Book of Common Prayer
102 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee.
2 Hide not Thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline Thine ear unto me. In the day when I call, answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth.
4 My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day, and them that are mad against me are sworn against 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 shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass.
12 But Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, and Thy remembrance unto all generations.
13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the set time has come.
14 For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.
15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory.
16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.
19 For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth,
20 to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death,
21 to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem,
22 when people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He weakened my strength on the way; He shortened my days.
24 I said, “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; Thy years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; and 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 continue, and their seed shall be established before Thee.”
107 O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for habitation.
8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
10 They that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and irons,
11 because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High,
12 therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried unto the Lord 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 bonds asunder.
15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder.
17 Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death.
19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing!
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters:
24 these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30 Then are they glad because they are quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.
31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders.
3 “Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, He shall come,” saith the Lord of hosts.
2 “But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
3 And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and of Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “And I will come near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and those who turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me,” saith the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 “Even from the days of your fathers, ye have gone away from Mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you,” saith the Lord of hosts. “But ye said, ‘In what manner shall we return?’
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me! But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and put Me to the proof now herewith,” saith the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,” saith the Lord of hosts.
12 “And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land,” saith the Lord of hosts.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; make firm your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!
10 My brethren, take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering affliction and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy who endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “Yea” be yea, and your “Nay” be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.
18 And He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint,
2 saying, “There was in a city a judge who feared not God, neither regarded man.
3 And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, ‘Avenge me on mine adversary.’
4 And for a while he would not, but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I fear not God nor regard man,
5 yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?
8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”
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