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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.

Duration: 861 days

Psalm 102

Psalm 102^[a]

Prayer of an Exile

¹The prayer of one afflicted. When he is wasting away^[b] and pours out his anguish before the Lord.

²^[c]O Lord, give heed to my prayer;
    let my plea for help reach you.
³Do not conceal your face^[d] from my sight
    in the time of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
    on the day when I call out to you, answer me speedily.
⁴For my days are fading away like smoke,
    and my bones are burning like live coals.
⁵My heart^[e] is stricken, withered like grass;
    I am too exhausted to eat my bread.
⁶As a result of my incessant groaning,
    I am now nothing more than skin and bones.
⁷I am like a pelican^[f] of the wilderness,
    like an owl among the ruins.
⁸I am sleepless^[g] and I moan
    like a lone sparrow on a rooftop.
⁹All day long my enemies revile me;^[h]
    those who rage against me use my name as a curse.
¹⁰^[i]I eat ashes as though they were bread,
    and I mingle tears with my drink.
¹¹Because of your indignation and wrath,
    you have raised me up only to cast me down.
¹²My days are like a lengthening shadow,
    and I am withering away like grass.
¹³^[j]But, you, O Lord, are enthroned forever,
    and your renown will endure for all generations.
¹⁴You will arise and show mercy to Zion,
    for it is time for you to have pity on her;
    the appointed time^[k] has come.
¹⁵For her stones are precious to your servants,
    and her dust causes them to weep.^[l]
¹⁶The nations will revere your name,^[m] O Lord,
    and all the kings of the earth will sing of your glory.
¹⁷For the Lord will rebuild Zion
    and reveal himself in all his glory.^[n]
¹⁸He will answer the prayer of the destitute,
    and he will not ignore their petition.
¹⁹Let this be written^[o] for future generations
    so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
²⁰“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high
    and gazed on the earth from heaven,
²¹to hear the sighs of the prisoners
    and to set free those under sentence of death.”^[p]
²²Then the name of the Lord will be proclaimed in Zion,
    and his praise^[q] in Jerusalem
²³when all peoples and kingdoms come together
    to worship the Lord.^[r]
²⁴^[s]He has taken away my strength on my life’s journey;
    he has cut short my days.
²⁵So I said: “Do not carry me off, O my God,
    before half my days are done,^[t]
    for your years endure from age to age.
²⁶^[u]“Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁷They will pass away but you endure;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like clothing,
    and they will perish.^[v]
²⁸“However, you remain always the same,
    and your years will have no end.^[w]
²⁹The children of your servants will be secure,
    and their descendants will dwell in your presence.”^[x]

Footnotes

Psalm 102:1 Known as the fifth of the seven Penitential Psalms (Pss 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), this psalm combines the lament of an afflicted person overwhelmed with pain and the prayer of the community of poor returned exiles waiting to be able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, their holy city. It shows that humanity and the universe pass away, while God remains (vv. 12-13, 26, 28). This is the proof of the Lord’s power and the reason for their hopes.
It is also the reason for the hopes of Christians, since we know that in Jesus and in his Church, God has built an imperishable dwelling place for his people, a point emphasized by the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 1:10-12) when it comments on verses 26-28 of this psalm.
Psalm 102:1 This superscription is unique, giving neither author nor liturgical or historical note; instead it assigns the prayer to a life situation—when one afflicted is close to giving up, i.e., wasting away (see Pss 61:3; 77:4; 142:4; 143:4).
Psalm 102:2 One day, possibly during a grave sickness, the psalmist reaches the bitter conclusion of the inconsistency of human life. And the supreme outrage is that all who see him attribute his sad state to punishment sent by God, for his prayer and repentance receive no answer. The poor man experiences the depths of anguish where everything is falling apart; he can do nothing except cry out to God.
Psalm 102:3 Conceal your face: see note on Ps 13:2.
Psalm 102:5 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8. Withered like grass: see note on Ps 90:5.
Psalm 102:7 Pelican: a bird that in Christian times became a symbol of Christ all alone in Gethsemane and of the Eucharist. The word is also translated as “owl.” Owl: a symbol of desolateness and destruction (see Isa 34:11, 15; Jer 50:39; Zep 2:14).
Psalm 102:8 I am sleepless: some translations omit the words: “and I moan.”
Psalm 102:9 Enemies revile me: see note on Ps 5:10; see also Ps 109:25. Use my name as a curse: his enemies point him out as an example of divine malediction, saying: “May you become as wretched as so-and-so.”
Psalm 102:10 The Israelites indicated their penance externally by covering their heads with ashes and uttering lamentation accompanied by copious tears. To obtain God’s pity, the sick psalmist does not hold back. He covers himself with such an abundance of ashes that they are interspersed with his food, and he gives way to so many tears that they mingle with his drink. All the same, he is inexorably on his way toward death.
Psalm 102:13 The people thus experience a time of scorn. Uprooted from their temple and their land, they are too overwhelmed by the loss of what they most cherish for them to think of revenge. They have recourse to God’s tender mercies. In their misfortune, they fall back on a single certitude—the goodness of the Lord. At once, hope of restoration begins shining forth, for “the appointed time has come” (v. 14)—so much so that they do not stop at imagining the sole reestablishment of Israel, but their perspective of renewed happiness embraces all humanity.
Psalm 102:14 Appointed time: the time established by God for judgment and salvation (see Ps 75:3; Ex 9:5; 2 Sam 24:15; Dan 11:27, 35).
Psalm 102:15 The psalmist intimates that Zion must be highly cherished by the Lord for she is so dear to his servants.
Psalm 102:16 See note on Ps 46:11. Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 102:17 And reveal himself in all his glory: may also be translated as: “and thus appear in his glory” (see v. 16 and note on Ps 46:11; see also Isa 40:1-5). The ultimate fulfillment of this hope will occur in the “new Jerusalem” (see Rev 21).
Psalm 102:19 Written: this is the only place in the Psalter that calls for a written record of God’s saving deed. The usual reference is to an oral record (see Pss 22:32; 44:2; 78:1-4).
Psalm 102:21 Prisoners . . . those under sentence of death: see note on Ps 79:11.
Psalm 102:22 Name . . . praise: see notes on Pss 5:12; 9:2.
Psalm 102:23 See notes on Pss 46:11; 47:10; see also Pss 96; 98; 100; Isa 2:2-4; Mic 4:1-3.
Psalm 102:24 Here the individual lament and the national supplication are combined. Upon meditating on the precariousness of existence before the God who endures forever, a hope arises, the hope of not being abandoned. The Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 13:8) will proclaim: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Psalm 102:25 Before half my days are done: when the normal life span is only half-completed (see Isa 38:10; Jer 17:11).
Psalm 102:26 This passage is inspired by Isa 51:6-8 and applied to the Messiah (Heb 1:10-12). The restoration of Israel and the coming of the Messiah will be the preface to the eschatological renewal or regeneration that will accompany the end of time (see Isa 65:17; 66:22; Rev 20:11; 21:1).
Psalm 102:27 Both the “foundations of the earth” and the “heavens” (v. 26, which the ever-living God has made) will perish (see Pss 1:6; 90:4; 2 Pet 3:8ff) and be of no use, like discarded clothing (see Isa 51:6).
Psalm 102:28 By contrast, the Lord remains forever the same (see Heb 13:8); he is the “first and the last” (see Deut 32:39; Isa 41:4; 46:4; 48:12).
Psalm 102:29 Because God does not change, the children of his people will be secure in the Lord (see Mal 3:6). Dwell in your presence: another translation is: “dwell in the [Promised] Land” (see Pss 25:13; 69:37; see also Ps 37:3, 29; Isa 65:9).

Psalm 107:1-32

Book V—Psalms 107–150^[a]

Psalm 107^[b]

God, Savior of Those in Distress

¹“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his kindness^[c] endures forever.”
²Let this be the prayer of the redeemed of the Lord,
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe
³and gathered together from the lands,^[d]
    from east and west, north and south.
⁴^[e]Some wandered in a barren wilderness,
    unable to discover a path to an inhabited city.
⁵They were hungry and thirsty,
    and their life was wasting away.
⁶Then they cried out to the Lord in their anguish,
    and he saved them from their distress.
⁷He led them by a direct route
    to a city in which they could dwell.
⁸Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness^[f]
    and for the wonders he does for people.
⁹He has satisfied the thirsty
    and filled the hungry with good things.
¹⁰^[g]Some sat in darkness and the shadow of death,^[h]
    bound in misery and in chains,
¹¹because they had rebelled against the words of God
    and spurned the plan of the Most High.
¹²He humbled their hearts with hard labor;^[i]
    when they stumbled, no one was there to offer help.
¹³Then they cried out to the Lord in their need,
    and he rescued them from their distress.
¹⁴He brought them forth from darkness and the shadow of death
    and tore their chains to pieces.
¹⁵Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness
    and for the wonders he does for people.
¹⁶He has broken down gates of bronze
    and cut through iron bars.
¹⁷^[j]Some were made foolish by their wicked ways
    and were afflicted because of their iniquities.
¹⁸All types of food became loathsome to them,
    and they were nearing the gates of death.^[k]
¹⁹Then they cried out to the Lord in their anguish,
    and he rescued them from their distress.
²⁰He sent forth his word^[l] and healed them,
    saving them from the grave.
²¹Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness
    and for the wonders he does for people.
²²Let them offer sacrifices in thanksgiving
    and recount his deeds with jubilation.
²³^[m]Some went down to the sea in ships
    and engaged in commerce on the mighty waters.
²⁴^[n]They beheld the works of the Lord
    and his wonders in the deep.
²⁵He spoke and raised up a storm wind
    that stirred up the waves of the sea.
²⁶They were lifted up to the heavens, then cast down to the depths;
    their courage melted away in their plight.
²⁷They reeled and staggered like drunkards,
    and they were at their wits’ end.
²⁸They cried out to the Lord in their anguish,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
²⁹He reduced the storm to a whisper,
    and the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰They rejoiced because of the calm,
    and he guided them to the port they sought.
³¹Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness
    and for the wonders he does for people.
³²Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
    and praise him in the council of the elders.^[o]

Footnotes

Psalm 107:1 Book V of the Psalter. Two collections are included in this final part: the pilgrimage chants or “Songs of Ascent” (Pss 120–134) and the Hallel or “Praise” psalms (113–118; 120–136; 146–150). In addition, we see a further group of psalms attributed to David (Pss 138–145). Jewish tradition also groups together Pss 113–118, known as the Egyptian Hallel, for use at the Passover. The “hymn” sung at the Last Supper (see Mk 14:26) was probably part of that Hallel.
Although cries of supplication still form part of the prayer of the psalmist, joy begins to radiate upon the face of the pilgrim who draws near to the Lord; the acclamation voiced in the presence of God will transform the conclusion of the Psalter into a prodigious symphony of happiness.
Psalm 107:1 Even though this psalm is not part of Book IV, many believe that it was originally associated with Pss 105–106 and served as a kind of conclusion to the theme-related Pss 104–107. After the account of God’s works in creation (see Ps 104:2-26) and his care for the animal world (see Ps 104:27-30) it recounts “the wonders [God] does for people” (Ps 107:8).
Psalm 107 is a thanksgiving for “God’s deliverances.” Persons in distress have cried out to him and obtained help: wandering voyagers (vv. 4-9), prisoners (vv. 10-16), the sick (vv. 17-22), and the shipwrecked (vv. 23-32). The Lord reverses situations as he pleases (vv. 33-41), but only the believer can discern the divine action. Beneath the concrete life of the era, evoked at times with humor (vv. 26-27 remind us that the Israelites were not very seaworthy), we see the history of the chosen people: the journeys of the Exodus and the Exile, their temptations and their sins.
Visibly the author takes his inspiration from the Book of Consolation (see Isa 40–55) and the writings of the sages (see Job; Wis 16). Thanksgivings that are at first private, ultimately express the gratitude of an entire people. For the believer, the events become signs: they invite him to discover in his life and that of the community of peoples a secret presence of God.
Christians pray this psalm to praise the Father for redeeming us in Christ. We have been saved by him from the hand of the infernal oppressor, gathered by him into the Church, and delivered by his love from the spiritual death to which we were doomed by the state in which Satan bound us and which was symbolized by the image of the wilderness, captivity, sickness, and the storm.
Psalm 107:1 A conventional cry of praise in the liturgy of the temple often cited in the Old Testament (see Pss 106:1; 118:1; 136:1; 1 Chr 16:34; 1 Mac 4:24; Jer 33:11; Dan 3:89). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.
Psalm 107:3 From the lands: e.g., Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, and Moab, into which the catastrophe of 587 B.C. had dispersed the chosen people (see 2 Ki 17:6; 24:12-16; Isa 11:11f; 43:5f; Jer 52:28-30). South: literally, “[the] sea.”
Psalm 107:4 The psalmist evokes the Lord’s deliverances of his people from the wilderness in which they were lost, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted, especially during the Exodus (see Jos 5:6), which prefigured the just completed return from the Exile (see Neh 1:3). Jesus would later indicate that he delivered people from the same four situations as the Way to the Father (see Jn 14:6), the Bread of Heaven (see Jn 6:41), the Water of Life (see Jn 4:14), and the Giver of Rest (see Mt 11:28).
Psalm 107:8 This refrain is repeated in verses 15, 21, 31. Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5. Wonders: see note on Ps 9:2 concerning God’s wonders.
Psalm 107:10 The psalmist evokes God’s deliverance of his people from foreign bondage, especially in the return from the Exile (see Isa 43:5f; 49:12; Zec 8:7f). In addition, guilt, darkness, grinding toil, and the constriction of chains, gates, and bars are apt figures for the fallen state of human beings.
Psalm 107:10 See Pss 105:18; 149:8; Isa 42:7; 49:9. The Exile was a chastisement (see Lev 26:41ff; Job 33:19; 36:8ff; Prov 3:12), announced by the Prophets. Shadow of death: see note on Ps 23:4.
Psalm 107:12 Humbled their hearts with hard labor: i.e., a labor that broke their spirit. Another translation is: “subjected them to bitter labor.”
Psalm 107:17 The psalmist evokes God’s deliverance of his people from the chastisement of sickness unto death incurred because of sin.
Psalm 107:18 Gates of death: metaphorical description for death (see Pss 9:14; 88:4) in keeping with the ancient custom of picturing the realm of death as a city in the netherworld with a series of gates that prevented return to the land of the living (see Job 38:17; Mt 16:18).
Psalm 107:20 The word is here personified as God’s messenger of healing and deliverance from the grave (see Ps 147:15; Job 33:23ff; Wis 16:12; Isa 55:11; Mt 8:8; Jn 1:1).
Psalm 107:23 The psalmist evokes God’s deliverance of his people from the perils of the sea.
Psalm 107:24 The merchants who cross the seas in search of wealth witness God’s wonderful deeds at sea (see Ps 104:24-26) and his ability to calm a storm on the surging waters (see Pss 65:8; 77:20).
Psalm 107:32 The merchants are urged to render worship to God by declaring, both in communal worship and in places of leadership, what he has done for them.

Ezekiel 34:17-31

¹⁷Judgment of the Sheep.^[a]As for you, my flock, the Lord God says this: I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. ¹⁸Is it not sufficient for you to graze on the best pasture land? Must you also trample with your feet on the rest of the pastures? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹As a result, my sheep must graze on what you have trampled underfoot and drink what you have befouled with your feet.

²⁰Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you have shoved with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak sheep with your horns until you have scattered them in every direction, ²²I will save my flock, and they will never again be treated unfairly. I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³^[b]I will raise up one shepherd, my servant David, to care for them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince in their midst. I, the Lord, have spoken.

²⁵I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild animals so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the woods free from danger. ²⁶I will make them and the region surrounding my hill a blessing, and I will send them rain in due season that will be showers of blessing.

²⁷The trees of the field shall bear their fruit, and the soil will yield its crops. My people will be secure on their own soil and they will know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the power of those who enslaved them.

²⁸They will no longer be plundered by the nations or devoured by the wild animals of the land. They will live in safety, and no one ever again will terrify them. ²⁹I will make their land bring forth abundant crops so that they will never again be the victims of famine or have to suffer the insults of the nations.

³⁰Thus, they will be assured that I, the Lord, their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. ³¹You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

Hebrews 8

A New Kind of Priesthood^[a]

Chapter 8

Another Sanctuary.^[b] ¹The main point of what we have been saying is this: we have such a high priest. He has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ²and he is a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle established by the Lord and not by human beings.

³Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so it is necessary for this one also to have something to offer. ⁴Actually, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are already others who offer gifts according to the Law,^[c] ⁵although the sanctuary in which they offer worship is only a shadow and a reflection of the heavenly one. This is the reason why, when Moses was about to erect the tabernacle, he was warned, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”

Another Covenant.^[d] ⁶But Jesus has now received a ministry that is far superior, for he is the mediator of a far better covenant that has been established on better promises. ⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no necessity to establish a second one to replace it. ⁸^[e]However, God finds fault with his people, and he says,

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant
with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah.
⁹It will not be like the covenant
    that I made with their ancestors
on the day when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and therefore I abandoned them, says the Lord.
¹⁰This is the covenant that I will make
    with the house of Israel
    after those days, says the Lord.
I will plant my laws in their minds
    and inscribe them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
¹¹And they shall not teach one another,
    each saying to his neighbor and his brother,
    ‘Know the Lord.’
For they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
¹²I shall forgive them for their wicked deeds,
    and I shall remember their sins no more.”

¹³By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete. And anything that is obsolete and aging will shortly disappear.

Footnotes

Hebrews 8:1 Speaking about a high priest means speaking about worship, the Covenant, the sanctuary, and sacrifices. Point by point, the author describes the practices of Jewish worship; in doing so his aim is to draw a radical contrast between them and the immense newness of Christ. Jesus not only excelled the Levitical priests in dignity; he also accomplished the true worship that surpasses all prestige from the ceremonial codified in the Law of Moses.
Hebrews 8:1 The author recalls some passages of the Bible (Ps 110:1-4; Num 24:6; Ex 25:40) to show that both the sanctuary in the wilderness and the sanctuary in Jerusalem were signs pointing to true worship, which consists in having access to God. As priest, Jesus acts at that level of reality and not at the level of signs.
Hebrews 8:4 By his human birth Jesus belonged to the tribe of Judah (see Heb 7:12-14), whereas priests were taken from the tribe of Levi (see Deut 18:1). Some scholars take the present tense of the verb “offer” as an indication that the temple was still standing in Jerusalem and so the Letter must have been written before A.D. 70 when the temple was destroyed by the Romans.
Hebrews 8:6 Israel was known as the people of the Covenant, the Covenant that was expressed in the Law and in worship. A text had been in circulation since the time of Jeremiah that was critical of the past and full of hope for a new future: it was the prophecy of the New Covenant, with which everyone was familiar (see Jer 31:31-34). The author cites it in its entirety (vv. 8-12). In this New Covenant the relationship between God and human beings will no longer be based on laws and institutions, but will have as its basis the person of Jesus Christ, mediator of a life-giving relationship with God (see 1 Tim 2:5).
The priesthood of Christ has given rise to the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful, which differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, and each of which is a participation in the royal priesthood of Christ: “The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic Sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the Sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and in self-denial and active charity” (Vatican II: The Church, no. 10).
Hebrews 8:8 The New Covenant is superior to the old because of the following: (1) God’s laws are inner principles (v. 10a) enabling his people to carry out his will (see Ezek 36:26f; Rom 8:2-4). (2) God and his people enjoy an intimate fellowship (v. 10b). (3) There will nevermore be sinful ignorance of God (v. 11). (4) Forgiveness of sins will last forever (v. 12).

Luke 10:38-42

³⁸Martha and Mary.^[a] In the course of their journey, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹She had a sister named Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. So she came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me.” ⁴¹The Lord answered her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset about many things, ⁴²when only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 102[a]

Prayer of an Exile

Footnotes

Book V—Psalms 107–150[a]

Psalm 107[b]

God, Savior of Those in Distress

Footnotes

Footnotes

A New Kind of Priesthood[a]

Chapter 8

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 102^[a]

Book V—Psalms 107–150^[a]

Psalm 107^[b]

A New Kind of Priesthood^[a]