Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 102[a]
The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.
102 O Lord, hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.[b]
2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble.[c]
Listen to me.[d]
When I call out to you, quickly answer me.
3 For my days go up in smoke,[e]
and my bones are charred as in a fireplace.[f]
4 My heart is parched[g] and withered like grass,
for I am unable[h] to eat food.[i]
5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,
my bones protrude from my skin.[j]
6 I am like an owl[k] in the wilderness;
I am like a screech owl[l] among the ruins.[m]
7 I stay awake;[n]
I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who mock me use my name in their curses.[o]
9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread,[p]
and mix my drink with my tears,[q]
10 because of your anger and raging fury.
Indeed,[r] you pick me up and throw me away.
11 My days are coming to an end,[s]
and I am withered like grass.
12 But you, O Lord, rule forever,[t]
and your reputation endures.[u]
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion.[v]
For it is time to have mercy on her,
for the appointed time has come.
14 Indeed,[w] your servants take delight in her stones,
and feel compassion for[x] the dust of her ruins.[y]
15 The nations will respect the reputation of the Lord,[z]
and all the kings of the earth will respect[aa] his splendor,
16 when the Lord rebuilds Zion,
and reveals his splendor,
17 when he responds to the prayer of the destitute,[ab]
and does not reject[ac] their request.[ad]
18 The account of his intervention[ae] will be recorded for future generations;
people yet to be born[af] will praise the Lord.
19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above;[ag]
from heaven the Lord will look toward earth,[ah]
20 in order to hear the painful cries of the prisoners,
and to set free those condemned to die,[ai]
21 so they may proclaim the name of the Lord in Zion,
and praise him[aj] in Jerusalem,
22 when the nations gather together,
and the kingdoms pay tribute to the Lord.[ak]
23 He has taken away my strength in the middle of life;[al]
he has cut short my days.
24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life.[am]
You endure through all generations.[an]
25 In earlier times you established the earth;
the skies are your handiwork.
26 They will perish,
but you will endure.[ao]
They will wear out like a garment;
like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear.[ap]
27 But you remain;[aq]
your years do not come to an end.
28 The children of your servants will settle down here,
and their descendants[ar] will live securely in your presence.”[as]
Book 5 (Psalms 107-150)
Psalm 107[a]
107 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.[b]
2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,[c]
those whom he delivered[d] from the power[e] of the enemy,
3 and gathered from foreign lands,[f]
from east and west,
from north and south.
4 They wandered through the wilderness, in a wasteland;[g]
they found no road to a city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.[h]
6 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a level road,[i]
that they might find a city in which to live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people.[j]
9 For he has satisfied those who thirst,[k]
and those who hunger he has filled with food.[l]
10 They sat in utter darkness,[m]
bound in painful iron chains,[n]
11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands,[o]
and rejected the instructions of the Most High.[p]
12 So he used suffering to humble them;[q]
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
13 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of the utter darkness,[r]
and tore off their shackles.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people.[s]
16 For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars.[t]
17 They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,[u]
and suffered because of their sins.
18 They lost their appetite for all food,[v]
and they drew near the gates of death.
19 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
20 He sent them an assuring word[w] and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.[x]
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people.[y]
22 Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done.[z]
23 [aa] Some traveled on[ab] the sea in ships,
and carried cargo over the vast waters.[ac]
24 They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
25 He gave the order for a windstorm,[ad]
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.[ae]
26 They[af] reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength[ag] left them[ah] because the danger was so great.[ai]
27 They swayed[aj] and staggered like drunks,
and all their skill proved ineffective.[ak]
28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
29 He calmed the storm,[al]
and the waves[am] grew silent.
30 The sailors[an] rejoiced because the waves[ao] grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor[ap] they desired.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people.[aq]
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside.[ar]
20 Samson’s bride was then given to his best man.[a]
Samson Versus the Philistines
15 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest,[b] Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride.[c] He said to her father,[d] “I want to sleep with[e] my bride in her bedroom!”[f] But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought[g] you absolutely despised[h] her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”[i] 3 Samson said to them,[j] “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”[k] 4 Samson went and captured 300 jackals[l] and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.[m] 5 He lit the torches[n] and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 6 The Philistines asked,[o] “Who did this?” They were told,[p] “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite[q] took Samson’s[r] bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.[s] 7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this,[t] I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”[u] 8 He struck them down and defeated them.[v] Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.
9 The Philistines went up and invaded[w] Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle[x] in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking[y] us?” The Philistines[z] said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 So 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me[aa] you will not kill[ab] me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise![ac] We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff. 14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s Spirit empowered[ad] him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in[ae] fire, and they[af] melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see[ag] a solid[ah] jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it[ai] and struck down[aj] 1,000 men. 16 Samson then said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey
I have left them in heaps;[ak]
with the jawbone of a donkey
I have struck down a thousand men!”
17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down[al] and named that place Ramath Lehi.[am]
18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant[an] this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into the hands of these uncircumcised Philistines?”[ao] 19 So God split open the basin[ap] at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength[aq] was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring[ar] En Hakkore.[as] It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led[at] Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.[au]
17 “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham,[a] the people increased greatly in number[b] in Egypt, 18 until another king who did not know about[c] Joseph ruled[d] over Egypt.[e] 19 This was the one who exploited[f] our people[g] and was cruel to our ancestors,[h] forcing them to abandon[i] their infants so they would die.[j] 20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful[k] to God. For[l] three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 21 and when he had been abandoned,[m] Pharaoh’s daughter adopted[n] him and brought him up[o] as her own son. 22 So Moses was trained[p] in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful[q] in his words and deeds. 23 But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind[r] to visit his fellow countrymen[s] the Israelites.[t] 24 When[u] he saw one of them being hurt unfairly,[v] Moses[w] came to his defense[x] and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He thought his own people[y] would understand that God was delivering them[z] through him,[aa] but they did not understand.[ab] 26 The next day Moses[ac] saw two men[ad] fighting, and tried to make peace between[ae] them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’ 27 But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed[af] Moses[ag] aside, saying, ‘Who made[ah] you a ruler and judge over us? 28 You don’t want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[ai] 29 When the man said this,[aj] Moses fled and became a foreigner[ak] in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Onward to Galilee
43 After the two days he departed from there to Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)[a] 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem[b] at the feast[c] (for they themselves had gone to the feast).[d]
Healing the Royal Official’s Son
46 Now he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine.[e] In[f] Capernaum[g] there was a certain royal official[h] whose son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him[i] to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people[j] see signs and wonders you will never believe!”[k] 49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus told him, “Go home;[l] your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.[m]
51 While he was on his way down,[n] his slaves[o] met him and told him that his son was going to live. 52 So he asked them the time[p] when his condition began to improve,[q] and[r] they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon[s] the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that it was the very time[t] Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household. 54 Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign[u] when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
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