Book of Common Prayer
137 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cleverness.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!”
8 O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
144 Blessed be the Lord my strength, who teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight;
2 my goodness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I trust, who subdueth my people under me.
3 Lord, what is man that Thou takest notice of him? Or the son of man that Thou makest account of him?
4 Man is like vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
5 Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning and scatter them; shoot out Thine arrows and destroy them.
7 Send Thine hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strangers,
8 whose mouth speaketh vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God; upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee.
10 It is He that giveth salvation unto kings, who delivereth David His servant from the hurtful sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of strangers, whose mouth speaketh vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood,
12 that our sons may be as plants full grown in their youth, that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace;
13 that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store, that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets;
14 that our oxen may be strong to labor, that there be no breaking in, nor going out, that there be no complaining in our streets.
15 Happy is that people for whom such is the case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.
104 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honor and majesty—
2 who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
3 who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
4 who maketh His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire;
5 who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should never be removed.
6 Thou covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of Thy thunder they hastened away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which Thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By them shall the fowls of the heavens have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from His chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herbs for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth,
15 and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted,
17 where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his time to go down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.
22 When the sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches.
25 So also is this great and wide sea, wherein are innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships; there also is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein.
27 These all wait upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
28 What Thou givest them, they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.
29 Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.
31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills, 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 My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul! Praise ye the Lord!
3 After this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day.
2 And Job spoke and said:
3 “Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, ‘There is a manchild conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day,
10 because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11 “Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees precede me, or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept; then would I have been at rest
14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves,
15 or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver;
16 or as a hidden untimely birth I would not have been, as infants who never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul,
21 who long for death but it cometh not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.”
10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Behold, I am here, Lord.”
11 And the Lord said unto him, “Arise and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for the one called Saul of Tarsus; for behold, he prayeth
12 and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.”
13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many of this man, and how much evil he hath done to Thy saints in Jerusalem.
14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Thy name.”
15 But the Lord said unto him, “Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
16 For I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
17 And Ananias went his way and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus who appeared unto thee on the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized.
19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples who were at Damascus.
41 The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, “I am the Bread which came down from Heaven.”
42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, ‘I came down from Heaven’?”
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, “Murmur not among yourselves.
44 No man can come to Me unless the Father who hath sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the Last Day.
45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned from the Father cometh unto Me.
46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He that is of God; He hath seen the Father.
47 Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life.
48 I am that Bread of Life.
49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.
51 I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever; and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.