Book of Common Prayer
David wrote this song for the music leader, to ask God to help him.
A prayer for help[a]
70 God, please save me!
Lord, come quickly to help me!
2 Stop the people who want to kill me,
so that they become ashamed and confused.
Chase the people who want to hurt me,
so that they run away in shame.
3 When people laugh at me,
make them ashamed for what they have done.
4 God, may those who want to know you be very happy.
Everyone who loves you because you have saved them
should never stop saying, ‘Praise God.’
5 But I am poor and weak, God.
Please hurry to give me help.
You are the one who helps me
and who saves me.
Lord, come quickly to help me!
A song for old age
71 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
2 You always do what is right,
so please rescue me!
Listen to me, and come to save me!
3 Be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place where I can be safe.
You are my high rock and my strong, safe place.
4 My God, save me from the power of wicked people,
so that those cruel people cannot catch me.
5 My Lord, I trust you to help me.
I have trusted in you, Lord,
since I was young.
6 Since I was born,
you have been there to help me.
You have taken care of me
since my mother gave birth to me.
So I will always praise you!
7 When people see me,
they see trouble!
But you are a strong place to keep me safe.
8 I can never stop praising you!
All the time, I speak about your glory!
9 Do not chase me away when I am old.
When I am no longer strong,
do not turn away from me.[b]
10 For my enemies say things against me.
They think of ways that they can kill me.
11 They say, ‘God has turned away from him.
Run after him and catch him,
for nobody will rescue him.’
12 God, do not stay far away from me.
My God, come quickly to help me!
13 Make my enemies become completely ashamed.
They speak against me and they want to hurt me.
So let them fall with great shame!
14 But as for me, I will always wait for you to help me.
I will continue to praise you more and more.
15 I will tell people that you always do what is right.
I will always speak about your power to save people.
But you have done more than I will ever know about!
16 I will tell about the great things that you have done,
Almighty Lord.
I will tell everyone that you are righteous.
You, only you, are righteous.
17 God, you have taught me since I was young.
I still tell people about the great things that you have done.
18 And even when I am old and my hair is grey,
do not turn away from me, God.
I need to tell the people still to be born
about your great strength.
My descendants need to know about your power.
19 Your justice reaches beyond the sky above!
You have done such great things, God.
There is nobody like you!
20 You have caused me to have many bad troubles.
But you will make my life strong again.
You will lift me back out
from this deep hole under the earth.[c]
21 You will make me great again,
so that people respect me.
You will turn back to me,
so that I feel strong.
22 I will pick up my harp
and I will sing to thank you.
I will praise you, my God,
because you do what you promise.
I will sing to praise you, the Holy One of Israel,
with the music of a lyre.[d]
23 I will shout aloud with joy,
as I praise you with music!
I will sing songs to praise you,
because you have rescued me.
24 I will talk about your justice all the time.
The people who want to hurt me
will become confused and ashamed.
This is a special song that Asaph wrote.
A prayer for our nation[a]
74 God, have you turned against us for ever?
Why are you so angry with us?
We belong to you, so please take care of us,
like a shepherd takes care of his sheep.
2 Remember that we are your people.
Long ago you chose us for yourself.
You rescued us from being slaves,
so that we could be your special nation of people.[b]
So please think about us,
as well as your home on Mount Zion.
3 Come and look at our buildings!
Your enemies have completely destroyed them.
They have also destroyed everything that is in your temple.
4 Your enemies shout battle cries
inside your special meeting place.
They have put up their own flags there.
5 They used axes to cut the temple into pieces,
like people who cut down trees!
6 They used their hammers and axes
to break the wooden boards with pictures on them.
7 They completely burned your temple.
They knocked it down to the ground!
They caused your special place to become useless!
8 They said to themselves,
‘We will completely destroy them all.’
So they burned down every place in the land
where people meet to worship God.
9 We no longer see any signs that God is with us.
There are no more prophets among us.
Nobody can tell us how long this will continue.
10 God, how long will our enemies laugh at you?
Will they insult your name for ever?
11 Why do you do nothing to help us?
Use your power now to punish them!
12 God, you have been my king from the beginning.
You have done great things to rescue us
all over the earth.
13 You broke the sea into separate pieces,
because you are so strong.[c]
You broke the heads of the monsters
in the waters of the sea.[d]
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan.[e]
You gave his body as food
for the animals that live in the desert.
15 You caused springs and streams of water to appear.
And you made large rivers become dry![f]
16 Days and nights both belong to you.
You put the moon and the sun in their places.
17 You said where the land must be among the seas.
You made both summer and winter.[g]
18 Lord, think about your enemies.
They are always laughing at you.
Foolish people are insulting your name.
19 We, your people, are like your own special dove.
Do not let wild animals destroy us!
We are weak and poor,
so do not forget about us!
20 Remember what you have promised to do for us.
There are dark places everywhere,
where cruel people hide.
21 We are weak, and people want to hurt us.
Do not let us become ashamed.
Instead, let the poor, weak people praise your name!
22 Do something, God!
Show everyone that you are good.
Think how fools are laughing at you all the time.
23 Do not forget what your enemies are saying.
They shout things against you all the time!
Accept all Christians
14 It is difficult for some Christians to trust God completely about everything. You should accept people like that as your friends. Do not argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 Some people believe that they may eat all kinds of food. But other people are not so sure, so they eat only vegetables. 3 People who eat anything must not think that they are better than people who eat only vegetables. Also, people who eat only vegetables must not judge other people who eat anything. They are not doing anything wrong, because God himself has accepted them.
4 God is the master of all believers and they are his servants. You do not have authority to judge someone else's servant. The servant's own master will decide if he has done well or he has done something wrong. And he will serve his master well, because the Lord is able to help him to do that.
5 Some people think that certain days are special and more important than other days. Other people think that all days are the same. Each person should decide what seems right to him. 6 A person who makes a certain day special does that so that he can respect the Lord. A person who eats all kinds of food does that so that he can respect the Lord. He thanks God for the food that he eats. A person who refuses to eat certain foods also does that so that he can respect the Lord. And he also thanks God.
7 None of us lives only to please ourselves. And we do not die to please ourselves. 8 While we live, we want to please the Lord. And when we die, we want that to please the Lord too. So, while we live, or if we die, we continue to belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and then he became alive again. That happened so that he could be the Lord of all people, those who have died and those who are still alive.
10 So then, if you eat only vegetables, you must not judge other believers. Also, if you eat anything, you must not think that you are better than other believers. Remember that all of us will have to stand in front of God. He will decide whether we have done what is right or wrong. 11 This is written in the Bible:
‘The Lord God says,
“As surely as I live, this will certainly happen:
Everyone will go down on their knees in front of me.
Everyone will praise me that I am God.” ’[a]
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done.
Jesus makes a man well
26 Jesus and his disciples went to the place where the Gerasene people lived. This place is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus got out of the boat there, a man from the town came towards him. Bad spirits were living inside him. He had not worn any clothes for a long time. He did not live in a house. Instead, he lived outside, among some graves. 28 When he saw Jesus, he screamed. Then he went down on his knees in front of Jesus and said in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, you are the Son of the powerful God who is over all! What are you doing here? Please do not hurt me.’ 29 He said that because Jesus had already said to the bad spirit, ‘Come out of this man.’
The bad spirit had often taken hold of the man, so people watched him carefully. They held his feet with metal chains. But when the bad spirit took hold of him, he often broke the chains. The bad spirit then caused him to go into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked the man, ‘What is your name?’ The man replied, ‘My name is Army.’ He said this because very many bad spirits had gone into him.[a] 31 These bad spirits asked Jesus not to send them away to the world below.[b]
32 There was a large group of pigs there and they were eating on the hill. The bad spirits asked Jesus, ‘Let us go into the pigs.’ Jesus replied, ‘You can go into them.’ 33 So the bad spirits came out of the man and they went into the pigs. All the pigs rushed together down the hill into the lake. They all died there in the water.
34 The men who were taking care of the pigs saw this happen. They ran away. They told the people in the town and in the villages what had happened. 35 So the people went out from these places to see what had happened. They came to Jesus. The man that the bad spirits had come out of was sitting there, beside Jesus' feet. Now he was wearing clothes and his mind was well again. When the people saw this, they were afraid. 36 Some people had seen Jesus make the man well. They told the other people how he had done this. 37 Then all the Gerasene people who lived in that place said to Jesus, ‘Please go away and leave us.’ They said this because they were very afraid. So Jesus got back into the boat to leave that place. 38 Then the man that the bad spirits had gone out from said to Jesus, ‘Please let me come with you.’ But Jesus replied, ‘No. 39 You must return to your home. Tell everyone about all that God has done for you.’
So the man went away. He went everywhere in the town and told all the people, ‘Jesus has done very good things for me.’
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