Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120
A Man of Peace
Heading
A song of the ascents.[a]
A Man of Peace
1 In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Lord, save my life from lying lips.
Save me from deceitful tongues.
3 What will he give to you?
What more will he add to you, you deceitful tongue?
4 A warrior’s sharpened arrows with hot coals of the broom tree.
5 Woe to me that I am an alien in Meshek,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 For too long my soul[b] has dwelt with those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 121
Help From the Lord
Heading
A song for the ascents.
Help From the Lord, Israel’s Watchman
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains.
Where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot stumble.
He who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Yes, he who watches over Israel will not slumber.
He will not sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you.
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will watch to keep you from all harm.[c]
He will watch over your life.[d]
8 The Lord will watch over your going and your coming
from now to eternity.
Psalm 122
The Peace of Jerusalem
Heading
A song of the ascents. By David.
The Peace of Jerusalem
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a well-built city that is firmly joined together,[e]
4 a city to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,[f]
as a testimony to Israel,
to give praise to the name of the Lord.
5 That is where the thrones for judgment sit,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
7 May there be peace within your fortifications,
prosperity within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
now I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek good for you.
Psalm 123
The Eyes of a Servant
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The Eyes of a Servant
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who are seated in heaven.
2 Indeed, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us his grace.
3 Show grace to us, O Lord.
Show grace to us,
for we have had our fill of contempt.
4 Our souls have had their fill of the scorn of the smug
and of the contempt of the arrogant.
Psalm 124
The Lord Is on Our Side
Heading
A song of the ascents. By David.
The Lord Is on Our Side
1 Unless it was the Lord who was for us—
let Israel say—
2 unless it was the Lord who was for us
when people[g] rose against us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger burned against us.
4 Then the waters would have submerged us.
The torrent would have swept our lives away.
5 Then the wild waters would have swept us away.
6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not let us be prey for their teeth.
7 We have escaped with our lives
like a bird out of the fowlers’ snare.
The snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 125
Mount Zion Cannot Be Shaken
Heading
A song of the ascents.
Those Who Trust in the Lord Cannot Be Shaken
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion.
It cannot be shaken. It will stand forever.
2 As Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains,
so the Lord surrounds his people from now to eternity.
3 No, the scepter of wickedness will not rest
on the land assigned to the righteous,
so that the righteous do not reach out their hands toward evil.
4 Do good, O Lord, for the good
and for those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But those who turn to their crooked ways—
the Lord will send them away with the evildoers.
Peace be on Israel.
Psalm 126
The Return of the Captives
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The Captives Return
1 When the Lord restored the captives to Zion,[h]
we were like dreamers.
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us.
We are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the dry gulches of the Negev.
5 Those who sow with weeping will reap with joyful shouts.
6 The one who walks along weeping, carrying a bag of seed to sow,
will come back again with joyful shouts, carrying his sheaves.
Psalm 127
The Lord Builds the House
Heading
A song of the ascents. By Solomon.
The Lord Builds the House
1 If the Lord does not build the house,
it is useless for the builders to work hard over it.
If the Lord does not watch over the city,
it is useless for the watchman to stand guard.
2 It is useless for you to get up early and to work late,
worrying about bread to eat,
because God grants sleep to the one he loves.[i]
3 Indeed, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward from him.
4 Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows
in the hand of a warrior.
5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they dispute with enemies at the city gate.[j]
8 Therefore this is what the Lord of Armies says. Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 watch out! I will send for all the clans of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and derision. The land will be ruins forever. 10 I will take the sound of joy away from them and the sound of gladness. I will take away the voice of the bride and groom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land will become a desolation and a ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the Lord. I will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all my words which I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this book, in which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, but I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.
The Cup of God’s Wrath
15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath, and make all the nations, to whom I send you, drink it. 16 They will drink, stagger, and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he had sent me drink from it—
Prayer for Israelites to Believe
10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 Indeed, I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but it is not consistent with knowledge. 3 Since they were ignorant of the righteousness from God and sought to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness from God. 4 For to everyone who believes, Christ is the end of the law, resulting in righteousness.
5 Indeed, Moses writes this about the righteousness that comes by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.”[a] 6 But the righteousness that comes by faith speaks like this: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”[b] (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’”[c] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,”[d] that is, the word of faith that we are proclaiming. 9 Certainly, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and it is with the mouth that a person confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”[e]
12 So there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 Yes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[f]
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”
20 “We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. 21 But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”
30 “That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. 32 From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”[a]
36 “Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.