Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 80
A Prayer for Restoration
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.”[a] A testimony of Asaph.(A) A psalm.
1 Listen, Shepherd of Israel,
who leads Joseph like a flock;(B)
You who sit enthroned on the cherubim,(C)
rise up(D)
2 before Ephraim,
Benjamin, and Manasseh.[b](E)
Rally Your power and come to save us.(F)
3 Restore us, God;
look on us with favor,
and we will be saved.(G)
4 Lord God of Hosts,
how long will You be angry
with Your people’s prayers?(H)
5 You fed them the bread of tears
and gave them a full measure[c]
of tears to drink.(I)
6 You make us quarrel with our neighbors;
our enemies make fun of us.(J)
7 Restore us, God of Hosts;
look on us with favor, and we will be saved.(K)
8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the nations and planted it.(L)
9 You cleared a place for it;
it took root and filled the land.(M)
10 The mountains were covered by its shade,
and the mighty cedars[d] with its branches.(N)
11 It sent out sprouts toward the Sea[e]
and shoots toward the River.[f](O)
12 Why have You broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?(P)
13 The boar from the forest tears it
and creatures of the field feed on it.(Q)
14 Return, God of Hosts.(R)
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
15 the root[g] Your right hand has planted,
the shoot[h] that You made strong for Yourself.(S)
16 It was cut down and burned up;[i]
they[j] perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.(T)
17 Let Your hand be with the man at Your right hand,
with the son of man
You have made strong for Yourself.(U)
18 Then we will not turn away from You;
revive us, and we will call on Your name.(V)
19 Restore us, Yahweh, the God of Hosts;(W)
look on us with favor, and we will be saved.(X)
Psalm 77
Confidence in a Time of Crisis
For the choir director: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph.(A) A psalm.
1 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and He will hear me.(B)
2 I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.
My hands were continually lifted up
all night long;
I refused to be comforted.(C)
3 I think of God; I groan;
I meditate; my spirit becomes weak.(D)
4 You have kept me from closing my eyes;
I am troubled and cannot speak.(E)
5 I consider days of old,
years long past.(F)
6 At night I remember my music;
I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.(G)
7 “Will the Lord reject forever
and never again show favor?(H)
8 Has His faithful love ceased forever?
Is His promise at an end for all generations?(I)
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”(J)
10 So I say, “I am grieved[a]
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”(K)
11 I will remember the Lord’s works;
yes, I will remember Your ancient wonders.(L)
12 I will reflect on all You have done
and meditate on Your actions.(M)
13 God, Your way is holy.
What god is great like God?(N)
14 You are the God who works wonders;
You revealed Your strength among the peoples.(O)
15 With power You redeemed Your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.(P)
16 The waters saw You, God.
The waters saw You; they trembled.
Even the depths shook.(Q)
17 The clouds poured down water.
The storm clouds thundered;
Your arrows flashed back and forth.(R)
18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
lightning lit up the world.(S)
The earth shook and quaked.(T)
19 Your way went through the sea
and Your path through the great waters,
but Your footprints were unseen.(U)
20 You led Your people like a flock(V)
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(W)
Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, the nations have invaded Your inheritance,
desecrated Your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.(B)
2 They gave the corpses of Your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of Your godly ones
to the beasts of the earth.(C)
3 They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(D)
4 We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.(E)
5 How long, Yahweh? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy keep burning like fire?(F)
6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge You,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on Your name,(G)
7 for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.(H)
8 Do not hold past sins[a] against us;
let Your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become weak.(I)
9 God of our salvation, help us(J)—
for the glory of Your name.
Deliver us and atone for[b] our sins,
because of Your name.(K)
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”(L)
Before our eyes,
let vengeance for the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations.(M)
11 Let the groans of the prisoners reach You;
according to Your great power,
preserve those condemned to die.(N)
Hannah’s Vow
1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim(A) in[a] the hill country of Ephraim.(B) His name was Elkanah(C) son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives,(D) the first named Hannah(E) and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. 3 This man would go up from his town every year(F) to worship and to sacrifice(G) to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh,(H) where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests.
4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat(I) to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double[b] portion(J) to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Whenever she went up to the Lord’s house,(K) her rival taunted her in this way every year. Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?”(L)
9 Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh.[c] Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s tabernacle.(M) 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears.(N) 11 Making a vow,(O) she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction,(P) remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son,[d] I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”[e](Q)
12 While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her lips. 13 Hannah was praying silently,[f](R) and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and scolded her, “How long are you going to be drunk?(S) Get rid of your wine!”
15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord.(T) 16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman;(U) I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”(V)
17 Eli responded, “Go in peace,(W) and may the God of Israel grant the petition you’ve requested from Him.”(X)
18 “May your servant find favor with you,”(Y) she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.[g](Z)
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow in worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah.(AA) Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.(AB) 20 After some time,[h] Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[i] because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.”
Prologue
1 I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach(A) 2 until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.(B) 3 After He had suffered, He also presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.(C)
The Holy Spirit Promised
4 While He was together[a] with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise.(D) “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”(E)
6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority.(F) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends[b] of the earth.”(G)
The Ascension
9 After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. 10 While He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them.(H) 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”(I)
United in Prayer
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they arrived, they went to the room(J) upstairs where they were staying:
Peter, John,
James, Andrew,
Philip, Thomas,
Bartholomew, Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon the Zealot,
and Judas the son of James.(K)
14 All these were continually united(L) in prayer,[c] along with the women, including Mary[d] the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.(M)
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner
9 Then(A) He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,(B) leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a slave to the farmers so that they might give him some fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent yet another slave, but they beat that one too, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third, but they wounded this one too and threw him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved(C) son. Perhaps[a] they will respect him.’
14 “But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him, so the inheritance will be ours!’(D) 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy(E) those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
But when they heard this they said, “No—never!”(F)
17 But He looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture:[b](G)
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and if it falls on anyone, it will grind him to powder!”(I)
19 Then the scribes and the chief priests(J) looked for a way to get their hands on Him(K) that very hour, because they knew He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.(L)
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