Book of Common Prayer
137 Weeping, we sat beside the rivers of Babylon thinking of Jerusalem. 2 We have put away our lyres, hanging them upon the branches of the willow trees, 3-4 for how can we sing? Yet our captors, our tormentors, demand that we sing for them the happy songs of Zion! 5-6 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill upon the harp. If I fail to love her more than my highest joy, let me never sing again.
7 O Jehovah, do not forget what these Edomites did on that day when the armies of Babylon captured Jerusalem. “Raze her to the ground!” they yelled. 8 O Babylon, evil beast, you shall be destroyed. Blessed is the man who destroys you as you have destroyed us. 9 Blessed is the man who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks![a]
144 Bless the Lord who is my immovable Rock. He gives me strength and skill in battle. 2 He is always kind and loving to me; he is my fortress, my tower of strength and safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield. He subdues my people under me.
3 O Lord, what is man that you even notice him? Why bother at all with the human race?[a] 4 For man is but a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
5 Bend down the heavens, Lord, and come. The mountains smoke beneath your touch.
6 Let loose your lightning bolts, your arrows, Lord, upon your enemies, and scatter them.
7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies. 8 Their mouths are filled with lies; they swear to the truth of what is false.
9 I will sing you a new song, O God, with a ten-stringed harp. 10 For you grant victory to kings! You are the one who will rescue your servant David from the fatal sword. 11 Save me! Deliver me from these enemies, these liars, these treacherous men.
12-15 Here is my description of[b] a truly happy land where Jehovah is God:
Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants.
Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.
Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind.
Sheep by the thousands out in our fields.
Oxen loaded down with produce.
No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere.
No crime in our streets.
Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah.
42 As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? 3 Day and night I weep for his help, and all the while my enemies taunt me. “Where is this God of yours?” they scoff.
4-5 Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise him again. Yes, I shall again praise him for his help.[a]
6 Yet I am standing here depressed and gloomy, but I will meditate upon your kindness to this lovely land where the Jordan River flows and where Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar stand. 7 All your waves and billows have gone over me, and floods of sorrow pour upon me like a thundering cataract.[b]
8 Yet day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing his songs and pray to God who gives me life.
9 “O God my Rock,” I cry, “why have you forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?” 10 Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound; again and again they scoff, “Where is that God of yours?” 11 But, O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!
43 O God, defend me from the charges of these merciless, deceitful men. 2 For you are God, my only place of refuge. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I mourn at the oppression of my enemies?
3 Oh, send out your light and your truth—let them lead me. Let them lead me to your Temple on your holy mountain, Zion. 4 There I will go to the altar of God, my exceeding joy, and praise him with my harp. O God—my God! 5 O my soul, why be so gloomy and discouraged? Trust in God! I shall again praise him for his wondrous help; he will make me smile again,[c] for he is my God!
21 Then Jehovah said to Moses, “Lift your hands to heaven, and darkness without a ray of light will descend upon the land of Egypt.” 22 So Moses did, and there was thick darkness over all the land for three days. 23 During all that time the people scarcely moved—but all the people of Israel had light as usual.
24 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and said, “Go and worship Jehovah—but let your flocks and herds stay here; you can even take your children with you.”
25 “No,” Moses said, “we must take our flocks and herds for sacrifices and burnt offerings to Jehovah our God. 26 Not a hoof shall be left behind; for we must have sacrifices for the Lord our God, and we do not know what he will choose until we get there.”
27 So the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let them go.
28 “Get out of here and don’t let me ever see you again,” Pharaoh shouted at Moses. “The day you do, you shall die.”
29 “Very well,” Moses replied. “I will never see you again.”
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will send just one more disaster on Pharaoh and his land, and after that he will let you go; in fact, he will be so anxious to get rid of you that he will practically throw you out of the country. 2 Tell all the men and women of Israel to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.”
3 (For God caused the Egyptians to be very favorable to the people of Israel, and Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt and was revered by Pharaoh’s officials and the Egyptian people alike.)
4 Now Moses announced to Pharaoh,[a] “Jehovah says, ‘About midnight I will pass through Egypt. 5 And all the oldest sons shall die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest child of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the oldest child of his lowliest slave; and even the firstborn of the animals. 6 The wail of death will resound throughout the entire land of Egypt; never before has there been such anguish, and it will never be again.
7 “‘But not a dog shall move his tongue against any of the people of Israel, nor shall any of their animals die. Then you will know that Jehovah makes a distinction between Egyptians and Israelis.’ 8 All these officials of yours will come running to me, bowing low and begging, ‘Please leave at once, and take all your people with you.’ Only then will I go!” Then, red-faced with anger, Moses stomped from the palace.[b]
13 We boldly say what we believe, trusting God to care for us,[a] just as the psalm writer did when he said, “I believe and therefore I speak.” 14 We know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to him along with you. 15 These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. 17 These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever! 18 So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
46 And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by.
47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 “Shut up!” some of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted the louder, again and again, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, “Tell him to come here.”
So they called the blind man. “You lucky fellow,”[a] they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“O Teacher,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “All right, it’s done.[b] Your faith has healed you.”
And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.