Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.
70 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who desire my hurt!
3 Let them be appalled because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
4 May all who seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee!
May those who love thy salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not tarry!
Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help
71 In thee, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!
3 Be thou to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress,[a] to save me,
for thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For thou, O Lord, art my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon thee I have leaned from my birth;
thou art he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of thee.
7 I have been as a portent to many;
but thou art my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with thy praise,
and with thy glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me,
those who watch for my life consult together,
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize 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 May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
and will praise thee yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of thy righteous acts,
of thy deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come,
I will praise thy righteousness, thine alone.
17 O God, from my youth thou hast taught me,
and I still proclaim thy wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
till I proclaim thy might
to all the generations to come.[b]
Thy power 19 and thy righteousness, O God,
reach the high heavens.
Thou who hast done great things,
O God, who is like thee?
20 Thou who hast made me see many sore troubles
wilt revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
thou wilt bring me up again.
21 Thou wilt increase my honor,
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise thee with the harp
for thy faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to thee with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to thee;
my soul also, which thou hast rescued.
24 And my tongue will talk of thy righteous help
all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disgraced
who sought to do me hurt.
Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation
A Maskil of Asaph.
74 O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever?
Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old,
which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.
3 Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Thy foes have roared in the midst of thy holy place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.[a]
6 And then all its carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They set thy sanctuary on fire;
to the ground they desecrated the dwelling place of thy name.
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile thy name for ever?
11 Why dost thou hold back thy hand,
why dost thou keep thy right hand in[b] thy bosom?
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy might;
thou didst break the heads of the dragons on the waters.
14 Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan,
thou didst give him as food[c] for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave open springs and brooks;
thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.
16 Thine is the day, thine also the night;
thou hast established the luminaries and the sun.
17 Thou hast fixed all the bounds of the earth;
thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles thy name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of thy dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of thy poor for ever.
20 Have regard for thy[d] covenant;
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thy cause;
remember how the impious scoff at thee all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of thy foes,
the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!
Abraham
19 Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations,
and no one has been found like him in glory;
20 he kept the law of the Most High,
and was taken into covenant with him;
he established the covenant in his flesh,
and when he was tested he was found faithful.
21 Therefore the Lord[a] assured him by an oath
that the nations would be blessed through his posterity;
that he would multiply him like the dust of the earth,
and exalt his posterity like the stars,
and cause them to inherit from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Isaac and Jacob
22 To Isaac also he gave the same assurance
for the sake of Abraham his father.
23 The blessing of all men and the covenant
he made to rest upon the head of Jacob;
he acknowledged him with his blessings,
and gave him his inheritance;[b]
he determined his portions,
and distributed them among twelve tribes.
Moses
45 From his descendants the Lord[c] brought forth a man of mercy,
who found favor in the sight of all flesh
and was beloved by God and man,
Moses, whose memory is blessed.
2 He made him equal in glory to the holy ones,
and made him great in the fears of his enemies.
3 By his words he caused signs to cease;
the Lord[d] glorified him in the presence of kings.
He gave him commands for his people,
and showed him part of his glory.
4 He sanctified him through faithfulness and meekness;
he chose him out of all mankind.
5 He made him hear his voice,
and led him into the thick darkness,
and gave him the commandments face to face,
the law of life and knowledge,
to teach Jacob the covenant,
and Israel his judgments.
Paul’s Visions and Revelations
12 I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6 Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn[a] was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. 8 Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
28 And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Beth′phage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat; untie it and bring it here. 31 If any one asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt they set Jesus upon it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road. 37 As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.