Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer for the Nation

80 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who lead Joseph like a flock! You Who sit on Your throne above the angels, let Your light shine! ² Stir up Your power in front of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manassah, and come to save us! ³ O God, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

⁴ O Lord God of all, how long will You be angry with the prayers of Your people? ⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears. And You have made them drink a big amount of tears. ⁶ You have made us an object of arguing to our neighbors. Those who hate us laugh among themselves. ⁷ O God of all, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and You planted it. ⁹ You cleared the land for it. And its roots went deep and filled the land. ¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shadow. And the tall trees were covered with its branches. ¹¹ It sent out its branches to the sea, and its new branches to the River. ¹² Why have You broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its fruit? ¹³ The wild pig from among the trees eats it away. And whatever moves in the field eats from it.

¹⁴ O God of all, we beg You to return. Look down from heaven and see. Take care of this vine. ¹⁵ Take care of the root Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You have raised up for Yourself. ¹⁶ They have burned it with fire. It is cut down. May they be lost when they hear Your strong words. ¹⁷ Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, the son of man you have made strong for Yourself. ¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from You. Give us new life again, and we will call on Your name. ¹⁹ O Lord God of all, bring us back to You. Make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.

Comfort in Times of Trouble

77 My voice goes up to God, and I will cry out. My voice goes up to God and He will hear me. ² I looked to the Lord when I was in trouble. I put out my hand at night, and it did not get tired. My soul would not be comforted. ³ When I remember God, then I am troubled. When I am in deep thought, then my spirit becomes weak. ⁴ You keep my eyes from closing. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. ⁵ I have thought about the days of old, the years of long ago. ⁶ I remember my song in the night. I think with my heart. And my spirit asks questions.

⁷ Will the Lord turn away forever? Will He never show favor again? ⁸ Has His loving-kindness stopped forever? Has His promise come to an end for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be loving and kind? Has He in anger taken away His loving-pity? ¹⁰ Then I said, “It is my sorrow that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

¹¹ I will remember the things the Lord has done. Yes, I will remember the powerful works of long ago. ¹² I will think of all Your work, and keep in mind all the great things You have done. ¹³ O God, Your way is holy. What god is great like our God? ¹⁴ You are the God Who does great works. You have shown Your power among the people. ¹⁵ You have set free Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph, with Your strong arm.

¹⁶ The waters saw You, O God. The waters saw You and shook. The sea shook also. ¹⁷ The clouds poured down water. The sky sounded with thunder. Your arrows of lightning went this way and that. ¹⁸ The sound of Your thunder was in the turning wind. The lightning lit up the world. The earth shook. ¹⁹ Your way was through the sea. Your paths went through the powerful waters. And it cannot be known where You stepped. ²⁰ You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

A Prayer for Jerusalem

79 O God, the nations have come into the land of Your people. They have made Your holy house dirty. They have crushed the walls and buildings of Jerusalem. ² They have given the dead bodies of Your servants to the birds of the heavens for food. The flesh of those who belong to You has been given to the wild animals of the earth. ³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem. And there was no one to bury them. ⁴ We have become a shame to our neighbors. Those around us laugh at and make fun of us. ⁵ How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? ⁶ Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You, and on the nations that do not call on Your name. ⁷ For they have destroyed Jacob. They have laid waste the place where he lived.

⁸ Do not hold the sins of our fathers against us. Let Your loving-pity come fast to meet us. For we are in much need. ⁹ O God Who saves us, help us for the honor of Your name. Take us out of trouble and forgive our sins, for the honor of Your name. ¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Make it known among the nations, in front of our eyes, that You punish for the blood that has poured from Your servants. ¹¹ Hear the cries of those in prison. By the greatness of Your power, save those who are being sent to death. ¹² And return to our neighbors seven times the shame that they have brought You, O Lord. ¹³ Then we Your people, the sheep of Your field, will give thanks to You forever. We will tell of Your praise to all the people of all times.

1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

The Land Is Destroyed

² Hear this, you old men. Listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers’ days? ³ Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons tell the next sons-to-come.

⁴ What the chewing locust has left, the flying locust has eaten. What the flying locust has left, the jumping locust has eaten. And what the jumping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten. ⁵ Wake up and cry, you who drink too much. Cry in a loud voice, all you who drink wine, for the sweet wine has been taken from your lips. ⁶ A nation has come to fight against my land. Its army is powerful, with too many to number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion. It has the long, sharp teeth of a female lion. ⁷ It has made my vine a waste, and has broken my fig tree to pieces. It has torn off their covering and thrown it away. Their branches have become white.

⁸ Cry in sorrow like a young, pure woman dressed in cloth made from hair because the man she was going to marry is dead. ⁹ The grain gifts and drink gifts have been cut off from the house of the Lord. The religious leaders who served the Lord are full of sorrow. ¹⁰ The fields are laid waste and the land is full of sorrow. The grain is destroyed, the new wine dries up, and the oil wastes away. ¹¹ Be troubled, you farmers! Cry in a loud voice, you who take care of the vines! Cry for the wheat and the barley, because what was gathered from the field is destroyed. ¹² The vine dries up and the fig tree wastes away. The pomegranate, the palm, the apple tree, and all the trees of the field dry up. And the people’s joy dries up.

¹³ Dress in cloth made from hair, and cry in sorrow, you religious leaders! Cry in a loud voice, you who serve at the altar! Come, spend the night in cloth made from hair, you who serve my God. For the grain gifts and drink gifts are kept from the house of your God.

¹⁵ The men of the earth who became rich by buying and selling in that city will stand a long way back because they are afraid of her sufferings. They will cry and have sorrow. ¹⁶ They will say, ‘It is bad! It is bad for that powerful city. She dressed in fine linen of purple and red. She covered herself with gold and pearls and stones worth much money. ¹⁷ For in one hour her riches are destroyed.’ The captain of every ship and all who traveled on ships and all who worked on ships stood a long way back. ¹⁸ They cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘Has there ever been such a city as powerful as this one?’ ¹⁹ They threw dirt on their heads. They cried out with much sorrow and said, ‘It is bad! It is bad for the powerful city! She is the place where all those who owned ships on the sea became rich from all her riches. For in one hour everything is gone!’

²⁰ “Be full of joy because of her, O heaven! Be full of joy, you who belong to God and missionaries and early preachers! For God has punished her for what she did to you.”

²¹ Then a strong angel picked up a large stone like those used for grinding wheat. He threw it into the sea, saying, “The big and strong city of Babylon will be thrown down like this. It will never be found again. ²² The sound of those playing on harps and on flutes and on horns will not be heard in you again. No workman doing any kind of work will be found in you again. The sound of the grinding-stone will not be heard in you again. ²³ No light will ever shine in you again. There will be no more happy voices from a wedding heard in you. Your men who bought and sold were the most powerful on earth. You fooled people over all the world by your witchcraft. ²⁴ And in this city was found the blood of the early preachers and of those who belonged to God and of all those who had been killed on the earth.”

¹² Then Jesus said to the man who asked Him to eat in his house, “When you have a supper, do not ask your friends or your brothers or your family or your rich neighbors. They will ask you to come to their place for a supper. That way you will be paid back for what you have done. ¹³ When you have a supper, ask poor people. Ask those who cannot walk and those who are blind. ¹⁴ You will be happy if you do this. They cannot pay you back. You will get your pay when the people who are right with God are raised from the dead.”

¹⁵ When one of those eating at the table with Jesus heard this, he said, “Everyone is happy who will eat in the holy nation of God.”

The Picture-Story of the Big Supper ^(A)

¹⁶ Then Jesus said to the leader of the proud religious law-keepers, “There was a man who was giving a big supper. He asked many people to come to eat. ¹⁷ When it was about time to eat, he sent one of the servants he owned to tell those he had asked, saying, ‘Come, everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ They all gave different reasons why they could not come. The first said, ‘I have bought some land and I must go and see it. Do not expect me to come.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought ten cows to use for working in my fields. I must go and try them out. Do not expect me to come.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘I have just been married and I cannot come.’

²¹ “The servant went back to his owner and told him these things. Then his owner became angry. He said to his servant, ‘Hurry into the streets and narrow roads of the city and bring poor people here. Bring those whose bodies are diseased. Bring those who cannot walk and those who are blind.’ ²² The servant came back and said, ‘Sir, what you told me to do has been done. But there are still some empty places.’ ²³ Then the owner said to his servant, ‘Go out along the roads leading away from the city and into the fields. Tell them they must come. Do this so my house will be filled. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those I had asked will eat of my supper.’”