Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120
A Song of [a]Ascents.
1 In my distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.
2 Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
3 What shall be given to you? Or what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?—
4 Sharp arrows of a [mighty] warrior, with [glowing] coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me that I sojourn with Meshech, that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar [as if among notoriously barbarous people]!(A)
6 My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 121
A Song of [b]Ascents.
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?(B)
2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.(C)
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield].(D)
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.(E)
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.(F)
Psalm 122
A Song of [c]Ascents. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord!(G)
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!—
3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city that is compacted together—
4 To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed and as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 For there the thrones of judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you [the Holy City]!
7 May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces!
8 For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within you!
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek, inquire for, and require your good.
Psalm 123
A Song of [d]Ascents.
1 Unto You do I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in heaven.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, and as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy and loving-kindness for us.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on and loving-kindness for us, for we are exceedingly satiated with contempt.
4 Our life is exceedingly filled with the scorning and scoffing of those who are at ease and with the contempt of the proud (irresponsible tyrants who disregard God’s law).
Psalm 124
A Song of [e]Ascents. Of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side—now may Israel say—
2 If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side when men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have quickly swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us and swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
5 Then the proud waters would have gone over us.
6 Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
7 We are like a bird escaped from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 125
A Song of [f]Ascents.
1 Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever.
2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from this time forth and forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the [uncompromisingly] righteous, lest the righteous (God’s people) stretch forth their hands to iniquity and apostasy.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are right [with You and all people] in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways [of indifference to God], the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 126
A Song of [g]Ascents.
1 When the Lord brought back the captives [who returned] to Zion, we were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].(H)
2 Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongues with singing. Then they said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them.
3 The Lord has done great things for us! We are glad!
4 Turn to freedom our captivity and restore our fortunes, O Lord, as the streams in the South (the Negeb) [are restored by the torrents].
5 They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing.
6 He who goes forth bearing seed and weeping [at needing his precious supply of grain for sowing] shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 127
A Song of [h]Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.(I)
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.(J)
4 As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them! They will not be put to shame when they speak with their adversaries [in gatherings] at the [city’s] gate.
15 And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.
16 And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. [a]Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.
19 So they both went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred about them, and said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
12 It is a reason for pride and exultation to which our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [generally] and especially toward you, with devout and pure motives and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God (the unmerited favor and [a]merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues).
13 For we write you nothing else but simply what you can read and understand [there is no double meaning to what we say], and I hope that you will become thoroughly acquainted [with [b]divine things] and know and understand [them] accurately and well to the end,
14 [Just] as you have [already] partially known and understood and acknowledged us and recognized that you can [honestly] be proud of us, even as we [can be proud] of you on the day of our Lord Jesus.
15 It was with assurance of this that I wanted and planned to visit you first [of all], so that you might have a double favor and token of grace (goodwill).
16 [I wanted] to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and [then] to come again to you [on my return trip] from Macedonia and have you send me forward on my way to Judea.
17 Now because I changed my original plan, was I being unstable and capricious? Or what I plan, do I plan according to the flesh [like a worldly man], ready to say Yes, yes, [when it may mean] No, no?
18 As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes [that might mean] No.
19 For the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not Yes and No; but in Him it is [always the divine] Yes.
20 For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.
21 But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us [[c]enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit];
22 [He has also appropriated and acknowledged us as His by] putting His seal upon us and giving us His [Holy] Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise].
13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your [a]moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and [b]recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.
17 Do not think that I have come to do away with or [c]undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.
18 For truly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away and perish, not one smallest letter nor one little hook [identifying certain Hebrew letters] will pass from the Law until all things [it foreshadows] are accomplished.
19 Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation