Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
Lament of the Exiles
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees,(B)
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”(C)
Psalm 144
A King’s Prayer
Davidic.
1 May the Lord, my rock, be praised,(A)
who trains my hands for battle
and my fingers for warfare.(B)
2 He is my faithful love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer.
He is my shield,(C) and I take refuge in Him;(D)
He subdues my people[a] under me.(E)
3 Lord, what is man, that You care for him,
the son of man, that You think of him?(F)
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.(G)
5 Lord, part Your heavens and come down.(H)
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.(I)
6 Flash Your lightning and scatter the foe;[b]
shoot Your arrows and rout them.(J)
7 Reach down[c] from heaven;(K)
rescue me from deep water, and set me free
from the grasp of foreigners(L)
8 whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.(M)
9 God, I will sing a new song to You;
I will play on a ten-stringed harp for You(N)—
10 the One who gives victory to kings,
who frees His servant David
from the deadly sword.(O)
11 Set me free and rescue me
from the grasp of foreigners(P)
whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.(Q)
12 Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters, like corner pillars
that are carved in the palace style.(R)
13 Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all kinds of produce;(S)
our flocks will increase by thousands
and tens of thousands in our open fields.(T)
14 Our cattle will be well fed.[d]
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,[e]
and no cry of lament in our public squares.(U)
15 Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.(V)
Psalm 104
God the Creator
1 My soul, praise Yahweh!
Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with majesty and splendor.(A)
2 He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,(B)
3 laying the beams of His palace
on the waters above,(C)
making the clouds His chariot,(D)
walking on the wings of the wind,(E)
4 and making the winds His messengers,[a]
flames of fire His servants.(F)
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be shaken.(G)
6 You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.(H)
7 At Your rebuke the waters fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away(I)—
8 mountains rose and valleys sank[b]—
to the place You established for them.(J)
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again.(K)
10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.(L)
11 They supply water for every wild beast;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.(M)
12 The birds of the sky live beside the springs;
they sing among the foliage.(N)
13 He waters the mountains from His palace;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of Your labor.(O)
14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,(P)
15 wine that makes man’s heart glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains man’s heart.(Q)
16 The trees of the Lord flourish,[c]
the cedars of Lebanon that He planted.(R)
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork makes its home in the pine trees.(S)
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.(T)
19 He made the moon to mark the[d] festivals;[e]
the sun knows when to set.(U)
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals stir.(V)
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.(W)
22 The sun rises; they go back
and lie down in their dens.(X)
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until evening.(Y)
24 How countless are Your works, Lord!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.[f](Z)
25 Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.(AA)
26 There the ships move about,
and Leviathan, which You formed to play there.(AB)
27 All of them wait for You
to give them their food at the right time.(AC)
28 When You give it to them,
they gather it;
when You open Your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.(AD)
29 When You hide Your face,
they are terrified;
when You take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.(AE)
30 When You send Your breath,[g]
they are created,
and You renew the face of the earth.(AF)
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in His works.(AG)
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.(AH)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(AI)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to Him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.(AJ)
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and wicked people be no more.(AK)
My soul, praise Yahweh!
Hallelujah!
12 This will be the plague the Lord strikes all the peoples with, who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day a great panic from the Lord will be among them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other. 14 Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected: gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.(A) 15 The same plague as the previous one will strike[a] the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.
16 Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.(B) 17 Should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, rain will not fall on them. 18 And if the people[b] of Egypt will not go up and enter, then rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague the Lord inflicts on the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.
20 On that day, the words
HOLY TO THE LORD
will be on the bells of the horses.(C) The pots in the house of the Lord will be like the sprinkling basins before the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Hosts. Everyone who sacrifices will come and take some of the pots to cook in. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite[c] in the house of the Lord of Hosts.
Christian Humility
2 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love,(A) if any fellowship with the Spirit,(B) if any affection and mercy,(C) 2 fulfill my joy by thinking the same way,(D) having the same love,(E) sharing the same feelings, focusing on one(F) goal. 3 Do nothing out of rivalry(G) or conceit,(H) but in humility(I) consider others as more important(J) than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests,(K) but also for the interests of others.(L)
Christ’s Humility and Exaltation
5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God(M)
as something to be used for His own advantage.[a]
7 Instead He emptied Himself(N)
by assuming the form of a slave,(O)
taking on the likeness of men.(P)
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.(Q)
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him(R)
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow(S)—
of those who are in heaven(T) and on earth
and under the earth(U)—
11 and every tongue(V) should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,[b]
to the glory(W) of God the Father.
Jesus’ Love for Jerusalem
41 As He approached and saw the city, He wept(A) over it, 42 saying, “If you knew(B) this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden(C) from your eyes. 43 For the days will come on you(D) when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.(E) 44 They will crush you and your children within you to the ground,(F) and they will not leave one stone on another(G) in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”(H)
Cleansing the Temple Complex
45 He(I) went into the temple complex and began to throw out those who were selling,[a] 46 and He said, “It is written, My house will be a house of prayer,(J) but you have made it a den of thieves!”(K)[b]
47 Every day He was teaching(L) in the temple complex. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to destroy(M) Him, 48 but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people(N) were captivated by what they heard.[c]
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