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.
Hope in God in the Midst of Despair
For the music director. A maskil of the sons of Korah.[a]
42 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[b]
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These I remember and I pour out my soul within me:
that I would go with the multitude;
I led them in procession to the house[c] of God,
with a voice of rejoicing and thanksgiving,
a crowd celebrating a festival.
5 Why are you in despair,[d] O my soul,
and disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
for the salvation of his presence.
6 O my God, within me my soul is in despair;[e]
therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan
and the heights of Hermon, from the mountain of Mizar.
7 Deep is calling to deep
at[f] the thunder of your waterfalls.
All your breakers and your waves
have passed over me.
8 By day Yahweh commands his loyal love,
and in the night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a shattering in my bones
my oppressors taunt me,
while they say to me all day,[g]
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair,[h] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I shall again praise him,
my salvation[i] and my God.
A Prayer for Rescue
43 Judge me, O God, and plead my case
against[j] an unfaithful[k] nation.
From a man of deceit and wickedness rescue me,
2 because you are the God of my refuge.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send your light and your truth;
they shall lead[l] me.
They shall bring me to your holy mountain[m]
and to your dwelling places.
4 Then[n] I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my surpassing joy,[o]
and I will praise you with lyre,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you in despair,[p] O my soul?
And why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God, because I will again praise him,
my salvation[q] and my God.
Plague Nine: Darkness
21 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt and so that a person can feel darkness.” 22 And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness of night in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see his brother, and because of it no one could move from where they were[a] for three days, but there was light for the Israelites[b] in their dwellings.
24 And Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve Yahweh. Only your sheep and goats and your cattle must be left behind. Your dependents[c] may also go with you.” 25 And Moses said, “Even if you yourself put into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings and we offer them to Yahweh our God, 26 our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof can be left because we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. And we will not know with what we are to serve Yahweh until we come there.” 27 And Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to release them. 28 And Pharaoh said to him, “Go from me. Be careful[d] not to see my face again, because on the day of your seeing my face you will die.” 29 And Moses said, “That is right.[e] I will not again see your face.”[f]
Announcement of the Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
11 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Still one plague I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterward he will release you from here. At the moment of his releasing, he will certainly drive you completely out from here. 2 Speak in the ears of the people, and let them ask, a man from his neighbor and a woman from her neighbor, for objects of silver and objects of gold.” 3 And Yahweh gave the people favor in the eyes of Egypt. Also the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh and in the eyes of the people.
4 And Moses said, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘About the middle of the night I will go out through the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave woman who is behind the pair of millstones and every firstborn animal.[g] 6 And there will be a great cry of distress in all the land of Egypt, the like of which has not been nor will be again.[h] 7 But against all the Israelites,[i] from a man to an animal, a dog will not even bark,[j] so that you will know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And all of these your servants will come down to me and bow to me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who are at your feet.’ And afterward I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.[k]
13 But because we[a] have the same spirit of faith in accordance with what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,”[b] we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 because we[c] know that the one who raised Jesus[d] will also raise us together with Jesus and present us together with you. 15 For all these things are for your sake[e], in order that the grace that is increasing through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but even if our outer person is being destroyed, yet our inner person is being renewed day after day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure and proportion[f], 18 because[g] we are not looking at what is seen, but what is not seen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal.
A Blind Man Healed at Jericho
46 And they came to Jericho. And as[a] he was setting out from Jericho along with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road. 47 And when he[b] heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many people warned him that he should be quiet. But he was crying out even more loudly,[c] “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and[d] said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man and[e] said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.” 50 And he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and[f] came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus answered him and[g] said, “What do you want me to do[h] for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabboni,[i] that I may regain my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” And immediately he regained his sight and began to follow[j] him on the road.
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