Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh.
102 Hear my prayer, Yahweh!
Let my cry come to you.
2 Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me.
Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
3 For my days consume away like smoke.
My bones are burned as a torch.
4 My heart is blighted like grass, and withered,
for I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning,
my bones stick to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness.
I have become as an owl of the waste places.
7 I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all day.
Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and mixed my drink with tears,
10 because of your indignation and your wrath;
for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a long shadow.
I have withered like grass.
12 But you, Yahweh, will remain forever;
your renown endures to all generations.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Zion,
for it is time to have pity on her.
Yes, the set time has come.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones,
and have pity on her dust.
15 So the nations will fear Yahweh’s name,
all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 For Yahweh has built up Zion.
He has appeared in his glory.
17 He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come.
A people which will be created will praise Yah,
19 for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.
From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoner,
to free those who are condemned to death,
21 that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 when the peoples are gathered together,
the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.
23 He weakened my strength along the course.
He shortened my days.
24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days.
Your years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will endure.
Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
27 But you are the same.
Your years will have no end.
28 The children of your servants will continue.
Their offspring will be established before you.”
BOOK 5
107 Give thanks to Yahweh,[a] for he is good,
for his loving kindness endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so,
whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
3 and gathered out of the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way.
They found no city to live in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble,
and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them also by a straight way,
that they might go to a city to live in.
8 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
9 For he satisfies the longing soul.
He fills the hungry soul with good.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron,
11 because they rebelled against the words of God,[b]
and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor.
They fell down, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble,
and he saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and broke away their chains.
15 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
16 For he has broken the gates of bronze,
and cut through bars of iron.
17 Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience,
and because of their iniquities.
18 Their soul abhors all kinds of food.
They draw near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble,
and he saves them out of their distresses.
20 He sends his word, and heals them,
and delivers them from their graves.
21 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
22 Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare his deeds with singing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
who do business in great waters,
24 these see Yahweh’s deeds,
and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commands, and raises the stormy wind,
which lifts up its waves.
26 They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths.
Their soul melts away because of trouble.
27 They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble,
and he brings them out of their distress.
29 He makes the storm a calm,
so that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because it is calm,
so he brings them to their desired haven.
31 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds for the children of men!
32 Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people,
and praise him in the seat of the elders.
9 Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. 2 He had a son whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a more handsome person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people.
3 The donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. Kish said to Saul his son, “Now take one of the servants with you, and arise, go look for the donkeys.” 4 He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they weren’t there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they didn’t find them.
5 When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come! Let’s return, lest my father stop caring about the donkeys and be anxious for us.”
6 The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely happens. Now let’s go there. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.”
7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”
8 The servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel[a] of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9 (In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come! Let’s go to the seer;” for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.)
10 Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said. Come! Let’s go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. 11 As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?”
12 They answered them and said, “He is. Behold, he is before you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place. 13 As soon as you have come into the city, you will immediately find him before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you will find him.”
14 They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them to go up to the high place.
17 “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph. 19 The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 20 At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 21 When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. 22 Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers,[a] the children of Israel. 24 Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
26 “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’(A) 29 Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
31 The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, 32 but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”[a]
33 He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”
34 He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without purse, bag, and sandals, did you lack anything?”
They said, “Nothing.”
36 Then he said to them, “But now, whoever has a purse, let him take it, and likewise a bag. Whoever has none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. 37 For I tell you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘He was counted with transgressors.’(A) For that which concerns me is being fulfilled.”
38 They said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.”
He said to them, “That is enough.”
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