Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 121[a]
The Lord My Guardian
1 A song of ascents.
I raise my eyes toward the mountains.[b]
From whence shall come my help?(A)
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.(B)
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;(C)
or your guardian to sleep.
4 Behold, the guardian of Israel
never slumbers nor sleeps.
5 [c]The Lord is your guardian;
the Lord is your shade
at your right hand.(D)
6 By day the sun will not strike you,
nor the moon by night.(E)
7 The Lord will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your soul.(F)
8 The Lord will guard your coming and going
both now and forever.(G)
Psalm 122[d]
A Pilgrim’s Prayer for Jerusalem
1 A song of ascents. Of David.
I
I rejoiced when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”(H)
2 And now our feet are standing
within your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem, built as a city,
walled round about.[e](I)
4 There the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
As it was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.(J)
5 There are the thrones of justice,
the thrones of the house of David.
II
6 For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
“May those who love you prosper!
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
prosperity within your towers.”(K)
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends I say,
“Peace be with you.”(L)
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord, our God,
I pray for your good.
Psalm 123[f]
Reliance on the Lord
1 A song of ascents.
To you I raise my eyes,
to you enthroned in heaven.(M)
2 Yes, like the eyes of servants
on the hand of their masters,
Like the eyes of a maid
on the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes are on the Lord our God,
till we are shown favor.
3 Show us favor, Lord, show us favor,
for we have our fill of contempt.(N)
4 Our souls are more than sated
with mockery from the insolent,
with contempt from the arrogant.
Psalm 131[a]
Humble Trust in God
1 A song of ascents. Of David.
Lord, my heart is not proud;
nor are my eyes haughty.
I do not busy myself with great matters,
with things too sublime for me.(A)
2 Rather, I have stilled my soul,
Like a weaned child to its mother,
weaned is my soul.(B)
3 Israel, hope in the Lord,
now and forever.
Psalm 132[b]
The Covenant Between David and God
1 A song of ascents.
I
Remember, O Lord, for David
all his hardships;
2 How he swore an oath to the Lord,
vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:[c]
3 “I will not enter the house where I live,(C)
nor lie on the couch where I sleep;
4 I will give my eyes no sleep,
my eyelids no rest,
5 Till I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 “We have heard of it in Ephrathah;[d]
we have found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 Let us enter his dwelling;
let us worship at his footstool.”(D)
8 “Arise, Lord, come to your resting place,(E)
you and your mighty ark.
9 Your priests will be clothed with justice;
your devout will shout for joy.”
10 For the sake of David your servant,
do not reject your anointed.
II
11 The Lord swore an oath to David in truth,
he will never turn back from it:(F)
“Your own offspring(G) I will set upon your throne.
12 If your sons observe my covenant,
and my decrees I shall teach them,
Their sons, in turn,
shall sit forever on your throne.”
13 Yes, the Lord has chosen Zion,
desired it for a dwelling:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I desire it.
15 I will bless Zion with provisions;
its poor I will fill with bread.
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation;
its devout shall shout for joy.(H)
17 There I will make a horn sprout for David;[e](I)
I will set a lamp for my anointed.
18 His foes I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown shall shine.”
Chapter 63
The Divine Warrior[a]
1 Who is this that comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments, from Bozrah?
Who is this, glorious in his apparel,
striding in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, I who announce vindication,
mighty to save.”(A)
2 Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like one who treads the wine press?(B)
3 “The wine press I have trodden alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me.
I trod them in my anger,
and trampled them down in my wrath;
Their blood spurted on my garments,
all my apparel I stained.
4 For a day of vindication was in my heart,
my year for redeeming had come.(C)
5 I looked about, but there was no one to help,
I was appalled that there was no one to lend support;
So my own arm brought me victory
and my own wrath lent me support.(D)
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira,[a] write this:
“‘The Son of God, whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished brass, says this: 19 “I know your works, your love, faith, service, and endurance, and that your last works are greater than the first. 20 Yet I hold this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, who teaches and misleads my servants to play the harlot and to eat food sacrificed to idols.[b] 21 I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her harlotry. 22 So I will cast her on a sickbed and plunge those who commit adultery with her into intense suffering unless they repent of her works. 23 I will also put her children[c] to death. Thus shall all the churches come to know that I am the searcher of hearts and minds and that I will give each of you what your works deserve.(A) 24 But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not uphold this teaching and know nothing of the so-called deep secrets of Satan:[d] on you I will place no further burden, 25 except that you must hold fast to what you have until I come.
26 “‘“To the victor,[e] who keeps to my ways[f] until the end,
I will give authority over the nations.(B)
27 He will rule them with an iron rod.
Like clay vessels will they be smashed,
28 just as I received authority from my Father. And to him I will give the morning star.
29 “‘“Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
Chapter 5[a]
Cure on a Sabbath. 1 After this, there was a feast[b] of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(A) 2 Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate][c] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.(B) 3 In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.[d] [4 ][e] 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”(C) 9 Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.(D)
Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”(E) 11 He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 13 The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.(F) 14 [f]After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,(G) “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
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