Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120
A song for going up to worship.
1 When I was in trouble, I cried out to Yahweh,
and he answered me.
2 O Yahweh, rescue me from lying lips
and from a deceitful tongue.
3 You deceitful tongue, what can Yahweh give you?
What more can he do for you?
4 He will give you a warrior’s sharpened arrows and red-hot coals.
5 How horrible it is to live as a foreigner in Meshech
or to stay in the tents of Kedar.
6 I have lived too long with those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace, but when I talk about it,
they only talk about war.
Psalm 121
A song for going up to worship.
1 I look up toward the mountains.
Where can I find help?
2 My help comes from Yahweh,
the maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you fall.
Your guardian will not fall asleep.
4 Indeed, the Guardian of Israel never rests or sleeps.
5 Yahweh is your guardian.
Yahweh is the shade over your right hand.
6 The sun will not beat down on you during the day,
nor will the moon at night.
7 Yahweh guards you from every evil.
He guards your life.
8 Yahweh guards you as you come and go,
now and forever.
Psalm 122
A song by David for going up to worship.
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let’s go to the house of Yahweh.”
2 Our feet are standing inside your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built to be a city
where the people are united.[a]
4 All of Yah’s tribes go to that city
because it is a law in Israel
to give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
5 The court of justice sits there.
It consists of princes who are David’s descendants.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you prosper.
7 May there be peace inside your walls
and prosperity in your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends, let me say,
“May it go well for you!”
9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our Elohim,
I will seek what is good for you.
Psalm 123
A song for going up to worship.
1 I look up to you,
to the one who sits enthroned in heaven.
2 As servants depend on their masters,
as a maid depends on her mistress,
so we depend on Yahweh our Elohim
until he has pity on us.
3 Have pity on us, O Yahweh.
Have pity on us
because we have suffered more than our share of contempt.
4 We have suffered more than our share of ridicule
from those who are carefree.
We have suffered more than our share of contempt
from those who are arrogant.
Psalm 124
A song by David for going up to worship.
1 “If Yahweh had not been on our side . . .”
(Israel should repeat this.)
2 “If Yahweh had not been on our side when people attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger exploded against us.
4 Then the floodwaters would have swept us away.
An overflowing stream would have washed us away.
5 Then raging water would have washed us away.”
6 Thank Yahweh, who did not let them sink their teeth into us.
7 We escaped like a bird caught in a hunter’s trap.
The trap was broken, and we escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of Yahweh, the maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 125
A song for going up to worship.
1 Those who trust Yahweh are like Mount Zion,
which can never be shaken.
It remains firm forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so Yahweh surrounds his people now and forever.
3 A wicked ruler will not be allowed to govern
the land set aside for righteous people.
That is why righteous people do not use their power to do wrong.
4 Do good, O Yahweh, to those who are good,
to those whose motives are decent.
5 But when people become crooked,
Yahweh will lead them away with troublemakers.
Let there be peace in Israel!
Psalm 126
A song for going up to worship.
1 When Yahweh restored the fortunes of Zion,
it was as if we were dreaming.
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter
and our tongues with joyful songs.
Then the nations said,
“Yahweh has done spectacular things for them.”
3 Yahweh has done spectacular things for us.
We are overjoyed.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Yahweh,
as you restore streams to dry riverbeds in the Negev.
5 Those who cry while they plant
will joyfully sing while they harvest.
6 The person who goes out weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
will come home singing, carrying his bundles of grain.
Psalm 127
A song by Solomon for going up to worship.
1 If Yahweh does not build the house,
it is useless for the builders to work on it.
If Yahweh does not protect a city,
it is useless for the guard to stay alert.
2 It is useless to work hard for the food you eat
by getting up early and going to bed late.
Yahweh gives food to those he loves while they sleep.
3 Children are an inheritance from Yahweh.
They are a reward from him.
4 The children born to a man when he is young
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
5 Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
He will not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the city gate.
8 “This is what Yahweh Tsebaoth says: You did not listen to my words, 9 so I’m going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, declares Yahweh. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I’m going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined. 10 I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps. 11 This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.
12 “When the 70 years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes, declares Yahweh. I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland. 13 I will bring on that land all the disasters I threatened to do to it, everything that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations, everything written in this book. 14 Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the people of Babylon, and I will pay them back for what they have done.”
15 This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel said to me: Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my fury, and make all the nations to whom I’m sending you drink from it. 16 When they drink from it, they will stagger and go insane because of the wars that I’m going to send them.
17 So I took the cup from Yahweh’s hand. I made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink from it:
If You Believe You Will Be Saved
10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Jewish people is that they would be saved. 2 I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God, but they are misguided. 3 They don’t understand how to receive God’s approval. So they try to set up their own way to get it, and they have not accepted God’s way for receiving his approval. 4 Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.
5 Moses writes about receiving God’s approval by following his laws. He says, “The person who obeys these laws will live because he obeys them.” 6 However, Scripture says about God’s approval which is based on faith, “Don’t ask yourself who will go up to heaven,” (that is, to bring Christ down). 7 “Don’t ask who will go down into the depths,” (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). 8 However, what else does it say? “This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we spread. 9 If you declare that Yeshua is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. 10 By believing you receive God’s approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved. 11 Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”
12 There is no difference between Jews and Greeks. They all have the same Lord, who gives his riches to everyone who calls on him. 13 So then, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
18 Until they talked to the man’s parents, the Jews didn’t believe that the man had been blind and had been given sight. 19 They asked his parents, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? Why can he see now?”
20 His parents replied, “We know that he’s our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how he got his sight or who gave it to him. You’ll have to ask him. He’s old enough to answer for himself.” 22 (His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews had already agreed to put anyone who acknowledged that Yeshua was the Christ out of the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “You’ll have to ask him. He’s old enough.”)
24 So once again the Jews called the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man who gave you sight is a sinner.”
25 The man responded, “I don’t know if he’s a sinner or not. But I do know one thing. I used to be blind, but now I can see.”
26 The Jews asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he give you sight?”
27 The man replied, “I’ve already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear the story again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 The Jews yelled at him, “You’re his disciple, but we’re Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man came from.”
30 The man replied to them, “That’s amazing! You don’t know where he’s from. Yet, he gave me sight. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. Instead, he listens to people who are devout and who do what he wants. 32 Since the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
34 The Jews answered him, “You were born full of sin. Do you think you can teach us?” Then they threw him out of the synagogue.
35 Yeshua heard that the Jews had thrown the man out of the synagogue. So when Yeshua found the man, he asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man replied, “Sir, tell me who he is so that I can believe in him.”
37 Yeshua told him, “You’ve seen him. He is the person who is now talking with you.”
38 The man bowed in front of Yeshua and said, “I believe, Lord.”
39 Then Yeshua said, “I have come into this world to judge: Blind people will be given sight, and those who can see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with Yeshua heard this. So they asked him, “Do you think we’re blind?”
41 Yeshua told them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be sinners. But now you say, ‘We see,’ so you continue to be sinners.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.