Book of Common Prayer
Qoph: I Will Obey
145 I call with all my heart.
Answer me, O Lord.
I will guard your statutes.
146 I call to you. Save me,
and I will keep your testimonies.
147 I get up before dawn, and I cry for help.
I wait confidently for your word.
148 My eyes look forward to the night watches
when I can meditate on your sayings.
149 Hear my voice according to your mercy.
Lord, give me life based on your judgments.
150 Those who pursue evil plans are near,
but they are far from your law.
151 You are near, O Lord,
and all your commandments are truth.
152 Long ago I knew from your testimonies
that you established them to endure forever.
Resh: I Have Not Forgotten
153 See my affliction and deliver me,
because I have not forgotten your law.
154 Argue my case and redeem me.
Give me life according to your saying.
155 Salvation is far away from the wicked,
because they do not pursue your statutes.
156 Your compassions are many, O Lord.
Give me life according to your judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and my foes,
but I have not turned from your testimonies.
158 I look at the hypocrites and I loathe them,
because they do not keep your saying.
159 See how I love your precepts.
Lord, according to your mercy, give me life.
160 The sum of your word is truth.
All your righteous judgment is eternal.
Sin/Shin: I Wait for Salvation
161 Officials persecute me without cause,
but my heart trembles at your word.
162 I rejoice over your sayings,
like one who finds much plunder.
163 I hate and detest falsehood,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous judgments.
165 Great peace belongs to those who love your law,
and nothing is a stumbling block for them.
166 I wait for your salvation, O Lord,
and I obey your commandments.
167 My soul keeps your testimonies.
I love them greatly.
168 I keep your precepts and your testimonies,
because all my ways are before you.
Tav: Seek Your Servant
169 May my loud cry come before you, Lord.
Give me understanding through your word.
170 May my plea for mercy come before you.
Deliver me according to your saying.
171 May my lips overflow with praise,
because you teach me your statutes.
172 May my tongue sing of your saying,
because all your commandments are righteousness.
173 May your hand be ready to help me,
because I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live and praise you,
and may your judgments help me.
176 I have strayed like a perishing sheep.
Seek your servant,
because I have not forgotten your commandments.
Psalm 128
A Blessed Family
Heading
A song of the ascents.
Promise
1 How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
everyone who is walking in his ways.
2 Yes, you will eat the food you worked for.
How blessed you are! It will go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house.
Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Look! This is how blessed the man is who fears the Lord!
Prayer
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
all the days of your life,
6 and you see your children’s children.
Peace be on Israel.
Psalm 129
No Blessing
Heading
A song of the ascents.
They Have Greatly Afflicted Me
1 Greatly they have afflicted me from my youth—
let Israel say—
2 greatly they have afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not been able to defeat me.
3 On my back plowmen have plowed.
They made their furrows long.
They Will Be Suppressed by God
4 The Lord is righteous.
He has cut the ropes of the wicked to pieces.
5 Let all who hate Zion be ashamed and turned back.
6 Let them be like grass on the roof,
which withers even before it is pulled up.
7 The reaper cannot fill his hand with it.
The one who binds sheaves cannot fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by never say,
“The blessing of the Lord be with you.
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
Psalm 130
Out of the Depths
Heading
A song of the ascents.
Out of the Depths
1 Out of the depths I have called to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to the sound of my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord,[a] kept a record of guilt,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is pardon,
so you are feared.
5 I wait for the Lord. My soul waits,
and in his word I have put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, wait confidently for the Lord,
because with the Lord there is mercy.
With him there is abundant redemption.
8 So he himself will redeem Israel from all its guilt.
Samuel’s Farewell
12 Samuel said to all Israel, “You see that I have listened to your voice and to everything that you said to me. I have appointed a king over you. 2 Now, there he is. The king is walking before you. I am old and gray, but my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth till this very day.
3 “Here I am. Testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Have I defrauded anyone? Have I oppressed anyone? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to turn a blind eye to anything? If so, I will restore it for you.”
4 They replied, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
5 So he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today that you have not found anything in my hand.”
They said, “He is witness.”
6 So this is what Samuel said to the people:
It was the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
16 Now then, take your positions here, and see this great thing that the Lord is about to do right in front of your eyes. 17 Isn’t today the time of wheat harvest? I will call to the Lord, and he will send thunder and rain,[a] so that you may know and see that your wickedness is great, that wickedness which you have done in the Lord’s sight by asking for a king.
18 Then Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people were very afraid of the Lord and of Samuel.
19 So all the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we do not die, for we have added to all our sins also this evil, that we asked for a king for ourselves.”
20 Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil. Nevertheless, do not turn away from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away to pursue empty things that cannot help you or save you, because they are empty. 22 For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not forsake his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own people for himself. 23 As for me, it is unthinkable[b] that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. Instead I will instruct you in the way that is good and right. 24 Above all, fear the Lord, and serve him in truth, with all your heart, considering the great things he has done for you. 25 But if you keep doing evil, you will be swept away, both you and your king.”
The Apostles Send Peter and John to Samaria
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When Peter and John arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet come upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Holy[a] Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me this power too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right in God’s sight. 22 So repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord. Perhaps the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are filled with bitter poison and chained by wickedness.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
25 After Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.
Jesus’ Trial in Pilate’s Court
23 The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate. 2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
“It is as you say,” Jesus replied.
4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”
Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For a long time, he had wanted to see him, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle performed by him. 9 He questioned him with many words, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the experts in the law stood there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Herod, along with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and ridiculed him. Dressing him in bright clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. 12 Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that day. Before this they had been enemies of each other.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.