Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
120 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
2 I said,[c] “O Lord, rescue me[d]
from those who lie with their lips[e]
and those who deceive with their tongues.[f]
3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker?[g]
4 Here’s how![h] With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.[i]
5 How miserable I am.[j]
For I have lived temporarily[k] in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar.[l]
6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate[m] peace.
7 I am committed to peace,[n]
but when I speak, they want to make war.[o]
Psalm 121[p]
A song of ascents.[q]
121 I look up[r] toward the hills.
From where[s] does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,[t]
the Creator[u] of heaven and earth.
3 May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector[v] not sleep.[w]
4 Look! Israel’s Protector[x]
does not sleep or slumber.
5 The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
or the moon by night.[y]
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect you in all you do,[z]
now and forevermore.
Psalm 122[aa]
A song of ascents;[ab] by David.
122 I was glad because[ac] they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
2 Our feet are[ad] standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly.[ae]
4 The tribes go up[af] there,[ag]
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord.[ah]
5 Indeed,[ai] the leaders sit[aj] there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David.[ak]
6 Pray[al] for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love her prosper.[am]
7 May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity[an] inside your fortresses.[ao]
8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors
I will say, “May there be peace in you.”
9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God
I will pray for you to prosper.[ap]
Psalm 123[aq]
A song of ascents.[ar]
123 I look up[as] toward you,
the one enthroned[at] in heaven.
2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress,[au]
so our eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some.[av]
4 We have had our fill[aw]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
Psalm 124[ax]
A song of ascents;[ay] by David.
124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,[az]
3 they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
4 The water would have overpowered us;
the current[ba] would have overwhelmed[bb] us.[bc]
5 The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.[bd]
6 The Lord deserves praise,[be]
for[bf] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
7 We escaped with our lives,[bg] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
8 Our deliverer is the Lord,[bh]
the Creator[bi] of heaven and earth.
Psalm 125[bj]
A song of ascents.[bk]
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved and will endure forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forevermore.
3 Indeed,[bl] the scepter of a wicked king[bm] will not settle[bn]
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly
might do what is wrong.[bo]
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to the morally upright.[bp]
5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path,[bq]
may the Lord remove them,[br] along with those who behave wickedly.[bs]
May Israel experience peace.[bt]
Psalm 126[bu]
A song of ascents.[bv]
126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,[bw]
we thought we were dreaming.[bx]
2 At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.[by]
At that time the nations said,[bz]
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4 O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.[ca]
5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.[cb]
6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag[cc] of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.[cd]
Psalm 127[ce]
A song of ascents;[cf] by Solomon.
127 If the Lord does not build a house,[cg]
then those who build it work in vain.
If the Lord does not guard a city,[ch]
then the watchman stands guard in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food.[ci]
Yes,[cj] he provides for those whom he loves even when they sleep.[ck]
3 Yes,[cl] sons[cm] are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Sons born during one’s youth
are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.[cn]
5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
They will not be put to shame[co] when they confront[cp] enemies at the city gate.
9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his[a] mule, it[b] went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair,[c] while the mule he had been riding kept going.
10 When one[d] of the men saw this, he reported it to Joab saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.” 11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot?[e] I would have given you ten pieces of silver[f] and a commemorative belt!”[g]
12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if[h] I were receiving[i] 1,000 pieces of silver,[j] I would not strike[k] the king’s son! In our very presence[l] the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’[m] 13 If I had acted at risk of my own life[n]—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have abandoned me.”[o]
14 Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree.[p] 15 Then ten soldiers who were Joab’s armor-bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.
16 Then Joab blew the trumpet[q] and the army turned back from chasing Israel, for Joab had called for the army to halt. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes.[r]
18 Before this[s] Absalom[t] had set up a monument[u] and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning, “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.
The Plot to Kill Paul
12 When morning came,[a] the Jews formed[b] a conspiracy[c] and bound themselves with an oath[d] not to eat or drink anything[e] until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy.[f] 14 They[g] went[h] to the chief priests[i] and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath[j] not to partake[k] of anything until we have killed Paul. 15 So now you and the council[l] request the commanding officer[m] to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine[n] his case[o] by conducting a more thorough inquiry.[p] We are ready to kill him[q] before he comes near this place.”[r]
16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush,[s] he came and entered[t] the barracks[u] and told Paul. 17 Paul called[v] one of the centurions[w] and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer,[x] for he has something to report to him.” 18 So the centurion[y] took him and brought him to the commanding officer[z] and said, “The prisoner Paul called[aa] me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” 19 The commanding officer[ab] took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want[ac] to report to me?” 20 He replied,[ad] “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council[ae] tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. 21 So do not let them persuade you to do this,[af] because more than forty of them[ag] are lying in ambush[ah] for him. They[ai] have bound themselves with an oath[aj] not to eat or drink anything[ak] until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.”[al] 22 Then the commanding officer[am] sent the young man away, directing him,[an] “Tell no one that you have reported[ao] these things to me.” 23 Then[ap] he summoned[aq] two of the centurions[ar] and said, “Make ready 200 soldiers to go to Caesarea[as] along with 70 horsemen[at] and 200 spearmen[au] by[av] nine o’clock tonight,[aw] 24 and provide mounts for Paul to ride[ax] so that he may be brought safely to Felix[ay] the governor.”[az]
The Authority of Jesus
27 They came again to Jerusalem. While Jesus[a] was walking in the temple courts,[b] the chief priests, the experts in the law,[c] and the elders came up to him 28 and said, “By what authority[d] are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from people?[e] Answer me.” 31 They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From people—’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet). 33 So[f] they answered Jesus,[g] “We don’t know.”[h] Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you[i] by what authority[j] I am doing these things.”
The Parable of the Tenants
12 Then[k] he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.[l] He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then[m] he leased it to tenant farmers[n] and went on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a slave[o] to the tenants to collect from them[p] his portion of the crop.[q] 3 But[r] those tenants[s] seized his slave,[t] beat him,[u] and sent him away empty-handed.[v] 4 So[w] he sent another slave to them again. This one they struck on the head and treated outrageously. 5 He sent another, and that one they killed. This happened to many others, some of whom were beaten, others killed. 6 He had one left, his one dear son.[x] Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So[y] they seized him,[z] killed him, and threw his body[aa] out of the vineyard.[ab] 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy[ac] those tenants and give the vineyard to others.[ad] 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.[ae]
11 This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”[af]
12 Now[ag] they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So[ah] they left him and went away.[ai]
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