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.
Don’t Criticize Others
14 Be willing to accept those who still have doubts about what believers can do. And don’t argue with them about their different ideas. 2 Some people believe they can eat any kind of food,[a] but those who have doubts eat only vegetables. 3 Those who know they can eat any kind of food must not feel that they are better than those who eat only vegetables. And those who eat only vegetables must not decide that those who eat all foods are wrong. God has accepted them. 4 You cannot judge the servants of someone else. Their own master decides if they are doing right or wrong. And the Lord’s servants will be right, because the Lord is able to make them right.
5 Some people might believe that one day is more important than another. And others might believe that every day is the same. Everyone should be sure about their beliefs in their own mind. 6 Those who think one day is more important than other days are doing that for the Lord. And those who eat all kinds of food are doing that for the Lord. Yes, they give thanks to God for that food. And those who refuse to eat some foods do that for the Lord. They also give thanks to God.
7 We don’t live or die just for ourselves. 8 If we live, we are living for the Lord. And if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord. 9 That is why Christ died and rose from death to live again—so that he could be Lord over those who have died and those who are living.
10 So why do you judge your brother or sister in Christ? Or why do you think that you are better than they are? We will all stand before God, and he will judge us all. 11 Yes, the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘Everyone will bow before me;
everyone will say that I am God.’” (A)
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things we do.
Jesus Frees a Man From Evil Spirits(A)
26 Jesus and his followers sailed on across the lake. They sailed to the area where the Gerasene people live, across from Galilee. 27 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man from that town came to him. This man had demons inside him. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He did not live in a house but in the caves where the dead are buried.
28-29 The demon inside the man had often seized him, and he had been put in jail with his hands and feet in chains. But he would always break the chains. The demon inside him would force him to go out to the places where no one lived. Jesus commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. When the man saw Jesus, he fell down before him, shouting loudly, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, don’t punish me!”
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
The man answered, “Legion.”[a] (He said his name was “Legion” because many demons had gone into him.) 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.[b] 32 On that hill there was a big herd of pigs eating. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So he allowed them to do this. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of pigs ran down the hill into the lake, and all were drowned.
34 The men who were caring for the pigs ran away and told the story in the fields and in the town. 35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man sitting there at the feet of Jesus. The man had clothes on and was in his right mind again; the demons were gone. This made the people afraid. 36 The men who saw these things happen told the others all about how Jesus made the man well. 37 All those who lived in the area around Gerasa asked Jesus to go away because they were afraid.
So Jesus got into the boat to go back to Galilee. 38 The man he had healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell people what God did for you.”
So the man went all over town telling what Jesus had done for him.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International