Book of Common Prayer
70 Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord!
2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back as a reward for their shame that say, “Aha, aha!”
4 Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified!”
5 But I am poor and needy; make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.
71 In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in Thy righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort; Thou hast given commandment to save me, for Thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For Thou art my hope, O Lord God; Thou art my trust from my youth.
6 By Thee have I been held from the womb; Thou art He that took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of Thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many, but Thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, and with Thy honor all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
10 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lie in wait for my soul take counsel together,
11 saying, “God hath forsaken him; persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me.
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually and will yet praise Thee more and more.
15 My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day, for I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only.
17 O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not, until I have shown Thy strength unto this generation and Thy power to every one that is to come.
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things. O God, who is like unto Thee!
20 Thou, who hast shown me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
22 I will also praise Thee with the psaltery for Thy truth, O my God; unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee, and my soul which Thou hast redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long; for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame that seek my hurt.
74 O God, why hast Thou cast us off for ever? Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture?
2 Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old, the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, wherein Thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up Thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 Once a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees,
6 but now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into Thy sanctuary; they have defiled by casting down to the ground the dwelling place of Thy name.
8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together!” They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand? Pluck it out of Thy bosom!
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength; Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood; Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Thine, the night also is Thine; Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of Thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked; forget not the congregation of Thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth Thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of Thine enemies; the tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually.
7 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest”
6 this Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
9 For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
11 Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel:
12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven. Perfect peace, and at such a time.
13 I make a decree that all those of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14 Inasmuch as thou art sent by the king and by his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand,
15 and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,
16 and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem”
17 thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.
19 The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.
20 And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.
21 “And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,
22 up to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24 Also we inform you, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them.
25 “And thou, Ezra, according to the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye those who know them not.
26 And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment.”
14 And I looked and lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from Heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
3 And they sang, as it were, a new song before the throne, and before the four living beings and the elders; and no man could learn that song, except the hundred and forty and four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people,
7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.”
8 And there followed another angel, saying, “Babylon is fallen! Fallen is that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,
10 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out unmixed into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, “Write: ’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.’” “Yea,” saith the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.”
14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus
2 and said unto his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works show forth themselves in him.”
3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
4 For John said unto him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.”
5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,
7 whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
8 And she, being beforehand instructed by her mother, said, “Give me here John the Baptist’s head on a charger.”
9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and those who sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.
10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought on a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came, and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
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