Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Someone Far from Home
A psalm for going up to worship.
120 When I was in trouble, I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2 Lord, save me from liars
and from those who plan evil.
3 You who plan evil, what will God do to you?
How will he punish you?
4 He will punish you with the sharp arrows of a warrior
and with burning coals of wood.
5 How terrible it is for me to live in the land of Meshech,
to live among the people of Kedar.
6 I have lived too long
with people who hate peace.
7 When I talk peace,
they want war.
The Lord Guards His People
A song for going up to worship.
121 I look up to the hills,
but where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
4 He who guards Israel
never rests or sleeps.
5 The Lord guards you.
The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.
6 The sun cannot hurt you during the day,
and the moon cannot hurt you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all dangers;
he will guard your life.
8 The Lord will guard you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
Happy People in Jerusalem
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
122 I was happy when they said to me,
“Let’s go to the Temple of the Lord.”
2 Jerusalem, we are standing
at your gates.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
with the buildings close together.
4 The tribes go up there,
the tribes who belong to the Lord.
It is the rule in Israel
to praise the Lord at Jerusalem.
5 There the descendants of David
set their thrones to judge the people.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“May those who love her be safe.
7 May there be peace within her walls
and safety within her strong towers.”
8 To help my relatives and friends,
I say, “Let Jerusalem have peace.”
9 For the sake of the Temple of the Lord our God,
I wish good for her.
A Prayer for Mercy
A song for going up to worship.
123 Lord, I look upward to you,
you who live in heaven.
2 Slaves depend on their masters,
and a female servant depends on her mistress.
In the same way, we depend on the Lord our God;
we wait for him to show us mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord. Have mercy on us,
because we have been insulted.
4 We have suffered many insults from lazy people
and much cruelty from the proud.
The Lord Saves His People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
124 What if the Lord had not been on our side?
(Let Israel repeat this.)
2 What if the Lord had not been on our side
when we were attacked?
3 When they were angry with us,
they would have swallowed us alive.
4 They would have been like a flood drowning us;
they would have poured over us like a river.
5 They would have swept us away like a mighty stream.
6 Praise the Lord,
who did not let them chew us up.
7 We escaped like a bird
from the hunter’s trap.
The trap broke,
and we escaped.
8 Our help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
God Protects Those Who Trust Him
A song for going up to worship.
125 Those who trust the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which sits unmoved forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
the Lord surrounds his people
now and forever.
3 The wicked will not rule
over those who do right.
If they did, the people who do right
might use their power to do evil.
4 Lord, be good to those who are good,
whose hearts are honest.
5 But, Lord, when you remove those who do evil,
also remove those who stop following you.
Let there be peace in Israel.
Lord, Bring Your People Back
A song for going up to worship.
126 When the Lord brought the prisoners back to Jerusalem,
it seemed as if we were dreaming.
2 Then we were filled with laughter,
and we sang happy songs.
Then the other nations said,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are very glad.
4 Lord, return our prisoners again,
as you bring streams to the desert.
5 Those who cry as they plant crops
will sing at harvest time.
6 Those who cry
as they carry out the seeds
will return singing
and carrying bundles of grain.
All Good Things Come from God
A song for going up to worship. Of Solomon.
127 If the Lord doesn’t build the house,
the builders are working for nothing.
If the Lord doesn’t guard the city,
the guards are watching for nothing.
2 It is no use for you to get up early
and stay up late,
working for a living.
The Lord gives sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
babies are a reward.
4 Children who are born to a young man
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
5 Happy is the man
who has his bag full of arrows.
They will not be defeated
when they fight their enemies at the city gate.
Nahash Troubles Jabesh Gilead
11 About a month later Nahash the Ammonite and his army surrounded the city of Jabesh in Gilead. All the people of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
2 But he answered, “I will make a treaty with you only if I’m allowed to poke out the right eye of each of you. Then all Israel will be ashamed!”
3 The elders of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Give us seven days to send messengers through all Israel. If no one comes to help us, we will give ourselves up to you.”
4 When the messengers came to Gibeah where Saul lived and told the people the news, they cried loudly. 5 Saul was coming home from plowing the fields with his oxen when he heard the people crying. He asked, “What’s wrong with the people that they are crying?” Then they told Saul what the messengers from Jabesh had said. 6 When Saul heard their words, God’s Spirit rushed upon him with power, and he became very angry. 7 So he took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces. Then he gave the pieces of the oxen to messengers and ordered them to carry them through all the land of Israel.
The messengers said, “This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” So the people became very afraid of the Lord. They all came together as if they were one person. 8 Saul gathered the people together at Bezek. There were three hundred thousand men from Israel and thirty thousand men from Judah.
9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the people at Jabesh Gilead this: ‘Before the day warms up tomorrow, you will be saved.’” So the messengers went and reported this to the people at Jabesh, and they were very happy. 10 The people said to Nahash the Ammonite, “Tomorrow we will come out to meet you. Then you can do anything you want to us.”
11 The next morning Saul divided his soldiers into three groups. At dawn they entered the Ammonite camp and defeated them before the heat of the day. The Ammonites who escaped were scattered; no two of them were still together.
12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who didn’t want Saul as king? Bring them here and we will kill them!”
13 But Saul said, “No! No one will be put to death today. Today the Lord has saved Israel!”
14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let’s go to Gilgal. There we will again promise to obey the king.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there, before the Lord, the people made Saul king. They offered fellowship offerings to the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites had a great celebration.
8 Saul agreed that the killing of Stephen was good.
Troubles for the Believers
On that day the church of Jerusalem began to be persecuted, and all the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
2 And some religious people buried Stephen and cried loudly for him. 3 Saul was also trying to destroy the church, going from house to house, dragging out men and women and putting them in jail. 4 And wherever they were scattered, they told people the Good News.
Philip Preaches in Samaria
5 Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached about the Christ. 6 When the people there heard Philip and saw the miracles he was doing, they all listened carefully to what he said. 7 Many of these people had evil spirits in them, but Philip made the evil spirits leave. The spirits made a loud noise when they came out. Philip also healed many weak and crippled people there. 8 So the people in that city were very happy.
9 But there was a man named Simon in that city. Before Philip came there, Simon had practiced magic and amazed all the people of Samaria. He bragged and called himself a great man. 10 All the people—the least important and the most important—paid attention to Simon, saying, “This man has the power of God, called ‘the Great Power’!” 11 Simon had amazed them with his magic so long that the people became his followers. 12 But when Philip told them the Good News about the kingdom of God and the power of Jesus Christ, men and women believed Philip and were baptized. 13 Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed very close to Philip. When he saw the miracles and the powerful things Philip did, Simon was amazed.
The People Make Fun of Jesus
63 The men who were guarding Jesus began making fun of him and beating him.
64 They blindfolded him and said, “Prove that you are a prophet, and tell us who hit you.” 65 They said many cruel things to Jesus.
Jesus Before the Leaders
66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people, both the leading priests and the teachers of the law, came together and led Jesus to their highest court. 67 They said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.”
Jesus said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe me. 68 And if I ask you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will sit at the right hand of the powerful God.”
70 They all said, “Then are you the Son of God?”
Jesus said to them, “You say that I am.”
71 They said, “Why do we need witnesses now? We ourselves heard him say this.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.