Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Someone Far from Home
A psalm for going up to worship.
120 When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Lord, save me from liars
and from those who plan evil.
3 You who plan evil, what will God do to you?
How will he punish you?
4 He will punish you with the sharp arrows of a warrior
and with burning coals of wood.
5 How terrible it is for me to live in the land of Meshech,
to live among the people of Kedar.
6 I have lived too long
with people who hate peace.
7 When I talk peace,
they want war.
The Lord Guards His People
A song for going up to worship.
121 I look up to the hills,
but where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
4 He who guards Israel
never rests or sleeps.
5 The Lord guards you.
The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.
6 The sun cannot hurt you during the day,
and the moon cannot hurt you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all dangers;
he will guard your life.
8 The Lord will guard you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
Happy People in Jerusalem
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
122 I was happy when they said to me,
“Let’s go to the Temple of the Lord.”
2 Jerusalem, we are standing
at your gates.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
with the buildings close together.
4 The tribes go up there,
the tribes who belong to the Lord.
It is the rule in Israel
to praise the Lord at Jerusalem.
5 There the descendants of David
set their thrones to judge the people.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“May those who love her be safe.
7 May there be peace within her walls
and safety within her strong towers.”
8 To help my relatives and friends,
I say, “Let Jerusalem have peace.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I wish good for her.
A Prayer for Mercy
A song for going up to worship.
123 Lord, I look upward to you,
you who live in heaven.
2 Slaves depend on their masters,
and a female servant depends on her mistress.
In the same way, we depend on the Lord our God;
we wait for him to show us mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy on us,
because we have been insulted.
4 We have suffered many insults from lazy people
and much cruelty from the proud.
The Lord Saves His People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
(Let Israel repeat this.)
2 What if the Lord had not been on our side
when we were attacked?
3 When they were angry with us,
they would have swallowed us alive.
4 They would have been like a flood drowning us;
they would have poured over us like a river.
5 They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.
6 Praise the Lord,
who did not let them chew us up.
7 We escaped like a bird
from the hunter’s trap.
The trap broke,
and we escaped.
8 Our help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
God Protects Those Who Trust Him
A song for going up to worship.
125 Those who trust the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which sits unmoved forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
the Lord surrounds his people
now and forever.
3 The wicked will not rule
over those who do right.
If they did, the people who do right
might use their power to do evil.
4 Lord, be good to those who are good,
whose hearts are honest.
5 But, Lord, when you remove those who do evil,
also remove those who stop following you.
Let there be peace in Israel.
Lord, Bring Your People Back
A song for going up to worship.
126 When the Lord brought the prisoners back to Jerusalem,
it seemed as if we were dreaming.
2 Then we were filled with laughter,
and we sang happy songs.
Then the other nations said,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are very glad.
4 Lord, return our prisoners again,
as you bring streams to the desert.
5 Those who cry as they plant crops
will sing at harvest time.
6 Those who cry
as they carry out the seeds
will return singing
and carrying bundles of grain.
All Good Things Come from God
A song for going up to worship. Of Solomon.
127 If the Lord doesn’t build the house,
the builders are working for nothing.
If the Lord doesn’t guard the city,
the guards are watching for nothing.
2 It is no use for you to get up early
and stay up late,
working for a living.
The Lord gives sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
babies are a reward.
4 Children who are born to a young man
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
5 Happy is the man
who has his bag full of arrows.
They will not be defeated
when they fight their enemies at the city gate.
Samaria and Israel to Be Punished
1 During the time that Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, the word of the Lord came to Micah, who was from Moresheth. He saw these visions about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear this, all you nations;
listen, earth and all you who live on it.
The Lord God will be a witness against you,
the Lord from his Holy Temple.
3 See, the Lord is coming out of his place;
he is coming down to walk on the tops of the mountains.
4 The mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will crack open,
like wax near a fire,
like water running down a hillside.
5 All this is because of Jacob’s sin,
because of the sins of the nation of Israel.
What is the place of Jacob’s sin?
Isn’t it Samaria?
What is Judah’s place of idol worship?
Isn’t it Jerusalem?
The Lord Speaks
6 “So I will make Samaria a pile of ruins in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones down into the valley
and strip her down to her foundations.
7 All her idols will be broken into pieces;
all the gifts to her idols will be burned with fire.
I will destroy all her idols,
and because Samaria earned her money by being unfaithful to me,
this money will be carried off by others who are not faithful to me.”
Micah’s Great Sadness
8 I will moan and cry because of this evil,
going around barefoot and naked.
I will cry loudly like the wild dogs
and make sad sounds like the owls do,
9 because Samaria’s wound cannot be healed.
It will spread to Judah;
it will reach the city gate of my people,
all the way to Jerusalem.
12 In the morning some evil people made a plan to kill Paul, and they took an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed him. 13 There were more than forty men who made this plan. 14 They went to the leading priests and the elders and said, “We have taken an oath not to eat or drink until we have killed Paul. 15 So this is what we want you to do: Send a message to the commander to bring Paul out to you as though you want to ask him more questions. We will be waiting to kill him while he is on the way here.”
16 But Paul’s nephew heard about this plan and went to the army building and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the officers and said, “Take this young man to the commander. He has a message for him.”
18 So the officer brought Paul’s nephew to the commander and said, “The prisoner, Paul, asked me to bring this young man to you. He wants to tell you something.”
19 The commander took the young man’s hand and led him to a place where they could be alone. He asked, “What do you want to tell me?”
20 The young man said, “The Jews have decided to ask you to bring Paul down to their council meeting tomorrow. They want you to think they are going to ask him more questions. 21 But don’t believe them! More than forty men are hiding and waiting to kill Paul. They have all taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Now they are waiting for you to agree.”
22 The commander sent the young man away, ordering him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have told me about their plan.”
Paul Is Sent to Caesarea
23 Then the commander called two officers and said, “I need some men to go to Caesarea. Get two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred men with spears ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight. 24 Get some horses for Paul to ride so he can be taken to Governor Felix safely.”
Jesus Heals a Soldier’s Servant
7 When Jesus finished saying all these things to the people, he went to Capernaum. 2 There was an army officer who had a servant who was very important to him. The servant was so sick he was nearly dead. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. 4 The men went to Jesus and begged him, saying, “This officer is worthy of your help. 5 He loves our people, and he built us a synagogue.”
6 So Jesus went with the men. He was getting near the officer’s house when the officer sent friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, because I am not worthy to have you come into my house. 7 That is why I did not come to you myself. But you only need to command it, and my servant will be healed. 8 I, too, am a man under the authority of others, and I have soldiers under my command. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, this is the greatest faith I have found anywhere, even in Israel.”
10 Those who had been sent to Jesus went back to the house where they found the servant in good health.
Jesus Brings a Man Back to Life
11 Soon afterwards Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his followers and a large crowd traveled with him. 12 When he came near the town gate, he saw a funeral. A mother, who was a widow, had lost her only son. A large crowd from the town was with the mother while her son was being carried out. 13 When the Lord saw her, he felt very sorry for her and said, “Don’t cry.” 14 He went up and touched the coffin, and the people who were carrying it stopped. Jesus said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!” 15 And the son sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 All the people were amazed and began praising God, saying, “A great prophet has come to us! God has come to help his people.”
17 This news about Jesus spread through all Judea and into all the places around there.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.