Book of Common Prayer
Sorrows of the exiles in Babylon.
137 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept,
When we remembered Zion.
2 Upon the willows in the midst thereof
We hanged up our harps.
3 For there they that led us captive required of us [a]songs,
And [b]they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
4 How shall we sing Jehovah’s song
In a foreign land?
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her skill.
6 Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
If I remember thee not;
If I prefer not Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O Jehovah, against the children of Edom
The day of Jerusalem;
Who said, Rase it, rase it,
Even to the foundation thereof.
8 O daughter of Babylon, [c]that art to be destroyed,
Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee
As thou hast served us.
9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones
Against the rock.
Prayer for rescue. A happy people described.
A Psalm of David.
144 Blessed be Jehovah my rock,
Who teacheth my hands to war,
And my fingers to fight:
2 My lovingkindness, and my fortress,
My high tower, and my deliverer;
My shield, and he in whom I take refuge;
Who subdueth my people under me.
3 Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?
4 Man is like to [a]vanity:
His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
5 Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down:
Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them;
Send out thine arrows, and discomfit them.
7 Stretch forth thy hand from above;
Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters,
Out of the hand of aliens;
8 Whose mouth speaketh deceit,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God:
Upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
10 Thou art he that giveth salvation unto kings;
Who rescueth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of aliens,
Whose mouth speaketh deceit,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12 When our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth,
And our daughters as corner-stones hewn after the fashion of a palace;
13 When our garners are full, affording all manner of store,
And our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
14 When our oxen are well laden;
When there is no breaking in, and no [b]going forth,
And no outcry in our streets:
15 Happy is the people that is in such a case;
Yea, happy is the people whose God is Jehovah.
Jehovah’s care over all his works.
104 Bless Jehovah, O my soul.
O Jehovah my God, thou art very great;
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty:
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment;
Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters;
Who maketh the clouds his chariot;
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
4 Who maketh [a]winds his messengers;
Flames of fire his ministers;
5 [b]Who laid the foundations of the earth,
That it should not be moved for ever.
6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a vesture;
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled;
At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away
8 [c](The mountains rose, the valleys sank down)
Unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over;
That they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth forth springs into the valleys;
They run among the mountains;
11 They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation;
They [d]sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the mountains from his chambers:
The earth is filled with the fruit of thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,
And herb for the [e]service of man;
That he may bring forth [f]food out of the earth,
15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
[g]And oil to make his face to shine,
And bread that strengtheneth man’s heart.
16 The trees of Jehovah are filled with moisture,
The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
17 Where the birds make their nests:
As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
The rocks are a refuge for the conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons:
The sun knoweth his going down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night,
Wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
22 The sun ariseth, they get them away,
And lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work
And to his labor until the evening.
24 O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works!
In wisdom hast thou made them all:
The earth is full of thy [h]riches.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
Wherein are things creeping innumerable,
Both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships;
There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to play [i]therein.
27 These wait all for thee,
That thou mayest give them their food in due season.
28 Thou givest unto them, they gather;
Thou openest thy hand, they are satisfied with good.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled;
Thou [j]takest away their breath, they die,
And return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created;
And thou renewest the face of the ground.
31 Let the glory of Jehovah endure for ever;
Let Jehovah rejoice in his works:
32 Who looketh on the earth, and it trembleth;
He toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto Jehovah as long as I live:
I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.
34 Let my meditation be sweet unto him:
I will rejoice in Jehovah.
35 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth.
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless Jehovah, O my soul.
[k]Praise ye Jehovah.
3 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job answered and said:
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born,
And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness;
Let not God from above seek for it,
Neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and [a]the shadow of death claim it for their own;
Let a cloud dwell upon it;
Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it:
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be [b]barren;
Let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day,
Who are [c]ready to rouse up leviathan.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark:
Let it look for light, but have none;
Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb?
Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?
12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet;
I should have slept; then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth,
Who [d]built up waste places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
As infants that never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from [e]troubling;
And there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there:
And the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery,
And life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Who [f]long for death, but it cometh not,
And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Who rejoice [g]exceedingly,
And are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
And whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh [h]before I eat,
And my [i]groanings are poured out like water.
25 For [j]the thing which I fear cometh upon me,
And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.
26 I [k]am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
But trouble cometh.
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth; 12 and he hath seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight. 13 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many of this man, how much evil he did to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14 and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name. 15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a [a]chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake. 17 And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.
And he was certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus.
41 The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven? 43 Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, [a]And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
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