Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 121[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
121 I look up[c] toward the hills.
From where[d] does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,[e]
the Creator[f] of heaven and earth.
3 May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector[g] not sleep.[h]
4 Look! Israel’s Protector[i]
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.[j]
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect you in all you do,[k]
now and forevermore.
Psalm 122[l]
A song of ascents;[m] by David.
122 I was glad because[n] they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
2 Our feet are[o] standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly.[p]
4 The tribes go up[q] there,[r]
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord.[s]
5 Indeed,[t] the leaders sit[u] there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David.[v]
6 Pray[w] for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love her prosper.[x]
7 May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity[y] inside your fortresses.[z]
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.[aa]
Psalm 123[ab]
A song of ascents.[ac]
123 I look up[ad] toward you,
the one enthroned[ae] 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,[af]
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.[ag]
4 We have had our fill[ah]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
Psalm 131[a]
A song of ascents,[b] by David.
131 O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor do I have a haughty look.[c]
I do not have great aspirations,
or concern myself with things that are beyond me.[d]
2 Indeed,[e] I have calmed and quieted myself[f]
like a weaned child with its mother;[g]
I am content like a young child.[h]
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
now and forevermore!
Psalm 132[i]
A song of ascents.[j]
132 O Lord, for David’s sake remember
all his strenuous effort,[k]
2 and how he made a vow to the Lord,
and swore an oath to the Powerful One of Jacob.
3 He said,[l] “I will not enter my own home,[m]
or get into my bed.[n]
4 I will not allow my eyes to sleep,
or my eyelids to slumber,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a fine dwelling place[o] for the Powerful One of Jacob.”[p]
6 Look, we heard about it[q] in Ephrathah;[r]
we found it in the territory of Jaar.[s]
7 Let us go to his dwelling place.
Let us worship[t] before his footstool.
8 Ascend, O Lord, to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with integrity.[u]
May your loyal followers shout for joy.
10 For the sake of David, your servant,
do not reject your chosen king.[v]
11 The Lord made a reliable promise to David;[w]
he will not go back on his word.[x]
He said,[y] “I will place one of your descendants[z] on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and the rules I teach them,
their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
13 Certainly[aa] the Lord has chosen Zion;
he decided to make it his home.[ab]
14 He said,[ac] “This will be my resting place forever;
I will live here, for I have chosen it.[ad]
15 I will abundantly supply what she needs;[ae]
I will give her poor all the food they need.[af]
16 I will protect her priests,[ag]
and her godly people will shout exuberantly.[ah]
17 There I will make David strong;[ai]
I have determined that my chosen king’s dynasty will continue.[aj]
18 I will humiliate his enemies,[ak]
and his crown will shine.”
The Victorious Divine Warrior
63 Who is this who comes from Edom,[a]
dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah?[b]
Who[c] is this one wearing royal attire,[d]
who marches confidently[e] because of his great strength?
“It is I, the one who announces vindication,
and who is able to deliver!”[f]
2 Why are your clothes red?
Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat?[g]
3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;
no one from the nations joined me.
I stomped on them[h] in my anger;
I trampled them down in my rage.
Their juice splashed on my garments,
and stained[i] all my clothes.
4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance,
and then payback time arrived.[j]
5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was shocked because there was no one offering support.[k]
So my right arm accomplished deliverance;
my raging anger drove me on.[l]
To the Church in Thyatira
18 “To[a] the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following:[b]
“This is the solemn pronouncement of[c] the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame[d] and whose feet are like polished bronze:[e] 19 ‘I know your deeds: your love, faith,[f] service, and steadfast endurance.[g] In fact,[h] your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones. 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that[i] woman[j] Jezebel,[k] who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives[l] my servants[m] to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.[n] 21 I[o] have given her time to repent, but[p] she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness,[q] and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering,[r] unless they repent of her deeds. 23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers[s] with a deadly disease,[t] and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay[u] each one of you[v] what your deeds deserve.[w] 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching[x] (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets[y] of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you. 25 However, hold on to what you have until I come. 26 And to the one who conquers[z] and who continues in[aa] my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations[ab]—
27 he[ac] will rule[ad] them with an iron rod[ae]
and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,[af]
28 just as I have received the right to rule[ag] from my Father—and I will give him the morning star.[ah] 29 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda
5 After this[a] there was a Jewish feast,[b] and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is[c] in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate[d] a pool called Bethzatha[e] in Aramaic,[f] which has five covered walkways.[g] 3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.[h] 5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.[i] 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized[j] that the man[k] had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir,[l] I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water,[m] someone else[n] goes down there[o] before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat[p] and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed,[q] and he picked up his mat[r] and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.)[s]
10 So the Jewish leaders[t] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.”[u] 11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat[v] and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat[w] and walk’?”[x] 13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.
14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more,[y] lest anything worse happen to you.” 15 The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders[z] that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
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