Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: To the tune of[a] “The Lilies”. Davidic.
When God Seems Distant
69 Deliver me, God,
because the waters are up to my neck.[b]
2 I am sinking in deep mire,
and there is no solid ground.[c]
I have come into deep water,
and the flood overwhelms me.
3 I am exhausted from calling for help.
My throat is parched.
My eyes are strained from looking for God.
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of my head.
My persecutors are mighty,
and they want to destroy me.
Must I be forced to return what I did not steal?
5 God, you know my sins,
and my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who look up to you be ashamed
because of me,
Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.
Let not those who seek you be humiliated
because of me,
God of Israel.
7 I am being mocked because of you.
Dishonor overwhelms me.
8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
9 Zeal for your house consumes me,
and the mockeries of those who insult you fall on me.
10 I weep and fast,
and I am mocked for it.
11 When I dressed in sackcloth,
I became an object of gossip among them.
12 The prominent people mock me,
composing drinking songs.
Seeking God for Deliverance
13 As for me, Lord, may my prayer to you come at a favorable time.
God, in the abundance of your gracious love,
answer me with your sure deliverance.
14 Rescue me from the mud
and do not let me sink.
Rescue me from those who hate me,
and from the deep waters.
15 Let neither the floodwaters overwhelm me
nor let the deep swallow me up,
nor the mouth of the well close over me.
16 Answer me, Lord, for your gracious love is good;
Turn to me in keeping with your great compassion,
17 and[d] do not ignore your servant,
because I am in distress.
Hurry to answer me!
18 Draw near and redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies.
19 Truly you know my reproach, shame, and disgrace.
All my enemies are known to[e] you.
20 Insults broke my heart.
I despaired and looked for sympathy;
but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put poison in my food,
in my thirst they forced me to drink vinegar.
22 May their dining[f] tables entrap them,
and become a snare for their allies.
23 May their eyes be blinded
and may their bodies tremble continuously.
24 May you pour out your fury on them.
May your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp become desolate
and their tents remain unoccupied.
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck,
and they brag about the pain of those you have wounded.
27 May you punish them for their crimes;
may they receive no verdict of innocence[g] from you.
28 May they be erased from the Book of Life,
and their names not be written with the righteous.
29 As for me, I am afflicted and hurting;
may your deliverance, God, establish me on high.
30 Let me praise the name of God with a song
that I may magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 That will please the Lord
more than oxen and bulls with horns and hooves.
32 The afflicted will watch and rejoice.
May you who seek God take courage.
33 For the Lord listens to the needy
and doesn’t despise those in bondage.
34 Let the heavens and earth praise him,
along with the sea and its swarming creatures.[h]
35 For God will deliver Zion
and will rebuild the cities of Judah
so they may live there and possess them.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who cherish his name will live there.
BOOK III (Psalms 73-89)
A song of Asaph.
A Plea for Deliverance
73 God is indeed good to Israel,
to those pure in heart.
2 Now as for me, my feet nearly stumbled,
as I almost lost my step.
3 For I was envious of the proud
when I observed the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there is no struggle at their deaths,
and their bodies are healthy.
5 They do not experience problems common to ordinary people;
they aren’t afflicted as others[a] are.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace
and violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge from obesity
and the imaginations of their mind cross the border into sin.[b]
8 In their mockery they speak evil;
from their arrogant position they speak oppression.
9 They choose to speak[c] against heaven;
while they talk about things on earth.
10 Therefore God’s[d] people return there
and drink it all in like water until they’re satiated.
11 Then they say,
“How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 Just look at these wicked people!
They’re perpetually carefree
as they increase their wealth.
13 I kept my heart pure for nothing
and kept my hands clean from guilt.
14 For I suffer all day long
and I am punished every morning.
15 If I say, “I will talk like this,”
I would betray a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this,
it was too difficult for me
17 until I entered the sanctuaries of God.
Then I understood their destiny.
18 You have certainly set them in slippery places;
you will make them fall to their ruin.
19 How desolate they quickly become,
completely destroyed by calamities.
20 Like a dream when one awakens, Lord,
you will despise their image when you arise.
21 When I chose to be bitter
I was emotionally pained.
22 Then, I was too stupid
and didn’t realize I was acting like[e] a wild animal with you.
23 But now I am always with you,
for you keep holding my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your wise advice,
and later you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?
I desire nothing on this [f]earth.
26 My body and mind may fail,
but God is my strength[g] and my portion forever.
27 Those far from you will perish;
you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.
28 As for me, how good for me it is that God is near!
I have made the Lord God my refuge
so I can tell about all your deeds.
Ezra’s Response to the Letter
27 Blessed be the Lord God of our ancestors,
who placed this decree[a] into the king’s heart
to beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem
28 and who showed gracious love to me before the king,
before his advisors,
and before all of the king’s mighty officials.
And I was strengthened because the hand of the Lord my God was upon me. So I gathered together the leaders of Israel to go with me.
21 Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so we could humble ourselves before our God and seek from him an appropriate way for us and our little ones to live, and how we should guard our personal wealth,[a] 22 because I was ashamed to ask the king for a contingent of soldiers and cavalry to protect us from enemies we might encounter[b] on the way. After all, we had told the king, “The hand of our God seeks the good of all who seek him,[c] but his power and anger are against everyone who forsakes him.” 23 So we fasted and asked our God about this, and he listened to us.
Ezra Delegates Responsibilities
24 Next I selected twelve of the chief priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them— 25 and divided between them the silver, the gold, the vessels, and the offering for the Temple of our God which the king had offered, along with his advisors, his senior officials, and all of Israel assembled there. 26 I divided among them[d] 650 silver talents,[e] silver utensils weighing 100 talents,[f] 100 talents[g] of gold, 27 20 gold basins weighing 1,000 darics[h] each, and two vessels made of polished brass, as valuable as gold.
28 I told them, “You are consecrated[i] to the Lord, and the vessels are also consecrated.[j] The silver and the gold are a freely given offering to the Lord God of your ancestors. 29 Guard and protect them until you disperse them to the chief priests, the descendants of Levi, and to the family leaders of Israel at Jerusalem in the chambers of the Temple of the Lord.”
30 So the priests and descendants of Levi took possession of the silver, the gold, and the vessels in order to bring them to Jerusalem, to the Temple of our God.
31 Then we left the Ahava River for Jerusalem on the twelfth day[k] of the first month. Our God’s protection[l] was with us, and he delivered us from the enemy’s power[m] and from ambush along the way.
Ezra’s Delegation Arrives in Jerusalem
32 We arrived in Jerusalem and remained there three days. 33 On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the vessels were distributed at the Temple of our God into the care[n] of Uriah’s son Meremoth the priest, Phinehas’ son Eleazar, Jeshua’s son Jozabad, and Binnui’s son Noadiah, the descendants of Levi. 34 Distribution was according to inventory[o] and weight, with all weights being recorded at that time.
35 The descendants of those who had been taken into captivity and who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all of Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering—all of them burnt offerings to the Lord. 36 Then they delivered copies of[p] the king’s orders to the king’s officers, and governors on this side of the Euphrates[q] River. The orders were in support of the people and God’s Temple.
The Vision of Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
15 I saw another sign in heaven. It was both spectacular and amazing. There were seven angels with the seven last plagues, with which God’s wrath is completed.
The Vision of the Sea of Glass
2 Then I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who had conquered the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass holding God’s harps in their hands. 3 They sang the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the lamb:
“Your deeds are both spectacular and amazing,
Lord God Almighty.
Your ways are just and true,
King of the nations.[a]
4 Lord, who won’t fear and praise your name?
For you alone are holy,
and all the nations will come and worship you
because your judgments have been revealed.”
The Vision of the Temple Opened
5 After these things, I looked, and the Temple, which is the Tent of Testimony in heaven, was open! 6 The seven angels with the seven plagues came out of the Temple wearing clean, shining linen with gold sashes around their chests.[b] 7 One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven gold bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 The Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power, and no one could enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels came to an end.
Jesus Feeds More than Five Thousand People(A)
13 When Jesus heard this, he left that place and went[a] by boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the neighboring[b] towns. 14 When he got out of the boat,[c] he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them and healed their sick. 15 When evening had come, the disciples went to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it’s already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 But Jesus told them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 They told him, “We don’t have anything here except five loaves of bread and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring them to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed them. Then he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them[d] to the crowds. 20 All of them ate and were filled. Then the disciples[e] picked up what was left of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 Now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.
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