Book of Common Prayer

¹ By the rivers of Babylon
    there we sat weeping
    when we remembered Zion.^(A)
2 On the poplars in its midst
    we hung up our harps.^(B)
3 For there our captors asked us
    for the words of a song;
Our tormentors, for joy:
    “Sing for us a song of Zion!”
⁴ But how could we sing a song of the Lord
    in a foreign land?

⁵ If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget.^(C)
6 May my tongue stick to my palate
    if I do not remember you,
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
    beyond all my delights.

⁷ Remember, Lord, against Edom
    that day at Jerusalem.
They said: “Level it, level it
    down to its foundations!”^(D)
8 Desolate Daughter Babylon, you shall be destroyed,
    blessed the one who pays you back
    what you have done us!^(E)
9 [b]Blessed the one who seizes your children
    and smashes them against the rock.^(F)

^[b]Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
    who trains my hands for battle,
    my fingers for war;
² My safeguard and my fortress,
    my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples under me.

^3 [c]Lord, what is man that you take notice of him;
    the son of man, that you think of him?^(A)
4 [d]Man is but a breath,
    his days are like a passing shadow.^(B)
5 [e]Lord, incline your heavens and come down;
    touch the mountains and make them smoke.^(C)
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter my foes;
    shoot your arrows and rout them.
⁷ Reach out your hand from on high;
    deliver me from the many waters;
    rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
⁸ Their mouths speak untruth;
    their right hands are raised in lying oaths.^[f]
9 O God, a new song I will sing to you;
    on a ten-stringed lyre I will play for you.^(D)
10 You give victory to kings;
    you delivered David your servant.^(E)
From the menacing sword ¹¹ deliver me;
    rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
Their mouths speak untruth;
    their right hands are raised in lying oaths.

¹² May our sons be like plants^(F)
    well nurtured from their youth,
Our daughters, like carved columns,
    shapely as those of the temple.
¹³ May our barns be full
    with every kind of store.
May our sheep increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
    may our oxen be well fattened.
¹⁴ May there be no breach in the walls,
    no exile, no outcry in our streets.^(G)
15 Blessed the people so fortunate;
    blessed the people whose God is the Lord.^(H)

¹ Bless the Lord, my soul!
    Lord, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and splendor,
²     robed in light as with a cloak.
You spread out the heavens like a tent;^(A)
3     setting the beams of your chambers upon the waters.^[b]
You make the clouds your chariot;
    traveling on the wings of the wind.
⁴ You make the winds your messengers;
    flaming fire, your ministers.^(B)

^5 [c]You fixed the earth on its foundation,
    so it can never be shaken.
⁶ The deeps covered it like a garment;
    above the mountains stood the waters.
⁷ At your rebuke they took flight;
    at the sound of your thunder they fled.^(C)
8 They rushed up the mountains, down the valleys
    to the place you had fixed for them.
⁹ You set a limit they cannot pass;
    never again will they cover the earth.^(D)

¹⁰ You made springs flow in wadies
    that wind among the mountains.
¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field;^(E)
    here wild asses quench their thirst.
¹² Beside them the birds of heaven nest;
    among the branches they sing.
¹³ You water the mountains from your chambers;
    from the fruit of your labor the earth abounds.
¹⁴ You make the grass grow for the cattle
    and plants for people’s work
    to bring forth food from the earth,
¹⁵ wine to gladden their hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread to sustain the human heart.
^16 [d]The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
    the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted.
¹⁷ There the birds build their nests;
    the stork in the junipers, its home.^(F)
18 The high mountains are for wild goats;
    the rocky cliffs, a refuge for badgers.

¹⁹ You made the moon to mark the seasons,^(G)
    the sun that knows the hour of its setting.
²⁰ You bring darkness and night falls,
    then all the animals of the forest wander about.
²¹ Young lions roar for prey;
    they seek their food from God.^(H)
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
    and settle down in their dens.
²³ People go out to their work,
    to their labor till evening falls.

²⁴ How varied are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you have made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.^(I)
25 There is the sea, great and wide!
    It teems with countless beings,
    living things both large and small.^(J)
26 There ships ply their course
    and Leviathan,^[e] whom you formed to play with.^(K)

²⁷ All of these look to you
    to give them food in due time.^(L)
28 When you give it to them, they gather;
    when you open your hand, they are well filled.
^29 [f]When you hide your face, they panic.
    Take away their breath, they perish
    and return to the dust.^(M)
30 Send forth your spirit, they are created
    and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord be glad in his works!
³² Who looks at the earth and it trembles,
    touches the mountains and they smoke!^(N)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God while I live.^(O)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
    I will rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ May sinners vanish from the earth,
    and the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, my soul! Hallelujah!^[g]