Book of Common Prayer
The Lord’s Eternal Love
A Prayer of the afflicted, (A)when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord.
102 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
2 (B)Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me speedily.
3 For my days [a]are (C)consumed like smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
So that I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my [b]skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
8 My enemies reproach me all day long;
Those who deride me swear an oath against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
10 Because of Your indignation and Your wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.
11 My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
And I wither away like grass.
12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones,
And show favor to her dust.
15 So the [c]nations shall (D)fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
16 For the Lord shall build up Zion;
(E)He shall appear in His glory.
17 (F)He shall regard the prayer of the destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
18 This will be (G)written for the generation to come,
That (H)a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.
19 For He (I)looked down from the height of His sanctuary;
From heaven the Lord viewed the earth,
20 (J)To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To release those appointed to death,
21 To (K)declare the name of the Lord in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 (L)When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He weakened my strength in the way;
He (M)shortened my days.
24 (N)I said, “O my God,
Do not take me away in the midst of my days;
(O)Your years are throughout all generations.
25 (P)Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 (Q)They will perish, but You will [d]endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But (R)You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
28 (S)The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”
BOOK FIVE
Psalms 107–150
Thanksgiving to the Lord for His Great Works of Deliverance
107 Oh, (A)give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His [a]mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And (B)gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in (C)the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6 (D)Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the (E)right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 (F)Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For (G)He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who (H)sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
(I)Bound[b] in affliction and irons—
11 Because they (J)rebelled against the words of God,
And [c]despised (K)the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was (L)none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
14 (M)He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has (N)broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, (O)because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 (P)Their soul abhorred all manner of food,
And they (Q)drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
20 (R)He sent His word and (S)healed them,
And (T)delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 (U)Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And (V)declare His works with [d]rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and (W)raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
(X)Their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And [e]are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29 (Y)He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31 (Z)Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also (AA)in the assembly of the people,
And praise Him in the company of the elders.
27 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that (A)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have (B)watched over them (C)to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them (D)to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 (E)In those days they shall say no more:
‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 (F)But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
A New Covenant
31 “Behold, the (G)days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that (H)I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, [a]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 (I)But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: (J)I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their [b]hearts; (K)and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for (L)they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For (M)I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Walk in Love
5 Therefore(A) be imitators of God as dear (B)children. 2 And (C)walk in love, (D)as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God (E)for a sweet-smelling aroma.
3 But fornication and all (F)uncleanness or (G)covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 (H)neither filthiness, nor (I)foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, (J)which are not fitting, but rather (K)giving of thanks. 5 For [a]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any (L)inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be (M)partakers with them.
Walk in Light
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are (N)light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for (O)the fruit of the [b]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 (P)finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have (Q)no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather [c]expose them. 12 (R)For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But (S)all things that are [d]exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:
(T)“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
Walk in Wisdom
15 (U)See then that you walk [e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 (V)redeeming the time, (W)because the days are evil.
17 (X)Therefore do not be unwise, but (Y)understand (Z)what the will of the Lord is. 18 And (AA)do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another (AB)in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making (AC)melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 (AD)giving thanks always for all things to God the Father (AE)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Matthew the Tax Collector(A)
9 (B)As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
10 (C)Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with (D)tax collectors and (E)sinners?”
12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: (F)‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, (G)but sinners, [a]to repentance.”
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting(H)
14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, (I)“Why do we and the Pharisees fast [b]often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
15 And Jesus said to them, “Can (J)the [c]friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and (K)then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for [d]the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins [e]break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.