Book of Common Prayer

^2 [c]Make haste, O God, to rescue me;
    O Lord, come quickly to my aid.
^3 [d]May all those who seek to take my life
    endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
    be turned back and humiliated.
⁴ May those who cry out to me, “Aha! Aha!”^[e]
    be forced to retreat in shame.
⁵ But may all who seek you
    rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
    cry out forever, “May God be magnified.”^[f]
6 As for me, I am poor and needy;^[g]
    hasten to my aid, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay.

¹ In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me;
    hear my plea and save me.
³ Be to me a rock of refuge
    to which I can always go;
proclaim the order to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ O my God, rescue me from the hands of the impious,
    from the grasp of cruel and ruthless foes.
⁵ You, O Lord, are my hope,
    my confidence, O God, from my youth.
⁶ I have relied upon you since birth,
    and you have been my strength from my mother’s womb;
    my praise rises unceasingly to you.^[i]
7 I have become a portent to many,^[j]
    but you are my sure refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praises
    as I relate your glory all day long.
⁹ Do not cast me off in my old age;
    do not forsake me when my strength is completely spent.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me,
    and those who seek my life plot together.
¹¹ They say: “God has abandoned him;
    go after him and seize him,
    for no one will come to his rescue.”
¹² O God, do not remain aloof from me;
    come quickly to help me, O my God.
¹³ Let those who accuse me
    be put to shame and perish;
let those who are determined to harm me
    incur contempt and disgrace.^[k]
14 But I will hope in you continually
    and will render even more praise to you.
^15 [l]My lips will proclaim your righteous deeds
    and your salvation all day long,
    though I do not know their extent.^[m]
16 I will speak of your mighty deeds, O Lord God,
    and declare your righteousness,^[n] yours alone.
¹⁷ O God, you have taught me from my youth,
    and to this day I proclaim your marvelous works.
¹⁸ Now that I am old and my hair is gray,^[o]
    do not abandon me, O God,
until I have extolled your might
    to all the generations yet to come,
your strength ¹⁹ and your righteousness, O God,
    to the highest heavens.
You have done great things;
    O God, who is there who is like you?
²⁰ You have shown me many afflictions and hardships,
    but you will once again revive me.
From the depths of the earth^[p]
    you will once again raise me up.
²¹ You will restore my honor
    and console me once again.
²² Then I will also praise^[q] you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O Holy One of Israel.
²³ When I sing to you, my lips will rejoice,
    and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
²⁴ All day long my tongue
    will relate your righteousness.
For those who intended to do me harm
    will suffer shame and disgrace.

Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
    Why^[c] does your anger blaze forth
    against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember the people that you purchased long ago,
    the tribe that you redeemed as your own possession,^[d]
    and Mount Zion that you chose as your dwelling.
³ Direct now your steps^[e] to the endless ruins,
    toward the sanctuary destroyed by the enemy.
⁴ Your foes exulted triumphantly in the place of your assembly
    and set up their memorial emblems.
⁵ They set upon it with their axes
    as if it were a thicket of trees.
⁶ And then, with hatchets and hammers,
    they bludgeoned all the carved work.
⁷ They set your sanctuary ablaze;
    they razed and defiled the dwelling place of your name.^[f]
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly crush them,”
    and they burned every shrine of God in the land.^[g]
9 Now we see no signs,
    there are no longer any prophets,
    and none of us knows how long this will last.^[h]
10 How long, O God, will the foe mock you?
    Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?^[i]
11 Why do you hold back your right hand?
    Take it out from your robe and destroy them.^[j]
12 Yet you, O God, are my King from of old,
    working deeds of salvation throughout the earth.
^13 [k]By your power you split the sea in two
    and shattered the heads of the dragons in the waters.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan
    and gave him as food for the wild beasts.
¹⁵ You opened up springs and torrents
    and turned flowing rivers into dry land.^[l]
16 [m]Yours is the day, and yours also is the night,
    for you set in place both sun and moon.
¹⁷ You fixed all the boundaries of the earth
    and created both summer and winter.
^18 [n]Remember, O Lord, how the enemy has mocked you,
    how a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
¹⁹ Do not surrender the soul of your dove^[o] to wild beasts;
    do not forget forever the life of your poor.
²⁰ Have regard for your covenant!
    For the land is filled with darkness,
    and the pastures are haunts of violence.
²¹ Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame;
    let the poor and needy^[p] bless your name.
²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
    remember how fools mock you all day long.
²³ Do not ignore the outbursts of your enemies,
    the unceasing tumult of your foes.