Book of Common Prayer
31 Lord, I trust in you alone. Don’t let my enemies defeat me. Rescue me because you are the God who always does what is right. 2 Answer quickly when I cry to you; bend low and hear my whispered plea.[a] Be for me a great Rock of safety from my foes. 3 Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress; honor your name by leading me out of this peril. 4 Pull me from the trap my enemies have set for me. For you alone are strong enough.[b] 5-6 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have rescued me, O God who keeps his promises. I worship only you; how you hate all those who worship idols, those imitation gods. 7 I am radiant with joy because of your mercy, for you have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul. 8 You have not handed me over to my enemy but have given me open ground in which to maneuver.
9-10 O Lord, have mercy on me in my anguish. My eyes are red from weeping; my health is broken from sorrow. I am pining away with grief; my years are shortened, drained away because of sadness. My sins have sapped my strength; I stoop with sorrow and with shame.[c] 11 I am scorned by all my enemies and even more by my neighbors and friends. They dread meeting me and look the other way when I go by. 12 I am forgotten like a dead man, like a broken and discarded pot. 13 I heard the lies about me, the slanders of my enemies. Everywhere I looked I was afraid, for they were plotting against my life.
14-15 But I am trusting you, O Lord. I said, “You alone are my God; my times are in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. 16 Let your favor shine again upon your servant; save me just because you are so kind! 17 Don’t disgrace me, Lord, by not replying when I call to you for aid. But let the wicked be shamed by what they trust in; let them lie silently in their graves, 18 their lying lips quieted at last—the lips of these arrogant men who are accusing honest men of evil deeds.”
19 Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you.
20 Hide your loved ones in the shelter of your presence, safe beneath your hand, safe from all conspiring men. 21 Blessed is the Lord, for he has shown me that his never-failing love protects me like the walls of a fort! 22 I spoke too hastily when I said, “The Lord has deserted me,” for you listened to my plea and answered me.
23 Oh, love the Lord, all of you who are his people; for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but harshly punishes all who haughtily reject him. 24 So cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord.
35 O Lord, fight those fighting me; declare war on them for their attacks on me. 2 Put on your armor, take your shield and protect me by standing in front. 3 Lift your spear in my defense, for my pursuers are getting very close. Let me hear you say that you will save me from them. 4 Dishonor those who are trying to kill me. Turn them back and confuse them. 5 Blow them away like chaff in the wind—wind sent by the Angel of the Lord. 6 Make their path dark and slippery before them, with the Angel of the Lord pursuing them. 7 For though I did them no wrong, yet they laid a trap for me and dug a pitfall in my path. 8 Let them be overtaken by sudden ruin, caught in their own net and destroyed.
9 But I will rejoice in the Lord. He shall rescue me! 10 From the bottom of my heart praise rises to him. Where is his equal in all of heaven and earth? Who else protects the weak and helpless from the strong, and the poor and needy from those who would rob them?
11 These evil men swear to a lie. They accuse me of things I have never even heard about. 12 I do them good, but they return me harm. I am sinking down to death. 13 When they were ill, I mourned before the Lord in sackcloth, asking him to make them well; I refused to eat; I prayed for them with utmost earnestness, but God did not listen. 14 I went about sadly as though it were my mother, friend, or brother who was sick and nearing death. 15 But now that I am in trouble they are glad; they come together in meetings filled with slander against me—I didn’t even know some of those who were there. 16 For they gather with the worthless fellows of the town and spend their time cursing me.
17 Lord, how long will you stand there, doing nothing? Act now and rescue me, for I have but one life and these young lions are out to get it. 18 Save me, and I will thank you publicly before the entire congregation, before the largest crowd I can find.
19 Don’t give victory to those who fight me without any reason! Don’t let them rejoice[a] at my fall—let them die. 20 They don’t talk of peace and doing good, but of plots against innocent men who are minding their own business. 21 They shout that they have seen me doing wrong! “Aha!” they say. “With our own eyes we saw him do it.” 22 Lord, you know all about it. Don’t stay silent! Don’t desert me now!
23 Rise up, O Lord my God; vindicate me. 24 Declare me “not guilty,” for you are just.[b] Don’t let my enemies rejoice over me in my troubles. 25 Don’t let them say, “Aha! Our dearest wish against him will soon be fulfilled!” and, “At last we have him!” 26 Shame them; let these who boast against me and who rejoice at my troubles be themselves overcome by misfortune that strips them bare of everything they own. Bare them to dishonor. 27 But give great joy to all who wish me well. Let them shout with delight, “Great is the Lord who enjoys helping his child!”[c] 28 And I will tell everyone how great and good you are; I will praise you all day long.
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the golden altar that stands before the throne of God, 14 saying to the sixth angel, “Release the four mighty demons[a] held bound at the great River Euphrates.” 15 They had been kept in readiness for that year and month and day and hour, and now they were turned loose to kill a third of all mankind. 16 They led an army of 200,000,000 warriors[b]—I heard an announcement of how many there were.
17-18 I saw their horses spread out before me in my vision; their riders wore fiery-red breastplates, though some were sky-blue and others yellow. The horses’ heads looked much like lions’, and smoke and fire and flaming sulphur billowed from their mouths, killing one-third of all mankind. 19 Their power of death was not only in their mouths, but in their tails as well, for their tails were similar to serpents’ heads that struck and bit with fatal wounds.
20 But the men left alive after these plagues still refused to worship God! They would not renounce their demon-worship, nor their idols made of gold and silver, brass, stone, and wood—which neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 Neither did they change their mind and attitude about all their murders and witchcraft, their immorality and theft.
38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem[a] they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. 39 Her sister Mary sat on the floor, listening to Jesus as he talked.
40 But Martha was the jittery type and was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing.
She came to Jesus and said, “Sir, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
41 But the Lord said to her, “Martha, dear friend,[b] you are so upset over all these details! 42 There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it—and I won’t take it away from her!”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.