Morning Prayer (Matins) | Evening Prayer (Vespers) | Prayer at the Close of Day (Compline)

Job 9:1 (Listen)

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

9:1 Then Job answered and said:

Job 10:1–9 (Listen)

Job Continues: A Plea to God

10:1   “I loathe my life;
  I will give free utterance to my complaint;
    I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2   I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
    let me know why you contend against me.
3   Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise the work of your hands
    and favor the designs of the wicked?
4   Have you eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as man sees?
5   Are your days as the days of man,
    or your years as a man’s years,
6   that you seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
7   although you know that I am not guilty,
    and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
8   Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9   Remember that you have made me like clay;
    and will you return me to the dust?

Job 10:16–22 (Listen)

16   And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion
    and again work wonders against me.
17   You renew your witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you bring fresh troops against me.
18   “Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19   and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20   Are not my days few?
    Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
21   before I go—and I shall not return—
    to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
22   the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”

Acts 11:1–18 (Listen)

Peter Reports to the Church

11:1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

John 8:12–20 (Listen)

I Am the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Morning Psalms

Psalm 63 (Listen)

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

63:1   O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you;
  my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2   So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
3   Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
4   So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.
5   My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6   when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7   for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8   My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.
9   But those who seek to destroy my life
    shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10   they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
    they shall be a portion for jackals.
11   But the king shall rejoice in God;
    all who swear by him shall exult,
    for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Psalm 149 (Listen)

Sing to the Lord a New Song

149:1   Praise the LORD!
  Sing to the LORD a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2   Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
    let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3   Let them praise his name with dancing,
    making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4   For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with salvation.
5   Let the godly exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their beds.
6   Let the high praises of God be in their throats
    and two-edged swords in their hands,
7   to execute vengeance on the nations
    and punishments on the peoples,
8   to bind their kings with chains
    and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9   to execute on them the judgment written!
    This is honor for all his godly ones.
  Praise the LORD!

Evening Psalms

Psalm 138 (Listen)

Give Thanks to the Lord

Of David.

138:1   I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
    before the gods I sing your praise;
2   I bow down toward your holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
    for you have exalted above all things
    your name and your word.
3   On the day I called, you answered me;
    my strength of soul you increased.
4   All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5   and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
    for great is the glory of the LORD.
6   For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
    but the haughty he knows from afar.
7   Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve my life;
  you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and your right hand delivers me.
8   The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 98 (Listen)

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

98:1   Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things!
  His right hand and his holy arm
    have worked salvation for him.
2   The LORD has made known his salvation;
    he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3   He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
  All the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.
4   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
5   Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody!
6   With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
7   Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who dwell in it!
8   Let the rivers clap their hands;
    let the hills sing for joy together
9   before the LORD, for he comes
    to judge the earth.
  He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.