Book of Common Prayer
145 [a]I call out to you with my whole heart;
answer me, O Lord, so that I may observe your decrees.
146 I cry out to you;
save me so that I may obey your statutes.
147 I arise before dawn and cry out for help;
I place my hope in your word.
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night[b]
so that I may meditate on your word.
149 In accordance with your kindness[c] hear my voice, O Lord;
grant me life in accordance with your judgments.
150 [d]Those who plot wickedness draw near me,
but they are far from your law.
151 Yet you, O Lord, are near,
and all your precepts are true.
152 Long have I known your decrees
and that you have established them forever.
Resh
153 [e]See my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;[f]
let me live in accord with your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked[g]
because they do not consider your decrees.
156 Great is your compassion, O Lord;
let me live in accord with your judgments.
157 My persecutors and my enemies are many,
but I do not cast aside your statutes.
158 I regard the faithless with indignation[h]
because they do not observe your word.
159 Consider how I love your precepts, O Lord;
let me live in accord with your kindness.[i]
160 Every word you utter is true,
and all your righteous judgments[j] are everlasting.
Shin
161 [k]The powerful persecute me without cause,
but it is your word that awes my heart.[l]
162 I rejoice in your word
like one who discovers a great treasure.
163 Falsehood I abhor and detest,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times[m] a day I praise you
for your righteous judgments.
165 Those who love your law have great peace;[n]
they encounter no stumbling blocks.
166 I await your salvation, O Lord,
and I carry out your precepts.
167 I obey your statutes,
for I love them dearly.
168 I obey your commands and your statutes;
indeed, all my ways are known to you.[o]
Taw
169 [p]May my cry come before you, O Lord;
grant me understanding according to your word.[q]
170 May my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your word.
171 May my lips proclaim your praise
because you teach me your decrees.
172 May my tongue sing of your word,
for all of your precepts are upright.
173 May your hand[r] be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your commandments.
174 [s]I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Give life to my soul that I may praise you,
and let your judgments sustain me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost sheep;[t]
seek out your servant,
for I have not forgotten your precepts.
Psalm 128[a]
Happy Home of the Righteous
1 [b]A song of ascents.
Blessed[c] are all those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labors;
you will enjoy both blessings and prosperity.[d]
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine[e]
within your house;
your sons will be like shoots of an olive tree
around your table.
4 Such are the blessings that will be bestowed
on the man who fears the Lord.
5 [f]May the Lord bless you from Zion[g]
all the days of your life.
May you rejoice in the prosperity of Jerusalem
6 and live to see your children’s children.[h]
Peace be upon Israel.
Psalm 129[i]
Prayer in Time of Persecution
1 [j]A song of ascents.
They have greatly oppressed me from my youth—[k]
let Israel say—
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but never have my enemies prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back,[l]
making deep furrows.
4 However, the Lord is righteous,
freeing me from the bonds of the wicked.
5 [m]May all those who hate Zion
be thrown back in shame and confusion.[n]
6 [o]May they be like grass on the rooftops
that withers before it can be plucked,
7 so that it can never fill the hands of the reapers
or the arms of the binders of sheaves.
8 May those who pass by never cry out,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
Psalm 130[p]
Prayer for Pardon and Peace
1 A song of ascents.
Out of the depths[q] I cry to you, O Lord;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cries of supplication.[r]
3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins,
O Lord, who could stand[s] upright?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you may be revered.[t]
5 I wait for the Lord[u] in anxious expectation;
I place my hope in his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the dawn.
More than watchmen wait for the dawn[v]
7 [w]let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is kindness,
as well as plenteous redemption.
8 He alone will redeem Israel
from all its sins.
Four Recommendations[a]
Chapter 6
Do Not Take on Impossible Tasks[b]
1 My son, if you have guaranteed the debt of your neighbor
or the bond of a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by the utterance of your lips,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 To extricate yourself from this situation,
this is what you must do, my son.
Since you have fallen into his power,
go directly to your neighbor and plead with him.
4 Give your eyes no sleep,
your eyelids no slumber.
5 Break free like a gazelle from a trap
or like a bird from the grasp of a fowler.
Contemplate the Ant, You Sluggard[c]
6 Contemplate the ant, you sluggard;[d]
observe its ways and gain wisdom.
7 Even though it has no chief,
no governor or ruler,
8 it stores its provisions throughout the summer
and gathers its food at the time of harvest.
9 How long do you intend to lie there, you sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
11 and poverty will overtake you like a robber,
and scarcity like an armed man.
Portrait of a Scoundrel[e]
12 A scoundrel,[f] a villainous man, is he
who specializes in crooked talk.
13 He winks with his eyes,
gives signals with his feet,
and makes gestures with his fingers.
14 His perverted heart is ever bent toward devising evil
as he constantly sows discord.
15 Therefore, disaster will strike him suddenly;
in an instant he will be crushed beyond recovery.
Six Things That the Lord Hates[g]
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are abhorrent to him:
17 haughty eyes,[h] a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,[i]
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness[j] who spews out lies,
and one who sows dissension among brothers.
Chapter 5
Believe in the Son of God[a]
Faith Conquers the World
1 Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God,
and everyone who loves the parent
loves the one begotten of him as well.
2 This is how we know
that we love the children of God:
by loving God and obeying his commandments.
3 For the love of God is this:
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
4 for everyone born of God
conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world
is our faith.
5 Who indeed conquers the world
except the one who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is the one
who came by water and blood,
Jesus Christ—
not by water alone,
but by water and blood.
And to this the Spirit bears witness,
for the Spirit is truth.[b]
7 Thus, there are three[c] witnesses,
8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood,
and these three are as one.[d]
9 If we accept human testimony,
the testimony of God is greater.
For it is the testimony of God,
the testimony that he has given about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God
has this testimony in himself,
but those who do not believe in God
have made him out to be a liar
by refusing to believe the testimony
that God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever possesses the Son
possesses life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God
does not possess life.
45 One Man Must Die for the People.[a] This caused many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, to believe in him. 46 However, some of them went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done.
47 As a result, the chief priests and the Pharisees summoned a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will start to believe in him, and then the Romans will come and suppress both our temple and our nation.”
49 However, one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,[b] said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 You do not seem to realize that it is better for us that one man die for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as the high priest that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 And so from that day on, they plotted to kill him.[c] 54 As a result, Jesus no longer walked about openly among the Jews. He withdrew to a town called Ephraim[d] in the region bordering the desert, and he remained there with the disciples.
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