Book of Common Prayer
A song to sing as we climb.
Lord, please help me[a]
120 I cried to the Lord to help me in my trouble.
He answered me.
2 I prayed, ‘Lord, keep me safe from people who tell lies.
Save me from people who want to deceive me.’
3 How will God punish you,
you people who deceive others?
He will punish you properly!
4 Yes, the sharp arrows of a soldier will hurt you.
They will give you pain, like wood that burns with fire.
5 I am so sad! I live in Meshek as a stranger.
I live among the people of Kedar.
6 I have lived too long with people that hate peace.
7 I want to live here in peace.
But when I say this, they only want war!
A song to sing as we climb.
Only God can keep me safe[b]
121 As I travel, I look up towards the hills.
I will find no help there.
2 My help comes from the Lord.
He made the heaven and the earth.
3 He will take care of you,
so that you do not fall.
The one who keeps you safe will not sleep.
4 Yes! The Lord keeps Israel's people safe.
He never gets tired or sleeps at all!
5 The Lord is the one who keeps you safe.
He is very near to you.
He will give you shade from the hot sun.
6 The hot sun will not hurt you in the daytime.
At night, the moon cannot hurt you.
7 The Lord is the one who takes care of you in all danger.
He keeps your life safe.
8 Whatever you do and wherever you go,
the Lord will always keep you safe,
now and for ever.
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.
122 It made me very happy when people said to me,
‘We will go to the house of the Lord.’[c]
2 Now we have arrived!
We are standing inside your gates, Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem is a strong city where many people can meet together.
4 Israel's tribes who belong to the Lord go up there.[d]
They go there to thank the Lord,
as he has commanded them.
5 Israel's leaders sit there to judge the people.
They sit on the thrones of King David's descendants.
6 Pray that there will be peace in Jerusalem.
Pray that people who love Jerusalem will be safe.
7 Yes, I pray that there will be peace inside the city's walls.
I pray people will be safe in their strong houses.
8 Because of my family and my friends I will pray,
‘Please let there be peace in Jerusalem.’
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God,
I will pray for good things to happen in Jerusalem.
A song to sing as we climb.
Servants of the Lord
123 I look up to you, God,
as you rule from your throne in heaven.
2 Yes, our eyes look up to the Lord our God.
We want him to be kind to us, so we wait for his help.
We wait like servants who want help from their master.
3 Please be kind to us, Lord. Please forgive us.
People have insulted us more and more!
4 We have had too much!
Proud people laugh at us,
and they do not respect us.
Please stop them!
A song to sing as we climb.
David wrote this song.[e]
124 If the Lord was not fighting for us,
what would have happened?
Israel's people, now answer:
2 ‘If the Lord was not fighting for us when men attacked us,
3 our enemies would have eaten us alive![f]
They would have destroyed us,
because they were so angry against us.
4 They would have been too strong for us,
like rivers of waters that covered us,
5 They would have been like deep water over our heads
that drowned us.[g]
6 We should praise the Lord!
He did not let our enemies destroy us,
like wild animals that kill their food and eat it.
7 Now we have become free,
like a bird that got free out of a trap.
Our enemies lost their power, and we are free![h]
8 The one who helped us is the Lord.
He made the whole universe.’
A song to sing as we climb.
125 People who trust in the Lord are strong,
like Mount Zion.[i]
Nothing can shake it. It will always be there.
2 The Lord is always near to his people,
like the mountains round Jerusalem.
He keeps his people safe, now and for ever.[j]
3 Wicked people will not rule over God's own people.
They will not rule the land where righteous people live.
If they did, the righteous people might also do bad things.
4 Lord, please do good things to good, honest people.
Be kind to those who follow your good ways.
5 But as for people who follow their own bad ways,
Lord, please remove them!
Take them away, along with people who do evil things.
May Israel have peace!
A song to sing as we climb.
The Lord has done great things for us![k]
126 When the Lord turned us round,
so that we enjoyed a good life in Zion again,
we thought that we were dreaming!
2 At that time, we laughed a lot.
We shouted because we were so happy!
People in other countries said to each other,
‘The Lord has done great things for them!’
3 Yes, the Lord has done great things for us.
So we are very happy.
4 Lord, please bless us like before.
That will be like streams of water that return to the desert.[l]
5 When people went out to plant their seeds,
they were crying.
But they will be happy when they bring in the harvest!
6 People were weeping when they took their bags of seeds to plant.[m]
But when they carry their crops back home,
they will shout because they are so happy![n]
A song to sing as we climb.
Solomon wrote this song.
Every good thing comes from God[o]
127 The Lord must build your house.
If not, the work of the builders is useless.
The Lord must keep the city safe.
If not, the city guards are useless.
2 It will not help you to work all day for food, and never stop.
God gives food to the people that he loves.
Even while they sleep, God takes care of them.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord.
He blesses us with descendants.
4 If you have sons while you are a young man,
they are like a soldier's arrows.
5 If a man has many sons,
God has blessed him.[p]
When his enemies speak against him at the city gate,
they will not win.[q]
God is angry with Nineveh
1 Nahum lives in Elkosh and this is his prophecy about the people in Nineveh.[a]
2 God is angry with the people in Nineveh. The Lord loves his people.[b] But he is very angry with his enemies. He is so angry with them that he must punish them. He will be angry until he has killed his enemies. 3 The Lord will punish those who do wrong things. But he does not get angry quickly. He is a powerful God. The Lord does not get angry quickly. But he gets angry when people do wrong things. Then he punishes those people.
He is very powerful. You can see his power in the wind and the storms. The clouds are like dust that his feet shake. 4 He can cause the sea and the rivers to become dry by one word. The fertile places of Bashan and Carmel become dry and the green forests of Lebanon die too.[c] 5 He causes the mountains to shake and he causes the hills to become flat. The earth and all the people in the world are afraid of God.
6 Nobody can fight God when he is very angry. The Lord pours his anger out like fire and he breaks the rocks in his path. 7 The Lord loves those who believe him. When they are in trouble, they can put their hope in God. 8 But the people in Nineveh are his enemies and he will kill them. 9 The Lord will stop anything that you decide to do immediately. He does not let his enemies have a second chance. 10 He will kill them. And then it will be like when thorn bushes have caught people. Or it will be like when they have drunk too much alcohol. It will be like when someone burns dry straw. 11 The Lord tells the king of Nineveh that he has done bad things against God. And the king has told his people that they should do wrong things.
12 The Lord has said, ‘The people in Nineveh are many. And they think that they are safe. But I will kill them. I have punished you, my people, before now. But I will not punish you any more. 13 Now I will make you free from the people from Nineveh. And I will break the things that are holding you like iron.’
Christians should do what is good
13 So now, prepare your minds, so that you are ready to live in a good way. Think clearly about how God helps you. Always remember that God will be very kind to you when Jesus Christ comes again. 14 Obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew the true message about Christ, you very much wanted to do bad things. But now you should not agree to live in that bad way. 15 God has chosen you to be his own people. He is completely good. So you must be completely good too, in the way that you live. 16 In the Bible God says this: ‘You must be completely good, because I am completely good.’[a]
17 God knows what each person has done, and he judges each one for those things. He is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. When you pray to God, you call him ‘Father’. So then, always respect him, while you live as strangers here in the world. 18 Your ancestors lived in a way that did not make them really happy. That is the way that you learned to live as well. But now God has saved you from that way of life. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things that do not continue for ever, like silver or gold. 19 Instead, he bought you with the very valuable blood of Christ, who died as a sacrifice for our sins.[b] He died like a lamb that is completely good and has nothing wrong with it.[c]
20 Before the world began, God had already chosen Christ. But now, during these last days of the world, God has shown Christ to people. God did that so that he could help you. 21 Yes, it is because of Christ that you now believe in God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. He did that to show everyone that Christ is great. That is why you believe in God. You trust him that he will do good things for you.
22 You have obeyed God's true message. As a result, you have become clean inside, and now you can really love other believers. So continue to love each other very well, with honest thoughts. 23 You now have a new life! It is not like a human life that quickly comes to an end. It is a new life that will never spoil. You received it because you believed God's message. That message continues for ever and it does not change. 24 The Bible says:
‘All people are like grass.
They may seem beautiful for a short time,
like flowers that grow in the fields.
But grass soon becomes dry and it dies.
Flowers soon fall to the ground.
25 But the Lord God's message will continue for ever.’
That message is the good news about Jesus Christ, which people have taught you.
Jesus wants children to come to him
13 Then some people brought their little children to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. They wanted him to pray for them. But the disciples told the people that they should not do that.
14 Jesus said to them, ‘Do not stop the children. Let them come to me. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of heaven is like.’ 15 So Jesus put his hands on each of the children's heads and he prayed for them. After that, he went away from that place.
Jesus meets a rich man
16 One day a man came to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked. ‘What good thing must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’
17 Jesus replied, ‘Why do you ask me about a good thing? Only God is good. Nobody else. If you want to have real life, then you must obey God's laws.’
18 The man asked Jesus, ‘Which laws must I obey?’
So Jesus replied, ‘Do not kill anyone. Do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife. Do not rob anyone. Do not say things that are not true about people. 19 Love your father and your mother and obey them. Love other people as much as you love yourself.’
20 ‘I have always obeyed these laws,’ the young man replied. ‘What else must I do?’
21 Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be completely good, then you must do this: You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’
22 When the young man heard this, he went away. He was not happy. He was feeling sad because he was a very rich man.
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