Book of Common Prayer
Lament During the Babylonian Exile
137 By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows[a] in her midst,
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors asked of us
words of a song,
and our tormentors[b] asked of us jubilation,
“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
4 How could we sing the song of Yahweh
in a foreign land?[c]
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget.[d]
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if do not I exalt Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem,
the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare
to its foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,
happy shall be he who pays back to you
what you paid out to us.[e]
9 Happy shall be he who seizes
and smashes your children
against the rock.
A Prayer for National Safety
Of David.[a]
144 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock,
the one who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war—
2 my loyal love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, and one in whom I take refuge,
the one who subdues peoples[b] under me.
3 O Yahweh, what is humankind that you take knowledge of him,
or the son of man that you take thought of him?
4 Humankind is like a breath,
his days like a passing shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down;
touch the mountains so that they smoke.
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
dispatch your arrows and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hands from on high;
Rescue me and deliver me from many waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouth speaks falsely,
and their right hand is a false right hand.
9 O God, I will sing a new song to you.
With a lyre of ten strings I will sing praise to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant
from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks falsely,
and whose right hand is a false right hand,
12 that our sons may be like plants,
full grown in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars,
carved in the style of a palace,
13 that our granaries may be full,
providing produce of all kinds,[c]
that our sheep may produce by the thousands,
by the tens of thousands in our open fields,
14 that our cattle may be pregnant;
that there be no breach in our walls,
and no going out in exile,
and no outcry in our plazas.
15 Blessed are the people who have it thus.
Blessed are the people whose God is Yahweh.
Praise to Yahweh for His Creation and Providence
104 Bless Yahweh, O my soul.
O Yahweh my God, you are very great.
You clothe yourself with splendor and majesty,
2 you who cover yourself with light as with a garment,
who stretch out the heavens like a tent curtain,
3 the one who sets beams in the waters for his upper chambers,
who makes clouds his chariot,
who rides[a] on the wings of the wind,
4 who makes his messengers the winds,
his attendants a flame of fire.
5 He established the earth on her foundations,
so that it will not be moved forever and ever.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment.
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they ran off.
8 They ascended the mountains and drained though the valleys
to the place that you established[b] for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not cross over,
so that they would not return to cover the earth.
10 You are the one who sends forth springs into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.
11 They give drink for every beast of the field.
The wild donkeys quench[c] their thirst.
12 Along them the birds of the heavens abide.
From among the branches they sing.[d]
13 You are the one who waters[e] the mountains
from his upper chambers.
The earth is full[f] with the fruit of your labors:
14 who causes grass to grow for the cattle
and herbs for the service of humankind,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine that makes glad the heart of man,
so that their faces shine from oil,
and bread that strengthens the heart of man.
16 The trees of Yahweh drink their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,
17 where birds make their nest.
The stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon for appointed times;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when[g] all the animals of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions are roaring for the prey
and seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they gather together
and lie down in their dens.
23 Humankind goes out to its work,
and to its labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, O Yahweh;
all of them you have done in wisdom.
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 This is the great and wide[h] sea,
in which are moving animals without number,
living things small and great.
26 There the ships sail.
Leviathan is there that you formed to play with.[i]
27 They all wait for you
to give them their food at the proper time.[j]
28 You give to them; they gather it.
You open your hand, they are filled with what is good.
29 You hide your face, they are terrified.
You take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 You send forth your Spirit,[k] they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.
May Yahweh be glad in his works,
32 the one who looks at the earth and it quakes,
and touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I remain alive.[l]
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him.
I will be glad in Yahweh.
35 Let sinners perish completely from the earth,
and the wicked not remain alive.[m]
Bless Yahweh, O my soul.
Praise Yah.[n]
Job Regrets His Birth
3 Afterward[a] Job opened his mouth and cursed[b] his day. 2 Thus[c] Job spoke up[d] and said,
3 “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’
4 Let that day become[e] darkness;
may God not seek it from above,
nor may daylight shine on it.
5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it;
let clouds[f] settle on it;
let them[g] terrify it with the blackness[h] of day.
6 Let darkness seize that night;[i]
let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not enter among the number of the months.
7 Look, let that night become[j] barren;
let a joyful song not enter it.
8 Let those who curse the day curse it,
those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light but[k] there be none,
and let it not see the eyelids of dawn
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor[l] did it hide trouble from my eyes.
Job Wishes He Had Died
11 “Why did I not die at[m] birth?
Why did I not come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why did the knees receive me
and the breasts, that I could suck?
13 For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace;
I would be asleep; then I would be at rest[n]
14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who rebuild [o] ruins for themselves,
15 or with high officials who have gold,[p]
who fill up their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage,
like infants who did not see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary[q] are at rest;
18 the prisoners are at ease together;
they do not hear the oppressor’s voice.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his masters.[r]
Job Wishes He Might Die
20 “Why does he[s] give light to one in misery
and life to those bitter of soul,
21 who wait for death, but[t] it does not come,[u]
and search[v] for it more than for treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly,[w]
and they are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why does he[x] give light to a man whose way is hidden,
and God has fenced him in all around?
24 For[y] my sighing comes before[z] my bread,[aa]
and my groanings gush forth like water
25 because the dread that I feel[ab] has come upon me,
and what I feared befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, and I am not at peace,
and I do not have rest, thus[ac] turmoil has come.”
Ananias Sent to Saul
10 Now there was a certain disciple in Damascus named[a] Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” And he said, “Behold, here I am, Lord!” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up, go to the street called ‘Straight’ and in the house of Judas look for a man named Saul from Tarsus.[b] For behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named[c] Ananias coming in and placing hands[d] on him so that he may regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to tie up[e] all who call upon your name!” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles[f] and kings and the sons of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered into the house, and placing his[g] hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight and got up and[h] was baptized, 19 and after[i] taking food, he regained his strength. And he was with the disciples in Damascus several days.
41 Now the Jews began to grumble[a] about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they were saying, “Is this one not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves![b] 44 No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’[c] Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—this one has seen the Father.)[d] 47 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that someone may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever.[e] And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
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