Book of Common Prayer
70 Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid! 2-3 They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me! 4 But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!” 5 But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.
71 Lord, you are my refuge! Don’t let me down! 2 Save me from my enemies, for you are just! Rescue me! Bend down your ear and listen to my plea and save me. 3 Be to me a great protecting Rock, where I am always welcome, safe from all attacks. For you have issued the order to save me. 4 Rescue me, O God, from these unjust and cruel men. 5 O Lord, you alone are my hope; I’ve trusted you from childhood. 6 Yes, you have been with me from birth and have helped me constantly—no wonder I am always praising you! 7 My success—at which so many stand amazed—is because you are my mighty protector. 8 All day long I’ll praise and honor you, O God, for all that you have done for me.
9 And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t forsake me now when my strength is failing. 10 My enemies are whispering, 11 “God has forsaken him! Now we can get him. There is no one to help him now!” 12 O God, don’t stay away! Come quickly! Help! 13 Destroy them! Cover them with failure and disgrace—these enemies of mine.
14 I will keep on expecting you to help me. I praise you more and more. 15 I cannot count the times when you have faithfully rescued me from danger. I will tell everyone how good you are, and of your constant, daily care. 16 I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good. 17 O God, you have helped me from my earliest childhood—and I have constantly testified to others of the wonderful things you do. 18 And now that I am old and gray, don’t forsake me. Give me time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles. 19 Your power and goodness, Lord, reach to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Where is there another God like you? 20 You have let me sink down deep in desperate problems. But you will bring me back to life again, up from the depths of the earth. 21 You will give me greater honor than before and turn again and comfort me.
22 I will praise you with music, telling of your faithfulness to all your promises, O Holy One of Israel. 23 I will shout and sing your praises for redeeming me. 24 I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness. For all who tried to hurt me have been disgraced and dishonored.
74 O God, why have you cast us away forever? Why is your anger hot against us—the sheep of your own pasture? 2 Remember that we are your people—the ones you chose in ancient times from slavery and made the choicest of your possessions. You chose Jerusalem[a] as your home on earth!
3 Walk through the awful ruins of the city and see what the enemy has done to your sanctuary. 4 There they shouted their battle cry and erected their idols to flaunt their victory. 5-6 Everything lies in shambles like a forest chopped to the ground. They came with their axes and sledgehammers and smashed and chopped the carved paneling; 7 they set the sanctuary on fire, and razed it to the ground—your sanctuary, Lord. 8 “Let’s wipe out every trace of God,” they said, and went through the entire country burning down the assembly places where we worshiped you.
9-10 There is nothing left to show that we are your people. The prophets are gone, and who can say when it all will end? How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to dishonor your name? Will you let them get away with this forever? 11 Why do you delay? Why hold back your power? Unleash your fist and give them a final blow.
12 God is my King from ages past; you have been actively helping me everywhere throughout the land. 13-14 You divided the Red Sea with your strength; you crushed the sea god’s heads! You gave him to the desert tribes to eat! 15 At your command the springs burst forth to give your people water; and then you dried a path for them across the ever-flowing Jordan. 16 Day and night alike belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun. 17 All nature is within your hands; you make the summer and the winter too. 18 Lord, see how these enemies scoff at you. O Jehovah, an arrogant nation has blasphemed your name.
19 O Lord, save me! Protect your turtledove from the hawks.[b] Save your beloved people from these beasts. 20 Remember your promise! For the land is full of darkness and cruel men. 21 O Lord, don’t let your downtrodden people be constantly insulted. Give cause for these poor and needy ones to praise your name! 22 Arise, O God, and state your case against our enemies. Remember the insults these rebels have hurled against you all day long. 23 Don’t overlook the cursing of these enemies of yours; it grows louder and louder.
28 “Men know how to mine silver and refine gold, 2 to dig iron from the earth and melt copper from stone. 3-4 Men know how to put light into darkness so that a mine shaft can be sunk into the earth, and the earth searched and its deep secrets explored. Into the black rock, shadowed by death, men descend on ropes, swinging back and forth.
5 “Men know how to obtain food from the surface of the earth, while underneath there is fire.
6 “They know how to find sapphires and gold dust— 7 treasures that no bird of prey can see, no eagle’s eye observe— 8 for they are deep within the mines. No wild animal has ever walked upon those treasures; no lion has set his paw there. 9 Men know how to tear apart flinty rocks and how to overturn the roots of mountains. 10 They drill tunnels in the rocks and lay bare precious stones. 11 They dam up streams of water and pan the gold.[a]
12 “But though men can do all these things, they don’t know where to find wisdom and understanding. 13 They not only don’t know how to get it, but, in fact, it is not to be found among the living.
14 “‘It’s not here,’ the oceans say; and the seas reply, ‘Nor is it here.’
15 “It cannot be bought for gold or silver, 16 nor for all the gold of Ophir or precious onyx stones or sapphires. 17 Wisdom is far more valuable than gold and glass. It cannot be bought for jewels mounted in fine gold. 18 Coral or crystal is worthless in trying to get it; its price is far above rubies. 19 Topaz from Ethiopia cannot purchase it, nor even the purest gold.
20 “Then where can we get it? Where can it be found? 21 For it is hid from the eyes of all mankind; even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.
22 “But Destruction and Death speak of knowing something about it! 23-24 And God surely knows where it is to be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth, under all the heavens. 25 He makes the winds blow and sets the boundaries of the oceans. 26 He makes the laws of the rain and a path for the lightning. 27 He knows where wisdom is and declares it to all who will listen. He established it and examined it thoroughly. 28 And this is what he says to all mankind: ‘Look, to fear the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”
25 Around midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to the Lord—and the other prisoners were listening— 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake; the prison was shaken to its foundations, all the doors flew open—and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer wakened to see the prison doors wide open, and assuming the prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself.
28 But Paul yelled to him, “Don’t do it! We are all here!”
29 Trembling with fear, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He brought them out and begged them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.”
32 Then they told him and all his household the Good News from the Lord. 33 That same hour he washed their stripes, and he and all his family were baptized. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set a meal before them. How he and his household rejoiced because all were now believers! 35 The next morning the judges sent police officers over to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul they were free to leave.
37 But Paul replied, “Oh no they don’t! They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us—and we are Roman citizens! So now they want us to leave secretly? Never! Let them come themselves and release us!”
38 The police officers reported to the judges, who feared for their lives when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and begged them to go, and brought them out and pled with them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas then returned to the home of Lydia, where they met with the believers and preached to them once more before leaving town.
27 Now my soul is deeply troubled. Shall I pray, ‘Father, save me from what lies ahead’? But that is the very reason why I came! 28 Father, bring glory and honor to your name.”
Then a voice spoke from heaven saying, “I have already done this, and I will do it again.” 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some of them thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.
30 Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 The time of judgment for the world has come—and the time when Satan,[a] the prince of this world, shall be cast out. 32 And when I am lifted up on the cross,[b] I will draw everyone to me.” 33 He said this to indicate how he was going to die.
34 “Die?” asked the crowd. “We understood that the Messiah would live forever and never die. Why are you saying he will die? What Messiah are you talking about?”
35 Jesus replied, “My light will shine out for you just a little while longer. Walk in it while you can, and go where you want to go before the darkness falls, for then it will be too late for you to find your way. 36 Make use of the Light while there is still time; then you will become light bearers.”[c]
After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.