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.
9 “And it shall come about on that day,” declares the Lord, “that the (A)heart of the king and the hearts of the leaders will fail; and the priests will tremble, and the (B)prophets will be astonished.”
10 Then I said, “Oh, Lord [a]God! Surely You have utterly (C)deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘(D)You will have peace’; yet a sword touches the [b]throat.”
Grief over Judah’s Devastation
19 (A)My [a]soul, my [b]soul! I am in anguish! [c]Oh, my heart!
My (B)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot keep silent,
Because, [d]my soul, you have heard
The (C)sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
20 (D)Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed,
For the (E)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my (F)tents are devastated,
And my curtains in an instant.
21 How long must I see the flag
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “(G)For My people are foolish,
They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are skillful at (H)doing evil,
But they do not know how to do good.”
23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a [e](I)formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were (J)quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the (K)birds of the sky had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, [f]the (L)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.
27 For this is what the Lord says:
“The (M)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will (N)not execute a complete destruction.
28 For this the (O)earth will mourn,
And the (P)heavens above will become dark,
Because I have (Q)spoken, I have purposed,
And I have not [g]changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
12 For all who have sinned [a](A)without the Law will also perish [b]without the Law, and all who have sinned [c]under the Law will be judged [d]by the Law; 13 for it is (B)not the hearers [e]of the Law who are [f]righteous before God, but the doers [g]of the Law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have [h]the Law [i](C)instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having [j]the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show (D)the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, (E)according to my gospel, (F)God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.
The Jews under the Law
17 But if you call yourself a [k]Jew and (G)rely [l]upon the Law and boast in God, 18 and know His will and [m](H)distinguish the things that matter, being instructed from the Law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to people who are blind, a light to those in darkness, 20 a [n]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of [o]the immature, possessing in the Law (I)the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth— 21 you, therefore, (J)who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who [p]preach that one is not to steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you (K)rob temples? 23 You who (L)boast [q]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “(M)the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (N)because of you,” just as it is written.
19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, (A)the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever [a]the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. 20 (B)For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him (C)greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and (D)gives them life, so (E)the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but (F)He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. (G)The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and (H)believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and (I)does not come into judgment, but has (J)passed out of death into life.
Two Resurrections
25 Truly, truly, I say to you, [b](K)a time is coming and [c]even now has arrived, when (L)the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who (M)hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He (N)gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to (O)execute judgment, because He is [d]the Son of Man. 28 Do not be amazed at this; for [e](P)a time is coming when (Q)all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come out: (R)those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
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