Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the music director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70 (A)God, hurry to save me;
Lord, hurry to help me!
2 (B)May those who seek my [a]life
Be put to shame and humiliated;
May those who delight [b]in my harm
Be turned back and dishonored.
3 (C)May those who say, “Aha, aha!” be [c]turned back
Because of their shame.
4 May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And may those who love Your salvation say continually,
“May God be exalted!”
5 But (D)I am afflicted and needy;
(E)Hurry to me, God!
You are my help and my savior;
Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Rescue.
71 (F)In You, Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be put to shame.
2 (G)In Your righteousness rescue me and save me;
(H)Extend Your ear to me and help me.
3 (I)Be to me a rock of (J)dwelling to which I may continually come;
You have given the (K)commandment to save me,
For You are (L)my rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Save me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
From the [d]grasp of the wrongdoer and the ruthless,
5 For You are my (N)hope;
Lord [e]God, You are my (O)confidence from my youth.
6 I have (P)leaned on You since my birth;
You are He who (Q)took me from my mother’s womb;
My (R)praise is continually [f]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 away at the (W)time of my old age;
Do not abandon me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken [g]against me;
And those who (X)watch for my [h]life (Y)have consulted together,
11 Saying, “(Z)God has abandoned him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is (AA)no one to save him.”
12 God, (AB)do not be far from me;
My God, (AC)hurry to my aid!
13 May those who are enemies of my soul be (AD)put to shame and consumed;
May they be (AE)covered with disgrace and dishonor, who (AF)seek [i]to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will (AG)wait continually,
And will [j](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 art of writing.
16 I will come (AL)with the mighty deeds of the Lord [k]God;
I will (AM)make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 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, God, do not abandon me,
Until I (AQ)declare Your [l]strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 [m]For Your (AR)righteousness, God, reaches to the [n]heavens,
You who have (AS)done great things;
God, (AT)who is like You?
20 You who have (AU)shown [o]me many troubles and distresses
Will (AV)revive [p]me again,
And will bring [q]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 [r](AZ)a harp,
And Your [s]truth, my God;
I will sing praises to You with the (BA)lyre,
(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 tell of Your righteousness all day long;
For they are (BF)put to shame, for they are humiliated who seek [t]my harm.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 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 (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]Step toward the [d](H)irreparable ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own signs as (L)signs.
5 It [e]seems like one bringing up
His (M)axe into a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now they break down [g]all its (N)carved work
With axe and hammers.
7 They have [h](O)burned Your sanctuary [i]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let’s [j]completely [k]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 anyone among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, God, will the enemy (U)taunt You?
Shall the enemy (V)treat Your name disrespectfully forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Extend it from Your chest and (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my King from long ago,
Who performs acts of salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 [l]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[m]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [n]in the waters.
14 [o]You crushed the heads of [p](AC)Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the [q]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [r]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[s]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[t]You have (AG)prepared the [u]light and the sun.
17 [v]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[w]You have [x]created (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [y]Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)taunted You,
And a (AK)foolish people has treated Your name disrespectfully.
19 Do not give the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild animal;
(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 places of violence.
21 May the (AP)oppressed person not return dishonored;
May the (AQ)afflicted and the needy praise Your name.
Death and Burial of Sarah
23 Now [a]Sarah lived 127 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]came in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 Then Abraham arose from mourning before his dead, and spoke to the (B)sons of Heth, saying, 4 “I am (C)a stranger and a foreign resident among you; (D)give me [c]a (E)burial site among you so 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 stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If [e]you are willing to let me bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me, and plead with (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 [h]so that the sons of Heth heard, (H)that is, all who entered the gate of his city, saying, 11 “No, my lord, listen to 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 But he spoke to Ephron [i]so that the people of the land heard, saying, “If you will only please listen to me; I will give the price of the field, accept it from me so that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Then Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a plot of land worth [j]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 [k]presence of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency acceptable to a merchant.
17 So (L)Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were [l]within all the confines of its border, [m]were deeded over 18 to Abraham as a possession (M)in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave that was in it [n]were (N)deeded over to Abraham for [o]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 mocking and flogging, and further, (P)chains and imprisonment. 37 They were (Q)stoned, they were sawn in two, [c]they were tempted, they were (R)put to death with the sword; they went about (S)in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, (T)tormented 38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), (U)wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes [d]in the ground.
39 And all these, having (V)gained approval through their faith, (W)did not receive [e]what was promised, 40 because God had [f]provided (X)something better for us, so that (Y)apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Jesus, the Example
12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s (Z)rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s (AA)run with (AB)endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the [g](AC)originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him (AD)endured the cross, (AE)despising the shame, and has (AF)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
60 So then many of His (A)disciples, when they heard this, said, “(B)This statement is very [a]unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, (C)aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this [b](D)offensive to you? 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 provides no benefit; (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 who would [c]betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have (L)told 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)left, and would no longer walk with Him. 67 So Jesus said to (P)the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 (Q)Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have (R)words of eternal life. 69 And we have already 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, [d]was going to betray Him.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.