Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah.
102 Jehovah, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me: in the day of my trouble, incline thine ear unto me; in the day I call, answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.
4 My heart is smitten and withered like grass; yea, I have forgotten to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my flesh.
6 I am become like the pelican of the wilderness, I am as an owl in desolate places;
7 I watch, and am like a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; they that are mad against me swear by me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like a lengthened-out shadow, and I, I am withered like grass.
12 But thou, Jehovah, abidest for ever, and thy memorial from generation to generation.
13 *Thou* wilt rise up, thou wilt have mercy upon Zion: for it is the time to be gracious to her, for the set time is come.
14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour her dust.
15 And the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
16 When Jehovah shall build up Zion, he will appear in his glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute one, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come; and a people that shall be created shall praise Jah:
19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens hath Jehovah beheld the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to die;
21 That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples shall be gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah.
23 He weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days.
24 I said, My God, take me not away in the midst of my days! … Thy years are from generation to generation.
25 Of old hast thou founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands:
26 *They* shall perish, but *thou* continuest; and all of them shall grow old as a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.
27 But thou art the Same, and thy years shall have no end.
28 The children of thy servants shall abide, and their seed shall be established before thee.
107 Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the oppressor,
3 And gathered out of the countries, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city of habitation;
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them:
6 Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he delivered them out of their distresses,
7 And he led them forth by a right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
8 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men;
9 For he hath satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good.
10 Such as inhabit darkness and the shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron,
11 Because they had rebelled against the words of God, and had despised the counsel of the Most High; …
12 And he bowed down their heart with labour; they stumbled, and there was none to help:
13 Then they cried unto Jehovah 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 their bands in sunder.
15 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men;
16 For he hath broken the gates of bronze, and cut asunder the bars of iron.
17 Fools, because of their way of transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted;
18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of food, and they draw near unto the gates of death:
19 Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, [and] he saveth them out of their distresses;
20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them, and delivereth them from their destructions.
21 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men,
22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works in joyful song.
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters,
24 These see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he speaketh, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof:
26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble;
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and they are at their wits' end:
28 Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses;
29 He maketh the storm a calm, and the waves thereof are still:
30 And they rejoice because they are quiet; and he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men;
32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the session of the elders.
10 Israel is an unpruned vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the abundance of his fruit he hath multiplied altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly statues.
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found guilty: he will break down their altars, he will destroy their statues.
3 For now they will say, We have no king, for we feared not Jehovah; and a king, what can he do for us?
4 They speak [mere] words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; therefore shall judgment spring up as hemlock in the furrows of the fields.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calf of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the idolatrous priests thereof shall tremble for it, for its glory, because it is departed from it.
6 Yea, it shall be carried unto Assyria [as] a present for king Jareb: Ephraim shall be seized with shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
7 As for Samaria her king is cut off as chips upon the face of the waters.
8 And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up upon their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us!
9 From the days of Gibeah hast thou sinned, O Israel: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
10 At my pleasure will I chastise them; and the peoples shall be assembled against them, when they are bound for their two iniquities.
11 And Ephraim is a trained heifer, that loveth to tread out [the corn]; I have passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to draw; Judah shall plough, Jacob shall break his clods.
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
13 Ye have ploughed wickedness, reaped iniquity, eaten the fruit of lies; for thou didst confide in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
14 And a tumult shall arise among thy peoples, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces with the children.
15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of the wickedness of your wickedness: at day-break shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
37 But as he was about to be led into the fortress, Paul says to the chiliarch, Is it allowed me to say something to thee? And he said, Dost thou know Greek?
38 Thou art not then that Egyptian who before these days raised a sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the assassins?
39 But Paul said, *I* am a Jew of Tarsus, citizen of no insignificant city of Cilicia, and I beseech of thee, allow me to speak to the people.
40 And when he had allowed him, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people; and a great silence having been made, he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
22 Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you.
2 And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,
3 *I* am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as *ye* are all this day;
4 who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women;
5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood: from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished.
6 And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me.
7 And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
8 And *I* answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, *I* am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom *thou* persecutest.
9 But they that were with me beheld the light, [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me.
10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do.
11 And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus.
12 And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt [there],
13 coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And *I*, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth;
15 for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
16 And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.
12 And it came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.
13 And when it was day he called his disciples, and having chosen out twelve from them, whom also he named apostles:
14 Simon, to whom also he gave the name of Peter, and Andrew his brother, [and] James and John, [and] Philip and Bartholomew,
15 [and] Matthew and Thomas, James the [son] of Alphaeus and Simon who was called Zealot,
16 [and] Judas [brother] of James, and Judas Iscariote, who was also [his] betrayer;
17 and having descended with them, he stood on a level place, and a crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
18 and those that were beset by unclean spirits were healed.
19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power went out from him and healed all.
20 And *he*, lifting up his eyes upon his disciples, said, Blessed [are] ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you [from them], and shall reproach [you], and cast out your name as wicked, for the Son of man's sake:
23 rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in the heaven, for after this manner did their fathers act toward the prophets.
24 But woe to you rich, for ye have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you that are filled, for ye shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe, when all men speak well of you, for after this manner did their fathers to the false prophets.
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