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⁷³ Your hands have made and fashioned me;
   give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
⁷⁴ Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
   because I have hoped in your word.
⁷⁵ I know, O Lord, that your judgements are right,
   and that in faithfulness you have humbled me.
⁷⁶ Let your steadfast love become my comfort
   according to your promise to your servant.
⁷⁷ Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
   for your law is my delight.
⁷⁸ Let the arrogant be put to shame,
   because they have subverted me with guile;
   as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
⁷⁹ Let those who fear you turn to me,
   so that they may know your decrees.
⁸⁰ May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
   so that I may not be put to shame.

Psalm 145

The Greatness and the Goodness of God

Praise. Of David.
¹ I will extol you, my God and King,
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
² Every day I will bless you,
   and praise your name for ever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall laud your works to another,
   and shall declare your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendour of your majesty,
   and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
⁶ The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
   and I will declare your greatness.
⁷ They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
   and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
   and all your faithful shall bless you.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
   and tell of your power,
¹² to make known to all people your^* mighty deeds,
   and the glorious splendour of your^* kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
   and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
   and gracious in all his deeds.^*
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling,
   and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
   and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open your hand,
   satisfying the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The Lord is just in all his ways,
   and kind in all his doings.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
   to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;
   he also hears their cry, and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
   but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
   and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Lamentations

The Deserted City

1How lonely sits the city
   that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
   she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
   has become a vassal.

² She weeps bitterly in the night,
   with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
   she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
   they have become her enemies.

⁶ From daughter Zion has departed
   all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
   that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
   before the pursuer.

⁷ Jerusalem remembers,
   in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all the precious things
   that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
   and there was no one to help her,
the foe looked on mocking
   over her downfall.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously,
   so she has become a mockery;
all who honoured her despise her,
   for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans,
   and turns her face away.

⁹ Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
   she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
   with none to comfort her.
‘O Lord, look at my affliction,
   for the enemy has triumphed!’

¹⁰ Enemies have stretched out their hands
   over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
   invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
   to enter your congregation.

¹¹ All her people groan
   as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
   to revive their strength.
Look, O Lord, and see
   how worthless I have become.

¹² Is it nothing to you,^* all you who pass by?
   Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
   which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
   on the day of his fierce anger.

THE SECOND LETTER OF PAUL TO THE

Corinthians

Salutation

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Thanksgiving after Affliction

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, ⁴who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. ⁶If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.