Book of Common Prayer
ק Qoph
145 I call with all my heart;(A) answer me, Lord,
and I will obey your decrees.(B)
146 I call out to you; save me(C)
and I will keep your statutes.
147 I rise before dawn(D) and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,(E)
that I may meditate on your promises.
149 Hear my voice(F) in accordance with your love;(G)
preserve my life,(H) Lord, according to your laws.
150 Those who devise wicked schemes(I) are near,
but they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near,(J) Lord,
and all your commands are true.(K)
152 Long ago I learned from your statutes(L)
that you established them to last forever.(M)
ר Resh
153 Look on my suffering(N) and deliver me,(O)
for I have not forgotten(P) your law.
154 Defend my cause(Q) and redeem me;(R)
preserve my life(S) according to your promise.(T)
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek out(U) your decrees.
156 Your compassion, Lord, is great;(V)
preserve my life(W) according to your laws.(X)
157 Many are the foes who persecute me,(Y)
but I have not turned(Z) from your statutes.
158 I look on the faithless with loathing,(AA)
for they do not obey your word.(AB)
159 See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life,(AC) Lord, in accordance with your love.
160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.(AD)
ש Sin and Shin
161 Rulers persecute me(AE) without cause,
but my heart trembles(AF) at your word.
162 I rejoice(AG) in your promise
like one who finds great spoil.(AH)
163 I hate and detest(AI) falsehood
but I love your law.(AJ)
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous laws.(AK)
165 Great peace(AL) have those who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.(AM)
166 I wait for your salvation,(AN) Lord,
and I follow your commands.
167 I obey your statutes,
for I love them(AO) greatly.
168 I obey your precepts(AP) and your statutes,(AQ)
for all my ways are known(AR) to you.
ת Taw
169 May my cry come(AS) before you, Lord;
give me understanding(AT) according to your word.(AU)
170 May my supplication come(AV) before you;
deliver me(AW) according to your promise.(AX)
171 May my lips overflow with praise,(AY)
for you teach me(AZ) your decrees.
172 May my tongue sing(BA) of your word,
for all your commands are righteous.(BB)
173 May your hand be ready to help(BC) me,
for I have chosen(BD) your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation,(BE) Lord,
and your law gives me delight.(BF)
175 Let me live(BG) that I may praise you,
and may your laws sustain me.
176 I have strayed like a lost sheep.(BH)
Seek your servant,
for I have not forgotten(BI) your commands.
Psalm 128
A song of ascents.
1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,(A)
who walk in obedience to him.(B)
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;(C)
blessings and prosperity(D) will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine(E)
within your house;
your children(F) will be like olive shoots(G)
around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing(H)
for the man who fears the Lord.(I)
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion;(J)
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem(K)
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children—(L)
peace be on Israel.(M)
Psalm 129
A song of ascents.
1 “They have greatly oppressed(N) me from my youth,”(O)
let Israel say;(P)
2 “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory(Q) over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
4 But the Lord is righteous;(R)
he has cut me free(S) from the cords of the wicked.”(T)
5 May all who hate Zion(U)
be turned back in shame.(V)
6 May they be like grass on the roof,(W)
which withers(X) before it can grow;
7 a reaper cannot fill his hands with it,(Y)
nor one who gathers fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by not say to them,
“The blessing of the Lord be on you;
we bless you(Z) in the name of the Lord.”
Psalm 130
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths(AA) I cry to you,(AB) Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.(AC)
Let your ears be attentive(AD)
to my cry for mercy.(AE)
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?(AF)
4 But with you there is forgiveness,(AG)
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.(AH)
41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal,(A) and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.(B)
Balaam’s First Message
23 Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams(C) for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.(D)
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me.(E) Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.
4 God met with him,(F) and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”
5 The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth(G) and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”(H)
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.(I) 7 Then Balaam(J) spoke his message:(K)
“Balak brought me from Aram,(L)
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.(M)
‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.’(N)
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?(O)
How can I denounce
those whom the Lord has not denounced?(P)
9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.(Q)
I see a people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.(R)
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob(S)
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,(T)
and may my final end be like theirs!(U)”
11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies,(V) but you have done nothing but bless them!”(W)
12 He answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”(X)
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good(A) to bring about my death,(B) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,(C) sold(D) as a slave to sin.(E) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(F) 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(G) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.(H) 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a](I) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.(J) 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(K)
21 So I find this law at work:(L) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being(M) I delight in God’s law;(N) 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war(O) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin(P) at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?(Q) 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!(R)
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,(S) but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.(T)
The Parable of the Tenants(A)
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted(B) a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.(C) Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.(D) 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants(E) to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.(F) 36 Then he sent other servants(G) to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.(H) Come, let’s kill him(I) and take his inheritance.’(J) 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,”(K) they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,(L) who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[a]?(M)
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you(N) and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[b](O)
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.(P)
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