Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80[a]
Prayer for the Persecuted People
1 For the director.[b] According to “Lilies.” Eduth. A psalm of Asaph.
2 [c]Listen to us, O shepherd of Israel,[d]
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
As you sit enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
3 over Ephraim,[e] Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Stir up your power
and come to save us.
4 Restore us, O Lord of hosts;
let your face shine[f] upon us,
and we will be saved.
5 O Lord of hosts,[g]
how long will you be angry
at your people’s prayers?
6 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and made them drink tears beyond measure.
7 You have made us an object of contention to our neighbors,
a source of mockery to our enemies.
8 Restore us, O Lord of hosts;
let your face shine upon us,
and we will be saved.
9 [h]You brought a vine[i] out of Egypt;
you dispersed the nations and planted it.
10 You prepared the ground for it;
then it took root and filled the land.
11 The mountains were covered with its shade
and the cedars of God[j] with its shoots.
12 It sent out its boughs as far as the Sea,[k]
its shoots as far as the river.
13 [l]Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pluck its grapes?[m]
14 The boars from the forest ravage it,
and wild beasts of the field feed on it.
15 Turn once again to us, O Lord of hosts;[n]
look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
16 this shoot[o] that your right hand has planted,
the son that you yourself made strong.
17 Let those who would burn it or cut it down
perish when confronted by your rebuke.
18 Let your hand rest upon the man at your right,[p]
the son of man that you yourself made strong.
19 Then we will never again turn away from you;
give us life and we will call upon your name.[q]
20 Restore us, O Lord of hosts;
let your face shine upon us,
and we will be saved.
Psalm 77[a]
Lament and Consolation in Distress
1 For the director.[b] For Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.
2 [c]I cry aloud to God,
for when I cry out to God, he hears me.[d]
3 In the time of my distress I seek the Lord;
at night I stretch out my hands unceasingly,
and my soul refuses to be consoled.
4 [e]I groan as I think of God;
my spirit grows faint as I meditate on him. Selah
5 You keep my eyes from closing in sleep;
I am much too distraught to speak.
6 I reflect on the days of old
and recall the years long past.
7 At night I meditate in my heart,[f]
and as I reflect, my spirit questions:
8 [g]“Will the Lord cast us off forever
and never again show us his favor?
9 Has his kindness[h] vanished forever?
Has his promise ceased for all time?
10 Has God forgotten how to be merciful?
Has he shut up his compassion in anger?” Selah
11 [i]And I say: “This is my grief—
that the right hand[j] of the Most High has changed.”
12 I will remember the works of the Lord;
I will call to mind your wonders in the past.
13 I will reflect on all your deeds
and ponder your wondrous works.[k]
14 O God, your way is holy.[l]
What god is as great as our God?
15 You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might to the nations.
16 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.[m] Selah
17 [n]When the waters[o] beheld you, O God,
when the waters beheld you, they writhed;
the very depths trembled.
18 The clouds poured forth their water,
the skies thundered,
your arrows[p] flashed back and forth.
19 The crash of your thunder resounded in the heavens;
your flashes of lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.[q]
20 Your path led through the sea,
your way, through the mighty waters,
though none could trace your footsteps.[r]
21 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.[s]
Psalm 79[a]
Prayer for Restoration
1 A psalm of Asaph.[b]
[c]O God, the nations have invaded your heritage;
they have profaned your holy temple
and turned Jerusalem into a heap of ruins.
2 They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of the air,
the flesh of your saints
to the beasts of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and no one is left to bury them.[d]
4 We have become the scorn of our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.[e]
5 [f]How long, O Lord?[g] Will you be angry forever?
How long will your rage continue to blaze like a fire?
6 [h]Pour out your wrath on the nations
that refuse to acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms
that fail to call on your name.[i]
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and ravaged his homeland.
8 Do not hold against us the sins of our ancestors;
let your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate straits.[j]
9 [k]Help us, O God, our Savior,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and wipe away our sins
for your name’s sake.[l]
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Before our eyes make it clearly known among those nations
that you avenge[m] the blood of your servants.
11 Let the groans of the captives come before you;
through your great power
save those who have been sentenced to death.[n]
12 Repay our neighbors sevenfold[o] in their breasts, O Lord,
for the insults with which they taunted you.
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will offer thanks to you[p] forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.
Chapter 9
Confession of the People. 1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites, wearing sackcloth and with their heads covered with dust, assembled together for a fast. 2 Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, after which they stood up and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.[a]
3 They next stood in their places and read from the book of the law of the Lord, their God, for a fourth part of the day, after which they spent another quarter of the day in confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord, their God. 4 Standing on the platform of the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and they cried aloud to the Lord, their God.
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:
“Stand up and bless the Lord, your God
from everlasting to everlasting.
And blessed is your glorious name
that is exalted above all blessing and praise.”
6 Then Ezra said:
“You alone are the Lord:
you have created the heavens,
the highest heavens with all their host,
the earth and all that is upon it,
the seas and all that is in them.
To all of them you gave life,
and the hosts of heaven worship you.
7 “You are the Lord,
the God who chose Abram,
who brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans
and changed his name to Abraham.
8 Finding that his heart was faithful,
you made a covenant with him
to give to his descendants
the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, and Girgashites.
The promises of yours you fulfilled,
for you are just.
9 “You beheld the misery of our ancestors in Egypt
and heard their cry at the Red Sea.
10 “You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,
against all his servants and the people of his land.
Because you knew of the great arrogance
with which they treated our forefathers,
and you won renown for yourself
that has lasted even to this very day.
11 “You divided the sea before them,
and they passed through the sea on dry ground.
However, their pursuers you hurled into the depths
like a stone cast into turbulent waters.
12 By a pillar of cloud you led them by day,
and by a pillar of fire during the night,
to light the way ahead of them
along which they were to follow.
13 “You came down on Mount Sinai
and spoke with them from heaven.
You gave them regulations and laws
that are just and right,
statutes and commandments that are good.
14 You made known to them your holy sabbath,
and through your servant Moses
you gave them commandments, statutes, and laws.
15 “You gave them bread from heaven
to ease their hunger,
and you brought forth water from a rock
to quench their thirst.
You also told them to enter
and take possession of the land
which you had solemnly sworn to give them.
16 “However, they and our ancestors acted with arrogance;
they stubbornly refused to obey your commandments.
17 They refused to obey you
and no longer recalled the miracles
you had wrought among them.
In their obstinacy they became stiff-necked
and came to a decision
to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But because you are a forgiving God,
gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and rich in mercy,
you did not forsake them.
18 “Even when they had cast for themselves
a calf out of molten metal
and proclaimed: ‘Here is your God
who brought you up from Egypt,’
and were guilty of gross blasphemies,
19 you in your great compassion
did not abandon them in the wilderness.
The pillar of cloud never failed
to lead them on their journey by night,
nor did the pillar of fire fail by night
to light the way ahead of them
by which they were to go.
20 “You bestowed your good spirit on them
to give them understanding.
Your manna you did not withhold from their mouths,
and you gave them water in their thirst.
21 For forty years you sustained them;
they lacked nothing in the wilderness.
Their clothes did not become worn,
and their feet did not become swollen.
22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples,
allotting to them even the most remote frontiers.
They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon
and the land of King Og of Bashan.
23 You made their children as numerous
as the stars of the heavens,
and you brought them into the land
which you had commanded their fathers to enter and possess.
24 “The sons entered and took possession of the land,
and you subdued the Canaanite inhabitants
and delivered them into your power,
their kings as well as the peoples of the land,
to deal with them as they pleased.
25 They captured fortified towns and fertile land;
they took possession of houses
filled with all kinds of good things,
cisterns already dug, vineyards,
olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.
They ate and had their fill, grew fat,
and found delight in your great goodness.
Chapter 18
The Fall of Babylon the Great.[a] 1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and his splendor illumined the earth. 2 He cried out in a mighty voice:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit
and for every filthy and loathsome bird.
3 For all the nations have drunk
the wine of the wrath of her harlotry.
The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich
from her wealth and luxury.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying:
“Depart from her, my people,
so that you will not take part in her sins
and share in her plagues.
5 For her sins are piled up as high as the heavens,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Pay her back as she has done to others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix her a double portion of her own poison.
7 Give her torment and grief
to equal the measure of her glory and luxury.
In her heart she says,
‘I rule as a queen.
I am not a widow,
and I will never experience grief.’
8 Therefore, in a single day
her plagues will come upon her:
pestilence and mourning and famine.
And she will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
Chapter 15
Traditions That Falsify the Law of God. 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 [a]“Why do your disciples ignore the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before eating.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Anything I might have used for your support is dedicated to God,” 6 then he is excused from his duty to honor his father or mother.’ To uphold your tradition you have made God’s word null and void. 7 You hypocrites! How rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:
8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
10 Clean and Unclean.[b] Then he called the people to him and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11 It is not what goes into one’s mouth that defiles a person; what comes out of the mouth is what defiles him.”
12 The disciples approached and said to him, “Do you realize that the Pharisees were greatly offended when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides. And if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said to him, “Explain that parable to us.” 16 Jesus replied, “Are even you still without understanding? 17 Do you not realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes through the stomach and is discharged into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, and this is what defiles a person. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not make anyone unclean.”
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