Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70 (A)O God, hasten to deliver me;
O Lord, hasten to my help!
2 (B)Let those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my [a]life;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [b]in my hurt.
3 (C)Let those be [c]turned back because of their shame
Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified.”
5 But (D)I am afflicted and needy;
(E)Hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.
71 (F)In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
2 (G)In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
(H)Incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 (I)Be to me a rock of (J)habitation to which I may continually come;
You have given (K)commandment to save me,
For You are (L)my [d]rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the [e]grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,
5 For You are my (N)hope;
O Lord [f]God, You are my (O)confidence from my youth.
6 [g]By You I have been (P)sustained from my birth;
You are He who (Q)took me from my mother’s womb;
My (R)praise is continually [h]of You.
7 I have become a (S)marvel to many,
For You are (T)my strong refuge.
8 My (U)mouth is filled with Your praise
And with (V)Your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the (W)time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken [i]against me;
And those who (X)watch for my [j]life (Y)have consulted together,
11 Saying, “(Z)God has forsaken him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is (AA)no one to deliver.”
12 O God, (AB)do not be far from me;
O my God, (AC)hasten to my help!
13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be (AD)ashamed and consumed;
Let them be (AE)covered with reproach and dishonor, who (AF)seek [k]to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will (AG)hope continually,
And will [l](AH)praise You yet more and more.
15 My (AI)mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of (AJ)Your salvation all day long;
For I (AK)do not know the [m]sum of them.
16 I will come (AL)with the mighty deeds of the Lord [n]God;
I will (AM)make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 O God, You (AN)have taught me from my youth,
And I still (AO)declare Your wondrous deeds.
18 And even when I am (AP)old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I (AQ)declare Your [o]strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 [p]For Your (AR)righteousness, O God, reaches to the [q]heavens,
You who have (AS)done great things;
O God, (AT)who is like You?
20 You who have (AU)shown [r]me many troubles and distresses
Will (AV)revive [s]me again,
And will bring [t]me up again (AW)from the depths of the earth.
21 May You increase my (AX)greatness
And turn to (AY)comfort me.
22 I will also praise You with [u](AZ)a harp,
Even Your [v]truth, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the (BA)lyre,
O (BB)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will (BC)shout for joy when I sing praises to You;
And my (BD)soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My (BE)tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;
For they are (BF)ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek [w]my hurt.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You (A)rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger (B)smoke against the (C)sheep of Your [b]pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have (D)purchased of old,
Which You have (E)redeemed to be the (F)tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount (G)Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 [c]Turn Your footsteps toward the (H)perpetual ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own [d]standards (L)for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up
His [e](M)axe in a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now [g]all its (N)carved work
They smash with hatchet and [h]hammers.
7 They have [i](O)burned Your sanctuary [j]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let us [k]completely [l]subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (R)signs;
There is (S)no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary (U)revile,
And the enemy (V)spurn Your name forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
From within Your bosom, (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 [m]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[n]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [o]in the waters.
14 [p]You crushed the heads of [q](AC)Leviathan;
[r]You gave him as food for the [s]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [t]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[u]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[v]You have (AG)prepared the [w]light and the sun.
17 [x]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[y]You have [z]made (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [aa]O Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)reviled,
And a (AK)foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild beast;
(AM)Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the (AN)covenant;
For the (AO)dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the (AP)oppressed return dishonored;
Let the (AQ)afflicted and needy praise Your name.
9 “It shall come about in that day,” declares the Lord, “that the (A)heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the (B)prophets will be astounded.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord [a]God! Surely You have utterly (C)deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘(D)You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the [b]throat.”
Lament over Judah’s Devastation
19 (A)My [a]soul, my [b]soul! I am in anguish! [c]Oh, my heart!
My (B)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent,
Because [d]you have heard, O my soul,
The (C)sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
20 (D)Disaster on disaster is proclaimed,
For the (E)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my (F)tents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.
21 How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “(G)For My people are foolish,
They know Me not;
They are stupid children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd to (H)do evil,
But to do good they do not know.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was [e](I) formless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were (J)quaking,
And all the hills [f]moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the (K)birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, [g]the (L)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.
12 For all who have sinned [a](A)without the Law will also perish [b]without the Law, and all who have sinned [c]under the Law will be judged [d]by the Law; 13 for it is (B)not the hearers [e]of the Law who are [f]just before God, but the doers [g]of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have [h]the Law do [i](C)instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having [j]the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show (D)the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, (E)according to my gospel, (F)God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
The Jew Is Condemned by the Law
17 But if you bear the name “Jew” and (G)rely [k]upon the Law and boast in God, 18 and know His will and [l](H)approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a [m]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of [n]the immature, having in the Law (I)the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, 21 you, therefore, (J)who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who [o]preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you (K)rob temples? 23 You who (L)boast [p]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “(M)the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (N)because of you,” just as it is written.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, (A)the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever [a]the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 (B)For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him (C)greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and (D)gives them life, even so (E)the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but (F)He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. (G)He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and (H)believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and (I)does not come into judgment, but has (J)passed out of death into life.
Two Resurrections
25 Truly, truly, I say to you, (K)an hour is coming and now is, when (L)the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who (M)hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He (N)gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to (O)execute judgment, because He is [b]the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for (P)an hour is coming, in which (Q)all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; (R)those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.