Book of Common Prayer
To the director: A song of David to help people remember.
70 Please, God, rescue me!
Lord, hurry and help me!
2 People are trying to kill me.
Please disappoint them.
Humiliate them!
They want to hurt me.
Make them run away in shame.
3 May those who make fun of me
be too embarrassed to speak.
4 But may those who come to you
be happy and rejoice.
May those who love being saved by you
always be able to say, “Praise God!”[a]
5 I am only a poor, helpless man.
God, please hurry to me.
You are my helper, the one who can save me.
Lord, don’t be too late!
71 Lord, I depend on you for protection.
Don’t let me be disappointed.
2 You always do what is right, so come and save me.
Listen to me and save me.
3 Be my Rock, my place of safety.
Be my fortress, and protect me!
You are my Rock and my protection.
4 My God, save me from wicked people.
Save me from cruel, evil people.
5 Lord God, you are my hope.
I have trusted you since I was a young boy.
6 I depended on you even before I was born.
I relied on you even in my mother’s womb.
I have always prayed to you.[b]
7 You are my source of strength,
so I have been an example to others.
8 I am always singing about the wonderful things you do.
9 Don’t throw me away just because I am old.
Don’t leave me as I lose my strength.
10 My enemies make plans against me.
They have met together and are making plans to kill me.
11 They say, “Go get him!
God has left him, so there is no one to help him.”
12 God, don’t leave me!
My God, hurry and help me!
13 Defeat my enemies.
Destroy them completely!
They are trying to hurt me.
Let them suffer shame and disgrace.
14 Then I will always trust in you
and praise you more and more.
15 I will tell people how good you are.
I will tell about all the times you saved me—
too many times to count.
16 I will tell about your greatness, my Lord God.
I will talk only about you and your goodness.
17 God, you have taught me since I was a young boy.
And to this day I have told people about the wonderful things you do.
18 Now that I am old and my hair is gray, don’t leave me, God.
I must tell the next generation about your power and greatness.
19 God, your goodness reaches far above the skies.
You have done wonderful things.
God, there is no one like you.
20 You have let me see troubles and hard times,
but you will give me new life;
you will lift me up from this pit of death!
21 You will help me do even greater things.
You will comfort me again!
22 I will play the harp and praise you.
My God, I will sing about your faithfulness.
I will play songs on my lyre
for the Holy One of Israel.
23 I will shout for joy,
singing songs of praise to you for saving me.
24 My tongue will sing about your goodness all the time,
because those who wanted to kill me
have been defeated and disgraced.
A maskil of Asaph.
74 God, why have you turned away from us for so long?
Why are you still angry with us, your own flock?
2 Remember the people you bought so long ago.
You saved us, and we belong to you.
And remember Mount Zion, the place where you lived.
3 God, come walk through these ancient ruins.
Come back to the Holy Place that the enemy destroyed.
4 The enemy shouted their war cries in the Temple.
They put up their flags there to show they had won the war.
5 Their soldiers attacked the doors,
like workmen chopping down trees.
6 Using axes and hatchets,
they smashed the carved panels inside.
7 They burned down your Holy Place.
It was built to honor your name,
but they pulled it down to the ground.
8 The enemy decided to crush us completely.
They burned every holy place[a] in the country.
9 We do not see any of our signs.[b]
There are no more prophets.
And no one knows how long this will last.
10 God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of us?
Will you let them insult your name forever?
11 Why won’t you help us?
Use your power to defeat our enemies!
12 God, you have been our King for a long time.
You have saved us many times on this earth.
13 With your great power you split open the sea
and broke the heads of the sea monster.
14 Yes, you smashed the heads of Leviathan[c]
and left his body for animals to eat.
15 You make the springs and rivers flow,
and you make the rivers dry up.
16 You control the day and the night.
You made the sun and the moon.
17 You set the limits for everything on earth.
And you created summer and winter.
18 Lord, remember, the enemy insulted you!
Those foolish people hate your name!
19 Don’t give us like a helpless dove to those wild animals.
Never forget your poor, suffering people.
20 Remember the agreement you gave us,
because violence fills every dark place in this land.
21 Your people were treated badly.
Don’t let them be hurt anymore.
Let your poor, helpless people praise you.
22 God, get up and defend yourself!
Remember, those fools challenged you.
23 Don’t forget the shouts of your enemies.
They insulted you again and again.
Boldly Face the Future
11 Do good wherever you go.[a] After a while, the good you do will come back to you.
2 Invest what you have in several different things.[b] You don’t know what bad things might happen on earth.
3 There are some things you can be sure of. If clouds are full of rain, they will pour water on the earth. If a tree falls—to the south or to the north—then it will stay where it falls.
4 But there are some things that you cannot be sure of. You must take a chance. If you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds. If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops.
5 You don’t know where the wind blows. And you don’t know how a baby grows in its mother’s womb. In the same way, you don’t know what God will do—and he makes everything happen.
6 So begin planting early in the morning, and don’t stop working until evening. You don’t know what might make you rich. Maybe everything you do will be successful.
7 It is good to be alive. It is nice to see the light from the sun. 8 You should enjoy every day of your life, no matter how long you live. But remember that you will die, and you will be dead much longer than you were alive. And after you are dead, you cannot do anything.
The Spirit and Human Nature
16 So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants. 17 The sinful self wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the sinful self. They are always fighting against each other, so that you don’t do what you really want to do. 18 But if you let the Spirit lead you, you are not under law.[a]
19 The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: committing sexual sin, being morally bad, doing all kinds of shameful things, 20 worshiping false gods, taking part in witchcraft, hating people, causing trouble, being jealous, angry or selfish, causing people to argue and divide into separate groups, 21 being filled with envy, getting drunk, having wild parties, and doing other things like this. I warn you now as I warned you before: The people who do these things will not have a part in God’s kingdom. 22 But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful self. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.
Peter Says Jesus Is the Messiah(A)
13 Jesus went to the area of Caesarea Philippi. He said to his followers, “Who do people say I am[a]?”
14 They answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And some say you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 Then Jesus said to his followers, “And who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah. No one taught you that. My Father in heaven showed you who I am. 18 So I tell you, you are Peter.[b] And I will build my church on this rock. The power of death[c] will not be able to defeat my church. 19 I will give you the keys to God’s kingdom. When you speak judgment here on earth, that judgment will be God’s judgment. When you promise forgiveness here on earth, that forgiveness will be God’s forgiveness.”[d]
20 Then Jesus warned his followers not to tell anyone he was the Messiah.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International