Book of Common Prayer
God implored to rescue his people from their calamities.
For the Chief Musician; set to [a]Shoshannim Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph.
80 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;
Thou that [b]sittest above the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy might,
And come to save us.
3 [c]Turn us again, O God;
And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
4 O Jehovah God of hosts,
How long [d]wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,
And given them tears to drink in large measure.
6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbors;
And our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 [e]Turn us again, O God of hosts;
And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
8 Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt:
Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it.
9 Thou preparedst room before it,
And it took deep root, and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with the shadow of it,
And [f]the boughs thereof were like [g]cedars of God.
11 It sent out its branches unto the sea,
And its shoots unto the River.
12 Why hast thou broken down its walls,
So that all they that pass by the way do pluck it?
13 The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,
And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, we beseech thee, O God of hosts:
Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine,
15 And [h]the stock which thy right hand planted,
And the [i]branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down:
They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
18 So shall we not go back from thee:
Quicken thou us, and we will call upon thy name.
19 [j]Turn us again, O Jehovah God of hosts;
Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.
Comfort in trouble from recalling God’s mighty deeds.
For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.
77 I will cry unto God with my voice,
Even unto God with my voice; and he will give ear unto me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord:
My hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not;
My soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remember God, and am disquieted:
I complain, and my spirit [a]is overwhelmed. Selah
4 Thou holdest mine eyes watching:
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times.
6 I call to remembrance my song in the night:
I commune with mine own heart;
And my spirit maketh diligent search.
7 Will the Lord cast off for ever?
And will he be favorable no more?
8 Is his lovingkindness clean gone for ever?
Doth his promise fail for evermore?
9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah
10 And I said, [b]This is my infirmity;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
11 I will make mention of the deeds of [c]Jehovah;
For I will remember thy wonders of old.
12 I will meditate also upon all thy work,
And muse on thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is [d]in the sanctuary:
Who is a great god like unto God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders:
Thou hast made known thy strength among the peoples.
15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 The waters saw thee, O God;
The waters saw thee, they [e]were afraid:
The depths also trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad.
18 The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lightened the world:
The earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way was in the sea,
And thy paths in the great waters,
And thy footsteps were not known.
20 Thou leddest thy people like a flock,
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A lament over the destruction of Jerusalem, and prayer for help.
A Psalm of Asaph.
79 O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance;
Thy holy temple have they defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens,
The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem;
And there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbors,
A scoffing and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever?
Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not,
And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob,
And laid waste his [a]habitation.
8 Remember not against us the iniquities of our forefathers:
Let thy tender mercies speedily meet us;
For we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name;
And deliver us, and [b]forgive our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God?
Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed
Be known among the nations in our sight.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee:
According to the greatness of [c]thy power preserve thou [d]those that are appointed to death;
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom
Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture
Will give thee thanks for ever:
We will show forth thy praise to all generations.
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4 That which [a]the palmer-worm hath left hath [b]the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath [c]the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath [d]the caterpillar eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. 7 He hath laid my vine waste, and [e]barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it [f]away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9 The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah’s ministers, mourn. 10 The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is [g]dried up, the oil languisheth. 11 [h]Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. 12 The vine is [i]withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is [j]withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God.
15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and [a]decked with gold and precious stone and pearl! 17 for in one hour so great riches is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth any whither, and mariners, and as many as [b]gain their living by sea, stood afar off, 18 and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.
21 And [c]a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, [d]of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.
12 And he said to him also that had bidden him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.
15 And when one of them that [a]sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 But he said unto him, A certain man made a great supper; and he bade many: 17 and he sent forth his [b]servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go out and see it; I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 And the [c]servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his [d]servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. 22 And the [e]servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the [f]servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.
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