Book of Common Prayer

102 A prayer when overwhelmed with trouble.

Lord, hear my prayer! Listen to my plea!

² Don’t turn away from me in this time of my distress. Bend down your ear and give me speedy answers, ^3-4 for my days disappear like smoke. My health is broken, and my heart is sick; it is trampled like grass and is withered. My food is tasteless, and I have lost my appetite. ⁵ I am reduced to skin and bones because of all my groaning and despair. ⁶ I am like a vulture in a far-off wilderness or like an owl alone in the desert. ⁷ I lie awake, lonely as a solitary sparrow on the roof.

⁸ My enemies taunt me day after day and curse at me. ^9-10 I eat ashes instead of bread. My tears run down into my drink because of your anger against me, because of your wrath. For you have rejected me and thrown me out. ¹¹ My life is passing swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering like grass, ¹² while you, Lord, are a famous King forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.

¹³ I know that you will come and have mercy on Jerusalem—and now is the time to pity her—the time you promised help. ¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls and feel sympathy for every grain of dust in her streets. ¹⁵ Now let the nations and their rulers tremble before the Lord, before his glory. ¹⁶ For Jehovah will rebuild Jerusalem! He will appear in his glory!

¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute, for he is never too busy to heed their requests. ¹⁸ I am recording this so that future generations will also praise the Lord for all that he has done. And a people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. ¹⁹ Tell them that God looked down from his temple in heaven ²⁰ and heard the groans of his people in slavery—they were children of death—and released them, ^21-22 so that multitudes would stream to the Temple in Jerusalem to praise him, and his praises were sung throughout the city; and many rulers throughout the earth came to worship him.

²³ He has cut me down in middle life, shortening my days. ²⁴ But I cried to him, “O God, you live forever and forever! Don’t let me die halfway through my years! ²⁵ In ages past you laid the foundations of the earth and made the heavens with your hands! ²⁶ They shall perish, but you go on forever. They will grow old like worn-out clothing, and you will change them like a man putting on a new shirt and throwing away the old one! ²⁷ But you yourself never grow old. You are forever, and your years never end.

²⁸ “But our families will continue; generation after generation will be preserved by your protection.”

107 Say thank you to the Lord for being so good, for always being so loving and kind. ² Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has saved you from your enemies.

³ He brought the exiles back from the farthest corners of the earth. ⁴ They were wandering homeless in the desert, ⁵ hungry and thirsty and faint. ⁶ “Lord, help!” they cried, and he did! ⁷ He led them straight to safety and a place to live. ⁸ Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness, and for all of his wonderful deeds! ⁹ For he satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

¹⁰ Who are these who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, crushed by misery and slavery? ¹¹ They rebelled against the Lord, scorning him who is the God above all gods. ¹² That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell and none could help them rise again. ¹³ Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! ¹⁴ He led them from the darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains. ¹⁵ Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! ¹⁶ For he broke down their prison gates of brass and cut apart their iron bars.

¹⁷ Others, the fools, were ill because of their sinful ways. ¹⁸ Their appetites were gone, and death was near. ¹⁹ Then they cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he helped them and delivered them. ²⁰ He spoke, and they were healed—snatched from the door of death. ²¹ Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! ²² Let them tell him thank you as their sacrifice and sing about his glorious deeds.

²³ And then there are the sailors sailing the seven seas, plying the trade routes of the world. ²⁴ They, too, observe the power of God in action. ²⁵ He calls to the storm winds; the waves rise high. ²⁶ Their ships are tossed to the heavens and sink again to the depths; the sailors cringe in terror. ²⁷ They reel and stagger like drunkards and are at their wit’s end. ²⁸ Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he saves them. ²⁹ He calms the storm and stills the waves. ³⁰ What a blessing is that stillness as he brings them safely into harbor! ³¹ Oh, that these men would praise the Lord for his loving-kindness and for all of his wonderful deeds! ³² Let them praise him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.

^6-7 Then the angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true: ‘I am coming soon!’^[a] God, who tells his prophets what the future holds, has sent his angel to tell you this will happen soon. Blessed are those who believe it and all else written in the scroll.”

⁸ I, John, saw and heard all these things, and fell down to worship the angel who showed them to me; ⁹ but again he said, “No, don’t do anything like that. I, too, am a servant of Jesus as you are, and as your brothers the prophets are, as well as all those who heed the truth stated in this book. Worship God alone.”

¹⁰ Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up what you have written, for the time of fulfillment is near. ¹¹ And when that time comes, all doing wrong will do it more and more; the vile will become more vile; good men will be better; those who are holy will continue on in greater holiness.”

¹² “See, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay everyone according to the deeds he has done. ¹³ I am the A and the Z, the Beginning and the End, the First and Last.

¹⁰ “Beware that you don’t look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access^[a] to my Father. ¹¹ And I, the Messiah,^[b] came to save the lost.

¹² “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? ¹³ And if he finds it, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine others safe at home! ¹⁴ Just so, it is not my Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵ “If a brother sins against you, go to him privately and confront him with his fault. If he listens and confesses it, you have won back a brother. ¹⁶ But if not, then take one or two others with you and go back to him again, proving everything you say by these witnesses. ¹⁷ If he still refuses to listen, then take your case to the church, and if the church’s verdict favors you, but he won’t accept it, then the church should excommunicate him.^{[c] 18} And I tell you this—whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever you free on earth will be freed in heaven.

¹⁹ “I also tell you this—if two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ²⁰ For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I will be right there among them.”