Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137[a]
Sorrow and Hope in Exile
I
1 By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat weeping
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 On the poplars in its midst
we hung up our harps.(B)
3 For there our captors asked us
for the words of a song;
Our tormentors, for joy:
“Sing for us a song of Zion!”
4 But how could we sing a song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
II
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget.(C)
6 May my tongue stick to my palate
if I do not remember you,
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
beyond all my delights.
III
7 Remember, Lord, against Edom
that day at Jerusalem.
They said: “Level it, level it
down to its foundations!”(D)
8 Desolate Daughter Babylon, you shall be destroyed,
blessed the one who pays you back
what you have done us!(E)
9 [b]Blessed the one who seizes your children
and smashes them against the rock.(F)
Psalm 144[a]
A Prayer for Victory and Prosperity
1 Of David.
I
[b]Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war;
2 My safeguard and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
II
3 [c]Lord, what is man that you take notice of him;
the son of man, that you think of him?(A)
4 [d]Man is but a breath,
his days are like a passing shadow.(B)
5 [e]Lord, incline your heavens and come down;
touch the mountains and make them smoke.(C)
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter my foes;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach out your hand from on high;
deliver me from the many waters;
rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
8 Their mouths speak untruth;
their right hands are raised in lying oaths.[f]
9 O God, a new song I will sing to you;
on a ten-stringed lyre I will play for you.(D)
10 You give victory to kings;
you delivered David your servant.(E)
From the menacing sword 11 deliver me;
rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
Their mouths speak untruth;
their right hands are raised in lying oaths.
III
12 May our sons be like plants(F)
well nurtured from their youth,
Our daughters, like carved columns,
shapely as those of the temple.
13 May our barns be full
with every kind of store.
May our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
may our oxen be well fattened.
14 May there be no breach in the walls,
no exile, no outcry in our streets.(G)
15 Blessed the people so fortunate;
blessed the people whose God is the Lord.(H)
Psalm 104[a]
Praise of God the Creator
I
1 Bless the Lord, my soul!
Lord, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and splendor,
2 robed in light as with a cloak.
You spread out the heavens like a tent;(A)
3 setting the beams of your chambers upon the waters.[b]
You make the clouds your chariot;
traveling on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers;
flaming fire, your ministers.(B)
II
5 [c]You fixed the earth on its foundation,
so it can never be shaken.
6 The deeps covered it like a garment;
above the mountains stood the waters.
7 At your rebuke they took flight;
at the sound of your thunder they fled.(C)
8 They rushed up the mountains, down the valleys
to the place you had fixed for them.
9 You set a limit they cannot pass;
never again will they cover the earth.(D)
III
10 You made springs flow in wadies
that wind among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field;(E)
here wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of heaven nest;
among the branches they sing.
13 You water the mountains from your chambers;
from the fruit of your labor the earth abounds.
14 You make the grass grow for the cattle
and plants for people’s work
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 wine to gladden their hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread to sustain the human heart.
16 [d]The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted.
17 There the birds build their nests;
the stork in the junipers, its home.(F)
18 The high mountains are for wild goats;
the rocky cliffs, a refuge for badgers.
IV
19 You made the moon to mark the seasons,(G)
the sun that knows the hour of its setting.
20 You bring darkness and night falls,
then all the animals of the forest wander about.
21 Young lions roar for prey;
they seek their food from God.(H)
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and settle down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work,
to their labor till evening falls.
V
24 How varied are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.(I)
25 There is the sea, great and wide!
It teems with countless beings,
living things both large and small.(J)
26 There ships ply their course
and Leviathan,[e] whom you formed to play with.(K)
VI
27 All of these look to you
to give them food in due time.(L)
28 When you give it to them, they gather;
when you open your hand, they are well filled.
29 [f]When you hide your face, they panic.
Take away their breath, they perish
and return to the dust.(M)
30 Send forth your spirit, they are created
and you renew the face of the earth.
VII
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord be glad in his works!
32 Who looks at the earth and it trembles,
touches the mountains and they smoke!(N)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(O)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners vanish from the earth,
and the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Hallelujah![g]
12 Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not even tell the messengers whom you sent to me, 13 ‘Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord do anything, good or evil, contrary to the command of the Lord’? Whatever the Lord says I must say.(A)
The Fourth Oracle. 14 “But now that I am about to go to my own people, let me warn you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.” 15 Then he recited his poem:
The oracle of Balaam, son of Beor,
the oracle of the man whose eye is true,
16 The oracle of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
in rapture and with eyes unveiled.
17 I see him, though not now;
I observe him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a scepter[a] shall rise from Israel,
That will crush the brows of Moab,(B)
and the skull of all the Sethites,
18 Edom will be dispossessed,
and no survivor is left in Seir.
Israel will act boldly,
19 and Jacob will rule his foes.
20 Upon seeing Amalek, Balaam recited his poem:
21 Upon seeing the Kenites,[c] he recited his poem:
Though your dwelling is safe,
and your nest is set on a cliff;
22 Yet Kain will be destroyed
when Asshur[d] takes you captive.
23 Upon seeing[e] [the Ishmaelites?] he recited his poem:
Alas, who shall survive of Ishmael,
24 to deliver them from the hands of the Kittim?
When they have conquered Asshur and conquered Eber,
They too shall perish forever.
25 Then Balaam set out on his journey home; and Balak also went his way.
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.(A) 19 For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; 20 for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,(B) in hope 21 that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.(C) 22 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;(D) 23 and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.(E) 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?(F) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
23 (A)On that day Sadducees approached him, saying that there is no resurrection.[a] They put this question to him, 24 (B)saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies[b] without children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died and, having no descendants, left his wife to his brother. 26 The same happened with the second and the third, through all seven. 27 Finally the woman died. 28 Now at the resurrection, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had been married to her.” 29 [c]Jesus said to them in reply, “You are misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. 31 And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you[d] by God, 32 (C)‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment.[e] 34 (D)When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them [a scholar of the law][f] tested him by asking, 36 “Teacher,[g] which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 (E)He said to him,[h] “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 (F)The second is like it:[i] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 [j](G)The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Question About David’s Son.[k]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.