Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Help[a] (A)
70 Save me, O God!
Lord, help me now!
2 May those who try to kill me
be defeated and confused.
May those who are happy because of my troubles
be turned back and disgraced.
3 May those who make fun of me
be dismayed by their defeat.
4 May all who come to you
be glad and joyful.
May all who are thankful for your salvation
always say, “How great is God!”
5 I am weak and poor;
come to me quickly, O God.
You are my savior and my Lord—
hurry to my aid!
The Prayer of an Elderly Person
71 Lord, I have come to you for protection;
never let me be defeated!
2 Because you are righteous, help me and rescue me.
Listen to me and save me!
3 Be my secure shelter
and a strong fortress[b] to protect me;
you are my refuge and defense.
4 My God, rescue me from wicked people,
from the power of cruel and evil people.
5 Sovereign Lord, I put my hope in you;
I have trusted in you since I was young.
6 I have relied on you all my life;
you have protected[c] me since the day I was born.
I will always praise you.
7 My life has been an example to many,
because you have been my strong defender.
8 All day long I praise you
and proclaim your glory.
9 Do not reject me now that I am old;
do not abandon me now that I am feeble.
10 My enemies want to kill me;
they talk and plot against me.
11 They say, “God has abandoned him;
let's go after him and catch him;
there is no one to rescue him.”
12 Don't stay so far away, O God;
my God, hurry to my aid!
13 May those who attack me
be defeated and destroyed.
May those who try to hurt me
be shamed and disgraced.
14 I will always put my hope in you;
I will praise you more and more.
15 I will tell of your goodness;
all day long I will speak of your salvation,
though it is more than I can understand.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will proclaim your goodness, yours alone.
17 You have taught me ever since I was young,
and I still tell of your wonderful acts.
18 Now that I am old and my hair is gray,
do not abandon me, O God!
Be with me while I proclaim your power and might
to all generations to come.
19 Your righteousness, God, reaches the skies.
You have done great things;
there is no one like you.
20 You have sent troubles and suffering on me,
but you will restore my strength;
you will keep me from the grave.
21 You will make me greater than ever;
you will comfort me again.
22 I will indeed praise you with the harp;
I will praise your faithfulness, my God.
On my harp I will play hymns to you,
the Holy One of Israel.
23 I will shout for joy as I play for you;
with my whole being I will sing
because you have saved me.
24 I will speak of your righteousness all day long,
because those who tried to harm me
have been defeated and disgraced.
A Prayer for National Deliverance[a]
74 Why have you abandoned us like this, O God?
Will you be angry with your own people forever?
2 Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago,
whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe.
Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.
3 Walk over these total ruins;
our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.
4 Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple;
they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.
5 They looked like woodsmen
cutting down trees with their axes.[b]
6 They smashed all the wooden panels
with their axes and sledge hammers.
7 They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire;
they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.
8 They wanted to crush us completely;
they burned down every holy place in the land.
9 All our sacred symbols are gone;
there are no prophets left,
and no one knows how long this will last.
10 How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you?
Will they insult your name forever?
11 Why have you refused to help us?
Why do you keep your hands behind you?[c]
12 But you have been our king from the beginning, O God;
you have saved us many times.
13 (A)With your mighty strength you divided the sea
and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;
14 (B)you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan[d]
and fed his body to desert animals.[e]
15 You made springs and fountains flow;
you dried up large rivers.
16 You created the day and the night;
you set the sun and the moon in their places;
17 you set the limits of the earth;
you made summer and winter.
18 But remember, O Lord, that your enemies laugh at you,
that they are godless and despise you.
19 Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies;
don't forget your persecuted people!
20 Remember the covenant you made with us.
There is violence in every dark corner of the land.
21 Don't let the oppressed be put to shame;
let those poor and needy people praise you.
22 Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause!
Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.
23 Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies,
the continuous noise made by your foes.
27 The worship of idols, whose names should never be spoken, is the beginning and the end, the cause and the result of every evil. 28 People who worship them lose control of themselves in ecstasy, or pass off lies as prophecies, or live wickedly, or break their word without hesitation. 29 They tell lies under oath and expect no punishment, because the idols they put their trust in are lifeless. 30 But punishment will finally catch up with them, for two reasons: first, they were in error about God when they worshiped idols, and second, they had so little regard for holiness that they made false statements to deceive people. 31 When unrighteous people commit sin, they will be hunted down, not by the power of whatever thing they swear by, but by the punishment that sinners deserve.
The True God Gives Immortality
15 But you, our God, are kind and true and patient. You rule the universe with mercy. 2 Even if we sin, we know your power and are still yours. But because we know that we belong to you, we will not sin. 3 Knowing you is perfect righteousness. Recognizing your power is where immortality begins.
Do Not Judge Others
14 (A)Welcome those who are weak in faith, but do not argue with them about their personal opinions. 2 Some people's faith allows them to eat anything, but the person who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables. 3 The person who will eat anything is not to despise the one who doesn't; while the one who eats only vegetables is not to pass judgment on the one who will eat anything; for God has accepted that person. 4 Who are you to judge the servants of someone else? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail. And they will succeed, because the Lord is able to make them succeed.
5 Some people think that a certain day is more important than other days, while others think that all days are the same. We each should firmly make up our own minds. 6 Those who think highly of a certain day do so in honor of the Lord; those who will eat anything do so in honor of the Lord, because they give thanks to God for the food. Those who refuse to eat certain things do so in honor of the Lord, and they give thanks to God. 7 We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only. 8 If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead. 10 (B)You then, who eat only vegetables—why do you pass judgment on others? And you who eat anything—why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by him. 11 (C)For the scripture says,
“As surely as I am the living God, says the Lord,
everyone will kneel before me,
and everyone will confess that I am God.”
12 Every one of us, then, will have to give an account to God.
Jesus Heals a Man with Demons(A)
26 Jesus and his disciples sailed on over to the territory of Gerasa,[a] which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 As Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a man from the town who had demons in him. For a long time this man had gone without clothes and would not stay at home, but spent his time in the burial caves. 28 When he saw Jesus, he gave a loud cry, threw himself down at his feet, and shouted, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God! What do you want with me? I beg you, don't punish me!” 29 He said this because Jesus had ordered the evil spirit to go out of him. Many times it had seized him, and even though he was kept a prisoner, his hands and feet tied with chains, he would break the chains and be driven by the demon out into the desert.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is ‘Mob,’” he answered—because many demons had gone into him. 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into the abyss.[b]
32 There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he let them. 33 They went out of the man and into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.
34 The men who had been taking care of the pigs saw what happened, so they ran off and spread the news in the town and among the farms. 35 People went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were all afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the man had been cured. 37 Then all the people from that territory asked Jesus to go away, because they were terribly afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged Jesus, “Let me go with you.”
But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell what God has done for you.”
The man went through the town, telling what Jesus had done for him.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.