Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70
To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David, to bring to remembrance or make memorial.
1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord!
2 Let them be put to shame and confounded that seek and demand my life; let them be turned backward and brought to confusion and dishonor who desire and delight in my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back and appalled because of their shame and disgrace who say, Aha, aha!
4 May all those who seek, inquire of and for You, and require You [as their vital need] rejoice and be glad in You; and may those who love Your salvation say continually, Let God be magnified!
5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my Help and my Deliverer; O Lord, do not tarry!
Psalm 71
1 In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and confidently take refuge; let me never be put to shame or confusion!
2 Deliver me in Your righteousness and cause me to escape; bow down Your ear to me and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of refuge in which to dwell, and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually resort, which You have appointed to save me, for You are my Rock and my Fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man.
5 For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence.
6 Upon You have I leaned and relied from birth; You are He Who took me from my mother’s womb and You have been my benefactor from that day. My praise is continually of You.
7 I am as a wonder and surprise to many, but You are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth shall be filled with Your praise and with Your honor all the day.
9 Cast me not off nor send me away in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent and my powers fail.
10 For my enemies talk against me; those who watch for my life consult together,
11 Saying, God has forsaken him; pursue and persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him.
12 O God, be not far from me! O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let them be put to shame and consumed who are adversaries to my life; let them be covered with reproach, scorn, and dishonor who seek and require my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteous acts and of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is more than I know.
16 I will come in the strength and with the mighty acts of the Lord God; I will mention and praise Your righteousness, even Yours alone.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared Your wondrous works.
18 Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, [but keep me alive] until I have declared Your mighty strength to [this] generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come.
19 Your righteousness also, O God, is very high [reaching to the heavens], You Who have done great things; O God, who is like You, or who is Your equal?
20 You Who have shown us [all] troubles great and sore will quicken us again and will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
21 Increase my greatness (my honor) and turn and comfort me.
22 I will also praise You with the harp, even Your truth and faithfulness, O my God; unto You will I sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall shout for joy when I sing praises to You, and my inner being, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; for they are put to shame, for they are confounded, who seek and demand my hurt.
Psalm 74
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.
1 O God, why do You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger burn and smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 [Earnestly] remember Your congregation which You have acquired of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your heritage; remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 Direct Your feet [quickly] to the perpetual ruins and desolations; the foe has devastated and desecrated everything in the sanctuary.
4 In the midst of Your Holy Place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry]; they set up their own [idol] emblems for signs [of victory].
5 They seemed like men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees to make themselves a record.
6 And then all the carved wood of the Holy Place they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They have set Your sanctuary on fire; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your [a]Name by casting it to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us make havoc [of such places] altogether. They have burned up all God’s meetinghouses in the land.
9 We do not see our symbols; there is no longer any prophet, neither does any among us know for how long.
10 O God, how long is the adversary to scoff and reproach? Is the enemy to blaspheme and revile Your name forever?
11 Why do You hold back Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them [make an end of them]!
12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You did divide the [Red] Sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the [Egyptian] dragons in the waters.(A)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan (Egypt); You did give him as food for the creatures inhabiting the wilderness.
15 You did cleave open [the rock bringing forth] fountains and streams; You dried up mighty, ever-flowing rivers (the Jordan).(B)
16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the [starry] light and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the borders of the earth [the divisions of land and sea and of the nations]; You have made summer and winter.(C)
18 [Earnestly] remember how the enemy has scoffed, O Lord, and reproached You, and how a foolish and impious people has blasphemed Your name.
19 Oh, do not deliver the life of your turtledove to the wild beast (to the greedy multitude); forget not the life [of the multitude] of Your poor forever.
20 Have regard for the covenant [You made with Abraham], for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh, let not the downtrodden return in shame; let the oppressed and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember [earnestly] how the foolish and impious man scoffs and reproaches You day after day and all day long.
23 Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries, the tumult of those who rise up against You, which ascends continually.
12 Then the sixth [angel] emptied his bowl on the mighty river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to make ready a road for [the coming of] the kings of the east (from the rising sun).(A)
13 And I saw three loathsome spirits like frogs, [leaping] from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet.(B)
14 For really they are the spirits of demons that perform signs (wonders, miracles). And they go forth to the rulers and leaders all over the world, to gather them together for war on the great day of God the Almighty.
15 Behold, I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, [a]to be envied) is he who stays awake (alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed!
16 And they gathered them together at the place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon.(C)
17 Then the seventh [angel] emptied out his bowl into the air, and a mighty voice came out of the sanctuary of heaven from the throne [of God], saying, It is done! [It is all over, it is all accomplished, it has come!](D)
18 And there followed lightning flashes, loud rumblings, peals of thunder, and a tremendous earthquake; nothing like it has ever occurred since men dwelt on the earth, so severe and far-reaching was that earthquake.(E)
19 The mighty city was broken into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And God kept in mind mighty Babylon, to make her drain the cup of His furious wrath and indignation.
20 And every island fled and no mountains could be found.
21 And great (excessively oppressive) hailstones, as heavy as a talent [between fifty and sixty pounds], of immense size, fell from the sky on the people; and men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail, so very great was [the torture] of that plague.(F)
18 This led Him to say, What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?
19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the wild birds [a]found shelter and roosted and nested in its branches.
20 And again He said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?
21 It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour or meal until it was all leavened (fermented).
22 [Jesus] journeyed on through towns and villages, teaching, and making His way toward Jerusalem.
23 And someone asked Him, Lord, will only a few be saved (rescued, delivered from the penalties of the last judgment, and made partakers of the salvation by Christ)? And He said to them,
24 Strive to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.
25 When once the Master of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door [again and again], saying, Lord, open to us! He will answer you, I do not know where [[b]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from.
26 Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.
27 But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where [[c]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from; depart from Me, all you wrongdoers!
28 There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being cast forth (banished, driven away).
29 And [people] will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit down (feast at table) in the kingdom of God.
30 And behold, there are some [now] last who will be first [then], and there are some [now] first who will be last [then].
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