Book of Common Prayer

⁴ How shall we sing the song of the Lord
    in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill.
⁶ If I do not remember you,
    let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not have Jerusalem
    as my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, the people of Edom
    in the day of Jerusalem,
who said, “Raze it, raze it,
    down to its foundations.”

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who is to be destroyed,
    blessed is the one who rewards you
    as you have done to us.
⁹ Blessed is the one who takes
    and dashes your little ones against the rocks.

³ O Lord, who is man that You take notice of him
    or the son of a man that You make account of him?
⁴ Man is like a breath;
    his days are as a shadow that passes away.

⁵ Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
    touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
⁶ Cast forth lightning, and scatter them;
    shoot out Your arrows, and destroy them.
⁷ Send Your hand from above;
    rescue me, and deliver me
out of the great waters,
    from the hand of foreigners,
⁸ whose mouth speaks lies,
    and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

⁹ I will sing a new song unto You, O God,
    on a harp and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises unto You;
¹⁰ it is He who gives victory to kings,
    who delivers David His servant from the cruel sword.

¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me
    from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
    and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹² May our sons in their youth
    be like plants full grown,
and our daughters like cornerstones,
    cut in the similitude of a palace,
¹³ that our granaries may be full,
    providing all manner of produce,
that our sheep may bring forth
    thousands and ten thousands in our fields,
¹⁴     and may our cattle be strong in labor.
May there be no breaking in
    or going out,
    and no wailing in our streets.
¹⁵ Blessed are the people who have such things;
    indeed, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.

O Lord my God, You are very great!
    You are clothed with honor and majesty,
² covering Yourself with light as a garment,
    who stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain,
³     who lays the upper beams of His chambers on the waters above,
who makes the clouds His chariot,
    who rides upon the wings of the wind,
⁴ who makes His angels as winds,
    His ministers a flaming fire.

⁵ You laid the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the deep as a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At Your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of Your thunder they departed away.
⁸ The mountains rose up;
    the valleys went down
    to the place that You appointed them.
⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
    that they may not again cover the earth.

¹⁰ You send the springs to gush forth in the valleys,
    which flow between the hills.
¹¹ They give drink to every animal of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³ You water the mountains from Your lofty chamber;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
¹⁴ You cause the grass to grow for the cattle
    and plants for the cultivation of man,
    that he may bring forth food from the earth
¹⁵ and wine that makes glad the heart of man,
    and oil that makes shine his face,
    and bread that strengthens his heart.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon that He has planted,
¹⁷ where the birds make their nests,
    where the stork has its home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats,
    and the rocks a refuge for the badgers.

¹⁹ He set the moon to mark the appointed seasons;
    the sun knows its time for going down.
²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night,
    when all the animals of the forest go forth.
²¹ The young lions roar after their prey
    and seek their food from God.
²² When the sun arises, they gather themselves together
    and lay down in their dens.
²³ Man goes forth to his work
    and to his labor until the evening.

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
    With wisdom You have made them all;
    the earth is full of Your creatures—
²⁵ so is this great and wide sea,
    which is full of innumerable creatures,
    living animals both small and great.
²⁶ There go the ships,
    and there is Leviathan, which You have made to play in it.

²⁷ These all wait upon You,
    that You may give them their food in due season.
²⁸ When You give it to them,
    they gather it;
when You open Your hand,
    they are filled with good food.
²⁹ When You hide Your face,
    they are troubled;
You take away their breath,
    and they die and return to their dust.
³⁰ When You send forth Your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and You renew the surface of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may 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 May my meditation be sweet to Him,
    for I will be glad in the Lord.
³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
    and let the wicked be no more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

²² “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way,
    before His works of old.
²³ I was set up from everlasting,
    from the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
²⁴ When there were no depths, I was brought forth,
    when there were no fountains abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains were settled,
    before the hills I was brought forth;
²⁶ while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
    or the first dust of the world.
²⁷ When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
    when He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when He established the clouds above,
    when He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when He gave to the sea His decree,
    that the waters should not pass His commandment,
when He appointed the foundations of the earth,
³⁰     then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him;
and I was daily His delight,
    rejoicing always before Him,
³¹ rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth,
    and my delights were with the sons of men.

³² “Now therefore listen to me, O you children,
    for blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³ Hear instruction, and be wise,
    and do not refuse it.
³⁴ Blessed is the man who hears me,
    watching daily at my gates,
    waiting at the posts of my doors.
³⁵ For whoever finds me finds life,
    and will obtain favor of the Lord;
³⁶ but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
    all those who hate me love death.”