Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we [captives] sat down, yes, we wept when we [earnestly] remembered Zion [the city of our God imprinted on our hearts].
2 On the willow trees in the midst of [Babylon] we hung our harps.
3 For there they who led us captive required of us a song with words, and our tormentors and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill [with the harp].
6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember you not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!(A)
7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, that they said in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, Down, down to the ground with her!
8 O Daughter of Babylon [you devastator, you!], who [ought to be and] shall be destroyed, happy and blessed shall he be who requites you as you have served us.(B)
9 Happy and blessed shall he be who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!
Psalm 144
[A Psalm] of David.
1 Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight—
2 My Steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield and He in Whom I trust and take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.
3 Lord, what is man that You take notice of him? Or [the] son of man that You take account of him?(A)
4 Man is like vanity and a breath; his days are as a shadow that passes away.
5 Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning and scatter [my enemies]; send out Your arrows and embarrass and frustrate them.
7 Stretch forth Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hands of hostile aliens (tribes around us)
8 Whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.
9 I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a harp, an instrument of ten strings, will I offer praises to You.
10 You are He Who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David His servant from the hurtful sword [of evil].
11 Rescue me and deliver me out of the power of [hostile] alien [tribes] whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.
12 When our sons shall be as plants grown large in their youth and our daughters as sculptured corner pillars hewn like those of a palace;
13 When our garners are full, affording all manner of store, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our pastures;
14 When our oxen are well loaded; when there is no invasion [of hostile armies] and no going forth [against besiegers—when there is no murder or manslaughter] and no outcry in our streets;
15 Happy and blessed are the people who are in such a case; yes, happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, to be envied) are the people whose God is the Lord!
Psalm 104
1 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great! You are clothed with honor and majesty—
2 [You are the One] Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain or a tent,
3 Who lays the beams of the upper room of His abode in the waters [above the firmament], Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4 Who makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His ministers.(A)
5 You laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.(B)
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.(C)
7 At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which You appointed for them.
9 You have set a boundary [for the waters] which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to deluge the earth.
10 He sends forth springs into the valleys; their waters run among the mountains.
11 They give drink to every [wild] beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst there.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens have their nests; they sing among the branches.(D)
13 He waters the mountains from His upper rooms; the earth is satisfied and abounds with the fruit of His works.
14 He causes vegetation to grow for the cattle, and all that the earth produces for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth—
15 And wine that gladdens the heart of man, to make his face shine more than oil, and bread to support, refresh, and strengthen man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly and are filled with sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He has planted,
17 Where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the conies and badgers.
19 [The Lord] appointed the moon for the seasons; the sun knows [the exact time of] its setting.
20 You [O Lord] make darkness and it becomes night, in which creeps forth every wild beast of the forest.
21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun arises, they withdraw themselves and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes forth to his work and remains at his task until evening.
24 O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, in which are swarms of innumerable creeping things, creatures both small and great.
26 There go the ships of the sea, and Leviathan (the sea monster), which You have formed to sport in it.
27 These all wait and are dependent upon You, that You may give them their food in due season.
28 When You give it to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, and they are filled with good things.
29 When You hide Your face, they are troubled and dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You replenish the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works—
32 Who looks on the earth, and it quakes and trembles, Who touches the mountains, and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.
34 May my meditation be sweet to Him; as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day (birthday).
2 And Job said,
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which announced, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness! May not God above regard it, nor light shine upon it.
5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it for their own; let a cloud dwell upon it; let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Yes, let that night be solitary and barren; let no joyful voice come into it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of the early dawn of that day be dark; let [the morning] look in vain for the light, nor let it behold the day’s dawning,
10 Because it shut not the doors of my mother’s womb nor hid sorrow and trouble from my eyes.
11 Why was I not stillborn? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bore me?
12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For then would I have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then would I have been at rest [in death]
14 With kings and counselors of the earth, who built up [now] desolate ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or [why] was I not a miscarriage, hidden and put away, as infants who never saw light?
17 There [in death] the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the [captive] prisoners rest together; they hear not the taskmaster’s voice.
19 The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.(A)
20 Why is light [of life] given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21 Who long and wait for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave?
23 [Why is the light of day given] to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before my food, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me.
26 I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes [upon me].
10 Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord.
11 And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there].
12 And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.
13 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem;
14 Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name.
15 But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel;
16 For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name’s sake.
17 So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And instantly something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes, and he recovered his sight. Then he arose and was baptized,
19 And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.
41 Now the Jews murmured and found fault with and grumbled about Jesus because He said, I am [Myself] the Bread that came down from heaven.
42 They kept asking, Is not this Jesus, the [a]Son of Joseph, Whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, I have come down from heaven?
43 So Jesus answered them, Stop grumbling and saying things against Me to one another.
44 No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me, and [then] I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day.
45 It is written in [the book of] the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God [have Him in person for their Teacher]. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to Me—(A)
46 Which does not imply that anyone has seen the Father [not that anyone has ever seen Him] except He [Who was with the Father] Who comes from God; He [alone] has seen the Father.
47 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, relies on, and has faith in Me] has (now possesses) eternal life.
48 I am the Bread of Life [that gives life—the Living Bread].
49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and [yet] they died.
50 [But] this is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that [any]one may eat of it and never die.
51 I [Myself] am this Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever; and also the Bread that I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh (body).
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation