Book of Common Prayer
Lament During the Babylonian Exile
137 By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat, yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows[a] in her midst,
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors asked of us
words of a song,
and our tormentors[b] asked of us jubilation,
“Sing for us from a song of Zion.”
4 How could we sing the song of Yahweh
in a foreign land?[c]
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget.[d]
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if do not I exalt Jerusalem
above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom
the day of Jerusalem,
the ones who said, “Lay it bare! Lay it bare
to its foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, about to be devastated,
happy shall be he who pays back to you
what you paid out to us.[e]
9 Happy shall be he who seizes
and smashes your children
against the rock.
A Prayer for National Safety
Of David.[a]
144 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock,
the one who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war—
2 my loyal love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, and one in whom I take refuge,
the one who subdues peoples[b] under me.
3 O Yahweh, what is humankind that you take knowledge of him,
or the son of man that you take thought of him?
4 Humankind is like a breath,
his days like a passing shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down;
touch the mountains so that they smoke.
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
dispatch your arrows and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hands from on high;
Rescue me and deliver me from many waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
8 whose mouth speaks falsely,
and their right hand is a false right hand.
9 O God, I will sing a new song to you.
With a lyre of ten strings I will sing praise to you,
10 who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant
from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks falsely,
and whose right hand is a false right hand,
12 that our sons may be like plants,
full grown in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars,
carved in the style of a palace,
13 that our granaries may be full,
providing produce of all kinds,[c]
that our sheep may produce by the thousands,
by the tens of thousands in our open fields,
14 that our cattle may be pregnant;
that there be no breach in our walls,
and no going out in exile,
and no outcry in our plazas.
15 Blessed are the people who have it thus.
Blessed are the people whose God is Yahweh.
Praise to Yahweh for His Creation and Providence
104 Bless Yahweh, O my soul.
O Yahweh my God, you are very great.
You clothe yourself with splendor and majesty,
2 you who cover yourself with light as with a garment,
who stretch out the heavens like a tent curtain,
3 the one who sets beams in the waters for his upper chambers,
who makes clouds his chariot,
who rides[a] on the wings of the wind,
4 who makes his messengers the winds,
his attendants a flame of fire.
5 He established the earth on her foundations,
so that it will not be moved forever and ever.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment.
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they ran off.
8 They ascended the mountains and drained though the valleys
to the place that you established[b] for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not cross over,
so that they would not return to cover the earth.
10 You are the one who sends forth springs into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.
11 They give drink for every beast of the field.
The wild donkeys quench[c] their thirst.
12 Along them the birds of the heavens abide.
From among the branches they sing.[d]
13 You are the one who waters[e] the mountains
from his upper chambers.
The earth is full[f] with the fruit of your labors:
14 who causes grass to grow for the cattle
and herbs for the service of humankind,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine that makes glad the heart of man,
so that their faces shine from oil,
and bread that strengthens the heart of man.
16 The trees of Yahweh drink their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted,
17 where birds make their nest.
The stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon for appointed times;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when[g] all the animals of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions are roaring for the prey
and seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they gather together
and lie down in their dens.
23 Humankind goes out to its work,
and to its labor until evening.
24 How many are your works, O Yahweh;
all of them you have done in wisdom.
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 This is the great and wide[h] sea,
in which are moving animals without number,
living things small and great.
26 There the ships sail.
Leviathan is there that you formed to play with.[i]
27 They all wait for you
to give them their food at the proper time.[j]
28 You give to them; they gather it.
You open your hand, they are filled with what is good.
29 You hide your face, they are terrified.
You take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 You send forth your Spirit,[k] they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.
May Yahweh be glad in his works,
32 the one who looks at the earth and it quakes,
and touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I remain alive.[l]
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him.
I will be glad in Yahweh.
35 Let sinners perish completely from the earth,
and the wicked not remain alive.[m]
Bless Yahweh, O my soul.
Praise Yah.[n]
12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak gave to me the fullness of his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond the command of Yahweh[a] to do good or evil, from my heart; what Yahweh speaks, I will speak’?[b] 14 And now, look, I am about to go to my people; I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the following days.”[c]
15 And he uttered[d] his oracle and said,
“The declaration of Balaam son of Beor,
and the declaration of the man whose eye is closed,
16 the declaration of the hearer of God’s words,[e]
and the knower of the knowledge of the Most High,
who sees the vision of Shaddai,[f]
who is falling, and his eyes are revealed.
17 I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near;
a star will go out from Jacob,
and a scepter will rise from Israel;
it will crush the foreheads of Moab
and destroy all the children of Seth.
18 Edom will be a captive;
Seir, its enemies, will be a captive,
and Israel will be acting courageously.[g]
19 Someone[h] from Jacob will rule
and will destroy a remnant[i] from the city.”
20 And he looked at Amalek, uttered[j] his oracle, and said,
“Amalek is first[k] of the nations,
but his future will be forever ruin.”
21 And he looked at the Kenites,[l] uttered[m] his oracle, and said,
“Steady is your dwelling place;
in the rock is your nest.
22 Nevertheless, the Kenite will be burned;
how long will Asshur keep[n] you captive?”
23 Again he uttered[o] his oracle and said,
“Woe, who will live when God establishes this?[p]
24 The ships will come from the hand of the Kittim,
and they will afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber;
also he will be forever ruin.”
25 Then Balaam got up and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went on his way.
The Glory that is to be Revealed
18 For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly expecting creation awaits eagerly the revelation of the sons of God. 20 For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its servility to decay, into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now. 23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves while we[a] await eagerly our adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it eagerly with patient endurance.
A Question About Marriage and the Resurrection
23 On that day Sadducees—who say there is no resurrection—came up to him and asked him, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said if someone dies without having children, his brother is to marry his wife and father[a] descendants for his brother. 25 Now there were seven brothers with us. And the first died after[b] getting married, and because he[c] did not have descendants, he left his wife to his brother. 26 So also the second and the third, up to the seventh. 27 And last of all the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her as wife.”[d] 29 But Jesus answered and[e] said to them, “You are mistaken, because[f] you do not know the scriptures or the power of God! 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God[g] in heaven. 31 Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said, 32 “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”?[h] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living!” 33 And when[i] the crowds heard this,[j] they were amazed at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
34 Now when[k] the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled at the same place.[l] 35 And one of them, a legal expert, put a question to him[m] to test him: 36 “Teacher, which commandment is greatest in the law?” 37 And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[n] 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[o] 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
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