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.
Israel’s Sins Are Condemned
2 How horrible it will be for those who invent trouble
and work out plans for disaster while in bed.
When the morning dawns, they carry out their plans
because they are able to.
2 They desire other people’s fields, so they seize them.
They desire people’s houses, so they take them.
They cheat a man and his family,
a man and his inheritance.
3 So this is what Yahweh says:
I’m planning a disaster to punish your family.
You won’t be able to rescue yourselves.
You will no longer be able to walk proudly.
This will be a time of disaster.
4 When that day comes, people will make fun of you.
They will sing this sad song about you:
“We are completely ruined.
Yahweh gives our people’s possessions to others.
He takes them from us.
He divides our fields among our captors.”
5 That is why none of you in Yahweh’s assembly will draw lots
to divide your property.
6 Your prophets say, “Don’t prophesy!
Don’t prophesy such things!
Disgrace will never overtake us.”
7 Should the descendants of Jacob be asked:
Has the Ruach Yahweh become impatient with you?
Has he done these things?
Are his words good for those who live honestly?
8 Recently, my people have turned into enemies.
You take coats from those who pass by without a care
as they return from war.
9 You force the women among my people out of their pleasant homes
and take my glory away from their children forever.
10 Get up, and go away!
This is not a place to rest!
It will be destroyed, completely destroyed,
because it offends me.
11 Liars and frauds may go around and say,
“We will preach to you about wine and liquor.”
They would be just the type of preacher you want.
Israel Will Be Gathered Again by the Lord
12 I will surely gather all of you, Jacob.
I will surely bring together the few people left in Israel.
I will gather them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture.
They will make a lot of noise
because there will be so many people.
13 The Lord will open the way and lead them.
They will break out, go through the gate, and leave.
Their king will travel in front of them.
Yahweh will lead the people.
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.
John Sends Two Disciples(A)
18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Then John called two of his disciples 19 and sent them to ask the Lord, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?”
20 The men came to Yeshua and said, “John the Baptizer sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?’”
21 At that time Yeshua was curing many people who had diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits. Also, he was giving back sight to many who were blind.
22 Yeshua answered John’s disciples, “Go back, and tell John what you have seen and heard: Blind people see again, lame people are walking, those with skin diseases are made clean,[a] deaf people hear again, dead people are brought back to life, and poor people hear the Good News. 23 Whoever doesn’t lose his faith in me is indeed blessed.”
Jesus Speaks about John(B)
24 When John’s messengers had left, Yeshua spoke to the crowds about John. “What did you go into the desert to see? Tall grass swaying in the wind? 25 Really, what did you go to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Those who wear splendid clothes and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 Really, what did you go to see? A prophet? Let me tell you that he is far more than a prophet. 27 John is the one about whom Scripture says,
‘I am sending my messenger ahead of you
to prepare the way in front of you.’
28 I can guarantee that of all the people ever born, no one is greater than John. Yet, the least important person in the kingdom of God is greater than John.
29 “All the people, including tax collectors, heard John. They admitted that God was right by letting John baptize them. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in Moses’ Teachings rejected God’s plan for them. They refused to be baptized.
31 “How can I describe the people who are living now? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and shout to each other,
‘We played music for you,
but you didn’t dance.
We sang a funeral song,
but you didn’t cry.’
33 John the Baptizer has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘There’s a demon in him!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! He’s a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
35 “Yet, wisdom is proved right by all its results.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.