Book of Common Prayer
145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
I will keep your statutes.(A)
146 I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.(B)
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
149 In your steadfast love hear my voice;
O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.(C)
150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, O Lord,
and all your commandments are true.(D)
152 Long ago I learned from your decrees
that you have established them forever.(E)
153 Look on my misery and rescue me,
for I do not forget your law.(F)
154 Plead my cause and redeem me;
give me life according to your promise.(G)
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek your statutes.(H)
156 Great is your mercy, O Lord;
be gracious to me[a] according to your justice.(I)
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
yet I do not swerve from your decrees.(J)
158 I look at the faithless with disgust
because they do not keep your commands.(K)
159 Consider how I love your precepts;
be gracious to me[b] according to your steadfast love.(L)
160 The sum of your word is truth,
and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.(M)
161 Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of your words.(N)
162 I rejoice at your word
like one who finds great spoil.(O)
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous ordinances.(P)
165 Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble.(Q)
166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
and I fulfill your commandments.(R)
167 My soul keeps your decrees;
I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before you.(S)
169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
give me understanding according to your word.(T)
170 Let my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your promise.(U)
171 My lips will pour forth praise,
because you teach me your statutes.(V)
172 My tongue will sing of your promise,
for all your commandments are right.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.(W)
174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Let me live that I may praise you,
and let your ordinances help me.(X)
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.(Y)
Psalm 128
The Happy Home of the Faithful
A Song of Ascents.
1 Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.(A)
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.(B)
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.(C)
4 Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord bless you from Zion.
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.(D)
6 May you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel!(E)
Psalm 129
Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies
A Song of Ascents.
1 Often have they attacked me from my youth
—let Israel now say—(F)
2 often have they attacked me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.(G)
3 The plowers plowed on my back;
they made their furrows long.
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.(H)
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.(I)
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
that withers before it grows up,(J)
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands
or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”(K)
Psalm 130
Waiting for Divine Redemption
A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.(L)
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!(M)
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?(N)
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.(O)
Practical Admonitions
6 My child, if you have given your pledge to your neighbor,
if you have bound yourself to another,[a](A)
2 you are snared by the utterance of your lips,[b]
caught by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my child, and save yourself,
for you have come into your neighbor’s power:
go, hurry,[c] and plead with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;(B)
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter,[d]
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.(C)
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways and be wise.(D)
7 Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
8 it prepares its food in summer
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.(E)
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?(F)
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.(G)
12 A scoundrel and a villain
goes around with crooked speech,(H)
13 winking the eyes, shuffling the feet,
pointing the fingers,(I)
14 with perverted mind devising evil,
continually sowing discord;(J)
15 on such a one calamity will descend suddenly,
in a moment, damage beyond repair.(K)
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,(L)
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that hurry to run to evil,(M)
19 a lying witness who testifies falsely,
and one who sows discord in a family.(N)
Faith Conquers the World
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ[a] has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.(A) 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,(B) 4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.(C) 5 Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D)
Testimony concerning the Son of God
6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.(E) 7 There are three that testify:[b](F) 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. 9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.(G) 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God[c] have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.(H) 11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.(I)
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.(A) 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.(B) 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place[a] and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!(C) 50 You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”(D) 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to put him to death.(E)
54 Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness, and he remained there with the disciples.(F)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.