Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70[a]
For the music director, by David; written to get God’s attention.[b]
70 O God, please be willing to rescue me.[c]
O Lord, hurry and help me.[d]
2 May those who are trying to take my life
be embarrassed and ashamed.[e]
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.[f]
3 May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be driven back[g] and disgraced.[h]
4 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you.
May those who love to experience[i] your deliverance say continually,[j]
“May God[k] be praised!”[l]
5 I am oppressed and needy.[m]
O God, hurry to me.[n]
You are my helper and my deliverer.
O Lord,[o] do not delay.
Psalm 71[p]
71 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
2 Vindicate me by rescuing me.[q]
Listen to me.[r] Deliver me.[s]
3 Be my protector and refuge,[t]
a stronghold where I can be safe.[u]
For you are my high ridge[v] and my stronghold.
4 My God, rescue me from the power[w] of the wicked,
from the hand of the cruel oppressor.
5 For you are my hope;
O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.[x]
6 I have leaned on you since birth;[y]
you pulled me[z] from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually.[aa]
7 Many are appalled when they see me,[ab]
but you are my secure shelter.
8 I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long.[ac]
9 Do not reject me in my old age.[ad]
When my strength fails, do not abandon me.
10 For my enemies talk about me;
those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.[ae]
11 They say,[af] “God has abandoned him.
Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him.”
12 O God, do not remain far away from me.
My God, hurry and help me.[ag]
13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated.
May those who want to harm me[ah] be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 As for me, I will wait continually,
and will continue to praise you.[ai]
15 I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation,[aj]
though I cannot fathom its full extent.[ak]
16 I will come and tell about[al] the mighty acts of the Sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice—yours alone.
17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring[am] your amazing deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,[an]
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power.[ao]
19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above;[ap]
you have done great things.[aq]
O God, who can compare to you?[ar]
20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress,[as]
revive me once again.[at]
Bring me up once again[au] from the depths of the earth.
21 Raise me to a position of great honor.[av]
Turn and comfort me.[aw]
22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,
praising[ax] your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,
O Holy One of Israel.[ay]
23 My lips will shout for joy. Yes,[az] I will sing your praises.
I will praise you when you rescue me.[ba]
24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,
for those who want to harm me[bb] will be embarrassed and ashamed.[bc]
Psalm 74[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
74 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us?[c]
Why does your anger burn[d] against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your people[e] whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued[f] so they could be your very own nation,[g]
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 Hurry[h] to the permanent ruins,
and to all the damage the enemy has done to the temple.[i]
4 Your enemies roar[j] in the middle of your sanctuary;[k]
they set up their battle flags.[l]
5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest.[m]
6 And now[n] they are tearing down[o] all its engravings[p]
with axes[q] and crowbars.[r]
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.[s]
8 They say to themselves,[t]
“We will oppress all of them.”[u]
They burn down all the places in the land where people worship God.[v]
9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence;[w]
there are no longer any prophets,[x]
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last.[y]
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him.[z]
12 But God has been my[aa] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[ab]
13 You destroyed[ac] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[ad] in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[ae]
you fed[af] him to the people who live along the coast.[ag]
15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[ah]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[ai]
16 You established the cycle of day and night;[aj]
you put the moon[ak] and sun in place.[al]
17 You set up all the boundaries[am] of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.[an]
18 Remember how[ao] the enemy hurls insults, O Lord,[ap]
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name.
19 Do not hand the life of your dove[aq] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[ar] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[as]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[at]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[au]
22 Rise up, O God. Defend your honor.[av]
Remember how fools insult you all day long.[aw]
23 Do not disregard[ax] what your enemies say,[ay]
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you.[az]
12 Then[a] the sixth angel[b] poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and dried up its water[c] to prepare the way[d] for the kings from the east.[e] 13 Then[f] I saw three unclean spirits[g] that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth[h] to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful.[i]
15 (Look ! I will come like a thief!
Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose[j] his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition[k] be seen.)[l]
16 Now[m] the spirits[n] gathered the kings and their armies[o] to the place that is called Armageddon[p] in Hebrew.
17 Finally[q] the seventh angel[r] poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: “It is done!” 18 Then[s] there were flashes of lightning, roaring,[t] and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake—an earthquake unequaled since humanity[u] has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. 19 The[v] great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations[w] collapsed.[x] So[y] Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup[z] filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath.[aa] 20 Every[ab] island fled away[ac] and no mountains could be found.[ad] 21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a 100 pounds[ae] each, fell from heaven[af] on people,[ag] but they[ah] blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it[ai] was so horrendous.[aj]
On the Kingdom of God
18 Thus Jesus[a] asked,[b] “What is the kingdom of God[c] like?[d] To[e] what should I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed[f] that a man took and sowed[g] in his garden. It[h] grew and became a tree,[i] and the wild birds[j] nested in its branches.”[k]
20 Again[l] he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?[m] 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with[n] three measures[o] of flour until all the dough had risen.”[p]
The Narrow Door
22 Then[q] Jesus[r] traveled throughout[s] towns[t] and villages, teaching and making his way toward[u] Jerusalem. 23 Someone[v] asked[w] him, “Lord, will only a few[x] be saved?” So[y] he said to them, 24 “Exert every effort[z] to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once[aa] the head of the house[ab] gets up[ac] and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord,[ad] let us in!’[ae] But he will answer you,[af] ‘I don’t know where you come from.’[ag] 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’[ah] 27 But[ai] he will reply,[aj] ‘I don’t know where you come from![ak] Go away from me, all you evildoers!’[al] 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth[am] when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,[an] and all the prophets in the kingdom of God[ao] but you yourselves thrown out.[ap] 29 Then[aq] people[ar] will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table[as] in the kingdom of God.[at] 30 But[au] indeed,[av] some are last[aw] who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
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