Book of Common Prayer
Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.
A Prayer of the afflicted when he is weak and [a]pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102 (A)Hear my prayer, Lord!
And let my cry for help (B)come to You.
2 (C)Do not hide Your face from me on the day of my distress;
(D)Incline Your ear to me;
On the day when I call (E)answer me quickly.
3 For my days (F)have ended in smoke,
And my (G)bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4 My heart (H)has been struck like [b]grass and has (I)withered,
Indeed, I (J)forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the [c]loudness of my groaning
My (K)bones [d]cling to my flesh.
6 I resemble a (L)pelican of the wilderness;
I have become like an owl of the ruins.
7 I (M)lie awake,
I have become like a solitary bird on a housetop.
8 My enemies (N)have taunted me all day long;
Those who [e](O)deride me [f]have used my name as a (P)curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And (Q)mixed my drink with weeping
10 (R)Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have (S)lifted me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a [g](T)lengthened shadow,
And [h]I (U)wither away like [i]grass.
12 But You, Lord, [j](V)remain forever,
And Your [k](W)name remains to all generations.
13 You will (X)arise and have (Y)compassion on Zion;
For (Z)it is time to be gracious to her,
For the (AA)appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants [l]take pleasure in her stones,
And feel pity for her dust.
15 [m]So the [n](AB)nations will fear the name of the Lord,
And (AC)all the kings of the earth, Your glory.
16 For the Lord has (AD)built up Zion;
He has (AE)appeared in His glory.
17 He has (AF)turned His attention to the prayer of the [o]destitute
And has not despised their prayer.
18 [p]This will be (AG)written for the (AH)generation to come,
[q]That (AI)a people yet to be created [r]may praise [s]the Lord:
19 For He (AJ)looked down from His holy height;
(AK)From heaven the Lord looked [t]upon the earth,
20 To hear the (AL)groaning of the prisoner,
To (AM)set free [u]those who were doomed to death,
21 So that people may (AN)tell of the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When (AO)the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He has broken my strength in the way;
He has (AP)shortened my days.
24 I say, “My God, (AQ)do not take me away in the middle of my days,
Your (AR)years are [v]throughout all generations.
25 In time of old You (AS)founded the earth,
And the (AT)heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 [w]Even they will (AU)perish, but You endure;
All of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will pass away.
27 But You are [x](AV)the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
28 The (AW)children of Your servants will continue,
And their [y](AX)descendants will be established before You.”
BOOK 5
The Lord Rescues People from Many Troubles.
107 (A)Give thanks to the Lord, for (B)He is good,
For His mercy is everlasting.
2 (C)The redeemed of the Lord shall say so,
Those whom He has (D)redeemed from the hand of the enemy
3 And (E)gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the [a]south.
4 They (F)wandered in the wilderness in a [b]desert region;
They did not find a way to [c]an inhabited (G)city.
5 They were hungry [d]and thirsty;
Their (H)souls felt weak within them.
6 Then they (I)cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distresses.
7 He also had them walk on a [e](J)straight way,
To go to [f](K)an inhabited city.
8 (L)They shall give thanks to the Lord for His mercy,
And for His [g]wonders to the sons of mankind!
9 For He has (M)satisfied the [h]thirsty soul,
And He has filled the (N)hungry soul with what is good.
10 There were those who (O)lived in darkness and in [i]the shadow of death,
(P)Prisoners in misery and [j]chains,
11 Because they had (Q)rebelled against the words of God
And (R)rejected the (S)plan of the Most High.
12 Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was (T)no one to help.
13 Then they (U)cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distresses.
14 He (V)brought them out of darkness and [k]the shadow of death
And (W)broke their bands apart.
15 (X)They shall give thanks to the Lord for His mercy,
And for His [l]wonders to the sons of mankind!
16 For He has (Y)shattered gates of bronze
And cut off bars of iron.
17 Fools, because of [m]their rebellious way,
And (Z)because of their guilty deeds, were afflicted.
18 Their (AA)souls loathed all kinds of food,
And they (AB)came close to the (AC)gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distresses.
20 He (AD)sent His word and (AE)healed them,
And (AF)saved them from their [n]destruction.
21 (AG)They shall give thanks to the Lord for His mercy,
And for His [o]wonders to the sons of mankind!
22 They shall also offer (AH)sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And (AI)tell of His works with joyful singing.
23 Those who (AJ)go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
24 They have seen the works of the Lord,
And His [p]wonders in the deep.
25 For He (AK)spoke and raised a (AL)stormy wind,
Which (AM)lifted the waves [q]of the sea.
26 They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
Their soul (AN)melted away in their misery.
27 They reeled and (AO)staggered like a drunken person,
And [r]were at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brought them out of their distresses.
29 He (AP)caused the storm to be still,
So that the waves [s]of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad because they were quiet,
So He guided them to their desired harbor.
31 (AQ)They shall give thanks to the Lord for His mercy,
And for His [t](AR)wonders to the sons of mankind!
32 They shall also (AS)exalt Him (AT)in the congregation of the people,
And (AU)praise Him at the seat of the elders.
20 But Samson’s wife was (A)given to his companion who had been his [a]friend.
Samson Burns Philistine Crops
15 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife (B)with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I (C)gave her to your companion. Is her younger sister not [b]more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours [c]instead.” 3 Samson then said to them, “This time I will have been blameless regarding the Philistines when I do them harm.” 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took torches, and turned the jackals tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. 5 When he had set fire to the torches, he released the jackals into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to both the bundled heaps and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And some said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because [d]he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and (D)burned her and her father to death with fire. 7 Then Samson said to them, “If this is how you act, I will certainly take revenge on you, and only after that will I stop.” 8 So he struck them [e]ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and afterward he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi. 10 So the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know (E)that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “Just as they did to me, so I have done to them.” 12 Then they said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may hand you over to the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not [f]kill me.” 13 So they said to [g]him, “No, but we will bind you tightly and give you into their hands; but we certainly will not kill you.” Then they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And (F)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him so that the ropes that were on his arms were like flax that has burned with fire, and his restraints [h]dropped from his hands. 15 Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out with his hand and took it, and [i]killed (G)a thousand men with it. 16 And Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
[j]Heaps upon heaps,
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have [k]killed a thousand men.”
17 When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place [l]Ramath-lehi. 18 Then he became very thirsty, and he (H)called to the Lord and said, “You have [m]handed this great [n]victory over to Your servant, and now [o]am I to die of thirst [p]and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, (I)his [q]strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it [r]En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20 So (J)he judged Israel for twenty years in (K)the days of the Philistines.
17 “But as the (A)time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, (B)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until (C)another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 It was he who (D)shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would (E)abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. 20 At this time (F)Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. 21 And after he had been put outside, (G)Pharaoh’s daughter [a]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all (H)the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in [b]speaking and action. 23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, (I)it entered his [c]mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. 25 And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them [d]deliverance [e]through him; but they did not understand. 26 (J)And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ 27 But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘(K)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 (L)You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29 At this remark, (M)Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of [f]Midian, where he (N)fathered two sons.
43 And after (A)the two days, He departed from there for Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that (B)a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, only because (C)they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
Healing an Official’s Son
46 Therefore He came again to (D)Cana of Galilee, (E)where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at (F)Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come (G)from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see [a](H)signs and (I)wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “[b]Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “(J)Go; your son [c]is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [d]son was [e]alive. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the [f]seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and (K)his entire household. 54 This is again a (L)second [g]sign that Jesus performed when He had (M)come from Judea into Galilee.
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