Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70 (A)O God, hasten to deliver me;
O Lord, hasten to my help!
2 (B)Let those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my [a]life;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [b]in my hurt.
3 (C)Let those be [c]turned back because of their shame
Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified.”
5 But (D)I am afflicted and needy;
(E)Hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.
71 (F)In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
2 (G)In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
(H)Incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 (I)Be to me a rock of (J)habitation to which I may continually come;
You have given (K)commandment to save me,
For You are (L)my [d]rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the [e]grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,
5 For You are my (N)hope;
O Lord [f]God, You are my (O)confidence from my youth.
6 [g]By You I have been (P)sustained from my birth;
You are He who (Q)took me from my mother’s womb;
My (R)praise is continually [h]of You.
7 I have become a (S)marvel to many,
For You are (T)my strong refuge.
8 My (U)mouth is filled with Your praise
And with (V)Your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the (W)time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken [i]against me;
And those who (X)watch for my [j]life (Y)have consulted together,
11 Saying, “(Z)God has forsaken him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is (AA)no one to deliver.”
12 O God, (AB)do not be far from me;
O my God, (AC)hasten to my help!
13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be (AD)ashamed and consumed;
Let them be (AE)covered with reproach and dishonor, who (AF)seek [k]to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will (AG)hope continually,
And will [l](AH)praise You yet more and more.
15 My (AI)mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of (AJ)Your salvation all day long;
For I (AK)do not know the [m]sum of them.
16 I will come (AL)with the mighty deeds of the Lord [n]God;
I will (AM)make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 O God, You (AN)have taught me from my youth,
And I still (AO)declare Your wondrous deeds.
18 And even when I am (AP)old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I (AQ)declare Your [o]strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 [p]For Your (AR)righteousness, O God, reaches to the [q]heavens,
You who have (AS)done great things;
O God, (AT)who is like You?
20 You who have (AU)shown [r]me many troubles and distresses
Will (AV)revive [s]me again,
And will bring [t]me up again (AW)from the depths of the earth.
21 May You increase my (AX)greatness
And turn to (AY)comfort me.
22 I will also praise You with [u](AZ)a harp,
Even Your [v]truth, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the (BA)lyre,
O (BB)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will (BC)shout for joy when I sing praises to You;
And my (BD)soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My (BE)tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;
For they are (BF)ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek [w]my hurt.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You (A)rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger (B)smoke against the (C)sheep of Your [b]pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have (D)purchased of old,
Which You have (E)redeemed to be the (F)tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount (G)Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 [c]Turn Your footsteps toward the (H)perpetual ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own [d]standards (L)for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up
His [e](M)axe in a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now [g]all its (N)carved work
They smash with hatchet and [h]hammers.
7 They have [i](O)burned Your sanctuary [j]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let us [k]completely [l]subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (R)signs;
There is (S)no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary (U)revile,
And the enemy (V)spurn Your name forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
From within Your bosom, (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 [m]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[n]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [o]in the waters.
14 [p]You crushed the heads of [q](AC)Leviathan;
[r]You gave him as food for the [s]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [t]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[u]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[v]You have (AG)prepared the [w]light and the sun.
17 [x]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[y]You have [z]made (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [aa]O Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)reviled,
And a (AK)foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild beast;
(AM)Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the (AN)covenant;
For the (AO)dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the (AP)oppressed return dishonored;
Let the (AQ)afflicted and needy praise Your name.
Death and Burial of Sarah
23 Now [a]Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 Sarah died in (A)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham [b]went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the (B)sons of Heth, saying, 4 “I am (C)a stranger and a sojourner among you; (D)give me [c]a (E)burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6 “Hear us, my lord, you are a [d](F)mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.” 7 So Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your [e]wish for me to bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and approach (G)Ephron the son of Zohar for me, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he owns, which is at the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in [f]your presence for [g]a burial site.” 10 Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth; even (H)of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11 “No, my lord, hear me; (I)I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.” 12 And Abraham bowed before the people of the land. 13 He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred (J)shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham (K)weighed out for Ephron the silver which he had named in the [h]hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, [i]commercial standard.
17 So (L)Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were [j]within all the confines of its border, [k]were deeded over 18 to Abraham for a possession (M)in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave that is in it, [l]were (N)deeded over to Abraham for [m]a burial site by the sons of Heth.
32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of (A)Gideon, (B)Barak, (C)Samson, (D)Jephthah, of (E)David and (F)Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith (G)conquered kingdoms, (H)performed acts of righteousness, (I)obtained promises, (J)shut the mouths of lions, 34 (K)quenched the power of fire, (L)escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, (M)became mighty in war, (N)put foreign armies to flight. 35 (O)Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their [a]release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others [b]experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also (P)chains and imprisonment. 37 They were (Q)stoned, they were (R)sawn in two, [c]they were tempted, they were (S)put to death with the sword; they went about (T)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, (U)ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), (V)wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes [d]in the ground.
39 And all these, having [e](W)gained approval through their faith, (X)did not receive [f]what was promised, 40 because God had [g]provided (Y)something better for us, so that (Z)apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Jesus, the Example
12 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also (AA)lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us (AB)run with (AC)endurance the race that is set before us, 2 [h]fixing our eyes on Jesus, the [i](AD)author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him (AE)endured the cross, (AF)despising the shame, and has (AG)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
60 Therefore many of His (A)disciples, when they heard this said, “(B)This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, (C)conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this (D)cause you to stumble? 62 What then if you see (E)the Son of Man (F)ascending to where He was before? 63 (G)It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; (H)the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are (I)some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus (J)knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and (K)who it was that would [a]betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have (L)said to you, that no one can come to Me unless (M)it has been granted him from the Father.”
Peter’s Confession of Faith
66 As a result of this many of His (N)disciples (O)withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to (P)the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68 (Q)Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have (R)words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are (S)the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “(T)Did I Myself not choose you, (U)the twelve, and yet one of you is (V)a devil?” 71 Now He meant Judas (W)the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, (X)one of (Y)the twelve, [b]was going to betray Him.
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