July 20

Today’s Reading is from Psalm 120 to Psalm 131.

Psalm 120

A Song of Ascents.

1 In my distress I called to the Lord,

    and he answered me.

2 Deliver me, O Lord,

    from lying lips,

    from a deceitful tongue.

3 What shall be given to you,

    and what more shall be done to you,

    you deceitful tongue?

4 A warrior’s sharp arrows,

    with glowing coals of the broom tree!

5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,

    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

6 Too long have I had my dwelling

    among those who hate peace.

7 I am for peace,

    but when I speak, they are for war!

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;

    he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 122

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me,

    “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

2 Our feet have been standing

    within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem—built as a city

    that is bound firmly together,

4 to which the tribes go up,

    the tribes of the Lord,

as was decreed for Israel,

    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 There thrones for judgment were set,

    the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

    “May they be secure who love you!

7 Peace be within your walls

    and security within your towers!”

8 For my brothers and companions’ sake

    I will say, “Peace be within you!”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your good.

Psalm 123

A Song of Ascents.

1 To you I lift up my eyes,

    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants

    look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maidservant

    to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God,

    till he has mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,

    for we have had more than enough of contempt.

4 Our soul has had more than enough

    of the scorn of those who are at ease,

    of the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 124

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—

    let Israel now say—

2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side

    when people rose up against us,

3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,

    when their anger was kindled against us;

4 then the flood would have swept us away,

    the torrent would have gone over us;

5 then over us would have gone

    the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the Lord,

    who has not given us

    as prey to their teeth!

7 We have escaped like a bird

    from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

    and we have escaped!

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

A Song of Ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,

    which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

    so the Lord surrounds his people,

    from this time forth and forevermore.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

    on the land allotted to the righteous,

lest the righteous stretch out

    their hands to do wrong.

4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,

    and to those who are upright in their hearts!

5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways

    the Lord will lead away with evildoers!

    Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 126

A Song of Ascents.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

    we were like those who dream.

2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

    and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

    “The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us;

    we are glad.

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

    like streams in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears

    shall reap with shouts of joy!

6 He who goes out weeping,

    bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

    bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 127

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,

    those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is in vain that you rise up early

    and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

    for he gives to his beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

    the fruit of the womb a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

    are the children of one’s youth.

5 Blessed is the man

    who fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 128

A Song of Ascents.

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,

    who walks in his ways!

2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

    within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

    around your table.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

    who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion!

    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

    all the days of your life!

6 May you see your children’s children!

    Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

A Song of Ascents.

1 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—

    let Israel now say—

2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,

    yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed upon my back;

    they made long their furrows.”

4 The Lord is righteous;

    he has cut the cords of the wicked.

5 May all who hate Zion

    be put to shame and turned backward!

6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,

    which withers before it grows up,

7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand

    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,

8 nor do those who pass by say,

    “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!

    We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 130

A Song of Ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

2     O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

    O Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,

    that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord

    more than watchmen for the morning,

    more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him is plentiful redemption.

8 And he will redeem Israel

    from all his iniquities.

Psalm 131

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;

    my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

    too great and too marvelous for me.

2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

    like a weaned child with its mother;

    like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord

    from this time forth and forevermore.