Book of Common Prayer
70 O, God, hasten to deliver me! Hasten to help me, O LORD!
2 Let those who seek my soul be confounded and put to shame. Let those who desire my hurt be turned backward and put to rebuke.
3 Let those who say, “Aha! Aha!” be turned back for a reward of their shame.
4 Let all those who seek You be joyful and glad in You; and let all who love Your salvation, say always, “God be praised!”
5 Now I am poor and needy. O, God, hasten to me. You are my Helper and my Deliverer: O LORD, do not delay.
71 In You, O LORD, I trust. Let me never be ashamed.
2 Rescue me and deliver me in Your righteousness. Incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my Strong Rock, whereto I may always resort. You have given Commandment to save me; for You are my Rock, and my Fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the evil and cruel man.
5 For You are my Hope, O LORD God; my Trust from my youth.
6 I have been upheld by You from the womb. You are He Who took me out of my mother’s core. My praise shall be of You always.
7 I have become, as it were, a monster to many; but You are my sure Trust.
8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise, with Your Glory, every day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak of me; and those who lay in wait for my soul take their counsel together,
11 saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for there is no one to deliver him.”
12 Do not go far from me, O God. My God, hasten to help me!
13 Let those who are against my soul be confounded and consumed. Let those who seek my hurt be covered with reproach and confusion.
14 But I will wait continually and will praise You more and more.
15 My mouth shall daily rehearse Your righteousness and Your salvation; for I do not know the number.
16 I will go forward in the strength of the LORD God. I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth even until now. I will tell of Your wondrous works;
18 Indeed, even to my old age and gray head, O God, do not forsake me until I have declared Your arm to this generation, and Your power to all those who shall come.
19 And Your righteousness, O God, I will exalt on High; for You have done great things. O God, who is like You!
20 You have shown me great troubles and adversities, but You will return and revive me; and will come again and take me up from the depth of the Earth.
21 You will increase my honor; and return and comfort me.
22 Therefore, I will praise You for Your faithfulness, O God, upon instrument and viol. To You I will sing upon the harp, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will rejoice when I sing to You; and my soul, which You have delivered.
24 Also, my tongue shall daily talk of Your righteousness; for those who seek my hurt are confounded and brought to shame. A Psalm of Solomon
74 O God, why have You rejected us forever? Is Your wrath kindled against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Think upon the congregation which You have possessed of old; and on the rod of Your inheritance which You have redeemed; and on this Mount Zion wherein You have dwelt.
3 Lift up Your feet to perpetual desolations. The enemy has broken everything in the Sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries roar in the midst of Your congregation and set up their banners for signs.
5 He who lifted the axes upon the thick trees was renowned as one who brought a thing to perfection.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast Your Sanctuary into the fire and razed it to the ground. They have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them altogether.” They have burnt all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs. There has not been one Prophet, nor is there any with us who knows how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach You? Shall the enemy blaspheme Your Name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them!
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the Earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your power. You broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You broke the head of Leviathan in pieces and gave him to be food for the people in wilderness.
15 You broke up the fountain and river. You dry up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Yours and the night is Yours. You have prepared the light and the Sun.
17 You have set all the borders of the Earth. You have made Summer and Winter.
18 Remember this: the enemy has reproached the LORD and the foolish people have blasphemed Your Name.
19 Do not give the life of Your turtledove to the beast. Do not forget the Congregation of Your poor, forever.
20 Consider Your Covenant; for the dark places of the Earth are full of the habitations of the cruel.
21 O, do not let the oppressed return ashamed! Let the poor and needy praise Your Name.
22 Arise, O God! Maintain Your own cause! Remember Your daily reproach by the foolish man.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies. The tumult of those who rise against You ascends continually. To him who excels: Do not destroy. A Psalm, or song, committed to Asaph
7 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, was Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the High Priest.
6 This Ezra came up from Babel and was a scribe, skilled in the Law of Moses which the LORD God of Israel had given. And the king gave him all his request according to the Hand of the LORD his God which was upon him.
7 And in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, some of the children of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, went up to Jerusalem.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babel. And on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, according to the good Hand of his God that was upon him.
10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach the Precepts and Judgments in Israel.
11 And this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the Priest and scribe, a writer of the Words of the Commandments of the LORD, and of His Statutes, over Israel:
12 “ARTAXERXES, king of kings, to Ezra the Priest and perfect scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, and to Cheeneth,
13 “I have given commandment that every one of the people in my kingdom— of Israel and of the priests and Levites—who is willing to go to Jerusalem with you, shall go.
14 “Therefore, you are sent from the king and his seven counselors to enquire in Judah and Jerusalem, according to the Law of your God which is in your hand,
15 “and to carry the silver and the gold which the king and his counselors willingly offer to the God of Israel (whose habitation is in Jerusalem)
16 “and all the silver and gold that you can find in all the province of Babel, with the free offering of the people, and that which the priests offer willingly to the House of their God which is in Jerusalem,
17 “so that you may speedily buy bulls, rams and lambs, with their Meat Offerings and their Drink Offerings, with this silver. And you shall offer them upon the Altar of the House of your God, which is in Jerusalem.
18 “And whatever it pleases you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, do it according to the will of your God.
19 “And the vessels that are given to you for the service of the House of your God, deliver those before God in Jerusalem.
20 “And the rest that shall be needed for the House of your God, which shall be right for you to bestow, you shall bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 “And I, King Artaxerxes, have given commandment to all the treasurers which are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the Priest and scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven shall require of you, that it be done immediately,
22 “to a hundred talents of silver, to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without writing.
23 “Whatever is by the Commandment of the God of Heaven, let it be done speedily for the House of the God of Heaven. For why should He be angry against the realm of the king and his children?
24 “And we inform you that upon any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim, or ministers in this House of God, no governor shall lay toll, tribute or custom.
25 “And you, Ezra (after the wisdom of your God that is in your hand), set judges and arbiters which may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all that know the Law of your God. And teach those who do not know it.
26 “And whoever will not do the Law of your God, and the king’s law, let him have judgment without delay, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.”
14 Then I looked. And lo, a Lamb stood on mount Zion; and with him 144,000, having his Father’s Name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from Heaven, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpists, harping with their harps.
3 And they sang (as it were) a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were bought from the Earth.
4 These are those who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These are bought from man, being the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouths was found no deceit. For they are without spot before the throne of God.
6 Then I saw another angel fly in the midst of Heaven - having an everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell on the Earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people -
7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God! And give glory to Him! For the hour of His judgment has come! And worship Him who made Heaven and Earth and the sea and the fountains of waters!”
8 And there followed another angel, saying, “Babylon, that great city is fallen! It is fallen! For she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication!”
9 And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worship the beast and his image - and receives his mark on his forehead, or on his hand -
10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God; indeed, of the pure wine which is poured into the cup of His wrath! And he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and before the Lamb!
11 “And the smoke of their torment shall ascend evermore! And they shall have no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his name!”
12 Here is the patience of saints. Here are those who keep the Commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from Heaven, saying to me, “Write: ‘The dead who die in the Lord are fully blessed.’” “Even so,” says the Spirit, “for they rest from their labors and their works still follow them.”
14 At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
2 and said to his servants, “This is that John Baptist! He has risen again from the dead! And therefore, great works are done by him!”
3 For Herod had taken John and bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
4 For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a Prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
7 Therefore, he promised with an oath that he would give her whatever she would ask.
8 And she (having already been instructed by her mother) said, “Give me John Baptist’s head here, on a platter.”
9 And the king was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the oath, and those who sat with him at the table, he commanded it to be given to her;
10 and sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought, on a platter, and given to the maid. And she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
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