Book of Common Prayer
O Yahweh, Deliver My Soul
A Song of [a]Ascents.
120 (A)In my distress I called to Yahweh,
And He answered me.
2 O Yahweh, deliver my soul from a (B)lying lip,
From a (C)deceitful tongue.
3 What shall He give to you, and what shall He add to you,
O (D)deceitful tongue?
4 (E)Sharp arrows of the warrior,
With the burning (F)coals of the broom tree.
5 Woe is me, for I sojourn in (G)Meshech,
For I dwell among the (H)tents of (I)Kedar!
6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling
With those who (J)hate peace.
7 I (K)am for peace, but when I speak,
They are (L)for war.
My Help Comes from Yahweh
A Song of Ascents.
121 I will (M)lift up my eyes to (N)the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My (O)help comes from Yahweh,
Who (P)made heaven and earth.
3 [b]He will not (Q)allow your foot to stumble;
[c]He who (R)keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will not slumber and will not sleep.
5 Yahweh is your (S)keeper;
Yahweh is your (T)shade on your right hand.
6 The (U)sun will not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 Yahweh will (V)keep you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 Yahweh will (W)keep your going out and your coming in
(X)From now until forever.
Go to the House of Yahweh
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us (Y)go to the house of Yahweh.”
2 Our feet are standing
Within your (Z)gates, O Jerusalem,
3 Jerusalem, which is (AA)built
As a city (AB)joined altogether;
4 To which the tribes, the tribes of Yah, (AC)go up—
A testimony for Israel—
To give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
5 For there, (AD)thrones sit for judgment,
The thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the (AE)peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who (AF)love you.
7 May peace be within your (AG)walls,
And tranquility within your (AH)palaces.”
8 For the sake of my (AI)brothers and my friends,
I will now say, “(AJ)May peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God,
I will (AK)seek your good.
To You I Lift Up My Eyes
A Song of Ascents.
123 To You I (AL)lift up my eyes,
The One (AM)enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of (AN)slaves look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a servant-girl to the hand of her mistress,
So our (AO)eyes look to Yahweh our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
3 (AP)Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us,
For we are greatly saturated (AQ)with contempt.
4 Our soul is greatly saturated
With the (AR)mockery of (AS)those who are at ease,
And with the (AT)contempt of the proud.
Yahweh Was on Our Side
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
124 “(AU)Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side,”
(AV)Let Israel now say,
2 “Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have (AW)swallowed us alive,
When their (AX)anger was kindled against us;
4 Then the (AY)waters would have flowed over us,
The stream would have [d]swept over our soul;
5 Then the (AZ)raging waters would have [e]swept over our soul.”
6 Blessed be Yahweh,
Who has not given us to be (BA)prey for their teeth.
7 Our soul has (BB)escaped (BC)as a bird out of the (BD)snare of the trapper;
The snare is broken and we have escaped.
8 Our (BE)help is in the name of Yahweh,
Who (BF)made heaven and earth.
Yahweh Surrounds His People
A Song of Ascents.
125 Those who trust in Yahweh
Are as Mount Zion, which (BG)will not be shaken but (BH)will abide forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So (BI)Yahweh surrounds His people
(BJ)From now until forever.
3 For the (BK)scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the [f]land of the righteous,
So that the righteous (BL)would not send forth their hands in unrighteousness.
4 (BM)Do good, O Yahweh, to those who are good
And to those who are (BN)upright in their hearts.
5 But as for those who (BO)turn aside to their (BP)crooked ways,
Yahweh will lead them away with the (BQ)workers of iniquity.
(BR)Peace be upon Israel.
Those Who Sow in Tears Shall Reap with Joy
A Song of Ascents.
126 When Yahweh [g](BS)returned [h]the captive ones of Zion,
We were (BT)like those who dream.
2 Then our (BU)mouth was filled with laughter
And our (BV)tongue with shouts of joy;
Then they said among the nations,
“Yahweh has (BW)done great things for them.”
3 Yahweh has done great things for us;
We are (BX)glad.
4 Restore our captivity, O Yahweh,
As the [i](BY)streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in (BZ)tears shall reap with (CA)shouts of joy.
6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves with him.
Unless Yahweh Builds the House
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless Yahweh (CB)builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless Yahweh (CC)watches the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early,
That you sit out late,
O you who (CD)eat the bread of [j]painful labors;
For in this manner, He gives (CE)sleep to His (CF)beloved.
3 Behold, (CG)children are [k]an inheritance of Yahweh,
The (CH)fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a (CI)warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 How (CJ)blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them;
(CK)They will not be ashamed
When they (CL)speak with enemies (CM)in the gate.
Saul Strikes Down the Ammonites
11 And (A)Nahash the Ammonite came up and [a]besieged (B)Jabesh-gilead; and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Cut (C)a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will cut it with you on this condition, (D)that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it (E)a reproach on all Israel.” 3 (F)Then the elders of Jabesh said to him, “Let us alone for seven days, that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” 4 Then the messengers came (G)to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people (H)lifted up their voices and wept.
5 Now behold, Saul was coming from the field (I)behind the oxen, and [b]he said, “What is the matter with the people that they weep?” So they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh. 6 Then (J)the Spirit of God [c]came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and [d]he burned with anger exceedingly. 7 Then he took a pair of oxen and (K)cut them in pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “(L)Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out (M)as one man. 8 And he [e]numbered them in (N)Bezek; and the (O)sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. 9 And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have salvation.’” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10 Then the men of Jabesh said, “(P)Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good in your eyes.” 11 Then the next morning Saul put the people (Q)in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
12 Then the people said to Samuel, “(R)Who is he that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ [f](S)Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “(T)Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today (U)Yahweh has accomplished salvation in Israel.”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come and let us go to (V)Gilgal and (W)renew the kingdom there.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king (X)before Yahweh in Gilgal. There they also (Y)offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all the men of Israel were exceedingly glad.
Saul Persecutes the Church
8 (A)Now Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.
And on that day a great persecution [a]began against (B)the church in Jerusalem, and they were all (C)scattered throughout the regions of Judea and (D)Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But (E)Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and (F)dragging off men and women, he was delivering them into prison.
Philip Preaches in Samaria
4 Therefore, those (G)who had been scattered went about, (H)proclaiming the good news of the word. 5 (I)Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching [b]Christ to them. 6 And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the [c]signs which he was doing. 7 For in the case of many who had (J)unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been (K)paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was (L)great joy in that city.
9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing (M)magic in the city and astounding the people of Samaria, (N)claiming to be someone great; 10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “(O)This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astounded them with his (P)magic arts. 12 But when they believed Philip (Q)proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being (R)baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed (S)signs and (T)great miracles taking place, he was constantly astounded.
63 (A)Now the men who were holding [a]Jesus in custody were mocking Him while they beat Him, 64 and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “(B)Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?” 65 And they were saying many other things against Him, (C)blaspheming.
Jesus Before the Sanhedrin
66 (D)And as the day came, (E)the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their (F)Sanhedrin, saying, 67 “(G)If You are the [b]Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer. 69 (H)But from now on (I)the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of [c]God.” 70 And they all said, “Are You (J)the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “(K)You yourselves say that I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
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