Book of Common Prayer
120 A Song of the Ascents. Unto Jehovah in my distress I have called, And He answereth me.
2 O Jehovah, deliver my soul from a lying lip, From a deceitful tongue!
3 What doth He give to thee? And what doth He add to thee? O deceitful tongue!
4 Sharp arrows of a mighty one, with broom-coals.
5 Wo to me, for I have inhabited Mesech, I have dwelt with tents of Kedar.
6 Too much hath my soul dwelt with him who is hating peace.
7 I [am] peace, and when I speak they [are] for war!
121 A Song of the Ascents. I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, Whence doth my help come?
2 My help [is] from Jehovah, maker of heaven and earth,
3 He suffereth not thy foot to be moved, Thy preserver slumbereth not.
4 Lo, He slumbereth not, nor sleepeth, He who is preserving Israel.
5 Jehovah [is] thy preserver, Jehovah [is] thy shade on thy right hand,
6 By day the sun doth not smite thee, Nor the moon by night.
7 Jehovah preserveth thee from all evil, He doth preserve thy soul.
8 Jehovah preserveth thy going out and thy coming in, From henceforth even unto the age!
122 A Song of the Ascents, by David. I have rejoiced in those saying to me, `To the house of Jehovah we go.'
2 Our feet have been standing in thy gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem -- the builded one -- [Is] as a city that is joined to itself together.
4 For thither have tribes gone up, Tribes of Jah, companies of Israel, To give thanks to the name of Jehovah.
5 For there have sat thrones of judgment, Thrones of the house of David.
6 Ask ye the peace of Jerusalem, At rest are those loving thee.
7 Peace is in thy bulwark, rest in thy high places,
8 For the sake of my brethren and my companions, Let me speak, I pray thee, `Peace [be] in thee.'
9 For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God, I seek good for thee!
123 A Song of the Ascents. Unto Thee I have lifted up mine eyes, O dweller in the heavens.
2 Lo, as eyes of men-servants [Are] unto the hand of their masters, As eyes of a maid-servant [Are] unto the hand of her mistress, So [are] our eyes unto Jehovah our God, Till that He doth favour us.
3 Favour us, O Jehovah, favour us, For greatly have we been filled with contempt,
4 Greatly hath our soul been filled With the scorning of the easy ones, With the contempt of the arrogant!
124 A Song of the Ascents, by David. Save [for] Jehovah -- who hath been for us, (Pray, let Israel say),
2 Save [for] Jehovah -- who hath been for us, In the rising up of man against us,
3 Then alive they had swallowed us up, In the burning of their anger against us,
4 Then the waters had overflowed us, The stream passed over our soul,
5 Then passed over our soul had the proud waters.
6 Blessed [is] Jehovah who hath not given us, A prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul as a bird hath escaped from a snare of fowlers, The snare was broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help [is] in the name of Jehovah, Maker of the heavens and earth!
125 A Song of the Ascents. Those trusting in Jehovah [are] as Mount Zion, It is not moved -- to the age it abideth.
2 Jerusalem! mountains [are] round about her, And Jehovah [is] round about His people, From henceforth even unto the age.
3 For the rod of wickedness resteth not On the lot of the righteous, That the righteous put not forth on iniquity their hands.
4 Do good, O Jehovah, to the good, And to the upright in their hearts.
5 As to those turning [to] their crooked ways, Jehovah causeth them to go with workers of iniquity. Peace on Israel!
126 A Song of the Ascents. In Jehovah's turning back [to] the captivity of Zion, We have been as dreamers.
2 Then filled [with] laughter is our mouth, And our tongue [with] singing, Then do they say among nations, `Jehovah did great things with these.'
3 Jehovah did great things with us, We have been joyful.
4 Turn again, O Jehovah, [to] our captivity, As streams in the south.
5 Those sowing in tears, with singing do reap,
6 Whoso goeth on and weepeth, Bearing the basket of seed, Surely cometh in with singing, bearing his sheaves!
127 A Song of the Ascents, by Solomon. If Jehovah doth not build the house, In vain have its builders laboured at it, If Jehovah doth not watch a city, In vain hath a watchman waked.
2 Vain for you who are rising early, Who delay sitting, eating the bread of griefs, So He giveth to His beloved one sleep.
3 Lo, an inheritance of Jehovah [are] sons, A reward [is] the fruit of the womb.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty one, So [are] the sons of the young men.
5 O the happiness of the man Who hath filled his quiver with them, They are not ashamed, For they speak with enemies in the gate!
15 And she saith, `Lo, thy sister-in-law hath turned back unto her people, and unto her god, turn thou back after thy sister-in-law.'
16 And Ruth saith, `Urge me not to leave thee -- to turn back from after thee; for whither thou goest I go, and where thou lodgest I lodge; thy people [is] my people, and thy God my God.
17 Where thou diest I die, and there I am buried; thus doth Jehovah to me, and thus doth He add -- for death itself doth part between me and thee.'
18 And she seeth that she is strengthening herself to go with her, and she ceaseth to speak unto her;
19 and they go both of them till their coming in to Beth-Lehem; and it cometh to pass at their coming in to Beth-Lehem, that all the city is moved at them, and they say, `Is this Naomi?'
20 And she saith unto them, `Call me not Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly to me,
21 I went out full, and empty hath Jehovah brought me back, why do ye call me Naomi, and Jehovah hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath done evil to me?'
22 And Naomi turneth back, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who hath turned back from the fields of Moab, and they have come in to Beth-Lehem at the commencement of barley-harvest.
12 For our glorying is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we did conduct ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you;
13 for no other things do we write to you, but what ye either do read or also acknowledge, and I hope that also unto the end ye shall acknowledge,
14 according as also ye did acknowledge us in part, that your glory we are, even as also ye [are] ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus;
15 and in this confidence I was purposing to come unto you before, that a second favour ye might have,
16 and through you to pass to Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and by you to be sent forward to Judea.
17 This, therefore, counselling, did I then use the lightness; or the things that I counsel, according to the flesh do I counsel, that it may be with me Yes, yes, and No, no?
18 and God [is] faithful, that our word unto you became not Yes and No,
19 for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, among you through us having been preached -- through me and Silvanus and Timotheus -- did not become Yes and No, but in him it hath become Yes;
20 for as many as [are] promises of God, in him [are] the Yes, and in him the Amen, for glory to God through us;
21 and He who is confirming you with us into Christ, and did anoint us, [is] God,
22 who also sealed us, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
13 `Ye are the salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in what shall it be salted? for nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
14 `Ye are the light of the world, a city set upon a mount is not able to be hid;
15 nor do they light a lamp, and put it under the measure, but on the lamp-stand, and it shineth to all those in the house;
16 so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who [is] in the heavens.
17 `Do not suppose that I came to throw down the law or the prophets -- I did not come to throw down, but to fulfill;
18 for, verily I say to you, till that the heaven and the earth may pass away, one iota or one tittle may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass.
19 `Whoever therefore may loose one of these commands -- the least -- and may teach men so, least he shall be called in the reign of the heavens, but whoever may do and may teach [them], he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.
20 `For I say to you, that if your righteousness may not abound above that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye may not enter to the reign of the heavens.