Book of Common Prayer
Qoph.
145 I cried (A)with all my heart; answer me, O Lord!
I will (B)observe Your statutes.
146 I cried to You; (C)save me
And I shall keep Your testimonies.
147 I [a](D)rise before dawn and cry for help;
I [b]wait for Your words.
148 My eyes anticipate the (E)night watches,
That I may (F)meditate on Your [c]word.
149 Hear my voice (G)according to Your lovingkindness;
(H)Revive me, O Lord, according to Your ordinances.
150 Those who follow after wickedness draw near;
They are far from Your law.
151 You are (I)near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are (J)truth.
152 Of old I have (K)known from Your testimonies
That You have founded them (L)forever.
Resh.
153 (M)Look upon my (N)affliction and rescue me,
For I do not (O)forget Your law.
154 (P)Plead my cause and (Q)redeem me;
Revive me according to Your [d]word.
155 Salvation is (R)far from the wicked,
For they (S)do not seek Your statutes.
156 [e](T)Great are Your mercies, O Lord;
Revive me according to Your ordinances.
157 Many are my (U)persecutors and my adversaries,
Yet I do not (V)turn aside from Your testimonies.
158 I behold the (W)treacherous and (X)loathe them,
Because they do not keep Your [f]word.
159 Consider how I (Y)love Your precepts;
(Z)Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
160 The (AA)sum of Your word is (AB)truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances (AC)is everlasting.
Shin.
161 (AD)Princes persecute me without cause,
But my heart (AE)stands in awe of Your words.
162 I (AF)rejoice at Your [g]word,
As one who (AG)finds great spoil.
163 I (AH)hate and despise falsehood,
But I (AI)love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your (AJ)righteous ordinances.
165 Those who love Your law have (AK)great peace,
And [h](AL)nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I (AM)hope for Your salvation, O Lord,
And do Your commandments.
167 My (AN)soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I (AO)love them exceedingly.
168 I (AP)keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
For all my (AQ)ways are before You.
Tav.
169 Let my (AR)cry [i]come before You, O Lord;
(AS)Give me understanding (AT)according to Your word.
170 Let my (AU)supplication come before You;
(AV)Deliver me according to Your [j]word.
171 Let my (AW)lips utter praise,
For You (AX)teach me Your statutes.
172 Let my (AY)tongue sing of Your [k]word,
For all Your (AZ)commandments are righteousness.
173 Let Your (BA)hand be [l]ready to help me,
For I have (BB)chosen Your precepts.
174 I (BC)long for Your salvation, O Lord,
And Your law is my (BD)delight.
175 Let my (BE)soul live that it may praise You,
And let Your ordinances help me.
176 I have (BF)gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant,
For I do (BG)not forget Your commandments.
Blessedness of the Fear of the Lord.
A Song of Ascents.
128 (A)How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
Who (B)walks in His ways.
2 When you shall (C)eat of the [a](D)fruit of your hands,
You will be happy and (E)it will be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a (F)fruitful vine
[b]Within your house,
Your children like (G)olive plants
Around your table.
4 Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.
5 (H)The Lord bless you (I)from Zion,
And may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
6 Indeed, may you see your (J)children’s children.
(K)Peace be upon Israel!
Prayer for the Overthrow of Zion’s Enemies.
A Song of Ascents.
129 “[c]Many times they have [d](L)persecuted me from my (M)youth up,”
(N)Let Israel now say,
2 “[e]Many times they have [f]persecuted me from my youth up;
Yet they have (O)not prevailed against me.
3 “The plowers plowed upon my back;
They lengthened their furrows.”
4 The Lord (P)is righteous;
He has cut in two the (Q)cords of the wicked.
5 May all who (R)hate Zion
Be (S)put to shame and turned backward;
6 Let them be like (T)grass upon the housetops,
Which withers before it [g]grows up;
7 With which the reaper does not fill his [h]hand,
Or the binder of sheaves his (U)bosom;
8 Nor do those who pass by say,
“The (V)blessing of the Lord be upon you;
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.
A Song of Ascents.
130 Out of the (W)depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
2 Lord, (X)hear my voice!
Let (Y)Your ears be attentive
To the (Z)voice of my supplications.
3 If You, [i]Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could (AA)stand?
4 But there is (AB)forgiveness with You,
That You may be (AC)feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my (AD)soul does wait,
And [j](AE)in His word do I hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen (AF)for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, (AG)hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is (AH)lovingkindness,
And with Him is (AI)abundant redemption.
8 And He will (AJ)redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Aaron’s Rod Becomes a Serpent
8 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘[a](A)Work a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘(B)Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and [b]his servants, and it (C)became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also (D)called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the [c](E)magicians of Egypt, did [d]the same with (F)their secret arts. 12 For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet (G)Pharaoh’s heart was [e]hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
Water Is Turned to Blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is [f]stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning [g]as (H)he is going out to the water, and station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand (I)the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 (J)You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “(K)Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.” 17 Thus says the Lord, “(L)By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike [h]the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and (M)it will be turned to blood. 18 (N)The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will [i]become foul, and the Egyptians will [j](O)find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and (P)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their [k]streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up [l](Q)the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and (R)all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile [m]became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 (S)But the [n]magicians of Egypt did [o]the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was [p]hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house [q]with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the Nile.
14 (A)But thanks be to God, who always (B)leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the (C)sweet aroma of the (D)knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a (E)fragrance of Christ to God among (F)those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 (G)to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is (H)adequate for these things? 17 For we are not like many, [a](I)peddling the word of God, but (J)as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ (K)in the sight of God.
Ministers of a New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to (L)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, (M)letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 (N)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, [b](O)cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of (P)the living God, not on (Q)tablets of stone but on (R)tablets of [c](S)human hearts.
4 Such (T)confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but (U)our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as (V)servants of a (W)new covenant, not of (X)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but (Y)the Spirit gives life.
Jesus’ Teaching about Divorce
10 (A)Getting up, He *went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered around Him again, and, (B)according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.
2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to [a]divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “(C)Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and [b]send her away.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “[c](D)Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But (E)from the beginning of creation, God (F)made them male and female. 7 (G)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother[d], 8 (H)and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10 In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He *said to them, “(I)Whoever [e]divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and (J)if she herself [f]divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”
Jesus Blesses Little Children
13 (K)And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; (L)for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, (M)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He (N)took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
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