Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
A song of ascents.[a]
120 In my distress I called to Yahweh,
and he answered me.
2 “Deliver my life, O Yahweh, from lying lips,
from a deceitful tongue.”
3 What shall be given to you,[b]
and what more shall be done to you,
deceitful tongue?
4 The sharpened arrows of a warrior,
with burning charcoals from broom trees.
5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar.
6 Too long my soul has had its dwelling
near one who hates peace.
7 I am for peace, but when I speak,
they are for war.
Trust in God’s Protection
A song for the ascents.[c]
121 I lift up my eyes to the mountains;
whence will my help come?
2 My help is from Yahweh,
maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;
he who protects you will not slumber.
4 Look, he will not slumber and he will not sleep—
he who protects Israel.
5 Yahweh is your protector;
Yahweh is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 Yahweh will protect you from all evil;[d]
he will protect your life.
8 Yahweh will protect your going out and your coming in
from now until forever.
Jerusalem the Site of God’s Presence
A song of ascents. Of David.[e]
122 I rejoiced in those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house[f] of Yahweh.”
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem—
3 Jerusalem that is built
as a city that is joined together,
4 where the tribes go up,
the tribes of Yah[g] as a testimony for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
5 For there the thrones sit[h] for judgment,
thrones of David’s house.
6 Pray[i] for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be at ease.
7 May peace be within your walls,
security within your palaces.”
8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house[j] of Yahweh our God,
I will seek your good.
Prayer for Yahweh’s Action in the Face of Scorn
A song of ascents.[k]
123 I lift up my eyes to you,
the one enthroned[l] in the heavens.
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,[m]
as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to Yahweh our God,
until he is gracious to us.
3 Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us,
for long enough we have had our fill of contempt.
4 For long enough our soul has had its fill of
the derision of the self-confident,
the contempt of the arrogant.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Help
A song of ascents. Of David.[n]
124 “If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,”
do let Israel say,
2 “If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,
when men rose up against us,
3 then they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger was kindled against us.
4 Then the waters would have flooded over us,
the torrent would have passed over our soul.
5 Then over our soul would have passed
the raging waters.”
6 Blessed be Yahweh,
who has not made[o] us prey for their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped like a bird
from the snare of fowlers.
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of Yahweh,
maker of heaven and earth.
Confidence in Yahweh’s Protection
A song of ascents.[p]
125 Those who trust in Yahweh
are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved,
but abides forever.
2 As mountains are round about Jerusalem,
so Yahweh is round about his people,
from now until forever.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land[q] of the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wickedness.[r]
4 Do good, O Yahweh, to the good,
and to those upright in their hearts.
5 But regarding those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
Yahweh will lead them away with the evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel.
A Prayer for Restoration
A song of ascents.[s]
126 When Yahweh restored the fortunes[t] of Zion,[u]
we were like dreamers.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
Then they said among the nations,
“Yahweh has done great things for these people.”
3 Yahweh has done great things for us;
we are glad.
4 Restore, O Yahweh, our fortunes[v]
like the streams in the Negeb.[w]
5 Those who sow with tears
shall reap with rejoicing.
6 He who diligently goes out with weeping,
carrying the seed bag,
shall certainly come in with rejoicing,
carrying his sheaves.
A Prayer for Protection and Prosperity
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.[x]
127 Unless Yahweh builds a house,
its builders labor at it in vain.
Unless Yahweh guards a city,
a guard watches in vain.
2 It is in vain for you who rise early and sit late,
eating the bread of anxious toil,
when thus he[y] provides[z] for his beloved in his sleep.[aa]
3 Look, children[ab] are the heritage[ac] of Yahweh;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
so are the children[ad] of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.[ae]
They shall not be put to shame
when they speak with enemies at the gate.
The Father’s Wisdom
4 Children, listen to the instruction of a father,
and be attentive in order to know insight.
2 For I have given you good instruction;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son to my father,
tender and alone before my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“May your heart hold fast to my words;
guard my commandments and live.
5 Get wisdom and insight;
do not forget and do not turn from the sayings of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her—then she will guard you;
love her and she will keep you.
7 The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom!
With all that is in your possession, gain insight.
8 Cherish her and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will give a garland for your head;
she shall bestow a crown of glory upon you.”
The Right Path
10 Listen, my child, take my sayings,
and the years of your life shall be great.
11 In the way of wisdom I have instructed you;
I have led you in the path of uprightness.
12 When you walk,[a] your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Seize the instruction! Do not let go!
Guard her, for she is your life.
14 In the path of the wicked do not go;
do not walk in the way of those who do evil.
15 Avoid it; do not transgress it;
turn away from it and pass by.
16 For they will not sleep if they have not done wrong,
and they are robbed of their sleep if they do not cause stumbling.
17 For they ate the bread of wickedness,
and they drank the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the righteous ones is like the light of dawn,
leading and shining until the day is full.[b]
19 The way of the wicked ones is like deep darkness;
they do not know what they stumble over.
Staying the Course
20 My child, be attentive to my words;
to my sayings incline your ear.
21 May they not escape from your sight;[c]
keep them in the midst of your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them
and healing to the entire body.[d]
23 With all vigilance, keep your heart,
for from it comes the source[e] of life.
24 Remove from yourself deceitful speech,[f]
and abolish devious talk[g] from yourself.
25 May your eyes look forward[h]
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 May the path of your foot be balanced
and all your ways be sure.
27 Do not swerve right or left;
remove your foot from evil.
God’s Love Revealed
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God sent his one and only Son into the world in order that we may live through him. 10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation[a] for our sins.
11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we reside in him and he in us: that[b] he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. 17 By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as that one is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear includes punishment, and the one who is afraid has not been perfected in love. 19 We love, because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen is not able to love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this is the commandment we have from him: that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
30 (Now Jesus has not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha went to meet him.) 31 So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they[a] saw Mary—that she stood up quickly and went out—followed her, because they[b] thought that she was going to the tomb in order to weep there.
32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and[c] saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Was not this man who opened the eyes of the blind able to do something[d] so that this man also would not have died?”
Lazarus Is Raised
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved within himself again, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying on it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, “Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his[e] eyes above and said, “Father, I give thanks to you that you hear me. 42 And I know that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it,[f] so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 And when he[g] had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The one who had died came out, his[h] feet and his[i] hands bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a facecloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
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