Book of Common Prayer
A Song of degrees.
120 In my trouble I called unto Jehovah, and he answered me.
2 Jehovah, deliver my soul from the lying lip, from the deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee, what shall be added unto thee, thou deceitful tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of a mighty one, with burning coals of broom-wood.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long dwelt with them that hate peace.
7 I [am for] peace; but when I speak, *they* [are] for war.
A Song of degrees.
121 I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: whence shall my help come?
2 My help [cometh] from Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 Jehovah is thy keeper, Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand;
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 Jehovah will keep thee from all evil; he will keep thy soul.
8 Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in, from henceforth and for evermore.
A Song of degrees. Of David.
122 I rejoiced when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of Jehovah.
2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem, which art built as a city that is compact together,
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of Jah, a testimony to Israel, to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah.
5 For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
7 Peace be within thy bulwarks, prosperity within thy palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions' sakes I will say, Peace be within thee!
9 Because of the house of Jehovah our God I will seek thy good.
A Song of degrees.
123 Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants [look] unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes [are directed] to Jehovah our God, until he be gracious unto us.
3 Be gracious unto us, O Jehovah, be gracious unto us; for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
A Song of degrees. Of David.
124 If it had not been Jehovah who was for us—oh let Israel say—
2 If it had not been Jehovah who was for us, when men rose up against us,
3 Then they had swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, a torrent had gone over our soul;
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be Jehovah, who gave us not up a prey to their teeth!
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of Jehovah, the maker of heavens and earth.
A Song of degrees.
125 They that confide in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved; it abideth for ever.
2 Jerusalem!—mountains are round about her, and Jehovah is round about his people, from henceforth and for evermore.
3 For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
4 Do good, O Jehovah, unto the good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.
5 But as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, Jehovah will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!
A Song of degrees.
126 When Jehovah turned the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing: then said they among the nations, Jehovah hath done great things for them.
3 Jehovah hath done great things for us; [and] we are joyful.
4 Turn our captivity, O Jehovah, as the streams in the south.
5 They that sow in tears shall reap with rejoicing:
6 He goeth forth and weepeth, bearing seed for scattering; he cometh again with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves.
A Song of degrees. Of Solomon.
127 Unless Jehovah build the house, in vain do its builders labour in it; unless Jehovah keep the city, the keeper watcheth in vain:
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to lie down late, to eat the bread of sorrows: so to his beloved one he giveth sleep.
3 Lo, children are an inheritance from Jehovah, [and] the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath filled his quiver with them. They shall not be ashamed when they speak with enemies in the gate.
15 And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people and to her gods: return after thy sister-in-law.
16 And Ruth said, Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from [following] after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God;
17 where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee!
18 And when she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her.
19 And they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the [women] said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi—call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me home again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, seeing Jehovah has brought me low, and the Almighty has afflicted me?
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley-harvest.
12 For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity before God, (not in fleshly wisdom but in God's grace,) we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly towards you.
13 For we do not write other things to you but what ye well know and recognise; and I hope that ye will recognise to the end,
14 even as also ye have recognised us in part, that we are your boast, even as *ye* [are] ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 And with this confidence I purposed to come to you previously, that ye might have a second favour;
16 and to pass through to Macedonia by you, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be set forward by you to Judaea.
17 Having therefore this purpose, did I then use lightness? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to flesh, that there should be with me yea yea, and nay nay?
18 Now God [is] faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea *is* in him.
20 For whatever promises of God [there are], in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us.
21 Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, [is] God,
22 who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
13 *Ye* are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have become insipid, wherewith shall it be salted? It is no longer fit for anything but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot by men.
14 *Ye* are the light of the world: a city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid.
15 Nor do [men] light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lamp-stand, and it shines for all who are in the house.
16 Let your light thus shine before men, so that they may see your upright works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.
17 Think not that I am come to make void the law or the prophets; I am not come to make void, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Until the heaven and the earth pass away, one iota or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all come to pass.
19 Whosoever then shall do away with one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall practise and teach [them], *he* shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.
20 For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass [that] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of the heavens.
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