Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and cried
as we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our lyres on willow trees.
3 It was there that those who had captured us demanded that we sing.
Those who guarded us wanted us to entertain them.
They said, “Sing a song from Zion for us!”
4 How could we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget how to play the lyre.
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 O Yahweh, remember the people of Edom.
Remember what they did the day Jerusalem was captured.
They said, “Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundation.”
8 You destructive people of Babylon,
blessed is the one who pays you back
with the same treatment you gave us.
9 Blessed is the one who grabs your little children
and smashes them against a rock.
Psalm 144
By David.
1 Thank Yahweh, my Tsur,
who trained my hands to fight
and my fingers to do battle,
2 my merciful one, my Metsuda,
my stronghold, and my savior,
my Magen, the one in whom I take refuge,
and the one who brings people under my authority.
3 O Yahweh, what are humans that you should care about them?
What are mere mortals that you should think about them?
4 Humans are like a breath of air.
Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bend your heaven low, and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Hurl bolts of lightning, and scatter them.
Shoot your arrows, and throw them into confusion.
7 Stretch out your hands from above.
Snatch me, and rescue me from raging waters
and from foreigners’ hands.
8 Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
9 O Elohim, I will sing a new song to you.
I will sing a psalm to you on a ten-stringed harp.
10 You are the one who gives victory to kings.
You are the one who snatches your servant David
away from a deadly sword.
11 Snatch me, and rescue me from foreigners’ hands.
Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
12 May our sons be like full-grown, young plants.
May our daughters be like stately columns
that adorn the corners of a palace.
13 May our barns be filled with all kinds of crops.
May our sheep give birth to thousands of lambs,
tens of thousands in our fields.
14 May our cattle have many calves.[a]
May no one break in, and may no one be dragged out.
May there be no cries of distress in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people who have these blessings!
Blessed are the people whose Elohim is Yahweh!
Psalm 104
1 Praise Yahweh my soul!
O Yahweh my Elohim, you are very great.
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe.
You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains.
3 You lay the beams of your home in the water.
You use the clouds for your chariot.
You move on the wings of the wind.
4 You make your angels winds
and your servants flames of fire.
5 You set the earth on its foundations
so that it can never be shaken.
6 You covered the earth with an ocean as though it were a robe.
Water stood above the mountains
7 and fled because of your threat.
Water ran away at the sound of your thunder.
8 The mountains rose and the valleys sank
to the place you appointed for them.
9 Water cannot cross the boundary you set
and cannot come back to cover the earth.
10 You make water gush from springs into valleys.
It flows between the mountains.
11 Every wild animal drinks from them.
Wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds live by the streams.
They sing among the branches.
13 You water the mountains from your home above.
You fill the earth with the fruits of your labors.
14 You make grass grow for cattle
and make vegetables for humans to use
in order to get food from the ground.
15 You make wine to cheer human hearts,
olive oil to make faces shine,
and bread to strengthen human hearts.
16 Yahweh’s trees, the cedars in Lebanon which he planted,
drink their fill.
17 Birds build their nests in them.
Storks make their homes in fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for wild goats.
The rocks are a refuge for badgers.
19 He created the moon, which marks the seasons,
and the sun, which knows when to set.
20 He brings darkness, and it is nighttime,
when all the wild animals in the forest come out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun rises,
they gather and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go to do their work,
to do their tasks until evening.
24 What a large number of things you have made, O Yahweh!
You made them all by wisdom.
The earth is filled with your creatures.
25 The sea is so big and wide with countless creatures,
living things both large and small.
26 Ships sail on it,
and Leviathan,[a] which you made, plays in it.
27 All of them look to you to give them their food at the right time.
28 You give it to them, and they gather it up.
You open your hand, and they are filled with blessings.
29 You hide your face, and they are terrified.
You take away their breath, and they die and return to dust.
30 You send out your Ruach, and they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.
May Yahweh find joy in what he has made.
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles.
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life.
I will make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
I will find joy in Yahweh.
35 May sinners vanish from the world.
May there no longer be any wicked people.
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
Hallelujah!
Job Speaks: Job Curses the Day He Was Born
3 After all this, Job finally opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. 2 Job said,
3 “Scratch out the day I was born
and the night that said, ‘A boy has been conceived!’
4 “That day—
let it be pitch-black.
Let Eloah above not even care about it.
Let no light shine on it.
5 Let the darkness and long shadows claim it as their own.
Let a dark cloud hang over it.
Let the gloom terrify it.
6 “That night—
let the blackness take it away.
Let it not be included in the days of the year
or be numbered among the months.
7 Let that night be empty.
Let no joyful singing be heard in it.
8 Let those who curse the day[a]
(those who know how to wake up Leviathan[b])
curse that night.
9 Let its stars turn dark before dawn.
Let it hope for light and receive none.
Let it not see the first light of dawn
10 because it did not shut the doors of the womb from which I came
or hide my eyes from trouble.
Why Did I Survive at Birth?
11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born
and breathe my last breath when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did knees welcome me?
Why did breasts let me nurse?
13 Instead of being alive,
I would now be quietly lying down.
I would now be sleeping peacefully.
14 I would be with the kings and the counselors of the world
who built for themselves what are now ruins.
15 I would be with princes
who had gold,
who filled their homes with silver.
16 I would be buried like a stillborn baby.
I would not exist.
I would be like infants who never saw the light.
17 There the wicked stop their raging.
There the weary are able to rest.
18 There the captives have no troubles at all.
There they do not hear the shouting of the slave driver.
19 There you find both the unimportant and important people.
There the slave is free from his master.
Why Do I Go on Living?
20 “Why give light to one in misery
and life to those who find it so bitter,
21 to those who long for death but it never comes—
though they dig for it more than for buried treasure?
22 They are ecstatic,
delighted to find the grave.
23 Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden,
to those whom Eloah has fenced in?
24 “When my food is in front of me, I sigh.
I pour out my groaning like water.
25 What I fear most overtakes me.
What I dread happens to me.
26 I have no peace!
I have no quiet!
I have no rest!
And trouble keeps coming!”
10 A disciple named Ananias lived in the city of Damascus. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
Ananias answered, “Yes, Lord.”
11 The Lord told him, “Get up! Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street, and ask for a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. He’s praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 Ananias replied, “Lord, I’ve heard a lot of people tell about the many evil things this man has done to your people in Jerusalem. 14 Saul has come here to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to put anyone who calls on your name in prison.”
15 The Lord told Ananias, “Go! I’ve chosen this man to bring my name to nations, to kings, and to the people of Israel. 16 I’ll show him how much he has to suffer for the sake of my name.”
17 Ananias left and entered Judas’ house. After he placed his hands on Saul, Ananias said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Yeshua, who appeared to you on your way to Damascus, sent me to you. He wants you to see again and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 Immediately, something like fish scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Then Saul stood up and was baptized. 19 After he had something to eat, his strength came back to him.
Saul was with the disciples in the city of Damascus for several days.
41 The Jews began to criticize Yeshua for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” 42 They asked, “Isn’t this man Yeshua, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”
43 Yeshua responded, “Stop criticizing me! 44 People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. 45 The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. 46 I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. 47 I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. 50 This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. 51 I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.