Book of Common Prayer
Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.
A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and [a]pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102 (A)Hear my prayer, O Lord!
And let my cry for help (B)come to You.
2 (C)Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;
(D)Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call (E)answer me quickly.
3 For my days (F)have been [b]consumed in smoke,
And my (G)bones have been scorched like a hearth.
4 My heart (H)has been smitten like [c]grass and has (I)withered away,
Indeed, I (J)forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the [d]loudness of my groaning
My (K)bones [e]cling to my flesh.
6 I [f]resemble a (L)pelican of the wilderness;
I have become like an owl of the waste places.
7 I (M)lie awake,
I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.
8 My enemies (N)have reproached me all day long;
Those who [g](O)deride me [h]have used my name as a (P)curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread
And (Q)mingled my drink with weeping
10 (R)Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
For You have (S)lifted me up and cast me away.
11 My days are like a [i](T)lengthened shadow,
And [j]I (U)wither away like [k]grass.
12 But You, O Lord, [l](V)abide forever,
And Your [m](W)name 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 [n]find pleasure in her stones
And feel pity for her dust.
15 [o]So the [p](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)regarded the prayer of the [q]destitute
And has not despised their prayer.
18 [r]This will be (AG)written for the (AH)generation to come,
[s]That (AI)a people yet to be created [t]may praise [u]the Lord.
19 For He (AJ)looked down from His holy height;
(AK)From heaven the Lord gazed [v]upon the earth,
20 To hear the (AL)groaning of the prisoner,
To (AM)set free [w]those who were doomed to death,
21 That men 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 weakened my strength in the way;
He has (AP)shortened my days.
24 I say, “O my God, (AQ)do not take me away in the [x]midst of my days,
Your (AR)years are throughout all generations.
25 “Of old You (AS)founded the earth,
And the (AT)heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 “[y]Even they will (AU)perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 “But You are [z](AV)the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
28 “The (AW)children of Your servants will continue,
And their [aa](AX)descendants will be established before You.”
BOOK 5
The Lord Delivers Men from Manifold Troubles.
107 Oh (A)give thanks to the Lord, for (B)He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Let (C)the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has (D)redeemed from the hand of the adversary
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)soul fainted within them.
6 Then they (I)cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them also by a [e](J)straight way,
To go to [f](K)an inhabited city.
8 (L)Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His [g]wonders to the sons of men!
9 For He has (M)satisfied the [h]thirsty soul,
And the (N)hungry soul He has filled with what is good.
10 There were those who (O)dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death,
(P)Prisoners in [i]misery and [j]chains,
11 Because they had (Q)rebelled against the words of God
And (R)spurned the (S)counsel of the Most High.
12 Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;
They stumbled and there was (T)none to help.
13 Then they (U)cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He (V)brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death
And (W)broke their bands apart.
15 (X)Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His [k]wonders to the sons of men!
16 For He has (Y)shattered gates of bronze
And cut bars of iron asunder.
17 Fools, because of [l]their rebellious way,
And (Z)because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their (AA)soul abhorred all kinds of food,
And they (AB)drew near to the (AC)gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He (AD)sent His word and (AE)healed them,
And (AF)delivered them from their [m]destructions.
21 (AG)Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His [n]wonders to the sons of men!
22 Let them 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 [o]wonders in the deep.
25 For He (AK)spoke and raised up a (AL)stormy wind,
Which (AM)lifted up the waves [p]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 man,
And [q]were at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cried 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 [r]of the sea were hushed.
30 Then they were glad because they were quiet,
So He guided them to their desired haven.
31 (AQ)Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,
And for His [s](AR)wonders to the sons of men!
32 Let them (AS)extol Him also (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 not her younger sister [b]more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours [c]instead.” 3 Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” 4 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. 5 When he had set fire to the torches, he released [d]the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because [e]he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and (D)burned her and her father with fire. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.” 8 He struck them [f]ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and 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 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 3,000 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, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not [g]kill me.” 13 So they said to [h]him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we 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 [i]came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds [j]dropped from his hands. 15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he [k]reached out and took it and [l]killed (G)a thousand men with it. 16 Then Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
[m]Heaps upon heaps,
With the jawbone of a donkey
I have [n]killed a thousand men.”
17 When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place [o]Ramath-lehi. 18 Then he became very thirsty, and he (H)called to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now [p]shall I die of thirst [q]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 [r]strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it [s]En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. 20 So (J)he judged Israel twenty years in (K)the days of the Philistines.
17 “But as the (A)time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, (B)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until (C)there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19 It was he who took (D)shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would [a](E)expose their infants and they would not survive. 20 It was at this time that (F)Moses was born; and he was lovely [b]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. 21 And after he had been set outside, (G)Pharaoh’s daughter [c]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all (H)the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. 23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, (I)it entered his [d]mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them [e]deliverance [f]through him, but they did not understand. 26 (J)On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ 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 mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29 At this remark, (M)Moses fled and became an alien in the land of [g]Midian, where he (N)became the father of two sons.
43 After (A)the two days He went forth from there into 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, (C)having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
Healing a Nobleman’s Son
46 Therefore He came again to (D)Cana of Galilee (E)where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at (F)Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come (G)out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 So 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 lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his [c]son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the [d]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 lives”; and he himself believed and (K)his whole household. 54 This is again a (L)second [e]sign that Jesus performed when He had (M)come out of Judea into Galilee.
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