Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 121
Help From the Lord
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A song for the ascents.
Help From the Lord, Israel’s Watchman
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains.
Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot stumble.
He who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Yes, he who watches over Israel will not slumber.
He will not sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you.
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will watch to keep you from all harm.[a]
He will watch over your life.[b]
8 The Lord will watch over your going and your coming
from now to eternity.
Psalm 122
The Peace of Jerusalem
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A song of the ascents. By David.
The Peace of Jerusalem
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a well-built city that is firmly joined together,[c]
4 a city to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,[d]
as a testimony to Israel,
to give praise to the name of the Lord.
5 That is where the thrones for judgment sit,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
7 May there be peace within your fortifications,
prosperity within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
now I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek good for you.
Psalm 123
The Eyes of a Servant
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A song of the ascents.
The Eyes of a Servant
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who are seated in heaven.
2 Indeed, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us his grace.
3 Show grace to us, O Lord.
Show grace to us,
for we have had our fill of contempt.
4 Our souls have had their fill of the scorn of the smug
and of the contempt of the arrogant.
Psalm 131
My Heart Is Not Proud
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A song of the ascents. By David.
Like a Satisfied Baby
1 Lord, my heart is not haughty,
and my eyes are not proud.
So I do not intrude into great matters
or into things too wonderful for me.
2 Instead I have soothed and quieted my soul.
As a nursed child rests with its mother,
like a nursed[a] child my soul rests with me.
3 Wait confidently, O Israel, for the Lord
from now to eternity.
Psalm 132
Remember David and His Son
Heading
A song of the ascents.
David’s Oath
1 Remember for David’s sake, O Lord, all his afflictions.
2 Remember how he swore to the Lord.
He made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter my own house.[b]
I will not get into my own bed.[c]
4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep
or my eyelids to slumber,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Israel’s Response
6 Yes, we heard about it in Ephrathah.
We found it in the fields of Ja’ar.
7 Let us go to his dwelling place.
Let us bow down at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness.
May your favored ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of David your servant,
do not reject the face of your Anointed One.[d]
The Lord’s Oath
11 The Lord swore to David
a truth from which he will not turn back:
“From the fruit of your body
I will place kings on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion.
He has desired it for his dwelling.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live, for I have desired it.
15 I will bless her greatly with food.
I will satisfy Zion’s poor with bread.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her favored ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn shoot up for David.
I will set up a lamp for my Anointed One.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but on him his crown will be beautiful.”
The Day of Vengeance
The Prophet’s Question
63
Who is this coming from Edom, with bright red garments?
Who is this coming from Bozrah, clothed majestically,
marching out[a] with great strength?
The Servant’s Response
It is I, the one who speaks in righteousness.
It is I, the one who is mighty to save.
The Prophet’s Question
2 Why is your clothing so red?
Why are your garments like those of someone
who has been trampling grapes in a winepress?
The Servant’s Response
3 I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples there was no one with me.
So I stomped on them in my anger,
and I trampled them in my wrath,
and their juice splattered on my garments.
I stained all my clothing.
4 For the day for vengeance was in my heart,
and the year for my redemption has come.
5 I looked intently but there was no helper.
I was shocked that no one supported me.
My arm delivered me,
and my wrath supported me.
Letter to the Church in Thyatira
18 To the messenger of the church in Thyatira write:
The Son of God, whose eyes are like fiery flames and whose feet are like polished bronze, says this:
19 I know your works and love and faith and service, as well as your patient endurance, and that you are doing more now than you did at first.
20 But I have this against you: You allow that woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, to deceive my servants and to teach them to commit sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look, I am going to throw her onto a bed and throw those who commit adultery with her into great suffering, if they do not repent of her[a] works. 23 And I will put her children to death. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches hearts and minds, and that I will give to each of you according to your works.
24 To the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who do not know Satan’s “deep things,” as they call them, I say that I will not lay any other burden on you. 25 Only hold fast to what you have until I come.
26 To the one who is victorious and continues to do my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with an iron staff and shatter them like clay pots, 28 just as I myself have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.
29 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Healing at the Pool
5 After this, there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Aramaic,[b] which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—who were waiting for the movement of the water. 4 For an angel would go down at certain times into the pool and stir up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.[c] 5 One man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been sick a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the sick man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m going, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man was healed. He picked up his mat and walked.
That day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews told the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! You are not permitted to carry your mat.”
11 He answered them, “The one who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?” 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Look, you are well now. Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you.”
15 The man went back and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.