Book of Common Prayer
ק qof
145 I cry out with all my heart:
“Lord, answer me so I can guard your statutes!”
146 I cry out to you, “Save me
so I can keep your laws!”
147 I meet the predawn light and cry for help.
I wait for your promise.
148 My eyes encounter each hour of the night
as I think about your word.
149 Listen to my voice, according to your faithful love.
Lord, make me live again, according to your justice.
150 The people who love to plot wicked schemes are nearby,
but they are so far from your Instruction!
151 But you, Lord, are nearby too,
and all your commandments are true.
152 Long ago I learned from your laws
that you had established them forever.
ר resh
153 Look at my suffering and deliver me
because I haven’t forgotten your Instruction.
154 Argue my case and redeem me.
Make me live again by your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked
because they haven’t pursued your statutes.
156 You have so much compassion, Lord—
make me live again, according to your rules.
157 My oppressors and enemies are many,
but I haven’t turned away from your laws.
158 I look on the faithless, and I am disgusted
because they haven’t kept your word.
159 Look at how much I love your precepts.
Make me live again, Lord, according to your faithful love!
160 The first thing to know about your word is that it is true
and that all your righteous rules last forever.
שׂ sin and שׁ shin
161 Rulers oppress me without cause,
but my heart honors what you’ve said.
162 I’m overjoyed at your word,
like someone who finds great treasure.
163 I hate, I absolutely despise, what is false,
but I’m in love with your Instruction.
164 I praise you seven times a day
for your righteous rules.
165 The people who love your Instruction enjoy peace—and lots of it.
There’s no stumbling for them!
166 Lord, I wait for your saving help.
I do what you’ve commanded.
167 I keep your laws;
I love them so much!
168 I keep your precepts and your laws
because all my ways are seen by you.
ת tav
169 Let my cry reach you, Lord;
help me understand according to what you’ve said.
170 Let my request for grace come before you;
deliver me according to your promise!
171 Let my lips overflow with praise
because you’ve taught me your statutes.
172 Let my tongue declare your word,
because all your commandments are righteous.
173 Let your power help me
because I have chosen your precepts.
174 Lord, I long for your saving help!
Your Instruction is my joy!
175 Let me live again so I can praise you!
Let your rules help me!
176 I’ve wandered off like a sheep, lost.
Find your servant
because I haven’t forgotten
your commandments!
Psalm 128
A pilgrimage song.
128 Everyone who honors the Lord,
who walks in God’s ways, is truly happy!
2 You will definitely enjoy what you’ve worked hard for—
you’ll be happy; and things will go well for you.
3 In your house, your wife will be like a vine full of fruit.
All around your table, your children will be like olive trees, freshly planted.
4 That’s how it goes for anyone who honors the Lord:
they will be blessed!
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion.
May you experience Jerusalem’s goodness your whole life long.
6 And may you see your grandchildren.
Peace be on Israel!
Psalm 129
A pilgrimage song.
129 From youth, people have constantly attacked me—
let Israel now repeat!—
2 from youth people have constantly attacked me—
but they haven’t beaten me!
3 They plowed my back like farmers;
they made their furrows deep.
4 But the Lord is righteous—
God cut me free from the ropes of the wicked!
5 Let everyone who hates Zion be ashamed, thoroughly frustrated.
6 Let them be like grass on a roof
that dies before it can be pulled up,
7 which won’t fill the reaper’s hand
or fill the harvester’s arms.
8 Let no one who passes by say to them:
“May the Lord’s blessing be on you!
We bless you in the Lord’s name!”
Psalm 130
A pilgrimage song.
130 I cry out to you from the depths, Lord—
2 my Lord, listen to my voice!
Let your ears pay close attention to my request for mercy!
3 If you kept track of sins, Lord—
my Lord, who would stand a chance?
4 But forgiveness is with you—
that’s why you are honored.
5 I hope, Lord.
My whole being[a] hopes,
and I wait for God’s promise.
6 My whole being waits for my Lord—
more than the night watch waits for morning;
yes, more than the night watch waits for morning!
7 Israel, wait for the Lord!
Because faithful love is with the Lord;
because great redemption is with our God!
8 He is the one who will redeem Israel
from all its sin.
Oppressors will themselves be ruined
2 Doom to those who devise wickedness,
to those who plan evil when they are in bed.
By the light of morning they do it,
for they are very powerful.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
houses and take them away.
They oppress a householder and those in his house,
a man and his estate.
3 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
I myself am devising an evil against this family
from which you will not be able to remove your necks!
You will no longer be able to go about arrogantly,
for it will be an evil time.
4 On that day, a taunt will be raised against you;
someone will wail bitterly:
“We are utterly destroyed!
He exchanges the portion of my people;
he removes what belongs to me;
he gives away our fields to a rebel.”
5 Therefore, you will have no one to set boundary lines
by lot in the Lord’s assembly.
Leaders unwilling to hear God’s word
6 “They mustn’t preach!” so they preach.
“They mustn’t preach of such things!
Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
7 (Should this be said, house of Jacob?)
“Is the Lord’s patience cut short? Are these his deeds?”
Don’t my words help the one who behaves righteously?
8 But yesterday, my people, the Lord rose up as an enemy.[a]
You strip off the glorious clothes[b]
from trusting passersby, those who reject war.
9 You drive out the women of my people,
each from her cherished house;
from their young children
you take away my splendor forever.
10 Rise up and go! This can’t be the resting place;
because of its uncleanness,
it destroys and the destruction is horrific.
11 If someone were to go about inspired and say deceitfully:
“I will preach to you for wine and liquor,”
such a one would be the preacher for this people!
The false prophet’s “peace” will be destruction
12 I’ll surely gather Jacob—all of you!
I’ll surely assemble you, those who are left of Israel!
I’ll put them together like sheep in Bozrah,[c]
like a flock in its pen,
noisy with people.
13 The one who breaks out will go before them;
they will break out and pass through the gate;
they will leave by it.
They will pass on,
their king before them,
the Lord at their head.
23 The commander called two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. 24 Have horses ready for Paul to ride, so they may take him safely to Governor Felix.” 25 He wrote the following letter:
26 Claudius Lysias, to the most honorable Governor Felix: Greetings. 27 This man was seized by the Jews and was almost killed by them. I was nearby with a unit of soldiers, and I rescued him when I discovered that he was a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to find out why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their council. 29 I discovered that they were accusing him about questions related to their Law. I found no charge deserving of death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a conspiracy against his life, I sent him to you at once and ordered his accusers to bring their case against him before you.
31 Following their orders, the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris. 32 The following day they let the horsemen continue on with Paul while they returned to the military headquarters in Jerusalem. 33 The horsemen entered Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and brought Paul before him. 34 After he read the letter, he asked Paul about his home province. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, 35 the governor said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept in custody in Herod’s palace.
John the Baptist and Jesus
18 John’s disciples informed him about all these things. John called two of his disciples 19 and sent them to the Lord. They were to ask him, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?”
20 When they reached Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you. He asks, ‘Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?’”
21 Right then, Jesus healed many of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he gave sight to a number of blind people. 22 Then he replied to John’s disciples, “Go, report to John what you have seen and heard. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled now walk. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. And good news is preached to the poor.[a] 23 Happy is anyone who doesn’t stumble along the way because of me.”
24 After John’s messengers were gone, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A stalk blowing in the wind? 25 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in refined clothes? Look, those who dress in fashionable clothes and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 He is the one of whom it’s written: Look, I’m sending my messenger before you, who will prepare your way before you.[b] 28 I tell you that no greater human being has ever been born than John. Yet whoever is least in God’s kingdom is greater than he.” 29 Everyone who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and legal experts rejected God’s will for themselves because they hadn’t been baptized by John.
31 “To what will I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. “What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace calling out to each other, ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song and you didn’t cry.’ 33 John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 Yet the Human One[c] came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved to be right by all her descendants.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible