Book of Common Prayer
ק QOPH
145 I cry out with my whole heart;
Hear me, O Lord!
I will keep Your statutes.
146 I cry out to You;
Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.
147 (A)I rise before the dawning of the morning,
And cry for help;
I hope in Your word.
148 (B)My eyes are awake through the night watches,
That I may meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness;
O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.
150 They draw near who follow after wickedness;
They are far from Your law.
151 You are (C)near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth.
152 Concerning Your testimonies,
I have known of old that You have founded them (D)forever.
ר RESH
153 (E)Consider my affliction and deliver me,
For I do not forget Your law.
154 (F)Plead my cause and redeem me;
Revive me according to Your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
For they do not seek Your statutes.
156 [a]Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord;
Revive me according to Your judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and my enemies,
Yet I do not (G)turn from Your testimonies.
158 I see the treacherous, and (H)am disgusted,
Because they do not keep Your word.
159 Consider how I love Your precepts;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.
160 The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
ש SHIN
161 (I)Princes persecute me without a cause,
But my heart stands in awe of Your word.
162 I rejoice at Your word
As one who finds great treasure.
163 I hate and abhor lying,
But I love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your righteous judgments.
165 (J)Great peace have those who love Your law,
And [b]nothing causes them to stumble.
166 (K)Lord, I hope for Your salvation,
And I do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
(L)For all my ways are before You.
ת TAU
169 Let my cry come before You, O Lord;
(M)Give me understanding according to Your word.
170 Let my [c]supplication come before You;
Deliver me according to Your word.
171 (N)My lips shall utter praise,
For You teach me Your statutes.
172 My tongue shall speak of Your word,
For all Your commandments are righteousness.
173 Let Your hand become my help,
For (O)I have chosen Your precepts.
174 (P)I long for Your salvation, O Lord,
And (Q)Your law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise You;
And let Your judgments help me.
176 (R)I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
Seek Your servant,
For I do not forget Your commandments.
Blessings of Those Who Fear the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
128 Blessed (A)is every one who fears the Lord,
Who walks in His ways.
2 (B)When you eat the [a]labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be (C)well with you.
3 Your wife shall be (D)like a fruitful vine
In the very heart of your house,
Your (E)children (F)like olive plants
All around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
Who fears the Lord.
5 (G)The Lord bless you out of Zion,
And may you see the good of Jerusalem
All the days of your life.
6 Yes, may you (H)see your children’s children.
(I)Peace be upon Israel!
Song of Victory over Zion’s Enemies
A Song of Ascents.
129 “Many a time they have (J)afflicted[b] me from (K)my youth,”
(L)Let Israel now say—
2 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”
4 The Lord is righteous;
He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.
5 Let all those who hate Zion
Be put to shame and turned back.
6 Let them be as the (M)grass on the housetops,
Which withers before it grows up,
7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,
Nor he who binds sheaves, his [c]arms.
8 Neither let those who pass by them say,
(N)“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
Waiting for the Redemption of the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
130 Out (O)of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 (P)If You, Lord, should [d]mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could (Q)stand?
4 But there is (R)forgiveness with You,
That (S)You may be feared.
Aaron’s Miraculous Rod(A)
8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, (B)‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, (C)‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’ ” 10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just (D)as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it (E)became a serpent.
11 But Pharaoh also (F)called the wise men and (G)the [a]sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also (H)did in like manner with their [b]enchantments. 12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. 13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
The First Plague: Waters Become Blood
14 So the Lord said to Moses: (I)“Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the (J)water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and (K)the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. 16 And you shall say to him, (L)‘The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, (M)that they may [c]serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear! 17 Thus says the Lord: “By this (N)you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and (O)they shall be turned (P)to blood. 18 And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will (Q)loathe[d] to drink the water of the river.” ’ ”
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and (R)stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” 20 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the Lord commanded. So he (S)lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the (T)waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians (U)could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 (V)Then the magicians of Egypt did (W)so with their [e]enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, (X)as the Lord had said. 23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us [a]diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ (A)among those who are being saved and (B)among those who are perishing. 16 (C)To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And (D)who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as [b]so many, (E)peddling[c] the word of God; but as (F)of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
Christ’s Epistle(G)
3 Do (H)we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, (I)epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 (J)You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, (K)ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not (L)on tablets of stone but (M)on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
The Spirit, Not the Letter
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 (N)Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but (O)our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as (P)ministers of (Q)the new covenant, not (R)of the letter but of the [d]Spirit; for (S)the letter kills, (T)but the Spirit gives life.
Marriage and Divorce(A)
10 Then (B)He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.
2 (C)The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.
3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
4 They said, (D)“Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”
5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this [a]precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation, God (E)‘made them male and female.’ 7 (F)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
10 In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. 11 So He said to them, (G)“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Jesus Blesses Little Children(H)
13 (I)Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for (J)of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, (K)whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will (L)by no means enter it.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.