Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70[a]
Prayer for Divine Help
1 For the leader; of David. For remembrance.
2 Graciously rescue me, God!(A)
Come quickly to help me, Lord!(B)
3 Let those who seek my life
be confused and put to shame.(C)
Let those who desire my ruin
turn back in disgrace.
4 Let those who say “Aha!”(D)
turn back in their shame.
5 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you,
Those who long for your help
always say, “God be glorified!”(E)
6 I am miserable and poor.
God, come to me quickly!
You are my help and deliverer.
Lord, do not delay!
Psalm 71[b]
Prayer in Time of Old Age
I
1 In you, Lord, I take refuge;(F)
let me never be put to shame.(G)
2 In your justice rescue and deliver me;
listen to me and save me!
3 Be my rock of refuge,
my stronghold to give me safety;
for you are my rock and fortress.(H)
4 My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked,
from the clutches of the evil and violent.(I)
5 You are my hope, Lord;
my trust, God, from my youth.
6 On you I have depended since birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength;(J)
my hope in you never wavers.
7 [c]I have become a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge!
8 My mouth shall be filled with your praise,
shall sing your glory every day.
II
9 Do not cast me aside in my old age;
as my strength fails, do not forsake me.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
they watch and plot against me.(K)
11 They say, “God has abandoned him.
Pursue, and seize him!
No one will come to the rescue!”
12 God, be not far from me;
my God, hasten to help me.(L)
13 Bring to a shameful end
those who attack me;
Cover with contempt and scorn
those who seek my ruin.(M)
14 I will always hope in you
and add to all your praise.
15 My mouth shall proclaim your just deeds,
day after day your acts of deliverance,
though I cannot number them all.(N)
16 I will speak of the mighty works of the Lord;
O God, I will tell of your singular justice.
III
17 God, you have taught me from my youth;
to this day I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 Now that I am old and gray,(O)
do not forsake me, God,
That I may proclaim your might
to all generations yet to come,(P)
Your power 19 and justice, God,
to the highest heaven.
You have done great things;(Q)
O God, who is your equal?(R)
20 Whatever bitter afflictions you sent me,
you would turn and revive me.
From the watery depths of the earth
once more raise me up.
21 Restore my honor;
turn and comfort me,
22 That I may praise you with the lyre
for your faithfulness, my God,
And sing to you with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel!
23 My lips will shout for joy as I sing your praise;
my soul, too, which you have redeemed.
24 Yes, my tongue shall recount
your justice day by day.
For those who sought my ruin
have been shamed and disgraced.
Psalm 74[a]
Prayer at the Destruction of the Temple
1 A maskil of Asaph.
I
Why, God, have you cast us off forever?[b](A)
Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture?(B)
2 Remember your people, whom you acquired of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage,
Mount Zion where you dwell.(C)
3 Direct your steps toward the utter destruction,
everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary.
4 Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly;
they set up their own tokens of victory.
5 They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs,
swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
6 They smashed all its engraved work,
struck it with ax and pick.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire,
profaned your name’s abode by razing it to the ground.(D)
8 They said in their hearts, “We will destroy them all!
Burn all the assembly-places of God in the land!”
9 [c]Even so we have seen no signs for us,
there is no prophet any more,(E)
no one among us who knows for how long.
10 How long, O God, will the enemy jeer?(F)
Will the enemy revile your name forever?
11 Why draw back your hand,
why hold back your right hand within your bosom?[d]
II
12 [e]Yet you, God, are my king from of old,
winning victories throughout the earth.
13 You stirred up the sea by your might;(G)
you smashed the heads of the dragons on the waters.(H)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan,(I)
gave him as food to the sharks.
15 You opened up springs and torrents,
brought dry land out of the primeval waters.[f]
16 Yours the day and yours the night too;
you set the moon and sun in place.
17 You fixed all the limits of the earth;
summer and winter you made.(J)
18 Remember how the enemy has jeered, Lord,
how a foolish people has reviled your name.
19 Do not surrender to wild animals those who praise you;
do not forget forever the life of your afflicted.
20 Look to your covenant,
for the recesses of the land
are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Let not the oppressed turn back in shame;
may the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, God, defend your cause;
remember the constant jeering of the fools.
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the unceasing uproar of your enemies.
Chapter 4
Death of Ishbaal. 1 When Ishbaal, son of Saul, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, he lost his resolve and all Israel was alarmed. 2 Ishbaal, son of Saul, had two company leaders named Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth, too, was ascribed to Benjamin:(A) 3 the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, where they have been resident aliens to this day.(B) 4 (Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son with crippled feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; his nurse took him and fled, but in their hasty flight, he fell and became lame. His name was Meribbaal.)[a](C) 5 The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, came into the house of Ishbaal during the heat of the day, while he was lying on his bed in the afternoon. 6 The gatekeeper of the house had dozed off while sifting wheat, and was asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped past her 7 and entered the house while Ishbaal was lying asleep in his bedroom. They struck and killed him, and cut off his head. Then, taking the head, they traveled on the Arabah road all night long.
The Murder Avenged. 8 They brought the head of Ishbaal to David in Hebron and said to the king: “This is the head of Ishbaal, son of your enemy Saul, who sought your life. Thus has the Lord this day avenged my lord the king on Saul and his posterity.” 9 But David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite: “As the Lord lives, who rescued me from every distress: 10 the man who reported to me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, that man I seized and killed in Ziglag: that was the reward I gave him.(D) 11 How much more now, when wicked men have slain an innocent man in bed at home, must I require his blood from you and purge you from the land!” 12 So at David’s command, the young men killed them and cut off their hands and feet, hanging them up near the pool in Hebron. But he took the head of Ishbaal and buried it in Abner’s grave in Hebron.(E)
Deliverance from Prison. 25 About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, 26 there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew [his] sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” 29 He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.” 32 So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. 33 He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. 34 He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the lictors[a] with the order, “Release those men.” 36 The jailer reported the[se] words to Paul, “The magistrates have sent orders that you be released. Now, then, come out and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, even though we are Roman citizens and have not been tried, and have thrown us into prison.(A) And now, are they going to release us secretly? By no means. Let them come themselves and lead us out.”[b] 38 The lictors reported these words to the magistrates, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens.(B) 39 So they came and placated them, and led them out and asked that they leave the city. 40 When they had come out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and then they left.
Chapter 7
The Tradition of the Elders.[a] 1 Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,(A) 2 they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,[b] keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].) 5 So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders[c] but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 6 He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:(B)
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.’
8 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” 9 He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’(C) 11 Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’[d] (meaning, dedicated to God), 12 you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.” 14 (D)He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” [16 ][e]
17 [f](E)When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 [g](F)since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. 21 (G)From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. 23 All these evils come from within and they defile.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.