Book of Common Prayer

102 ⁽⁰⁾ Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before Adonai:

^2 (1) Adonai, hear my prayer!
Let my cry for help reach you!
^3 (2) Don’t hide your face from me
when I am in such distress!
Turn your ear toward me;
when I call, be quick to reply!

^4 (3) For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones are burning like a furnace.
^5 (4) I am stricken and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
^6 (5) Because of my loud groaning,
I am just skin and bones.
^7 (6) I am like a great owl in the desert,
I’ve become like an owl in the ruins.
^8 (7) I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.

^9 (8) My enemies taunt me all day long;
mad with rage, they make my name a curse.
^10 (9) For I have been eating ashes like bread
and mingling tears with my drink
^11 (10) because of your furious anger,
since you picked me up just to toss me aside.
^12 (11) My days decline like an evening shadow;
I am drying up like grass.

^13 (12) But you, Adonai, are enthroned forever;
your renown will endure through all generations.
^14 (13) You will arise and take pity on Tziyon,
for the time has come to have mercy on her;
the time determined has come.
^15 (14) For your servants love her very stones;
they take pity even on her dust.

^16 (15) The nations will fear the name of Adonai
and all the kings on earth your glory,
^17 (16) when Adonai has rebuilt Tziyon,
and shows himself in his glory,
^18 (17) when he has heeded the plea of the poor
and not despised their prayer.
^19 (18) May this be put on record for a future generation;
may a people yet to be created praise Adonai.

^20 (19) For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven Adonai surveys the earth
^21 (20) to listen to the sighing of the prisoner,
to set free those who are sentenced to death,
^22 (21) to proclaim the name of Adonai in Tziyon
and his praise in Yerushalayim
^23 (22) when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together
to serve Adonai.

^24 (23) He has broken my strength in midcourse,
he has cut short my days.
^25 (24) I plead, “God, your years last through all generations;
so don’t take me away when my life is half over!

^26 (25) In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth;
heaven is the work of your hands.
^27 (26) They will vanish, but you will remain;
like clothing, they will all grow old;
yes, you will change them like clothing,
and they will pass away.
^28 (27) But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
^29 (28) The children of your servants will live securely
and their descendants be established in your presence.”

142 ⁽⁰⁾ A maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer:

^2 (1) With my voice I cry to Adonai,
with my voice I plead to Adonai for mercy.
^3 (2) Before him I pour out my complaint,
before him I tell my trouble.
^4 (3) When my spirit faints within me,
you watch over my path.
By the road that I am walking
they have hidden a snare for me.
^5 (4) Look to my right, and see
that no one recognizes me.
I have no way of escape;
nobody cares for me.

^6 (5) I cried out to you, Adonai;
I said, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
^7 (6) Listen to my cry,
for I have been brought very low.

Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
^8 (7) Lead me out of prison,
so that I can give thanks to your name;
in me the righteous will be crowning themselves,
because you will have treated me generously.

143 ⁽⁰⁾ A psalm of David:

⁽¹⁾ Adonai, hear my prayer;
listen to my pleas for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me,
and in your righteousness.
² Don’t bring your servant to trial,
since in your sight no one alive
would be considered righteous.

³ For an enemy is pursuing me;
he has crushed my life into the ground
and left me to live in darkness,
like those who have been long dead.
⁴ My spirit faints within me;
my heart is appalled within me.

⁵ I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your deeds,
thinking about the work of your hands.
⁶ I spread out my hands to you,
I long for you like a thirsty land. (Selah)

⁷ Answer me quickly, Adonai,
because my spirit is fainting.
Don’t hide your face from me,
or I’ll be like those who drop down into a pit.
⁸ Make me hear of your love in the morning,
because I rely on you.
Make me know the way I should walk,
because I entrust myself to you.
⁹ Adonai, rescue me from my enemies;
I have hidden myself with you.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
because you are my God;
Let your good Spirit guide me
on ground that is level.
¹¹ For your name’s sake, Adonai, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of distress.
¹² In your grace, cut off my enemies;
destroy all those harassing me;
because I am your servant.

⁷ You fooled me, Adonai; I have been your dupe.
You overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
All day long I’m a laughingstock;
everyone makes fun of me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I have to cry out;
I shout, “Violence!” and “Destruction!”
Thus the word of Adonai becomes for me
the cause of reproach and derision all day!
⁹ But if I say, “I won’t think about him,
I won’t speak in his name any more,”
then it seems as though a fire
is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I wear myself out
trying to hold it in,
but I just can’t do it.
¹⁰ I have heard many whispering their plot:
“‘Terror in every direction’?
Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
Even all my close friends
are watching for me to make a false step —
“Maybe he can be tricked,
then we’ll get the better of him,
then we’ll take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But Adonai is with me like a dreaded warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble, defeated,
greatly ashamed because of their failure;
their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.