Book of Common Prayer

The Prayer of a Man in Trouble

102 Hear my prayer, O Lord! Let my cry for help come to You. ² Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble. Turn Your ear to me. Hurry to answer me in the day when I call. ³ For my days go up in smoke. And my bones are burned as with fire. ⁴ My heart is crushed and dried like grass. And I forget to eat my food. ⁵ I am nothing but skin and bones because of my loud cries. ⁶ I am like a pelican in the desert. I am like an owl of the waste places. ⁷ I lie awake. And I feel like a bird alone on the roof.

⁸ Those who hate me have made it hard for me all day long. Those who are angry with me curse my name. ⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread and have mixed my drink with tears, ¹⁰ because of Your great anger. For You have lifted me up and thrown me away. ¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow. I dried up like grass.

¹² But You and Your name, O Lord, will always be forever and to all people for all time. ¹³ You will rise up and have loving-pity on Zion. For it is time to show favor to her. The set time has come. ¹⁴ For Your servants respect her stones and show pity for her dust. ¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord. All the kings of the earth will fear Your shining-greatness. ¹⁶ For the Lord has built up Zion. He will come in His shining-greatness. ¹⁷ He will answer the prayer of those in need. He will not turn from their prayer.

¹⁸ This will be written for the children-to-come. So a people not yet born may give thanks to the Lord. ¹⁹ For He looked down from His holy place. He watched the earth from heaven, ²⁰ to hear the loud cries of those in prison and to set free those who are being sent to death. ²¹ So the name of the Lord will be made known in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem, ²² when the people gather together and the nations gather to serve the Lord.

²³ He has taken away my strength. He has taken days from my life. ²⁴ I said, “O my God, do not take me away when my days are only half done. Your years go on to all people of all time. ²⁵ You made the earth in the beginning. You made the heavens with Your hands. ²⁶ They will be destroyed but You will always live. They will all become old as clothing becomes old. You will change them like a coat. And they will be changed, ²⁷ but You are always the same. Your years will never end. ²⁸ The children of those who work for You will live on. And their children will be set before You.”

God Helps Men in Trouble

107 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His loving-kindness lasts forever! ² Let the people who have been saved say so. He has bought them and set them free from the hand of those who hated them. ³ He gathered them from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

⁴ Some traveled through the desert wastes. They did not find a way to a city where they could live. ⁵ They were hungry and thirsty. Their souls became weak within them. ⁶ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He took them out of their suffering. ⁷ He led them by a straight path to a city where they could live. ⁸ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ⁹ For He fills the thirsty soul. And He fills the hungry soul with good things.

¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. They suffered in prison in iron chains. ¹¹ Because they had turned against the Words of God. They hated what the Most High told them to do. ¹² So He loaded them down with hard work. They fell and there was no one to help. ¹³ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them from their suffering. ¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death. And He broke their chains. ¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ¹⁶ For He has broken gates of brass and cut through walls of iron.

¹⁷ Some were fools because of their wrong-doing. They had troubles because of their sins. ¹⁸ They hated all kinds of food. And they came near the gates of death. ¹⁹ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them from their suffering. ²⁰ He sent His Word and healed them. And He saved them from the grave. ²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ²² Let them give Him gifts of thanks and tell of His works with songs of joy.

²³ Some went out to sea in ships to buy and sell on the great waters. ²⁴ They have seen what the Lord can do and His great works on the sea. ²⁵ For He spoke and raised up a storm that lifted up the waves of the sea. ²⁶ They went up to the heavens and down to the deep. Their strength of heart left them in their danger. ²⁷ They could not walk straight but went from side to side like a drunk man. They did not know what to do. ²⁸ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He took them out of all their problems. ²⁹ He stopped the storm, and the waves of the sea became quiet. ³⁰ Then they were glad because the sea became quiet. And He led them to the safe place they wanted. ³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ³² Let them honor Him in the meeting of the people and praise Him in the meeting of the leaders.

²⁷ “See, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will plant the people of Israel and the people of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of animal. ²⁸ And as I have watched over them to pull up, to break down, to take power away, to destroy, and to bring trouble, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the Lord. ²⁹ “In those days they will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children got the sour taste.’ ³⁰ But every one will die for his own sin. Each man who eats the sour grapes will get the sour taste. ³¹ The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a New Way of Worship for the Jews and those of the family group of Judah. ³² The New Way of Worship will not be like the Old Way of Worship I gave to their early fathers. That was when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. But they did not follow the Old Way of Worship, even when I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. ³³ “This is the New Way of Worship that I will give to the Jews. When that day comes,” says the Lord, “I will put My Law into their minds. And I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. ³⁴ No one will need to teach his neighbor or his brother to know the Lord. All of them will already know Me from the least to the greatest,” says the Lord. “I will forgive their sins. I will remember their sins no more.”

5 Do as God would do. Much-loved children want to do as their fathers do. ² Live with love as Christ loved you. He gave Himself for us, a gift on the altar to God which was as a sweet smell to God.

³ Do not let sex sins or anything sinful be even talked about among those who belong to Christ. Do not always want everything. ⁴ Do not be guilty of telling bad stories and of foolish talk. These things are not for you to do. Instead, you are to give thanks for what God has done for you. ⁵ Be sure of this! No person who does sex sins or who is not pure will have any part in the holy nation of Christ and of God. The same is true for the person who always wants what other people have. This becomes a god to him. ⁶ Do not let anyone lead you in the wrong way with foolish talk. The anger of God comes on such people because they choose to not obey Him. ⁷ Have nothing to do with them. ⁸ At one time you lived in darkness. Now you are living in the light that comes from the Lord. Live as children who have the light of the Lord in them. ⁹ This light gives us truth. It makes us right with God and makes us good. ¹⁰ Learn how to please the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the bad things done in darkness. Instead, show that these things are wrong. ¹² It is a shame even to talk about these things done in secret. ¹³ All things can be seen when they are in the light. Everything that can be seen is in the light. ¹⁴ The Holy Writings say, “Wake up, you who are sleeping. Rise from the dead and Christ will give you light.” ^(A)

Be Filled With the Spirit of God

¹⁵ So be careful how you live. Live as men who are wise and not foolish. ¹⁶ Make the best use of your time. These are sinful days. ¹⁷ Do not be foolish. Understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk with wine. That leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Tell of your joy to each other by singing the Songs of David and church songs. Sing in your heart to the Lord. ²⁰ Always give thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Calls Matthew ^(A)

⁹ As Jesus went from there, He saw a man called Matthew. Matthew was sitting at his work gathering taxes. Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Matthew got up and followed Jesus. ¹⁰ Jesus ate in Matthew’s house. Many men who gathered taxes and many who were sinners came to Matthew’s house and sat down with Jesus and His followers. ¹¹ The proud religious law-keepers saw this. They said to the followers of Jesus, “Why does your Teacher eat with men who gather taxes and with sinners?” ¹² Jesus heard them and said, “People who are well do not need a doctor. ¹³ But go and understand these words, ‘I want loving-kindness and not a gift to be given.’ ^(B) For I have not come to call good people. I have come to call those who are sinners.”

Jesus Teaches about Going without Food So You Can Pray Better ^(C)

¹⁴ Then the followers of John the Baptist came to Jesus. They asked, “Why do we and the proud religious law-keepers many times go without food so we can pray better? But Your followers never go without food so they can pray better.” ¹⁵ Jesus said, “Can the friends at a wedding be sorry when the man just married is with them? But the days will come when the man just married will be taken from them. Then they will not eat food so they can pray better.

¹⁶ “No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because if the new piece pulls away, it makes the hole bigger. ¹⁷ Men do not put new wine into old skin bags. If they did, the skins would break and the wine would run out. The bags would be no good. They put new wine into new skin bags and both can be used.”