Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 102
A prayer of an oppressed person, when weak and pouring out grief to the Lord.
102 Lord, hear my prayer!
Let my cry reach you!
2 Don’t hide your face from me
in my time of trouble!
Listen to me!
Answer me quickly as I cry out!
3 Because my days disappear like smoke,
my bones are burned up as if in an oven;
4 my heart is smashed like dried-up grass.
I even forget to eat my food
5 because of my intense groans.
My bones are protruding from my skin.
6 I’m like some wild owl—
like some screech owl in the desert.
7 I lie awake all night.
I’m all alone like a bird on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies make fun of me;
those who mock me curse using my name!
9 I’ve been eating ashes instead of bread.
I’ve been mixing tears into my drinks
10 because of your anger and wrath,
because you picked me up and threw me away.
11 My days are like a shadow soon gone.
I’m dried up like dead grass.
12 But you, Lord, rule forever!
Your fame lasts from one generation to the next!
13 You will stand up—
you’ll have compassion on Zion
because it is time to have mercy on her—
the time set for that has now come!
14 Your servants cherish Zion’s stones;
they show mercy even to her dirt.
15 The nations will honor the Lord’s name;
all the earth’s rulers will honor your glory
16 because the Lord will rebuild Zion;
he will be seen there in his glory.
17 God will turn to the prayer of the impoverished;
he won’t despise their prayers.
18 Let this be written down for the next generation
so that people not yet created will praise the Lord:
19 The Lord looked down from his holy summit,
surveyed the earth from heaven,
20 to hear the prisoners’ groans,
to set free those condemned to death,
21 that the Lord’s name may be declared in Zion
and his praise declared in Jerusalem,
22 when all people are gathered together—
all kingdoms—to serve the Lord.
23 God broke my strength in midstride,
cutting my days short.
24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the prime of life—
your years go on from one generation to the next!
25 You laid the earth’s foundations long ago;
the skies are your handiwork.
26 These things will pass away, but you will last.
All of these things will wear out like clothing;
you change them like clothes, and they pass on.
27 But you are the one!
Your years never end!
28 Let your servants’ children live safe;
let your servants’ descendants live secure in your presence.”
BOOK V
(Psalms 107–150)
Psalm 107
107 “Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his faithful love lasts forever!”
2 That’s what those who are redeemed by the Lord say,
the ones God redeemed from the power of their enemies,
3 the ones God gathered from various countries,
from east and west, north and south.
4 Some of the redeemed had wandered into the desert, into the wasteland.
They couldn’t find their way to a city or town.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
their lives were slipping away.
6 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
and God delivered them from their desperate circumstances.
7 God led them straight to human habitation.
8 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all people,
9 because God satisfied the one who was parched with thirst,
and he filled up the hungry with good things!
10 Some of the redeemed had been sitting in darkness and deep gloom;
they were prisoners suffering in chains
11 because they had disobeyed God’s instructions
and rejected the Most High’s plans.
12 So God humbled them with hard work.
They stumbled, and there was no one to help them.
13 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
and God saved them from their desperate circumstances.
14 God brought them out from the darkness and deep gloom;
he shattered their chains.
15 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all people,
16 because God has shattered bronze doors
and split iron bars in two!
17 Some of the redeemed were fools because of their sinful ways.
They suffered because of their wickedness.
18 They had absolutely no appetite for food;
they had arrived at death’s gates.
19 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
and God saved them from their desperate circumstances.
20 God gave the order and healed them;
he rescued them from their pit.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all people.
22 Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and declare what God has done in songs of joy!
23 Some of the redeemed had gone out on the ocean in ships,
making their living on the high seas.
24 They saw what the Lord had made;
they saw his wondrous works in the depths of the sea.
25 God spoke and stirred up a storm
that brought the waves up high.
26 The waves went as high as the sky;
they crashed down to the depths.
The sailors’ courage melted at this terrible situation.
27 They staggered and stumbled around like they were drunk.
None of their skill was of any help.
28 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
and God brought them out safe from their desperate circumstances.
29 God quieted the storm to a whisper;
the sea’s waves were hushed.
30 So they rejoiced because the waves had calmed down;
then God led them to the harbor they were hoping for.
31 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all people.
32 Let them exalt God in the congregation of the people
and praise God in the assembly of the elders.
17 As for you, my flock, the Lord God proclaims: I will judge between the rams and the bucks among the sheep and the goats. 18 Is feeding in good pasture or drinking clear water such a trivial thing that you should trample and muddy what is left with your feet? 19 But now my flock must feed on what your feet have trampled and drink water that your feet have muddied.
20 So the Lord God proclaims to them: I will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 21 You shove with shoulder and flank, and with your horns you ram all the weak sheep until you’ve scattered them outside. 22 But I will rescue my flock so that they will never again be prey. I will even judge between the sheep! 23 I will appoint for them a single shepherd, and he will feed them. My servant David will feed them. He will be their shepherd. 24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be their prince. I, the Lord, have spoken. 25 I will make a covenant of peace for them, and I will banish the wild animals from the land. Then they will safely live in the desert and sleep in the forest. 26 I will give them and those around my hill a blessing by sending the rain in its season. They will be rains of blessing. 27 The trees in the field will bear fruit, and the earth will yield its harvest. They will be safe on their fertile land, and they will know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and deliver them from those who enslaved them. 28 The nations will no longer prey on them, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live in safety, with no one to trouble them. 29 I will establish for them a place famous for what it grows. No longer will they experience famine in the land, nor will they bear the disgrace of the nations. 30 They will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are my people. This is what the Lord God says. 31 You are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You are human, and I am your God. This is what the Lord God says.
Meeting tents, sacrifices, and covenants
8 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We have this kind of high priest. He sat down at the right side of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. 2 He’s serving as a priest in the holy place, which is the true meeting tent that God, not any human being, set up. 3 Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. So it’s necessary for this high priest also to have something to offer. 4 If he was located on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest because there are already others who offer gifts based on the Law. 5 They serve in a place that is a copy and shadow of the heavenly meeting tent. This is indicated when Moses was warned by God when he was about to set up the meeting tent: See that you follow the pattern that I showed you on the mountain in every detail.[a] 6 But now, Jesus has received a superior priestly service just as he arranged a better covenant that is enacted with better promises.
7 If the first covenant had been without fault, it wouldn’t have made sense to expect a second. 8 But God did find fault with them, since he says,
Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel,
and I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they did not continue to keep my covenant,
and I lost interest in them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord.
I will place my laws in their minds,
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 And each person won’t ever teach a neighbor
or their brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least important of them to the most important;
12 because I will be lenient toward their unjust actions,
and I won’t remember their sins anymore.[b]
13 When it says new, it makes the first obsolete. And if something is old and outdated, it’s close to disappearing.
Jesus visits Martha and Mary
38 While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. 40 By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.”
41 The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. 42 One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible