Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
120 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
2 I said,[c] “O Lord, rescue me[d]
from those who lie with their lips[e]
and those who deceive with their tongues.[f]
3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker?[g]
4 Here’s how![h] With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.[i]
5 How miserable I am.[j]
For I have lived temporarily[k] in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar.[l]
6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate[m] peace.
7 I am committed to peace,[n]
but when I speak, they want to make war.[o]
Psalm 121[p]
A song of ascents.[q]
121 I look up[r] toward the hills.
From where[s] does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,[t]
the Creator[u] of heaven and earth.
3 May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector[v] not sleep.[w]
4 Look! Israel’s Protector[x]
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.[y]
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect you in all you do,[z]
now and forevermore.
Psalm 122[aa]
A song of ascents;[ab] by David.
122 I was glad because[ac] they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
2 Our feet are[ad] standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly.[ae]
4 The tribes go up[af] there,[ag]
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord.[ah]
5 Indeed,[ai] the leaders sit[aj] there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David.[ak]
6 Pray[al] for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love her prosper.[am]
7 May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity[an] inside your fortresses.[ao]
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.[ap]
Psalm 123[aq]
A song of ascents.[ar]
123 I look up[as] toward you,
the one enthroned[at] 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,[au]
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.[av]
4 We have had our fill[aw]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
Psalm 124[ax]
A song of ascents;[ay] by David.
124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,[az]
3 they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
4 The water would have overpowered us;
the current[ba] would have overwhelmed[bb] us.[bc]
5 The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.[bd]
6 The Lord deserves praise,[be]
for[bf] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
7 We escaped with our lives,[bg] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
8 Our deliverer is the Lord,[bh]
the Creator[bi] of heaven and earth.
Psalm 125[bj]
A song of ascents.[bk]
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved and will endure forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forevermore.
3 Indeed,[bl] the scepter of a wicked king[bm] will not settle[bn]
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly
might do what is wrong.[bo]
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to the morally upright.[bp]
5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path,[bq]
may the Lord remove them,[br] along with those who behave wickedly.[bs]
May Israel experience peace.[bt]
Psalm 126[bu]
A song of ascents.[bv]
126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,[bw]
we thought we were dreaming.[bx]
2 At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.[by]
At that time the nations said,[bz]
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4 O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.[ca]
5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.[cb]
6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag[cc] of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.[cd]
Psalm 127[ce]
A song of ascents;[cf] by Solomon.
127 If the Lord does not build a house,[cg]
then those who build it work in vain.
If the Lord does not guard a city,[ch]
then the watchman stands guard in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food.[ci]
Yes,[cj] he provides for those whom he loves even when they sleep.[ck]
3 Yes,[cl] sons[cm] are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Sons born during one’s youth
are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.[cn]
5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
They will not be put to shame[co] when they confront[cp] enemies at the city gate.
8 “Therefore, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[a] says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.[b] 9 So I, the Lord, affirm that[c] I will send for all the peoples of the north[d] and my servant,[e] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy[f] the land, its inhabitants, and all the surrounding nations[g] and make them everlasting ruins.[h] I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.[i] 10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands.[j] I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses.[k] 11 This whole area[l] will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’[m]
12 “‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation[n] for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon[o] an everlasting ruin.[p] I, the Lord, affirm it![q] 13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.[r] 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation[s] too. I will repay them for all they have done.’”[t]
Judah and the Nations Will Experience God’s Wrath
15 So[u] the Lord, the God of Israel, spoke to me in a vision:[v] “Take this cup from my hand. It is filled with the wine of my wrath.[w] Take it and make the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they have drunk it, they will stagger to and fro[x] and act insane. For I will send wars sweeping through them.”[y]
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand. I made all the nations to whom he sent me drink the wine of his wrath.[z]
10 Brothers and sisters,[a] my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites[b] is for their salvation. 2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God,[c] but their zeal is not in line with the truth.[d] 3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.”[e] 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart,[f] ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”[g] (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?”[h] (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”[i] (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord[j] and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness[k] and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.[l] 11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”[m] 12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.[n]
18 Now the Jewish religious leaders[a] refused to believe[b] that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned[c] the parents of the man who had become able to see.[d] 19 They asked the parents,[e] “Is this your son, whom you say[f] was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 So his parents replied,[g] “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see.[h] Ask him, he is a mature adult.[i] He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders.[j] For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus[k] to be the Christ[l] would be put out[m] of the synagogue.[n] 23 For this reason his parents said, “He is a mature adult,[o] ask him.”)[p]
24 Then they summoned[q] the man who used to be blind[r] a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth.[s] We know that this man[t] is a sinner.” 25 He replied,[u] “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing—that although I was blind, now I can see.” 26 Then they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he cause you to see?”[v] 27 He answered,[w] “I told you already and you didn’t listen.[x] Why do you want to hear it[y] again? You people[z] don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 They[aa] heaped insults[ab] on him, saying,[ac] “You are his disciple![ad] We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man[ae] comes from!” 30 The man replied,[af] “This is a remarkable thing,[ag] that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see![ah] 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to[ai] sinners, but if anyone is devout[aj] and does his will, God[ak] listens to[al] him.[am] 32 Never before[an] has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see.[ao] 33 If this man[ap] were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They replied,[aq] “You were born completely in sinfulness,[ar] and yet you presume to teach us?”[as] So they threw him out.
The Man’s Response to Jesus
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man[at] and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[au] 36 The man[av] replied,[aw] “And who is he, sir, that[ax] I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus told him, “You have seen him; he[ay] is the one speaking with you.”[az] 38 [He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.[ba] 39 Jesus[bb] said,][bc] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight,[bd] and the ones who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees[be] who were with him heard this[bf] and asked him,[bg] “We are not blind too, are we?”[bh] 41 Jesus replied,[bi] “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin,[bj] but now because you claim that you can see,[bk] your guilt[bl] remains.[bm]
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