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.
Prayer for Mercy and Help
15 (A)Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious (B)habitation;
Where are Your (C)zeal and Your mighty deeds?
The (D)tumults within You and Your compassion are restrained toward me.
16 For You are our (E)Father, though (F)Abraham does not know us
And Israel does not recognize us.
You, O Yahweh, are our Father,
Our (G)Redeemer from everlasting is Your name.
17 Why, O Yahweh, do You (H)cause us to stray from Your ways
And (I)stiffen our heart from fearing You?
(J)Return for the sake of Your slaves, the tribes of Your inheritance.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while;
Our adversaries have (K)trodden it down.
19 We have become like those over whom You have never ruled,
Like those who were not called by Your name.
64 [a]Oh, that You would rend the heavens and (L)come down,
That the mountains might (M)quake at Your presence—
2 [b]As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the (N)nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did (O)awesome things for which we did not hope,
You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 For from ancient times (P)they have not heard or given ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of the one who (Q)waits for Him.
5 You (R)meet him who rejoices and (S)does righteousness,
Who (T)remembers You in Your ways.
Behold, (U)You were angry; indeed we have sinned—
We continued in them a long time—
And shall we be saved?
6 For all of us have become like one who is (V)unclean,
And all our (W)righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us (X)wither like a leaf,
And our (Y)iniquities, like the wind, carry us away.
7 There is (Z)no one who calls on Your name,
Who awakens himself to take hold of You,
For You have (AA)hidden Your face from us
And have [c]melted us into the hand of our iniquities.
15 You are aware of this: that all who are in (A)Asia (B)turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord give mercy to (C)the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and (D)was not ashamed of my [a](E)chains, 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18 the Lord [b]grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on (F)that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at (G)Ephesus.
Remember Jesus Christ
2 You therefore, my (H)child, (I)be strong in the grace that is in (J)Christ Jesus. 2 And the things (K)which you have heard from me in the presence of (L)many witnesses, (M)entrust these to (N)faithful men who will be (O)able to teach others also. 3 (P)Suffer hardship with me, as a good (Q)soldier of (R)Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service (S)entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone (T)competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 (U)The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. 7 Understand what I say, for the Lord will give you insight in everything.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, (V)risen from the dead, of the (W)seed of David, (X)according to my gospel, 9 [c]for which I (Y)endure hardship even to (Z)chains as a (AA)criminal. But (AB)the word of God (AC)has not been chained. 10 For this reason (AD)I endure all things for (AE)the sake of the elect, (AF)so that they also may obtain the (AG)salvation, which is in (AH)Christ Jesus, with (AI)eternal glory. 11 (AJ)It is a trustworthy saying:
Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers
37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee *asked Him to have a meal with him. And He went in and reclined at the table. 38 But when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first [a](A)ceremonially washed before the [b]meal. 39 But (B)the Lord said to him, “Now (C)you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but [c]inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. 40 (D)You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But (E)give that which is within as charity, and [d]then all things are (F)clean for you.
42 “(G)But woe to you Pharisees! For you (H)pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God, but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you (I)love the best seat in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the marketplaces. 44 (J)Woe to you! For you are like [e]concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”
45 Now one of the (K)scholars of the Law answered and said to Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us too.” 46 But He said, “Woe to you (L)scholars of the Law as well! For (M)you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 (N)Woe to you! For you build the [f]tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them. 48 So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 For this reason also (O)the wisdom of God said, ‘(P)I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will [g]persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed (Q)since the foundation of the world, may be [h]charged against this generation, 51 from (R)the blood of Abel to (S)the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be [i]charged against this generation.’ 52 Woe to you, (T)scholars of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; (U)you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.