Book of Common Prayer
145 I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord; I will keep Your statutes [I will hear, receive, love, and obey them].
146 I cried to You; save me, that I may keep Your testimonies [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
147 I anticipated the dawning of the morning and cried [in childlike prayer]; I hoped in Your word.
148 My eyes anticipate the night watches and I am awake before the cry of the watchman, that I may meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice according to Your steadfast love; O Lord, quicken me and give me life according to Your [righteous] decrees.
150 They draw near who follow after wrong thinking and persecute me with wickedness; they are far from Your law.
151 You are near, O Lord [nearer to me than my foes], and all Your commandments are truth.
152 Of old have I known Your testimonies, and for a long time, [therefore it is a thoroughly established conviction] that You have founded them forever.(A)
153 Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget Your law.
154 Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me and give me life according to Your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they seek not nor hunger for Your statutes.
156 Great are Your tender mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord; give me life according to Your ordinances.
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not swerve from Your testimonies.
158 I behold the treacherous and am grieved and loathe them, because they do not respect Your law [neither hearing, receiving, loving, nor obeying it].
159 Consider how I love Your precepts; revive me and give life to me, O Lord, according to Your loving-kindness!
160 The sum of Your word is truth [the total of the full meaning of all Your individual precepts]; and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever.
161 Princes pursue and persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words [dreading violation of them far more than the force of prince or potentate].(B)
162 I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but Your law do I love.
164 Seven times a day and all day long do I praise You because of Your righteous decrees.
165 Great peace have they who love Your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.(C)
166 I am hoping and waiting [eagerly] for Your salvation, O Lord, and I do Your commandments.(D)
167 Your testimonies have I kept [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]; I love them exceedingly!
168 I have observed Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are [fully known] before You.
169 Let my mournful cry and supplication come [near] before You, O Lord; give me understanding (discernment and comprehension) according to Your word [of assurance and promise].
170 Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word!
171 My lips shall pour forth praise [with thanksgiving and renewed trust] when You teach me Your statutes.
172 My tongue shall sing [praise for the fulfillment] of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteous.
173 Let Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts.
174 I have longed for Your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight.
175 Let me live that I may praise You, and let Your decrees help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek, inquire for, and demand Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments.(E)
Psalm 128
A Song of [a]Ascents.
1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who fears, reveres, and worships the Lord, who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments.(A)
2 For you shall eat [the fruit] of the labor of your hands; happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) shall you be, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house; your children shall be like olive plants round about your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless you out of Zion [His sanctuary], and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life;
6 Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 129
A Song of [b]Ascents.
1 Many a time and much have they afflicted me from my youth up—let Israel now say—
2 Many a time and much have they afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.
4 The Lord is [uncompromisingly] righteous; He has cut asunder the thick cords by which the wicked [enslaved us].
5 Let them all be put to shame and turned backward who hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
7 With which the mower fills not his hand, nor the binder of sheaves his bosom—
8 While those who go by do not say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!
Psalm 130
A Song of [c]Ascents.
1 Out of the depths have I cried to You, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat [us according to our] sins, O Lord, who could stand?(B)
4 But there is forgiveness with You [just what man needs], that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.(C)
5 I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.
6 I am looking and waiting for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is mercy and loving-kindness, and with Him is plenteous redemption.
8 And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
12 And Samuel said to all Israel, I have listened to you in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.
2 And now, behold, the king walks before you. And I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my childhood to this day.
3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and Saul His anointed. Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded or oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes? Tell me and I will restore it to you.
4 And they said, You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.
5 And Samuel said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
6 And Samuel said to the people, It is the Lord Who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of Egypt.
16 So stand still and see this great thing the Lord will do before your eyes now.
17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord and He will send thunder and rain; then you shall know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking for a king for yourselves.
18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and He sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
19 And [they] all said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil—to ask for a king.
20 And Samuel said to the people, Fear not. You have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve Him with all your heart.
21 And turn not aside after vain and worthless things which cannot profit or deliver you, for they are empty and futile.
22 The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, for it has pleased Him to make you a people for Himself.
23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.
24 Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; for consider how great are the things He has done for you.
25 But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away.
14 Now when the apostles (special messengers) at Jerusalem heard that [the country of] Samaria had accepted and welcomed the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,
15 And they came down and prayed for them that the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit;
16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them, but they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then [the apostles] laid their hands on them one by one, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 However, when Simon saw that the [Holy] Spirit was imparted through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he brought money and offered it to them,
19 Saying, Grant me also this power and authority, in order that anyone on whom I place my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
20 But Peter said to him, Destruction overtake your money and you, because you imagined you could obtain the [free] gift of God with money!
21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is all wrong in God’s sight [it is not straightforward or right or true before God].(A)
22 So repent of this depravity and wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that, if possible, this [a]contriving thought and purpose of your heart may be removed and disregarded and forgiven you.
23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in [b]a bond forged by iniquity [to fetter souls].(B)
24 And Simon answered, Pray for me [beseech the Lord, both of you], that nothing of what you have said may befall me!
25 Now when [the apostles] had borne their testimony and preached the message of the Lord, they went back to Jerusalem, proclaiming the glad tidings (Gospel) to many villages of the Samaritans [on the way].
23 Then the whole assembly of them got up and conducted [Jesus] before Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse Him, asserting, We found this [a]Man perverting (misleading, corrupting, and turning away) our nation and forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), a King!
3 So Pilate asked Him, Are You the King of the Jews? And He answered him, [[b]It is just as] you say. [I Am.]
4 And Pilate said to the chief priests and the throngs, I find no guilt or crime in this Man.
5 But they were urgent and emphatic, saying, He stirs up and excites the people, teaching throughout all Judea—from Galilee, where He began, even to this place.
6 Upon hearing this, Pilate asked whether the Man was a Galilean.
7 And when he found out [certainly] that He belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him up to Herod [a higher authority], who was also in Jerusalem in those days.
8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had eagerly desired to see Him for a long time because of what he had heard concerning Him, and he was hoping to witness some sign (some striking evidence or spectacular performance) done by Him.
9 So he asked Him many questions, but He made no reply.(A)
10 Meanwhile, the chief priests and the scribes stood by, continuing vehemently and violently to accuse Him.
11 And Herod, with his soldiers, treated Him with contempt and scoffed at and ridiculed Him; then, dressing Him up in bright and gorgeous apparel, he sent Him back to Pilate.(B)
12 And that very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other—[though] they had been at enmity before this.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation