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.
9 Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly; and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.
3 And the asses of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, “Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.”
4 And he passed through Mount Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they were not; and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.
5 And when they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, and let us return, lest my father leave caring for the asses and take thought for us.”
6 And he said unto him, “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man. All that he saith cometh surely to pass. Now let us go thither. Perhaps he can show us our way that we should go.”
7 Then said Saul to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What have we?”
8 And the servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have here at hand a fourth part of a shekel of silver. That will I give to the man of God to tell us our way.”
9 (Before this in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke: “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he that is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)
10 Then said Saul to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went unto the city where the man of God was.
11 And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, “Is the seer here?”
12 And they answered them and said, “He is; behold, he is before you. Make haste now, for he came today to the city; for there is a sacrifice of the people today on the high place.
13 As soon as ye have come into the city, ye shall straightway find him before he go up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that are bidden. Now therefore get you up, for about this time ye shall find him.”
14 And they went up into the city; and when they had come into the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them to go up to the high place.
17 “But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 until another king arose who knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt craftily with our kindred and illtreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end that they might not live.
20 At that time Moses was born and was exceedingly fair, and was nourished in his father’s house three months.
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and nourished him as her own son.
22 And Moses became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 “And when he was fully forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian,
25 for he supposed his brethren would have understood how God, by his hand, would deliver them; but they understood not.
26 And the next day he showed himself unto them as they were quarreling, and would have set them at one again, saying, ‘Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one another?’
27 But he that was doing his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, ‘Who made thee a ruler and judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 Then Moses fled at this saying and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
33 And Peter said unto Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death.”
34 And He said, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
35 And He said unto them, “When I sent you without purse and pack and shoes, lacked ye anything?” And they said, “Nothing.”
36 Then said He unto them, “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it and likewise his pack; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
37 For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was reckoned among the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”
38 And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said unto them, “It is enough.”
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