Book of Common Prayer
A Cry for Help
A prayer of a person who is suffering when he is ·discouraged [faint; disturbed] and ·tells the Lord his complaints [L pours out his concerns before the Lord].
102 Lord, listen to my prayer;
let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your ·presence [L face] from me
in my time of ·trouble [distress].
·Pay attention [L Extend your ear] to me.
·When I cry for help [L On the day I call], answer me quickly.
3 My ·life [L days] is ·passing away [vanishing] like smoke,
and my bones are burned up ·with fire [L like a furnace/oven/or glowing embers].
4 My heart is like grass
that has been ·cut [stricken] and dried.
I forget to eat my ·food [or bread].
5 Because of ·my grief [L the sounds of my groans],
my ·skin hangs on my bones [L bones cling to my flesh].
6 I am like a ·desert [wilderness] owl,
like an owl living among the ·ruins [wastelands; Is. 34:10–15; Zeph. 2:13–15].
7 I ·lie awake [or keep watch].
I am like a lonely bird on a ·housetop [roof].
8 All day long enemies ·insult [scorn; reproach] me;
those who ·make fun of [mock] me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes for ·food [or bread],
and my tears ·fall into [mingle with] my drinks.
10 Because of your ·great anger [L wrath and indignation],
you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a passing shadow;
I am like dried grass.
12 But, Lord, you ·rule [L are enthroned] forever,
and your ·fame [memory] ·goes on and on [L throughout the generations].
13 You will ·come [L rise up] and have ·mercy [compassion] on ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple],
because the time has now come to be ·kind [gracious] to her;
the ·right [appointed] time has come.
14 Your servants ·love even [are pleased/delighted with] her stones;
they even ·care about [L have pity/compassion for] her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings on earth ·will honor you [L your glory; C God’s manifest presence].
16 The Lord will rebuild ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple];
there his glory [C manifest presence] will be seen.
17 He will answer the prayers of the ·needy [lowly; L naked];
he will not ·reject [despise] their prayers.
18 Write these things for ·the future [L a future generation]
so that people who are not yet ·born [created] will praise the Lord.
19 The Lord looked down from his holy place above;
from heaven he ·looked [gazed] down at the earth.
20 He heard the ·moans [groans] of the prisoners,
and he ·freed [released] those sentenced to die.
21 The name of the Lord will be ·heard [recounted] in ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple];
his praise ·will be heard there [L in Jerusalem].
22 People will ·come [gather] together,
and kingdoms will serve the Lord.
23 ·God has made me tired of living [He broke my strength in midcourse/L the way];
he has cut short my ·life [L days].
24 So I said, “My God, do not take me in the middle of my ·life [L days].
Your years ·go on and on [endure for generations].
25 In the beginning you ·made [founded] the earth,
and ·your hands made the skies [L the heavens are the work of your hands; Gen. 1].
26 They will be destroyed, but you will ·remain [endure].
They will all wear out like ·clothes [garments].
And, like clothes, you will change them
and throw them away.
27 But you ·never change [are the same/L he],
and your ·life [L years] will never end.
28 ·Our children [L The children of your servants] will live in your presence,
and their ·children [offspring; L seed] will remain with you.”
Book 5: Psalms 107–150
God Saves from Many Dangers
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His ·love [loyalty] continues forever.
2 That is what those whom the Lord has ·saved [redeemed] should say.
He has ·saved [redeemed] them from the ·enemy [foe]
3 and has gathered them from other lands,
from east and west, north and south [Is. 51:11; C perhaps after the Babylonian exile].
4 Some people had wandered in the ·desert lands [L wilderness, wasteland].
They found no way to a city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and they were ·discouraged [faint].
6 In their ·misery [distress] they cried out to the Lord,
and he ·saved [rescued; protected] them from their troubles [vv. 13, 19, 28].
7 He led them on a straight road
to a city where they could live.
8 Let them ·give thanks to [praise] the Lord for his ·love [loyalty]
and for the ·miracles [wonderful works] he does for people [vv. 15, 21, 31].
9 He satisfies the thirsty
and fills ·up [L with good things] the hungry [Is. 58:10–11; Jer. 31:25; Luke 1:53].
10 Some sat in ·gloom [darkness] and ·darkness [deep darkness];
they were prisoners ·suffering [afflicted] in ·chains [irons].
11 They had ·turned [rebelled] against the words of God
and had ·refused [rejected] the advice of God Most High.
12 So he ·broke their pride by [L made their hearts cower with] hard work.
They stumbled, and no one helped.
13 In their ·misery [distress] they cried out to the Lord,
and he ·saved them from [gave them victory over] their troubles [vv. 6, 19, 28].
14 He brought them out of their ·gloom [darkness] and ·darkness [deep darkness]
and ·broke [burst] their chains.
15 Let them ·give thanks to [praise] the Lord for his ·love [loyalty]
and for the ·miracles [wonderful works] he does for people [vv. 8, 21, 31].
16 He ·breaks down [shatters] bronze gates
and cuts apart iron bars.
17 Some ·fools turned against God [L became fools in the way of transgression]
and ·suffered [were afflicted] ·for the evil they did [L because of their guilt].
18 ·They refused to eat anything [L Their appetite loathed any food],
so they ·almost died [L approached the gates of death].
19 In their ·misery [distress] they cried out to the Lord,
and he ·saved them [gave them victory] from their troubles [vv. 6, 13, 28].
20 God ·gave the command [L sent forth his word] and healed them,
so they were ·saved [rescued] from ·dying [destruction; or their pits].
21 Let them ·give thanks to [praise] the Lord for his ·love [loyalty]
and for the ·miracles [wonderful works] he does for people [vv. 8, 15, 31].
22 Let them offer ·sacrifices to thank him [thanksgiving offerings].
With joy they should ·tell [recount] what he has done.
23 Others went out to sea in ships
and did ·business [work] on the ·great oceans [L many waters].
24 They saw what the Lord could do,
the ·miracles [worderful works] he did in the deep oceans.
25 He spoke, and a ·storm [L stormy wind] ·came [L stood] up,
which ·blew [raised] up high waves.
26 ·The ships [L They] ·were tossed as high as [L went up to] the ·sky [heavens] and fell low to the depths.
·The storm was so bad that they lost their courage [L Their life/soul melted in evil/trouble].
27 They ·stumbled [reeled; leapt] and ·fell [tottered; staggered] like people who were drunk.
·They did not know what to do [L All their wisdom was confused].
28 In their ·misery [distress] they cried out to the Lord,
and he ·saved [L brought them out] them from their troubles [vv. 6, 13, 19].
29 He ·stilled [quieted] the storm
and ·calmed [hushed] the waves.
30 They were happy that it was quiet,
and God guided them to the ·port [harbor] they wanted.
31 Let them ·give thanks to [praise] the Lord for his ·love [loyalty]
and for the ·miracles [wonderful works] he does for people [vv. 8, 15, 21].
32 Let them ·praise his greatness [exalt him] in the ·meeting [assembly] of the people;
let them praise him in the meeting of the elders.
20 And Samson’s wife was given to his best man [C one of those companions who had attended the feast].
Samson Troubles the Philistines
15 At the time of the wheat harvest [C late May or early June], Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat with him [C as a gift]. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room,” but her father would not let him go in.
2 He said to Samson, “I thought you really hated your wife, so I gave her to your ·best man [companion; 14:20]. ·Her younger sister is [L Is not her younger sister…?] more beautiful. Take her instead.”
3 But Samson said to them, “This time ·no one will blame me [I am justified/blameless/innocent] for hurting you Philistines!” 4 So Samson went out and caught three hundred ·foxes [or jackals]. He took two at a time, tied their tails together, and then tied a torch to the tails of each pair of ·foxes [or jackals]. 5 After he lit the torches, he let the ·foxes [or jackals] loose in the grainfields of the Philistines so that he burned up their standing grain, the ·piles [heaps; shocks] of grain, their vineyards, and their olive trees.
6 The Philistines asked, “Who did this?”
Someone told them, “Samson, the son-in-law of the ·man from Timnah [L Timnite], did because his father-in-law gave his wife to his ·best man [companion].”
So the Philistines burned Samson’s wife and her father to death. 7 Then Samson said to the Philistines, “Since you did this, I won’t stop until I ·pay you back [get revenge on you]!” 8 Samson ·attacked the Philistines and killed many of them [L struck them down calf on thigh with a great slaughter]. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and camped in the land of Judah, ·near a place named [spreading out near; or overrunning/raiding] Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked them, “Why have you come here to fight us?”
They answered, “We have come to make Samson our prisoner, to ·pay him back for what he did to our people [L do to him as he did to us].”
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the ·cave [cleft] in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “What have you done to us? Don’t you know that the Philistines rule over us?”
Samson answered, “I only ·paid them back for [L did to them] what they did to me.”
12 Then they said to him, “We have come to ·tie you up [bind you] and to hand you over to the Philistines.”
Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not ·hurt [attack; come against] me yourselves.”
13 The men from Judah said, “·We agree [L No; C meaning they wouldn’t hurt him]. We will just ·tie you up [bind you] and give you to the Philistines. We will not kill you.” So they tied Samson with two new ropes and led him up from the cave in the rock. 14 When Samson came to the Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, ·shouting for joy [or with shouts of triumph; L shouting]. Then the Spirit of the Lord ·entered Samson and gave him great power [came upon/rushed upon/empowered him; 14:19]. The ropes on him weakened like burned ·strings [flax] and [L his bonds] fell off his hands! 15 Samson found the ·jawbone [L fresh jawbone; C not yet decayed] of a ·dead donkey [T ass], took it, and ·killed [L struck down] a thousand men with it!
16 Then Samson said,
“With a donkey’s jawbone
I ·made donkeys out of them [or have piled them in heaps].
With a donkey’s jawbone
I ·killed [L struck down] a thousand men!”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone. So that place was named Ramath Lehi [C Jawbone Hill].
18 Samson was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord, “You gave me, your servant, this great victory. Do I have to die of thirst now? Do I have to be captured by ·people who are not circumcised [or these pagans; L the uncircumcised]?” 19 Then God ·opened up a hole in the ground [L split open the basin/hollow place] at Lehi, and water came out. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he ·felt better [revived]. So he named that spring ·Caller’s Spring [or Spring of the One Who Cries Out; L En Hakkore], which is still in Lehi.
20 Samson ·judged [led] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
17 “The promise God made to Abraham [Gen. 15:12–16] was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt ·grew large [L increased/flourished and multiplied]. 18 Then ·a new [L another] king, who ·did not know who Joseph was [or did not think Joseph was important], ·began to rule Egypt [L arose; Ex. 1:8]. 19 This king ·tricked [exploited; dealt treacherously with] our ·people [L race] and was cruel to our ·ancestors [L fathers], forcing them to ·leave [L expose; abandon] their babies outside to die [C such abandonment was a common ancient method of population control]. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was ·very beautiful [beautiful before/to God; or of high status in God’s eyes]. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When ·they put Moses outside [L he was abandoned/exposed; C when Moses’ mother “exposed” Moses to the elements, she was actually hiding him; Ex. 2:3–4], ·the king’s [L Pharaoh’s] daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son. 22 ·The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew [L So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians], and he was a powerful man in ·what he said and did [L his words and actions].
23 “When Moses was about forty years old, ·he thought it would be good [L it rose up in his heart] to visit his own ·people [relatives; L brothers (and sisters)], the ·people [L sons; children] of Israel. 24 Moses saw an Egyptian ·mistreating [wronging] one of his people, so he defended the ·Israelite [L oppressed man] and ·punished the Egyptian by killing him [L avenged him by striking down the Egyptian; Ex. 2:11–12]. 25 Moses ·thought [assumed] his own ·people [relatives; L brothers (and sisters)] would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not. 26 The next day when Moses saw two men of Israel fighting, he tried to ·make peace between [reconcile] them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you ·hurting [wronging] each other?’ 27 The man who was ·hurting [wronging] ·the other [L his neighbor] pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28 ·Are you going [or Do you want] to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday [Ex. 2:14]?’ 29 When Moses heard him say this, he ·left Egypt [L fled] and went to live in the land of Midian [C a land without distinct borders centered in northwestern Arabia] where he was a ·stranger [foreigner; resident alien; Ex. 2:15–25]. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.
Jesus Heals an Officer’s Son(A)
43 Two days later, Jesus left [L from there] and went to Galilee [C the northern region of Israel]. 44 (Jesus had ·said [testified; witnessed] before that a prophet ·is not respected [L has no honor] in his own ·country [or hometown; C probably a reference to Galilee, but some think Judea].) 45 When [L therefore] Jesus arrived in Galilee, the ·people there [L Galileans] ·welcomed [received] him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, because they had been there, too.
46 Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine [2:1–11]. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and ·begged [urged; asked] him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. 48 Jesus said to him, “·You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me [L Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe; 2:23–25; 6:26].”
49 The [royal] officer said, “Sir, ·come [L come down] before my child dies.”
50 Jesus ·answered [said to him], “Go. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus told him [C he did not need “signs” and miracles] and went home. 51 On the way the man’s ·servants [slaves; bond-servants] came and met him and told him, “Your son is alive.”
52 [L So/Then] The man asked, “What ·time [hour] did my son begin to get well?”
They answered, “Yesterday at ·one o’clock [L the seventh hour; C hours were counted from dawn, about 6 AM] the fever left him.”
53 [L So/Then] The father knew that ·one o’clock was the exact time that [L in that hour] Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all ·the people who lived in his house [his household] believed in Jesus.
54 That was the second ·miracle [L sign; C the first sign was turning water into wine; 2:1–11] Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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