Book of Common Prayer
Plea for Relief from Bitter Foes
A Song of Ascents.
120 In (A)my distress I cried to the Lord,
And He heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given to you,
Or what shall be done to you,
You false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the [a]warrior,
With coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me, that I dwell in (B)Meshech,
(C)That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul has dwelt too long
With one who hates peace.
7 I am for peace;
But when I speak, they are for war.
God the Help of Those Who Seek Him
A Song of Ascents.
121 I (D)will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2 (E)My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 (F)He will not allow your foot to [b]be moved;
(G)He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your [c]keeper;
The Lord is (H)your shade (I)at your right hand.
6 (J)The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall [d]preserve you from all evil;
He shall (K)preserve your soul.
8 The Lord shall (L)preserve[e] your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.
The Joy of Going to the House of the Lord
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
(M)“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet have been standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem is built
As a city that is (N)compact together,
4 (O)Where the tribes go up,
The tribes of the Lord,
[f]To (P)the Testimony of Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 (Q)For thrones are set there for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.
6 (R)Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
9 Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will (S)seek your good.
Prayer for Relief from Contempt
A Song of Ascents.
123 Unto You (T)I lift up my eyes,
O You (U)who dwell in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
(V)So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He has mercy on us.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!
For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is exceedingly filled
With the scorn of those who are at ease,
With the contempt of the proud.
The Lord the Defense of His People
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
124 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our (W)side,”
(X)Let Israel now say—
2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have (Y)swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have [g]gone over our soul;
5 Then the swollen waters
Would have [h]gone over our soul.”
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 (Z)Our soul has escaped (AA)as a bird from the snare of the [i]fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 (AB)Our help is in the name of the Lord,
(AC)Who made heaven and earth.
The Lord the Strength of His People
A Song of Ascents.
125 Those who trust in the Lord
Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.
3 For (AD)the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
On the land allotted to the righteous,
Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside to their (AE)crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them away
With the workers of iniquity.
(AF)Peace be upon Israel!
A Joyful Return to Zion
A Song of Ascents.
126 When (AG)the Lord brought back [j]the captivity of Zion,
(AH)We were like those who dream.
2 Then (AI)our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the [k]nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are glad.
4 Bring back our captivity, O Lord,
As the streams in the South.
5 (AJ)Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
6 He who continually goes [l]forth weeping,
Bearing [m]seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again [n]with (AK)rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.
Laboring and Prospering with the Lord
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless (AL)the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To (AM)eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.
3 Behold, (AN)children are a heritage from the Lord,
(AO)The fruit of the womb is a (AP)reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 (AQ)Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
(AR)They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, 9 behold, I will send and take (A)all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (B)My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and (C)make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will [a]take from them the (D)voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (E)the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy (F)years.
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, (G)when [b]seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; (H)‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. 13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. 14 (I)(For many nations (J)and great kings shall (K)be served by them also; (L)and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Judgment on the Nations
15 For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me: “Take this (M)wine cup of [c]fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And (N)they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”
17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the Lord had sent me:
Israel Needs the Gospel
10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [a]Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness (A)that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of (B)God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own (C)righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For (D)Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, (E)“The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, (F)“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, (G)“ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? (H)“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that (I)if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, (J)“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For (K)there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for (L)the same Lord over all (M)is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For (N)“whoever calls (O)on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because (A)they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he (B)would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, (C)“Give God the glory! (D)We know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God (E)spoke to (F)Moses; as for this fellow, (G)we do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered and said to them, (H)“Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that (I)God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 (J)If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered and said to him, (K)“You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they [a]cast him out.
True Vision and True Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had (L)found him, He said to him, “Do you (M)believe in (N)the Son of [b]God?”
36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and (O)it is He who is talking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he (P)worshiped Him.
39 And Jesus said, (Q)“For judgment I have come into this world, (R)that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, (S)and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
41 Jesus said to them, (T)“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.