Book of Common Prayer
145 I have called out with all my heart. Answer me, O Yahweh.
I want to obey your laws.
146 I have called out.
Save me, so that I can obey your written instructions.
147 I got up before dawn, and I cried out for help.
My hope is based on your word.
148 My eyes are wide-open throughout the nighttime hours
to reflect on your word.
149 In keeping with your mercy, hear my voice.
O Yahweh, give me a new life guided by your regulations.
150 Those who carry out plots against me are near,
yet they are far away from your teachings.
151 You are near, O Yahweh,
and all your commandments are reliable.
152 Long ago I learned from your written instructions
that you made them to last forever.
153 Look at my misery, and rescue me,
because I have never forgotten your teachings.
154 Plead my case for me, and save me.
Give me a new life as you promised.
155 Wicked people are far from being saved,
because they have not searched for your laws.
156 Your acts of compassion are many in number, O Yahweh.
Give me a new life guided by your regulations.
157 I have many persecutors and opponents,
yet I have not turned away from your written instructions.
158 I have seen traitors,
and I am filled with disgust.
They have not accepted your promise.
159 See how I have loved your guiding principles!
O Yahweh, in keeping with your mercy, give me a new life.
160 There is nothing but truth in your word,
and all of your righteous regulations endure forever.
161 Influential people have persecuted me for no reason,
but it is only your words that fill my heart with terror.
162 I find joy in your promise
like someone who finds a priceless treasure.
163 I hate lying; I am disgusted with it.
I love your teachings.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous regulations.
165 There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings.
Nothing can make those people stumble.
166 I have waited with hope for you to save me, O Yahweh.
I have carried out your commandments.
167 I have obeyed your written instructions.
I have loved them very much.
168 I have followed your guiding principles and your written instructions,
because my whole life is in front of you.
169 Let my cry for help come into your presence, O Yahweh.
Help me understand as you promised.
170 Let my plea for mercy come into your presence.
Rescue me as you promised.
171 Let my lips pour out praise
because you teach me your laws.
172 Let my tongue sing about your promise
because all your commandments are fair.
173 Let your hand help me
because I have chosen to follow your guiding principles.
174 I have longed for you to save me, O Yahweh,
and your teachings make me happy.
175 Let my soul have new life so that it can praise you.
Let your regulations help me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost lamb.
Search for me,
because I have never forgotten your commandments.
Psalm 128
A song for going up to worship.
1 Blessed are all who fear Yahweh
and live his way.
2 You will certainly eat what your own hands have provided.
Blessings to you!
May things go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine inside your home.
Your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 This is how Yahweh will bless the person who fears him.
5 May Yahweh bless you from Zion
so that you may see Jerusalem prospering
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children.
Let there be peace in Israel!
Psalm 129
A song for going up to worship.
1 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me . . .”
(Israel should repeat this.)
2 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me,
but they have never overpowered me.
3 They have plowed my back like farmers plow fields.
They made long slashes like furrows.”
4 Yahweh is righteous.
He has cut me loose
from the ropes that wicked people tied around me.
5 Put to shame all those who hate Zion.
Force them to retreat.
6 Make them be like grass on a roof,
like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.
7 It will never fill the barns of those who harvest
or the arms of those who gather bundles.
8 Those who pass by will never say to them,
“May you be blessed by Yahweh”
or “We bless you in the name of Yahweh.”
Psalm 130
A song for going up to worship.
1 O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
2 O Adonay, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
3 O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
5 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for Adonay
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
because with Yahweh there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
8 He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
19 Then Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, said, “Let me run and bring the king the good news that Yahweh has freed him from his enemies.”
20 But Joab told him, “You won’t be the man carrying good news today. You can carry the news some other day. You must not deliver the news today because the king’s son is dead.” 21 Then Joab said to a man from Sudan, “Go, tell the king what you saw.” The messenger bowed down with his face touching the ground in front of Joab and then ran off.
22 Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, spoke to Joab again, “Whatever may happen, I also want to run after the Sudanese messenger.”
“Now, son, why should you deliver the message?” Joab asked. “You won’t be rewarded for this news.”
23 “Whatever happens, I’d like to run,” replied Ahimaaz.
“Run,” Joab told him. So Ahimaaz ran along the valley road and got ahead of the Sudanese messenger.
23 Then the officer summoned two of his sergeants and told them, “I want 200 infantrymen, 70 soldiers on horseback, and 200 soldiers with spears. Have them ready to go to Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. 24 Provide an animal for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Governor Felix.” 25 The officer wrote a letter to the governor with the following message:
26 Claudius Lysias sends greetings to Your Excellency, Governor Felix:
27 The Jews had seized this man and were going to murder him. When I found out that he was a Roman citizen, I went with my soldiers to rescue him. 28 I wanted to know what they had against him. So I took him to their Jewish council 29 and found their accusations had to do with disputes about their own laws. He wasn’t accused of anything for which he deserved to die or to be put into prison. 30 Since I was informed that there was a plot against this man, I immediately sent him to you. I have also ordered his accusers to state their case against him in front of you.
31 So the infantrymen did as they had been ordered. They took Paul to the city of Antipatris during the night. 32 They returned to their barracks the next day and let the soldiers on horseback travel with Paul. 33 When the soldiers arrived in the city of Caesarea with Paul, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.
34 After the governor had read the letter, he asked Paul which province he was from. When he found out that Paul was from the province of Cilicia, 35 he said, “I’ll hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then the governor gave orders to keep Paul under guard in Herod’s palace.
A Question about Taxes(A)
13 The leaders sent some of the Pharisees and some of Herod’s followers to Yeshua. They wanted to trap him into saying the wrong thing. 14 When they came to him, they said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth. You don’t favor individuals because of who they are. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it right to pay taxes to the emperor or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”
15 Yeshua recognized their hypocrisy, so he asked them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a coin so that I can look at it.”
16 They brought a coin. He said to them, “Whose face and name is this?”
They told him, “The emperor’s.”
17 Yeshua said to them, “Give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and give God what belongs to God.”
They were surprised at his reply.
The Dead Come Back to Life(B)
18 Some Sadducees, who say that people will never come back to life, came to Yeshua. They asked him, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother should marry his widow and have children for his brother.’ 20 There were seven brothers. The first got married and died without having children. 21 The second married her and died without having children. So did the third. 22 None of the seven brothers had any children. Last of all, the woman died. 23 When the dead come back to life, whose wife will she be? The seven brothers had married her.”
24 Yeshua said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? 25 When the dead come back to life, they don’t marry. Rather, they are like the angels in heaven. 26 Haven’t you read in the book of Moses that the dead come back to life? It’s in the passage about the bush, where God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ 27 He’s not the God of the dead but of the living. You’re badly mistaken!”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.