Book of Common Prayer
137 We were sitting by the rivers of Babylon.
We wept when we remembered what had happened to Zion.
2 On the nearby poplar trees
we hung up our harps.
3 Those who held us as prisoners asked us to sing.
Those who enjoyed hurting us ordered us to sing joyful songs.
They said, “Sing one of the songs of Zion to us!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while we are in another land?
5 Jerusalem, if I forget you,
may my right hand never be able to play the harp again.
6 If I don’t remember you,
may my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth so I can’t sing.
May it happen if I don’t consider Jerusalem
to be my greatest joy.
7 Lord, remember what the people of Edom did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down!” they cried.
“Tear it down to the ground!”
8 People of Babylon, you are sentenced to be destroyed.
Happy is the person who pays you back
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the person who grabs your babies
and smashes them against the rocks.
A psalm of David.
144 Give praise to the Lord, my Rock.
He trains my hands for war.
He trains my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and is like a fort to me.
He is my place of safety and the God who saves me.
He is like a shield that keeps me safe.
He brings nations under my control.
3 Lord, what are human beings that you take care of them?
What are mere people that you think about them?
4 Their lives don’t last any longer than a breath.
Their days are like a shadow that quickly disappears.
5 Lord, open up your heavens and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.
6 Send flashes of lightning and scatter my enemies.
Shoot your arrows and chase them away.
7 My enemies are like a mighty flood.
Reach down from heaven and save me.
Save me from outsiders who attack me.
8 They tell all kinds of lies with their mouths.
Even when they make a promise by raising their right hands, they don’t mean it.
9 My God, I will sing a new song to you.
I will make music to you on a lyre that has ten strings.
10 You are the God who helps kings win battles.
You save your servant David.
From death by the sword 11 save me.
Set me free from outsiders who attack me.
They tell all kinds of lies with their mouths.
Even when they make a promise by raising their right hands, they don’t mean it.
12 While our sons are young,
they will be like healthy plants.
Our daughters will be like pillars
that have been made to decorate a palace.
13 Our storerooms will be filled
with every kind of food.
The sheep in our fields will increase by thousands.
They will increase by tens of thousands.
14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
None of our city walls will be broken down.
No one will be carried off as a prisoner.
No cries of pain will be heard in our streets.
15 Blessed is the nation about whom all these things are true.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
104 I will praise the Lord.
Lord my God, you are very great.
You are dressed in glory and majesty.
2 The Lord wraps himself in light as if it were a robe.
He spreads out the heavens like a tent.
3 He builds his palace high in the heavens.
He makes the clouds serve as his chariot.
He rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes the winds serve as his messengers.
He makes flashes of lightning serve him.
5 He placed the earth on its foundations.
It can never be moved.
6 You, Lord, covered it with the oceans like a blanket.
The waters covered the mountains.
7 But you commanded the waters, and they ran away.
At the sound of your thunder they rushed off.
8 They flowed down the mountains.
They went into the valleys.
They went to the place you appointed for them.
9 You drew a line they can’t cross.
They will never cover the earth again.
10 The Lord makes springs pour water into the valleys.
It flows between the mountains.
11 The springs give water to all the wild animals.
The wild donkeys satisfy their thirst.
12 The birds in the sky build nests by the waters.
They sing among the branches.
13 The Lord waters the mountains from his palace high in the clouds.
The earth is filled with the things he has made.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle
and plants for people to take care of.
That’s how they get food from the earth.
15 There is wine to make people glad.
There is olive oil to make their skin glow.
And there is bread to make them strong.
16 The cedar trees of Lebanon belong to the Lord.
He planted them and gave them plenty of water.
17 There the birds make their nests.
The stork has its home in the juniper trees.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats.
The cliffs are a safe place for the rock badgers.
19 The Lord made the moon to mark off the seasons.
The sun knows when to go down.
20 You, Lord, bring darkness, and it becomes night.
Then all the animals of the forest prowl around.
21 The lions roar while they hunt.
All their food comes from God.
22 The sun rises, and they slip away.
They return to their dens and lie down.
23 Then people get up and go to work.
They keep working until evening.
24 Lord, you have made so many things!
How wise you were when you made all of them!
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 Look at the ocean, so big and wide!
It is filled with more creatures than people can count.
It is filled with living things, from the largest to the smallest.
26 Ships sail back and forth on it.
Leviathan, the sea monster you made, plays in it.
27 All creatures depend on you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them,
they eat it.
When you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you turn your face away from them,
they are terrified.
When you take away their breath,
they die and turn back into dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
you create them.
You give new life to the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord continue forever.
May the Lord be happy with what he has made.
32 When he looks at the earth, it trembles.
When he touches the mountains, they pour out smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life.
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May these thoughts of mine please him.
I find my joy in the Lord.
35 But may sinners be gone from the earth.
May evil people disappear.
I will praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Job Wishes He Had Never Been Born
3 After a while, Job opened his mouth to speak. He cursed the day he had been born. 2 He said,
3 “May the day I was born be wiped out.
May the night be wiped away when people said, ‘A boy is born!’
4 May that day turn into darkness.
May God in heaven not care about it.
May no light shine on it.
5 May gloom and total darkness take it back.
May a cloud settle over it.
May blackness cover it up.
6 May deep darkness take over the night I was born.
May it not be included among the days of the year.
May it never appear in any of the months.
7 May no children ever have been born on that night.
May no shout of joy be heard in it.
8 May people say evil things about that day.
May people ready to wake the sea monster Leviathan say evil things about that day.
9 May its morning stars become dark.
May it lose all hope of ever seeing daylight.
May it not see the first light of the morning sun.
10 It didn’t keep my mother from letting me be born.
It didn’t keep my eyes from seeing trouble.
11 “Why didn’t I die when I was born?
Why didn’t I die as I came out of my mother’s body?
12 Why was I placed on her knees?
Why did her breasts give me milk?
13 If all of that hadn’t happened,
I would be lying down in peace.
I’d be asleep and at rest in the grave.
14 I’d be with the earth’s kings and rulers.
They had built for themselves places that are now destroyed.
15 I’d be with princes who used to have gold.
They had filled their houses with silver.
16 Why wasn’t I buried like a baby who was born dead?
Why wasn’t I buried like a child who never saw the light of day?
17 In the grave, sinful people don’t cause trouble anymore.
And there tired people find rest.
18 Prisoners also enjoy peace there.
They don’t hear a slave driver shouting at them anymore.
19 The least important and most important people are there.
And there the slaves are set free from their owners.
20 “Why should those who suffer ever be born?
Why should life be given to those whose spirits are bitter?
21 Why is life given to those who long for death that doesn’t come?
Why is it given to those who would rather search for death
than for hidden treasure?
22 Why is life given to those who are actually happy and glad
when they reach the grave?
23 Why is life given to a man like me?
God hasn’t told me what will happen to me.
He has surrounded me with nothing but trouble.
24 Sighs have become my food every day.
Groans pour out of me like water.
25 What I was afraid of has come on me.
What I worried about has happened to me.
26 I don’t have any peace and quiet.
I can’t find any rest. All I have is trouble.”
10 In Damascus there was a believer named Ananias. The Lord called out to him in a vision. “Ananias!” he said.
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. Ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying. 12 In a vision Saul has seen a man come and place his hands on him. That man’s name is Ananias. In the vision, Ananias placed his hands on Saul so he could see again.”
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I’ve heard many reports about this man. They say he has done great harm to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 Now he has come here to arrest all those who worship you. The chief priests have given him authority to do this.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! I have chosen this man to work for me. He will announce my name to the Gentiles and to their kings. He will also announce my name to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for me.”
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. He placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “you saw the Lord Jesus. He appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He has sent me so that you will be able to see again. You will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Right away something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes. And he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19 After eating some food, he got his strength back.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the believers in Damascus.
41 Then the Jews there began to complain about Jesus. That was because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop complaining among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them. Then I will raise them up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘God will teach all of them.’ (Isaiah 54:13) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who has come from God. Only he has seen the Father. 47 What I’m about to tell you is true. Everyone who believes has life forever. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Long ago your people ate the manna in the desert, and they still died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven. A person can eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Everyone who eats some of this bread will live forever. This bread is my body. I will give it for the life of the world.”
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