Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
137 Alongside Babylon’s streams,
there we sat down,
crying because we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our lyres up
in the trees there
3 because that’s where our captors asked us to sing;
our tormentors requested songs of joy:
“Sing us a song about Zion!” they said.
4 But how could we possibly sing
the Lord’s song on foreign soil?
5 Jerusalem! If I forget you,
let my strong hand wither!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy.
7 Lord, remember what the Edomites did
on Jerusalem’s dark day:
“Rip it down, rip it down!
All the way to its foundations!” they yelled.
8 Daughter Babylon, you destroyer,[a]
a blessing on the one who pays you back
the very deed you did to us!
9 A blessing on the one who seizes your children
and smashes them against the rock!
Psalm 144
Of David.
144 Bless the Lord, my rock,
who taught my hands how to fight,
who taught my fingers how to do battle!
2 God is my loyal one, my fortress,
my place of safety, my rescuer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
and the one who subdues people before me.
3 What are human beings, Lord, that you know them at all?
What are human beings that you even consider them?
4 Humans are like a puff of air;
their days go by like a shadow.
5 Lord, part your skies and come down!
Touch the mountains so they smoke!
6 Flash lightning and scatter the enemy!
Shoot your arrows and defeat them!
7 Stretch out your hand from above!
Rescue me and deliver me from deep water,
from the power of strangers, whose mouths speak lies,
8 and whose strong hand is a strong hand of deception!
9 I will sing a new song to you, God.
I will sing praises to you on a ten-stringed harp,
10 to you—the one who gives saving help to rulers,
and who rescues his servant David from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the power of strangers,
whose mouths speak lies,
and whose strong hand is a strong hand of deception,
12 so that[a] our sons can grow up fully, in their youth, like plants;
so that our daughters can be like pillars carved to decorate a palace;
13 so that our barns can be full, providing all kinds of food;
so that our flocks can be in the thousands—
even tens of thousands—in our fields;
14 so that our cattle can be loaded with calves;
so that there won’t be any breach in the walls,
no exile, no outcries in our streets!
15 The people who have it like this are truly happy!
The people whose God is the Lord are truly happy!
Psalm 104
104 Let my whole being[a] bless the Lord!
Lord my God, how fantastic you are!
You are clothed in glory and grandeur!
2 You wear light like a robe;
you open the skies like a curtain.
3 You build your lofty house on the waters;
you make the clouds your chariot,
going around on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers;
you make fire and flame your ministers.
5 You established the earth on its foundations
so that it will never ever fall.
6 You covered it with the watery deep like a piece of clothing;
the waters were higher than the mountains!
7 But at your rebuke they ran away;
they fled in fear at the sound of your thunder.
8 They flowed over the mountains,
streaming down the valleys
to the place you established for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross
so they’ll never again cover the earth.
10 You put gushing springs into dry riverbeds.
They flow between the mountains,
11 providing water for every wild animal—
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Overhead, the birds in the sky make their home,
chirping loudly in the trees.
13 From your lofty house, you water the mountains.
The earth is filled full by the fruit of what you’ve done.
14 You make grass grow for cattle;
you make plants for human farming
in order to get food from the ground,
15 and wine, which cheers people’s hearts,
along with oil, which makes the face shine,
and bread, which sustains the human heart.
16 The Lord’s trees are well watered—
the cedars of Lebanon, which God planted,
17 where the birds make their nests,
where the stork has a home in the cypresses.
18 The high mountains belong to the mountain goats;
the ridges are the refuge of badgers.
19 God made the moon for the seasons,
and the sun too, which knows when to set.
20 You bring on the darkness and it is night,
when every forest animal prowls.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they gather together
and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go off to their work,
to do their work until evening.
24 Lord, you have done so many things!
You made them all so wisely!
The earth is full of your creations!
25 And then there’s the sea, wide and deep,
with its countless creatures—
living things both small and large.
26 There go the ships on it,
and Leviathan, which you made, plays in it!
27 All your creations wait for you
to give them their food on time.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled completely full!
29 But when you hide your face, they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to dust.
30 When you let loose your breath, they are created,
and you make the surface of the ground brand-new again.
31 Let the Lord’s glory last forever!
Let the Lord rejoice in all he has made!
32 He has only to look at the earth, and it shakes.
God just touches the mountains, and they erupt in smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I’m still alive.
34 Let my praise be pleasing to him;
I’m rejoicing in the Lord!
35 Let sinners be wiped clean from the earth;
let the wicked be no more.
But let my whole being bless the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
22 The Lord created me at the beginning of his way,
before his deeds long in the past.
23 I was formed in ancient times,
at the beginning, before the earth was.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,
when there were no springs flowing with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 before God[a] made the earth and the fields
or the first of the dry land.
27 I was there when he established the heavens,
when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea,
28 when he thickened the clouds above,
when he secured the fountains of the deep,
29 when he set a limit for the sea,
so the water couldn’t go beyond his command,
when he marked out the earth’s foundations.
30 I was beside him as a master of crafts.[b]
I was having fun,
smiling before him all the time,
31 frolicking with his inhabited earth
and delighting in the human race.
32 Now children, listen to me:
Happy are those who keep to my ways!
33 Listen to instruction, and be wise;
don’t avoid it.
34 Happy are those who listen to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorposts.
35 Those who find me find life;
they gain favor from the Lord.
36 Those who offend me injure themselves;
all those who hate me love death.
Greeting
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, to promote the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.
2 To Timothy, my dear child.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanksgiving and prayer
3 I’m grateful to God, whom I serve with a good conscience as my ancestors did. I constantly remember you in my prayers day and night. 4 When I remember your tears, I long to see you so that I can be filled with happiness. 5 I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. 6 Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled.
Don’t be ashamed of the testimony
8 So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about the Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, share the suffering for the good news, depending on God’s power. 9 God is the one who saved and called us with a holy calling. This wasn’t based on what we have done, but it was based on his own purpose and grace that he gave us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10 Now his grace is revealed through the appearance of our savior, Christ Jesus. He destroyed death and brought life and immortality into clear focus through the good news. 11 I was appointed a messenger, apostle, and teacher of this good news. 12 This is also why I’m suffering the way I do, but I’m not ashamed. I know the one in whom I’ve placed my trust. I’m convinced that God is powerful enough to protect what he has placed in my trust until that day. 13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you heard from me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Protect this good thing that has been placed in your trust through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Jesus teaches about his death
20 Some Greeks were among those who had come up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and made a request: “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One[a] to be glorified. 24 I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible