13 But the work that each person does will be clearly seen, because the Day will make it plain. That Day will appear with fire, and the fire will test everyone’s work. 14 If the building they put on the foundation still stands, they will get their reward. 15 But if their building is burned up, they will suffer loss. They will be saved, but it will be like someone escaping from a fire.
16 You should know that you yourselves are God’s temple.[a] God’s Spirit lives in you. 17 If you destroy God’s temple, God will destroy you, because God’s temple is holy. You yourselves are God’s temple.
18 Don’t fool yourselves. Whoever thinks they are wise in this world should become a fool. That’s the only way they can be wise. 19 I say this because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He catches those who think they are wise in their own clever traps.”[b] 20 The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise. He knows that their thoughts are worth nothing.”[c] 21 So there is not a person on earth that any of you should be boasting about. Everything is yours: 22 Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, and the future—all these are yours. 23 And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Jesus Talks Again About His Death(A)
31 Then Jesus talked to the twelve apostles alone. He said to them, “Listen, we are going to Jerusalem. Everything that God told the prophets to write about the Son of Man will happen. 32 He will be handed over to the foreigners, who will laugh at him, insult him, and spit on him. 33 They will beat him with whips and then kill him. But on the third day after his death, he will rise to life again.” 34 The apostles tried to understand this, but they could not; the meaning was hidden from them.
Jesus Heals a Blind Man(B)
35 Jesus came near the city of Jericho. There was a blind man sitting beside the road. He was begging people for money. 36 When he heard the people coming down the road, he asked, “What is happening?”
37 They told him, “Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is coming here.”
38 The blind man was excited and said, “Jesus, Son of David, please help me!”
39 The people who were in front leading the group criticized the blind man. They told him to be quiet. But he shouted more and more, “Son of David, please help me!”
40 Jesus stopped there and said, “Bring that man to me!” When he came close, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “You can see now. You are healed because you believed.”
43 Then the man was able to see. He followed Jesus, thanking God. Everyone who saw this praised God for what happened.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International