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.

The One to Come

3 “See, I am going to send one with news, and he will make the way ready before Me. Then all at once the Lord you are looking for will come to His house. The one with the news of the agreement, whom you desire, is coming,” says the Lord of All. ² “But who can live through the day of His coming? Who can stand when He shows Himself? For He is like a fire for making gold pure, and like a strong cleaner. ³ He will sit as one who melts silver and makes it pure. He will make the sons of Levi pure. He will make them pure like gold and silver, so that they may bring the right gifts to the Lord. ⁴ Then the gifts of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as they were in the past. ⁵ Then I will come to judge you. I will be quick to speak against those who use witchcraft, and those who do sex sins, and those who make false promises. I will speak against those who do not pay a man what he has earned, and who make it hard for the woman whose husband has died and for children who have no parents. And I will speak against those who turn away the stranger and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of All.

⁶ “For I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O children of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Giving to God a Tenth Part

⁷ “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My Laws and have not obeyed them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of All. “But you say, ‘How are we to return?’ ⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ You have not given Me the tenth part of what you receive and your gifts. ⁹ You are cursed, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the tenth part into the store-house, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord of All. “See if I will not then open the windows of heaven and pour out good things for you until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will speak sharp words to the destroyer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground. And your vine in the field will be sure to give its grapes,” says the Lord of All. ¹² “All the nations will say that much good has come to you, for you will be a happy land,” says the Lord of All.

The Lord Will Come Again

⁷ Christian brothers, be willing to wait for the Lord to come again. Learn from the farmer. He waits for the good fruit from the earth until the early and late rains come. ⁸ You must be willing to wait also. Be strong in your hearts because the Lord is coming again soon. ⁹ Do not complain about each other, Christian brothers. Then you will not be judged. See! The Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ See how the early preachers spoke for the Lord by their suffering and by being willing to wait. ¹¹ We think of those who stayed true to Him as happy even though they suffered. You have heard how long Job waited. You have seen what the Lord did for him in the end. The Lord is full of loving-kindness and pity.

¹² My Christian brothers, do not swear. Do not use heaven or earth or anything else to swear by. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. You will be guilty for saying anything more.

The Picture-Story of the Woman Whose Husband Had Died

18 Jesus told them a picture-story to show that men should always pray and not give up. ² He said, “There was a man in one of the cities who was head of the court. His work was to say if a person was guilty or not. This man was not afraid of God. He did not respect any man. ³ In that city there was a woman whose husband had died. She kept coming to him and saying, ‘Help me! There is someone who is working against me.’ ⁴ For awhile he would not help her. Then he began to think, ‘I am not afraid of God and I do not respect any man. ⁵ But I will see that this woman whose husband has died gets her rights because I get tired of her coming all the time.’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the sinful man who is head of the court. ⁷ Will not God make the things that are right come to His chosen people who cry day and night to Him? Will He wait a long time to help them? ⁸ I tell you, He will be quick to help them. But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”