Grief and mourning: prayers in Protestant Christianity
Texts from their published editions. Guidance on what this tradition does at this moment is on the occasion page, and background on the tradition is at /traditions/protestant.
Texts from their published editions
Each text below was transcribed from the edition named under it and checked twice, independently, against that edition. Where the two transcriptions disagreed by even one character, the text is not shown here. That is a claim about wording only: these are not selected or endorsed for any particular situation, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed them. Older spelling is kept as the edition prints it.
Psalm 130 (Coverdale)
One of the penitential psalms, appointed in the 1662 Burial of the Dead and widely used in Protestant and Anglican practice at grief, depression and crisis. Anglicans usually meet it in the Coverdale psalter form printed in the Prayer Book rather than in a Bible translation.
English · The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, 1662
Out of the deep have I called vnto thee, O Lord : Lord hear my voice.
O Let thine ears consider well : the voice of my complaint
Jf thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is don amiss : O Lord, who may abide it ?
For there is mercy with thee : therefore shalt thou be feared.
I look for the Lord, my soul doth wait for him : in his word is my trust.
My soul fleeth vnto the Lord : before the morning watch, J say, before the morning watch.
O Jsrael, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy : and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel : from all his sins.
Church of England, 1662. Published 1662, long before 1929, US public domain. UK Crown patent applies within the United Kingdom, so this edition is used here on the US basis only. Source
Psalm 23 (Coverdale)
The psalm most used in Protestant and Anglican pastoral practice at illness, dying and funerals. Anglicans encounter it in two distinct English forms that are not interchangeable: Miles Coverdale's psalter, bound into the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and used for said and sung offices, and the King James Version rendering used in most Protestant Bible reading.
English · The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, 1662
The Lord is my shepherd : therefore can J lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture : and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul : and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his names sake.
Yea, though J walk through the valley of the shadow of death, J will fear no evil : for thou art with me, thy rod, and thy staff comfort me,
Thou shalt prepare a table before me, against them that trouble me : thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.
But [thy] loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life : and J will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Church of England, 1662. Published 1662, long before 1929, US public domain. UK Crown patent applies within the United Kingdom, so this edition is used here on the US basis only. Source
Nothing here has been signed by a reviewer credentialed in this tradition. When that happens, reviewed prayers appear above these, and these stay where they are, as an anthology. How that works.