SEPTEMBER 19
Nation's prayer is like that of an afflicted man. Psa. 102
A prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before
the
lord.
Hear my prayer, O lord;
let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me
when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me;
when I call, answer me quickly.
For my days vanish like smoke;
my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food. Because of my loud groaning
I am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become
like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food
and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath,
for you have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
But you, O lord, sit enthroned forever;
your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have
compassion on
for it is time to show favor to her;
the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants;
her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the lord,
all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. For the lord will rebuild
and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the lord: "The lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death."
So the
name of the lord will be declared
in
when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the loud.
In the course of my life he broke my strength;
he cut short my days. So 1 said:
"Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days;
your years go on through all generations, in the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded. But you remain the same,
and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you."
Praise the lord.'
Give thanks to the lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the lord
or fully declare his praise? Blessed are they who maintain justice,
who constantly do what is right.
Remember me, O lord, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise. ,
We have sinned, even as our fathers did;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our fathers were in Egypt,
they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses,
and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
to make his mighty power known. Me rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led
them through the depths as through a desert.
He saved them from the hand of the foe;
from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them survived. Then they believed his promises
and sang his praise.
But they soon forgot what he had done
and did not wait for his counsel. In the desert they gave in to their craving;
in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.
In the camp they grew envious of Moses
and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the lord.
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.
Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their Glory
for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them,
who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him
to keep his wrath from destroying them.
Then they despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe his promise. They grumbled in their tents
and did not obey the lord. So he swore to them with uplifted hand
that he would make them fall in the desert, make their descendants fall among the nations
and scatter them throughout the lands.
They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they provoked the lord to anger by their wicked deeds,
and a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness
for endless generations to come.
By the waters of Meribah they angered the lord,
and
trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of
God,
and rash words came from Moses' lips.'
They did not destroy the peoples
as the lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations
and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did;
by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
Therefore the lord was angry with his people
and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations,
and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them
and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and they wasted away in their sin.
But he took note of their distress
when he heard their cry; for their sake he remembered his covenant
and out of his great love he relented. He caused them to be pitied
by all who held them captive.
Save us, O lord our God,
and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.
Praise be to the lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!"
Praise the lord.
A song
of ascents.
I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the
eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.
Have
mercy on us, O lord, have mercy
on us, for we have endured much contempt.
We have
endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.
Lament
in Babylon. Psa.137
By the
rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we
remembered Zion. There on the poplars
we hung
our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs,
our
tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they
said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How can
we sing the songs of the lord
while
in a foreign land? If 1 forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my
right hand forget its skill,. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do
not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem
my
highest joy
Remember,
O Lord what the Edomites did
on the
day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried,
"tear
it down to its foundations!"
O
Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what
you have done to us —
he who
seizes your infants
and
dashes them against the rocks.