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THE PRAYER OF MANASSEH

Ascription of Praise

¹ O Lord Almighty,
God of our ancestors,
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and of their righteous offspring;
² you who made heaven and earth
with all their order;
³ who shackled the sea by your word of command,
who confined the deep
and sealed it with your terrible and glorious name;
⁴ at whom all things shudder,
and tremble before your power,
⁵ for your glorious splendour cannot be borne,
and the wrath of your threat to sinners is unendurable;
⁶ yet immeasurable and unsearchable
is your promised mercy,
⁷ for you are the Lord Most High,
of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful,
and you relent at human suffering.
O Lord, according to your great goodness
you have promised repentance and forgiveness
to those who have sinned against you,
and in the multitude of your mercies
you have appointed repentance for sinners,
so that they may be saved.^*
8 Therefore you, O Lord, God of the righteous,
have not appointed repentance for the righteous,
for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you,
but you have appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner.

Confession of Sins

⁹ For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sand of the sea;
my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied!
I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven
because of the multitude of my iniquities.
¹⁰ I am weighted down with many an iron fetter,
so that I am rejected^* because of my sins,
and I have no relief;
for I have provoked your wrath
and have done what is evil in your sight,
setting up abominations and multiplying offences.

Supplication for Pardon

¹¹ And now I bend the knee of my heart,
imploring you for your kindness.
¹² I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned,
and I acknowledge my transgressions.
¹³ I earnestly implore you,
forgive me, O Lord, forgive me!
Do not destroy me with my transgressions!
Do not be angry with me for ever or store up evil for me;
do not condemn me to the depths of the earth.
For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent,
¹⁴ and in me you will manifest your goodness;
for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy,
¹⁵ and I will praise you continually all the days of my life.
For all the host of heaven sings your praise,
and yours is the glory for ever. Amen.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹ but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Israel Assured of God’s Help

41Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
   let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
   let us together draw near for judgement.

² Who has roused a victor from the east,
   summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him,
   and tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
   like driven stubble with his bow.
³ He pursues them and passes on safely,
   scarcely touching the path with his feet.
⁴ Who has performed and done this,
   calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am first,
   and will be with the last.
⁵ The coastlands have seen and are afraid,
   the ends of the earth tremble;
   they have drawn near and come.
⁶ Each one helps the other,
   saying to one another, ‘Take courage!’
⁷ The artisan encourages the goldsmith,
   and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, ‘It is good’;
   and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
⁸ But you, Israel, my servant,
   Jacob, whom I have chosen,
   the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
   and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, ‘You are my servant,
   I have chosen you and not cast you off ’;
¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you,
   do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
   I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

¹¹ Yes, all who are incensed against you
   shall be ashamed and disgraced;
those who strive against you
   shall be as nothing and shall perish.
¹² You shall seek those who contend with you,
   but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
   shall be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I, the Lord your God,
   hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear,
   I will help you.’

Psalm 30

1  I will exalt you, O Lord,
      because you have raised me up ♦︎
   and have not let my foes triumph over me.
2  O Lord my God, I cried out to you ♦︎
   and you have healed me.
3  You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; ♦︎
   you restored me to life from among those that go down to the Pit.
4  Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; ♦︎
   give thanks to his holy name.
5  For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye,
      his favour for a lifetime. ♦︎
   Heaviness may endure for a night,
      but joy comes in the morning.
6  In my prosperity I said,
      ‘I shall never be moved. ♦︎
   You, Lord, of your goodness,
      have made my hill so strong.’
7  Then you hid your face from me ♦︎
   and I was utterly dismayed.
8  To you, O Lord, I cried; ♦︎
   to the Lord I made my supplication:
9  ‘What profit is there in my blood,
      if I go down to the Pit? ♦︎
   Will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
10  ‘Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; ♦︎
   O Lord, be my helper.’
11  You have turned my mourning into dancing; ♦︎
   you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness;
12  Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; ♦︎
   O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

4In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: ²proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. ³For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Personal Instructions

9 Do your best to come to me soon, ¹⁰for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia,^* Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. ¹²I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. ¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds. ¹⁵You also must beware of him, for he strongly opposed our message.

16 At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! ¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^* had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles^* away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ ²³Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ ²⁴Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ ²⁵Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.^* Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ²⁷She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,^* the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’

Jesus Weeps

28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ ³⁷But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’