Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Breaking Away from the Treacherous.
A Song of [a]Ascents.
120 In my trouble I cried to the Lord,
And He answered me.
2
Rescue my soul, O Lord, from lying lips,
And from a deceitful tongue.
3
What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you,
You deceitful tongue?—
4
Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With the [b]burning coals of the broom tree.
5
Woe to me, for I sojourn in Meshech,
and I live among the tents of Kedar [among hostile people]!(A)
6
Too long my soul has had its dwelling
With those who hate peace.
7
I am for peace, but when I speak,
They are for war.
The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of [c]Ascents.
121 I will lift up my eyes to the hills [of Jerusalem]—
From where shall my help come?(B)
2
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.(C)
4
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber [briefly] nor sleep [soundly].
5
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.(D)
6
The sun will not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.(E)
7
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your life.
8
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in [everything that you do]
From this time forth and forever.(F)
Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.
A Song of [d]Ascents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”(G)
2
Our feet are standing
Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
3
Jerusalem, that is built
As a city that is firmly joined together;
4
To which the [twelve] tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord,
[As was decreed as] an ordinance for Israel,
To give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5
For there the thrones of judgment were set,
The thrones of the house of David.
6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you [holy city].
7
“May peace be within your walls
And prosperity within your palaces.”
8
For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
9
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God [which is Jerusalem],
I will seek your (the city’s) good.
Prayer for the Lord’s Help.
A Song of [e]Ascents.
123 Unto you I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
2
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
And as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He is gracious and favorable toward us.
3
Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious and favorable toward us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
4
Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud [who disregard God’s law].
Praise for Rescue from Enemies.
A Song of [f]Ascents. Of David.
124 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
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 [quickly] swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4
Then the waters would have engulfed us,
The torrent would have swept over our soul;
5
Then the [g]raging waters would have swept over our soul.”
6
Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to be torn by their teeth.
7
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The trap is broken and we have escaped.
8
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
The Lord Surrounds His People.
A Song of [h]Ascents.
125 Those who trust in and rely on the Lord [with confident expectation]
Are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but remains forever.
2
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.
3
For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land of the righteous,
So that the righteous will not reach out their hands to do wrong.
4
Do good, O Lord, to those who are good
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5
But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways [in unresponsiveness to God],
The Lord will lead them away with those who do evil.
Peace be upon Israel.
Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity.
A Song of [i]Ascents.
126 When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion (Jerusalem),
We were like those who dream [it seemed so unreal].(H)
2
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
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 [j]captivity, O Lord,
As the stream-beds in the South (the Negev) [are restored by torrents of rain].
5
They who sow in tears shall reap with joyful singing.
6
He who goes back and forth weeping, carrying his bag of seed [for planting],
Will indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
Prosperity Comes from the Lord.
A Song of [k]Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.(I)
2
It is vain for you to rise early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of anxious labors—
For He gives [blessings] to His beloved even in his sleep.
3
Behold, children are a heritage and gift from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb a reward.(J)
4
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5
How blessed [happy and fortunate] is the man whose quiver is filled with them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies [in gatherings] at the [city] gate.
9 Now Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a massive tree, and his [a]head was caught in [the thick branches of] the tree; and he was left hanging [in midair] between heaven and earth, while the mule that had been under him kept going. 10 A certain man saw it and informed Joab, saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree.” 11 Joab said to the man who informed him, “You saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? [b]I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 12 The man told Joab, “Even if I were to feel the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my hands, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for [c]we all heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, ‘Protect the young man Absalom, for my sake.’ 13 Otherwise, if I had acted treacherously against his life (for nothing is hidden from the king) you yourself would have [d]taken sides against me.” 14 Joab said, “I will not waste time with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive [and caught] in the midst of the tree. 15 And ten young men, Joab’s armor bearers, surrounded and struck Absalom and killed him.
16 Then Joab blew the trumpet [to signal the end of the combat], and the men returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab held them back. 17 They took [down the body of] Absalom and threw him into a deep pit in the forest and set up a huge mound of stones over him. Then all Israel fled, everyone to his own tent. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a memorial pillar which is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have [e]no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He named the memorial pillar after himself, and to this day it is called [f]Absalom’s Monument.
A Conspiracy to Kill Paul
12 Now when day came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath (curse), saying that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty [men] who formed this plot [and swore this oath]. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath not to taste anything [neither food nor drink] until we have killed Paul. 15 So now you, along with the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), notify the commander to bring Paul down to you, as if you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly. But we are ready to kill him before he comes near [the place].”
16 But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their [planned] ambush, and he went to the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul, calling in one of the centurions, said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him and led him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called for me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.” 19 The commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to ask him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) tomorrow, as if they were going to interrogate him more thoroughly. 21 But do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, and they have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Even now they are ready, just waiting for your promise.” 22 So the commander let the young man leave, instructing him, “Do not tell anyone that you have given me this information.”
Paul Moved to Caesarea Maritima
23 Then summoning two of the centurions, he said, “Have two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night (9:00 p.m.) to go as far as [a]Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred [b]spearmen; 24 also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and bring him safely to [c]Felix the governor.”
Jesus’ Authority Questioned
27 They came again to Jerusalem. And as Jesus was walking in the [courts and porches of the] temple, the [a]chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him,(A) 28 and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John [the Baptist] from heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men? Answer Me.” 31 They began discussing it with each other, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But [b]shall we say, ‘From men?’” —they were afraid [to answer because] of the crowd, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. 33 So they replied to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Parable of the Vineyard Owner
12 Jesus began to speak to them [the chief priests, scribes and elders who were questioning Him] in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a [c]wall around it, and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; and he rented it out to tenant farmers and left the country.(B) 2 When the harvest season came he sent a [d]servant to the tenants, in order to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant, and they [threw stones and] wounded him in the head, and treated him disgracefully. 5 And he sent another, and that one they killed; then many others—some they beat and some they killed. 6 He still had one man left to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to each other, ‘This man is the heir! Come on, let us kill him [and destroy the evidence], and his inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw his body outside the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders regarded as unworthy and rejected,
This [very stone] has become the chief Cornerstone
11
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous and wonderful in our eyes’?”(C)
12 And they were looking for a way to seize Him, but they were afraid of the crowd; for they knew that He spoke this parable in reference to [and as a charge against] them. And so they left Him and went away.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.