Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help
70 O God, hurry to take me out of trouble. O Lord, hurry to help me! 2 Let those who want to kill me be ashamed and brought low. Let those who want to hurt me be turned away in shame. 3 Let those who say, “O, O!” be turned back because of their shame.
4 Let all who look for You be full of joy and be glad in You. And let those who love Your saving power always say, “Let God be honored.” 5 But I am poor and in need. Hurry to me, O God! You are my help and the One Who takes me out of trouble. O Lord, do not wait.
A Prayer of an Old Man
71 I have a safe place in you, O Lord. Let me never be ashamed. 2 Because You are right and good, take me out of trouble. Turn Your ear to me and save me. 3 Be a rock to me where I live, where I may always come and where I will be safe. For You are my rock and my safe place. 4 O my God, take me from the hand of the sinful, from the hand of the wrong-doer and the man without pity. 5 For You are my hope, O Lord God. You are my trust since I was young. 6 You have kept me safe from birth. It was You Who watched over me from the day I was born. My praise is always of You.
7 I have become a wonder and surprise to many. For You are my strong safe place. 8 My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your honor all day long. 9 Do not let me fall by the way when I am old. Do not leave me alone when my strength is gone. 10 For those who hate me talk against me. Those who want to kill make plans together. 11 They say, “God has turned away from him. Run and catch him, for there is no one to take him out of trouble.”
12 O God, do not be far from me! O my God, hurry to help me! 13 Let those who are against me be ashamed and destroyed. Let those who want to hurt me be without honor and covered with shame. 14 But as for me, I will always have hope and I will praise You more and more. 15 My mouth will tell about how right and good You are and about Your saving acts all day long. For there are more than I can know. 16 I will come in the strength of the Lord God. I will tell about how right and good You are, and You alone.
17 O God, You have taught me from when I was young. And I still tell about Your great works. 18 Even when I am old and my hair is turning white, O God, do not leave me alone. Let me tell about Your strength to all the people living now, and about Your power to all who are to come. 19 O God, You are right and good, as the heavens are high. You have done great things, O God. Who is like You? 20 You have shown me many troubles of all kinds. But You will make me strong again. And You will bring me up again from deep in the earth. 21 Add to my greatness, and turn to comfort me.
22 O my God, I will praise You with a harp. I will praise Your truth. I will sing praises to You with different kinds of harps, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips will call out for joy when I sing praises to You. You have set my soul free. 24 My tongue will tell about how right and good You are all day long. For those who want to hurt me are ashamed and troubled.
A Prayer for the Nation
74 O God, why have You turned away from us forever? Why does Your anger burn against the sheep in Your fields? 2 Remember Your people that You bought a long time ago. You made them free to be the family of Your promise, and Mount Zion, where You have lived. 3 Turn Your steps toward this place that has been destroyed forever. Those who hate You have destroyed all that is in the holy place. 4 Those who hate You have called out in the center of Your meeting place. They have set up their flags to show that they have won. 5 They acted like men taking up axes against a group of trees. 6 All of its fine work has been broken with axes and sticks. 7 They have burned Your holy place to the dust. They have made dirty the house of Your name. 8 They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy all of these places!” They have burned all the meeting places where God was worshiped in the land. 9 We do not see any special things happening. There is no longer anyone who speaks for God. And none of us knows how long this will be. 10 O God, how long will those who hate You laugh at the truth? Will they speak against Your name forever? 11 Why do You take Your hand away, even Your right hand? Put it out and destroy them!
12 God is still my King from long ago. He does saving works upon the earth. 13 You divided the sea by Your power. You broke the heads of the large dragons in the waters. 14 You crushed the heads of the Leviathan. And You fed him to the animals of the desert. 15 It was You Who opened up the earth for water to flow out. And You dried up rivers that flow forever. 16 The day is Yours. And the night is Yours. You have set the light and the sun in their places. 17 You have divided all the lands and seas and nations of the earth. You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember how those who hate You have laughed at the truth, O Lord. Foolish people have spoken against Your name. 19 Do not give the life of Your dove over to the wild animal. Do not forget the lives of Your troubled people forever. 20 Think about Your agreement. For the dark places of the land are full of fighting. 21 Do not let those who suffer under a bad power return without honor. Let those who suffer and those who are in need praise Your name.
22 Rise up, O God. Stand up for Your rights. Remember how the foolish man speaks against You all day long. 23 Do not forget the voice of those who hate You, the noise that comes without stopping from those who rise against You.
Where Can Wisdom Be Found?
28 “For sure there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is made pure. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth. And copper is melted from the rock. 3 Man looks into the deepest darkness. And he goes out to the farthest part of the earth to look for rocks in the dark places. 4 Men break open deep holes far from where people live, forgotten by travelers. In the holes they hang and move from side to side far from men. 5 As for the earth, out of it comes food. But below, it is turned up as fire. 6 Sapphires come from its rocks and its dust has gold. 7 No bird who eats meat knows that path. The falcon’s eye has not seen it. 8 The proud animals have not stepped on it. The strong lion has not passed over it. 9 Man puts his hand on the hard rock. He turns the mountains over at its base. 10 He makes a path through the rocks, and his eyes see everything of much worth. 11 He stops rivers from flowing. And he brings to light what is hidden.
12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13 Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. 14 The deep waters say, ‘It is not in me.’ The sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ 15 Pure gold cannot be traded for it and it cannot be bought with silver. 16 It cannot be compared in worth to the gold of Ophir, onyx of much worth, or sapphire. 17 Gold or glass cannot be compared to it in worth and it cannot be traded for objects of fine gold. 18 There is no need to say anything about coral or crystal because wisdom cannot be paid for with rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot be compared to it in worth and it cannot be compared with the worth of pure gold. 20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living. It is hidden from the birds of the sky. 22 The Place That Destroys and Death say, ‘We have only heard about it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to wisdom, and He knows its place. 24 For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens. 25 He gave weight to the wind. He decided how much water would be in the sea. 26 He decided how much rain would fall, and the path for the lightning. 27 Then He saw wisdom and made it known. He made it last, and found out all about it. 28 And He said to man, ‘See, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from sin is understanding.’”
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs of thanks to God. The other men in prison were listening to them. 26 All at once the earth started to shake. The stones under the prison shook and the doors opened. The chains fell off from everyone.
27 The man who watched the prison woke up. He saw the prison doors wide open and thought the men in prison had gotten away. At once he pulled out his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul called to him, “Do not hurt yourself. We are all here!” 29 The man who watched the prison called for a light. Then he ran in and got down in front of Paul and Silas. He was shaking with fear. 30 As he took them outside, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and your family will be saved from the punishment of sin.”
32 Then Paul spoke the Word of God to him and his family. 33 It was late at night, but the man who watched the prison took Paul and Silas in and washed the places on their bodies where they were hurt. Right then he and his family were baptized. 34 He took Paul and Silas to his house and gave them food. He and all his family were full of joy for having put their trust in God.
Paul and Silas Are Allowed to Go Free
35 When it was day, the leaders sent a soldier to say, “Let these men go free.” 36 The man who watched the prison told this to Paul. He said, “The leaders have sent word to let you go free. Come out now and go without any trouble.”
37 Paul said, “No! They have beaten us in front of many people without a trial. We are Roman citizens and they have put us in prison. Now do they think they can send us away without anyone knowing? No! They must come themselves and take us out.” 38 The soldiers told this to the leaders. Then the leaders were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 They went themselves and told Paul and Silas they were sorry. Then they took them out and asked them to leave their city. 40 Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s house after they left the prison. They met with the Christians and gave them comfort. Then they went away from the city.
27 “Now My soul is troubled. Should I say, ‘Father, save Me from this time of trouble and pain’? No, this is why I came to this time. 28 Father, honor Your name!”
The People Hear the Voice of God
Then a voice from heaven came, saying, “I have already honored My name. I will honor it again!” 29 The people heard the voice. Some who stood there said, “It was thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to Him.” 30 Jesus said, “The voice did not come for Me, but it came to be a help to you.
Jesus Tells How He Will Die
31 “Now this world is being told it is guilty. Now the leader of this world will be thrown out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all people toward Me.” 33 He said this to tell the kind of death He was going to die.
34 The people said to Him, “The Law of Moses says that the Christ is to live forever. Why do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Jesus said to them, “The Light will be with you for a little while yet. Go on your way while you have the Light so you will not be in the dark. When a man is walking in the dark, he does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the Light, put your trust in the Light. Then you will be the sons of the Light.” Jesus said these things and then went away. He hid Himself from them.
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