Book of Common Prayer
87 1-2 High on his holy mountain stands Jerusalem,[a] the city of God, the city he loves more than any other!
3 O city of God, what wondrous tales are told of you! 4 Nowadays when I mention among my friends the names of Egypt and Babylonia, Philistia and Tyre, or even distant Ethiopia, someone boasts that he was born in one or another of those countries. 5 But someday the highest honor will be to be a native of Jerusalem! For the God above all gods will personally bless this city. 6 When he registers her citizens, he will place a check mark beside the names of those who were born here. 7 And in the festivals they’ll sing, “All my heart is in Jerusalem.”
90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! 2 Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, you are God without beginning or end.
3 You speak, and man turns back to dust. 4 A thousand years are but as yesterday to you! They are like a single hour![a] 5-6 We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river and vanish as quickly as a dream. We are like grass that is green in the morning but mowed down and withered before the evening shadows fall. 7 We die beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your wrath. 8 You spread out our sins before you—our secret sins—and see them all. 9 No wonder the years are long and heavy here beneath your wrath. All our days are filled with sighing.
10 Seventy years are given us! And some may even live to eighty. But even the best of these years are often empty and filled with pain; soon they disappear, and we are gone. 11 Who can realize the terrors of your anger? Which of us can fear you as he should?
12 Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.
13 O Jehovah, come and bless us! How long will you delay? Turn away your anger from us. 14 Satisfy us in our earliest[b] youth with your loving-kindness, giving us constant joy to the end of our lives. 15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. 16 Let us see your miracles again; let our children see glorious things, the kind you used to do, 17 and let the Lord our God favor us and give us success. May he give permanence to all we do.
136 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his loving-kindness continues forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 4 Praise him who alone does mighty miracles, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 5 Praise him who made the heavens, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 6 Praise him who planted the water within the earth,[a] for his loving-kindness continues forever. 7 Praise him who made the heavenly lights, for his loving-kindness continues forever: 8 the sun to rule the day, for his loving-kindness continues forever; 9 and the moon and stars at night, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 10 Praise the God who smote the firstborn of Egypt, for his loving-kindness to Israel[b] continues forever.
11-12 He brought them out with mighty power and upraised fist to strike their enemies, for his loving-kindness to Israel continues forever. 13 Praise the Lord who opened the Red Sea to make a path before them, for his loving-kindness continues forever, 14 and led them safely through, for his loving-kindness continues forever— 15 but drowned Pharaoh’s army in the sea, for his loving-kindness to Israel continues forever.
16 Praise him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 17 Praise him who saved his people from the power of mighty kings, for his loving-kindness continues forever, 18 and killed famous kings who were their enemies, for his loving-kindness to Israel continues forever: 19 Sihon, king of Amorites—for God’s loving-kindness to Israel continues forever— 20 and Og, king of Bashan—for his loving-kindness to Israel continues forever. 21 God gave the land of these kings to Israel as a gift forever, for his loving-kindness to Israel continues forever; 22 yes, a permanent gift to his servant Israel, for his loving-kindness continues forever.
23 He remembered our utter weakness, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 24 And saved us from our foes, for his loving-kindness continues forever.
25 He gives food to every living thing, for his loving-kindness continues forever. 26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving-kindness continues forever.
10 Let me tell you how happy God has made me! For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and draped about me the robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. 11 The Lord will show the nations of the world his justice; all will praise him. His righteousness shall be like a budding tree, or like a garden in early spring, full of young plants springing up everywhere.
62 Because I love Zion, because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I will not cease to pray for her or to cry out to God on her behalf until she shines forth in his righteousness and is glorious in his salvation. 2 The nations shall see your righteousness. Kings shall be blinded by your glory; and God will confer on you a new name. 3 He will hold you aloft in his hands for all to see—a splendid crown for the King of kings. 4 Never again shall you be called “The God-forsaken Land” or the “Land That God Forgot.” Your new name will be “The Land of God’s Delight” and “The Bride,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his own. 5 Your children will care for you, O Jerusalem, with joy like that of a young man who marries a virgin; and God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom with his bride.
4 And so I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus—who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom— 2 to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God’s Word.
3 For there is going to come a time when people won’t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear. 4 They won’t listen to what the Bible says but will blithely follow their own misguided ideas.
5 Stand steady, and don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Bring others to Christ. Leave nothing undone that you ought to do.
6 I say this because I won’t be around to help you very much longer. My time has almost run out. Very soon now I will be on my way to heaven. 7 I have fought long and hard for my Lord, and through it all I have kept true to him. And now the time has come for me to stop fighting and rest. 8 In heaven a crown is waiting for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And not just to me but to all those whose lives show that they are eagerly looking forward to his coming back again.
46 And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by.
47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 “Shut up!” some of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted the louder, again and again, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, “Tell him to come here.”
So they called the blind man. “You lucky fellow,”[a] they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“O Teacher,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “All right, it’s done.[b] Your faith has healed you.”
And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.