Book of Common Prayer

140 O Lord, deliver me from evil men. Preserve me from the violent, ² who plot and stir up trouble all day long. ³ Their words sting like poisonous snakes. ⁴ Keep me out of their power. Preserve me from their violence, for they are plotting against me. ⁵ These proud men have set a trap to catch me, a noose to yank me up and leave me dangling in the air; they wait in ambush with a net to throw over and hold me helpless in its meshes.

^6-8 O Jehovah, my Lord and Savior, my God and my shield—hear me as I pray! Don’t let these wicked men succeed; don’t let them prosper and be proud. ⁹ Let their plots boomerang! Let them be destroyed by the very evil they have planned for me. ¹⁰ Let burning coals fall down upon their heads, or throw them into the fire or into deep pits from which they can’t escape.

¹¹ Don’t let liars prosper here in our land; quickly punish them. ¹² But the Lord will surely help those they persecute; he will maintain the rights of the poor. ¹³ Surely the godly are thanking you, for they shall live in your presence.

142 ^1-2 How I plead with God, how I implore his mercy, pouring out my troubles before him. ³ For I am overwhelmed and desperate, and you alone know which way I ought to turn to miss the traps my enemies have set for me. ⁴ (There’s one—just over there to the right!) No one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. ⁵ Then I prayed to Jehovah. “Lord,” I pled, “you are my only place of refuge. Only you can keep me safe.

⁶ “Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. ⁷ Bring me out of prison so that I can thank you. The godly will rejoice with me for all your help.”

141 Quick, Lord, answer me—for I have prayed. Listen when I cry to you for help! ² Regard my prayer as my evening sacrifice and as incense wafting up to you.

³ Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed. ⁴ Take away my lust for evil things; don’t let me want to be with sinners, doing what they do, sharing their delicacies. ⁵ Let the godly smite me! It will be a kindness! If they reprove me, it is medicine! Don’t let me refuse it. But I am in constant prayer against the wicked and their deeds. ^6-7 When their leaders are condemned, and their bones are strewn across the ground,^[a] then these men will finally listen to me and know that I am trying to help them.

⁸ I look to you for help, O Lord God. You are my refuge. Don’t let them slay me. ⁹ Keep me out of their traps. ¹⁰ Let them fall into their own snares, while I escape.

143 Hear my prayer, O Lord; answer my plea because you are faithful to your promises.^{[a] 2} Don’t bring me to trial! For as compared with you, no one is perfect.

³ My enemies chased and caught me. They have knocked me to the ground. They force me to live in the darkness like those in the grave. ⁴ I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.

⁵ I remember the glorious miracles you did in days of long ago. ⁶ I reach out for you. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. ⁷ Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens; don’t turn away from me or I shall die. ⁸ Let me see your kindness to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for my prayer is sincere. ⁹ Save me from my enemies. O Lord, I run to you to hide me. ¹⁰ Help me to do your will, for you are my God. Lead me in good paths, for your Spirit is good.

¹¹ Lord, saving me will bring glory to your name. Bring me out of all this trouble because you are true to your promises. ¹² And because you are loving and kind to me, cut off all my enemies and destroy those who are trying to harm me; for I am your servant.

¹⁹ There were no blacksmiths at all in the land of Israel in those days, for the Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear of their making swords and spears for the Hebrews. ²⁰ So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, discs, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. ²¹ The schedule of charges was as follows:

²² So there was not a single sword or spear in the entire “army” of Israel that day, except for Saul’s and Jonathan’s. ²³ The mountain pass at Michmash had meanwhile been secured by a contingent of the Philistine army.

14 A day or so later, Prince Jonathan said to his young bodyguard, “Come on, let’s cross the valley to the garrison of the Philistines.” But he didn’t tell his father that he was leaving.

² Saul and his six hundred men were camped at the edge of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron. ³ Among his men was Ahijah the priest (the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother; Ahitub was the son of Phinehas and the grandson of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh).

No one realized that Jonathan had gone. ⁴ To reach the Philistine garrison, Jonathan had to go over a narrow pass between two rocky crags which had been named Bozez and Seneh. ⁵ The crag on the north was in front of Michmash and the southern one was in front of Geba.

⁶ “Yes, let’s go across to those heathen,” Jonathan had said to his bodyguard. “Perhaps the Lord will do a miracle for us. For it makes no difference to him how many enemy troops there are!”

⁷ “Fine!” the youth replied. “Do as you think best; I’m with you heart and soul, whatever you decide.”

⁸ “All right, then this is what we’ll do,” Jonathan told him. ⁹ “When they see us, if they say, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you!’ then we will stop and wait for them. ¹⁰ But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight!’ then we will do just that; for it will be God’s signal that he will help us defeat them!”

¹¹ When the Philistines saw them coming they shouted, “Look! The Israelis are crawling out of their holes!” ¹² Then they shouted to Jonathan, “Come on up here and we’ll show you how to fight!”

“Come on, climb right behind me,” Jonathan exclaimed to his bodyguard, “for the Lord will help us defeat them!”

¹³ So they clambered up on their hands and knees, and the Philistines fell back as Jonathan and the lad killed them right and left, ¹⁴ about twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre of land. ¹⁵ Suddenly panic broke out throughout the entire Philistine army, and even among the raiders. And just then there was a great earthquake, increasing the terror.

9 But Paul, threatening with every breath and eager to destroy every Christian, went to the High Priest in Jerusalem. ² He requested a letter addressed to synagogues in Damascus, requiring their cooperation in the persecution of any believers he found there, both men and women, so that he could bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

³ As he was nearing Damascus on this mission, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven spotted down upon him! ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Paul! Paul! Why are you persecuting me?”

⁵ “Who is speaking, sir?” Paul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! ⁶ Now get up and go into the city and await my further instructions.”

⁷ The men with Paul stood speechless with surprise, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! ^8-9 As Paul picked himself up off the ground, he found that he was blind. He had to be led into Damascus and was there three days, blind, going without food and water all that time.

²⁶ As the crowd led Jesus away to his death, Simon of Cyrene, who was just coming into Jerusalem from the country, was forced to follow, carrying Jesus’ cross. ²⁷ Great crowds trailed along behind, and many grief-stricken women.

²⁸ But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For the days are coming when the women who have no children will be counted fortunate indeed. ³⁰ Mankind will beg the mountains to fall on them and crush them, and the hills to bury them. ³¹ For if such things as this are done to me, the Living Tree, what will they do to you?”^[a]