Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 120[a]
A song of ascents.[b]
120 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
2 I said,[c] “O Lord, rescue me[d]
from those who lie with their lips[e]
and those who deceive with their tongues.[f]
3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker?[g]
4 Here’s how![h] With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.[i]
5 How miserable I am.[j]
For I have lived temporarily[k] in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar.[l]
6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate[m] peace.
7 I am committed to peace,[n]
but when I speak, they want to make war.[o]
Psalm 121[p]
A song of ascents.[q]
121 I look up[r] toward the hills.
From where[s] does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,[t]
the Creator[u] of heaven and earth.
3 May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector[v] not sleep.[w]
4 Look! Israel’s Protector[x]
does not sleep or slumber.
5 The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
or the moon by night.[y]
7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
8 The Lord will protect you in all you do,[z]
now and forevermore.
Psalm 122[aa]
A song of ascents;[ab] by David.
122 I was glad because[ac] they said to me,
“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”
2 Our feet are[ad] standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is a city designed
to accommodate an assembly.[ae]
4 The tribes go up[af] there,[ag]
the tribes of the Lord,
where it is required that Israel
give thanks to the name of the Lord.[ah]
5 Indeed,[ai] the leaders sit[aj] there on thrones and make legal decisions,
on the thrones of the house of David.[ak]
6 Pray[al] for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love her prosper.[am]
7 May there be peace inside your defenses,
and prosperity[an] inside your fortresses.[ao]
8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors
I will say, “May there be peace in you.”
9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God
I will pray for you to prosper.[ap]
Psalm 123[aq]
A song of ascents.[ar]
123 I look up[as] toward you,
the one enthroned[at] in heaven.
2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress,[au]
so our eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some.[av]
4 We have had our fill[aw]
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
Psalm 124[ax]
A song of ascents;[ay] by David.
124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,[az]
3 they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
4 The water would have overpowered us;
the current[ba] would have overwhelmed[bb] us.[bc]
5 The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.[bd]
6 The Lord deserves praise,[be]
for[bf] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
7 We escaped with our lives,[bg] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
8 Our deliverer is the Lord,[bh]
the Creator[bi] of heaven and earth.
Psalm 125[bj]
A song of ascents.[bk]
125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved and will endure forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forevermore.
3 Indeed,[bl] the scepter of a wicked king[bm] will not settle[bn]
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly
might do what is wrong.[bo]
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to the morally upright.[bp]
5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path,[bq]
may the Lord remove them,[br] along with those who behave wickedly.[bs]
May Israel experience peace.[bt]
Psalm 126[bu]
A song of ascents.[bv]
126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,[bw]
we thought we were dreaming.[bx]
2 At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.[by]
At that time the nations said,[bz]
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4 O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.[ca]
5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.[cb]
6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag[cc] of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.[cd]
Psalm 127[ce]
A song of ascents;[cf] by Solomon.
127 If the Lord does not build a house,[cg]
then those who build it work in vain.
If the Lord does not guard a city,[ch]
then the watchman stands guard in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food.[ci]
Yes,[cj] he provides for those whom he loves even when they sleep.[ck]
3 Yes,[cl] sons[cm] are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Sons born during one’s youth
are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.[cn]
5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
They will not be put to shame[co] when they confront[cp] enemies at the city gate.
Admonition to Follow Righteousness and Avoid Wickedness[a]
4 Listen, children,[b] to a father’s instruction,[c]
and pay attention so that you may gain[d] discernment.
2 Because I hereby give[e] you good instruction,
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son to my father,[f]
a tender, only child[g] before my mother,
4 he taught me, and he said to me:
“Let your heart lay hold of my words;
keep my commands so that[h] you will live.
5 Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;
do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak.[i]
6 Do not forsake wisdom,[j] and she will protect you;
love her, and she will guard you.
7 Wisdom is supreme[k]—so[l] acquire wisdom,
and whatever you acquire,[m] acquire understanding![n]
8 Esteem her highly[o] and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place a fair[p] garland on your head;
she will bestow a beautiful crown[q] on you.”
10 Listen, my child,[r] and accept my words,
so that[s] the years of your life will be many.[t]
11 I hereby guide you[u] in the way of wisdom
and I lead you in upright paths.[v]
12 When you walk, your steps[w] will not be hampered,[x]
and when you run,[y] you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction,[z] do not let it go;
protect it,[aa] because it is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked
or walk[ab] in the way of those who are evil.
15 Avoid it, do not go on it;
turn away from it, and go on.[ac]
16 For they cannot sleep[ad] unless they cause harm;[ae]
they are robbed of sleep[af] until they make someone stumble.[ag]
17 Indeed they have eaten[ah] bread gained from wickedness[ai]
and drink[aj] wine obtained from violence.[ak]
18 But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light,[al]
growing brighter and brighter[am] until full day.[an]
19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness;
they do not know what they stumble over.[ao]
20 My child, pay attention to my words;
listen attentively[ap] to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart[aq] from your sight,
guard[ar] them within your heart;[as]
22 for they are life to those who find them
and healing to one’s entire body.[at]
23 Guard your heart[au] with all vigilance,[av]
for from it are the sources[aw] of life.
24 Remove perverse speech[ax] from your mouth;[ay]
keep devious talk far from your lips.[az]
25 Let your eyes look directly[ba] in front of you
and let your gaze[bb] look straight before you.
26 Make the path for your feet[bc] level,[bd]
so that[be] all your ways may be established.[bf]
27 Do not turn[bg] to the right or to the left;
turn yourself[bh] away from evil.[bi]
God is Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because[a] love is from God, and everyone who loves[b] has been fathered[c] by God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.[d] 9 By this[e] the love of God[f] is revealed in us:[g] that God has sent his one and only[h] Son into the world so that we may live through him. 10 In this[i] is love: not that[j] we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice[k] for our sins.
11 Dear friends, if God so loved us, then[l] we also ought to love one another.[m] 12 No one has seen God at any time.[n] If we love one another, God resides[o] in us, and his love is perfected in us.[p] 13 By this[q] we know that we reside in God[r] and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit.[s] 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior[t] of the world.
15 If anyone[u] confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides[v] in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe[w] the love that God has in us.[x] God is love, and the one who resides[y] in love resides in God, and God resides in him. 17 By this[z] love is perfected with[aa] us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus[ab] is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.[ac] The[ad] one who fears punishment[ae] has not been perfected in love. 19 We love[af] because he loved us first.
20 If anyone says[ag] “I love God” and yet[ah] hates his fellow Christian,[ai] he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian[aj] whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.[ak] 21 And the commandment we have from him is this: that[al] the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian[am] too.
30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.) 31 Then the people[a] who were with Mary[b] in the house consoling her saw her[c] get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep[d] there.
32 Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people[e] who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved[f] in spirit and greatly distressed.[g] 34 He asked,[h] “Where have you laid him?”[i] They replied,[j] “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.[k] 36 Thus the people who had come to mourn[l] said, “Look how much he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see![m] Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus[n] from dying?”
Lazarus Raised from the Dead
38 Jesus, intensely moved[o] again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.)[p] 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”[q] Martha, the sister of the deceased,[r] replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell,[s] because he has been buried[t] four days.”[u] 40 Jesus responded,[v] “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away[w] the stone. Jesus looked upward[x] and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me.[y] 42 I knew that you always listen to me,[z] but I said this[aa] for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When[ab] he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice,[ac] “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth,[ad] and a cloth wrapped around his face.[ae] Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him[af] and let him go.”
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