Book of Common Prayer
1 ¶ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof;
3 when there, those that carried us away captive asked us for the words of the song; with our harps of joy hung upon the willows saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the song of the LORD in the land of strangers?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, my right hand shall be forgotten.
6 If I do not remember thee, my tongue shall cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not prefer to lift up Jerusalem as my chief joy.
7 ¶ Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewards thee as thou hast served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that takes and dashes thy offspring against the stones.
A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ Blessed be the LORD my strength, who trains my hands for the battle and my fingers for the war:
2 My mercy and my fortress; my high tower and my deliverer; my shield and he in whom I trust, who subdues my people under me.
3 LORD, what is man that thou knowest him? or the son of man, that thou esteemeth him?
4 Man is like unto vanity; his days are as a shadow that passes away.
5 Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning and scatter them; shoot out thine arrows and destroy them.
7 Send thine hand from above; redeem me and deliver me out of many waters, from the hand of the strange sons,
8 whose mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 ¶ I will sing a new song unto thee, O God; upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises unto thee.
10 Thou, he who gives salvation unto kings, who redeems David his slave from the evil sword.
11 Redeem me, and save me from the hand of strange sons, whose mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace;
13 that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets;
14 that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in nor going out; that there be no shout of alarm in our streets.
15 Blessed is that people, that is in such a case; yea, blessed is that people, whose God is the LORD.
1 ¶ Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty,
2 who dost cover thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain,
3 who dost establish his chambers between the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks upon the wings of the wind,
4 who makes his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire,
5 who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved by any age.
6 Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 The mountains were exposed; they descended through the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they not turn again to cover the earth.
10 ¶ Thou art he who sends the springs into the valleys, which run among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Next to them the fowls of the heavens have their habitation; they sing among the leaves.
13 He waters the mountains from his chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
14 He causes the hay to grow for the cattle and grass for the service of man, that he may bring forth bread out of the earth
15 and wine that makes glad the heart of man, making his face to shine with oil and bread which sustains man’s heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are satisfied; the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted,
17 that the birds may make their nests there: the stork makes her house among the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies.
19 ¶ He appointed the moon for times and seasons; the sun knows his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest move.
21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God.
22 The sun arises, they withdraw and lay themselves down in their dens.
23 Man goes forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom thou hast made them all; the earth is full of thy riches.
25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom thou didst make to play therein.
27 These wait all upon thee, that thou may give them their food in due season.
28 Thou givest unto them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their spirit, they cease to exist and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.
31 ¶ Let the glory of the LORD endure for ever; let the LORD rejoice in his works.
32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the LORD.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Halelu- JAH (Praise ye the LORD).
3 ¶ After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
2 And Job spoke and said,
3 Let the day perish in which I was born and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above; neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death redeem it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
7 O, let that night be solitary; let no song come therein!
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be darkened; they waited for light, but have none; neither let them see the dawning of the day;
10 because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb nor hide the misery from my eyes.
11 ¶ Why did I not die from the womb? Why did I not give up the spirit when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees receive me? Of what use the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now I should have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with the kings and the counsellors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves;
15 or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or, why was I not hidden as an untimely birth, as infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together, they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
20 ¶ Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 who long for death, but it comes not; and search for it more than for hid treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave;
23 to the man who does not know which way he goes and whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I never had prosperity, nor did I secure myself, neither was I at rest; yet trouble came.
10 ¶ And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; to whom the Lord said in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for, behold, he prays
12 and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, of how much evil he has done to thy saints in Jerusalem,
14 and even here he has authority from the princes of the priests to bind all that call on thy name.
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
16 for I will show him how much it behooves him to suffer for my name.
17 Then Ananias went and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way as thou didst come, has sent me, that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and he received sight immediately and arose and was baptized.
19 And when he had received food, he was comforted. Then Saul was certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
41 The Jews then murmured of him because he said, I AM the bread which descended from the heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I descended from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard from the Father and has learned comes unto me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is of God, he has seen the Father.
47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes in me has eternal life.
48 I AM the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.
51 I AM the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, they shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International