Book of Common Prayer

^2 (1) Just as a deer longs for running streams,
God, I long for you.
^3 (2) I am thirsty for God, for the living God!
When can I come and appear before God?

^4 (3) My tears are my food, day and night,
while all day people ask me, “Where is your God?”
^5 (4) I recall, as my feelings well up within me,
how I’d go with the crowd to the house of God,
with sounds of joy and praise from the throngs
observing the festival.

^6 (5) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for the salvation that comes from his presence.
^7 (6) My God, when I feel so downcast,
I remind myself of you
from the land of Yarden, from the peaks of Hermon,
from the hill Mizar.
^8 (7) Deep is calling to deep
at the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your surging rapids and waves
are sweeping over me.
^9 (8) By day Adonai commands his grace,
and at night his song is with me
as a prayer to the God of my life.
^10 (9) I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
^11 (10) My adversaries’ taunts make me feel
as if my bones were crushed,
as they ask me all day long,
‘Where is your God?’ ”

^12 (11) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.

43 Judge me, God, and plead my cause
against a faithless nation.
Rescue me from those who deceive
and from those who are unjust.
² For you are the God of my strength;
why have you thrust me aside?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
³ Send out your light and your truth;
let them be my guide;
let them lead me to your holy mountain,
to the places where you live.
⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and delight;
I will praise you on the lyre,
God, my God.

⁵ My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.

2 Then Hannah prayed; she said:

“My heart exults in Adonai!
My dignity has been restored by Adonai!
I can gloat over my enemies,
because of my joy at your saving me.

² “No one is as holy as Adonai,
because there is none to compare with you,
no rock like our God.

³ “Stop your proud boasting!
Don’t let arrogance come from your mouth!
For Adonai is a God of knowledge,
and he appraises actions.
⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken,
while the feeble are armed with strength.
⁵ The well-fed hire themselves for bread,
while those who were hungry hunger no more.
The barren woman has borne seven,
while the mother of many wastes away.

⁶ “Adonai kills and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave, and he brings up.
⁷ Adonai makes poor, and he makes rich;
he humbles, and he exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts up the needy from the trash pile;
he gives them a place with leaders
and assigns them seats of honor.
“For the earth’s pillars belong to Adonai;
on them he has placed the world.
⁹ He will guard the steps of his faithful,
but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
For it is not by strength that a person prevails —
¹⁰ those who fight Adonai will be shattered;
he will thunder against them in heaven —
Adonai will judge the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen his king
and enhance the power of his anointed.”

48 ⁽⁰⁾ A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:

^2 (1) Great is Adonai
and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God,
his holy mountain,
^3 (2) beautiful in its elevation,
the joy of all the earth,
Mount Tziyon, in the far north,
the city of the great king.
^4 (3) In its citadels God
has been revealed as a strong defense.
^5 (4) For the kings met by agreement;
together they advanced.
^6 (5) They saw and were filled with consternation;
terrified, they took to flight.
^7 (6) Trembling took hold of them,
pains like those of a woman in labor,
^8 (7) as when the wind out of the east
wrecks the “Tarshish” ships.
^9 (8) We heard it, and now we see for ourselves
in the city of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the city of our God.
May God establish it forever. (Selah)

^10 (9) God, within your temple
we meditate on your grace.
^11 (10) God, your praise, like your name,
extends to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
^12 (11) Let Mount Tziyon rejoice,
let the daughters of Y’hudah be glad,
because of your judgment [on the enemy].

^13 (12) Walk through Tziyon, go all around it;
count how many towers it has.
^14 (13) Note its ramparts, pass through its citadels,
so that you can tell generations to come
^15 (14) that such is God, our God forever;
he will guide us eternally.

87 ⁽⁰⁾ A psalm of the sons of Korach. A song:

⁽¹⁾ On the holy mountains is [the city’s] foundation.
² Adonai loves the gates of Tziyon
more than all the dwellings in Ya‘akov.
³ Glorious things are said about you,
city of God. (Selah)

⁴ I count Rahav and Bavel
among those who know me;
Of P’leshet, Tzor and Ethiopia [they will say],
“This one was born there.”
⁵ But of Tziyon it will be said,
“This one and that was born in it,
for the Most High himself establishes it.”
⁶ When he registers the peoples, Adonai will record,
“This one was born there.” (Selah)

⁷ Singers and dancers alike say,
“For me, you are the source of everything.”