Book of Common Prayer

Prayer to Be Kept Safe from Enemies

25 I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. ² O my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let those who fight against me win. ³ Yes, let no one who hopes in You be put to shame. But put to shame those who hurt others without a reason.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. ⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long. ⁶ Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. ⁷ Do not remember my sins from when I was young, or my sinful ways. By Your loving-kindness remember me for You are good, O Lord.

⁸ Good and right is the Lord. So He teaches sinners in His ways. ⁹ He leads those without pride into what is right, and teaches them His way. ¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are loving and true for those who keep His agreement and keep His Laws. ¹¹ For the good of Your name, O Lord, forgive my sin, even as big as it is.

¹² Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will teach him in the way he should choose. ¹³ His soul will live a rich life. And his children will be given the land. ¹⁴ The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him. And He will make them know His agreement. ¹⁵ My eyes are always on the Lord. For He will take my feet out of the net.

¹⁶ Turn to me and show me Your loving-kindness. For I am alone and in trouble. ¹⁷ The troubles of my heart have grown. Bring me out of my suffering. ¹⁸ Look upon my troubles and my pain, and forgive all my sins. ¹⁹ Look upon those who hate me, for they are many. And how very much they hate me! ²⁰ Keep me safe, Lord, and set me free. Do not let me be put to shame for I put my trust in You. ²¹ Let what is good and what is right keep me safe, because I wait for You. ²² O God, make Israel free from all their troubles.

Thanks to God for the Way He Judges

9 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. I will tell of all the great things You have done. ² I will be glad and full of joy because of You. I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. ³ When those who hate me turn away, they fall and are lost from You. ⁴ For You have stood by my right actions. You sit on Your throne, and are right in how You judge. ⁵ You have spoken sharp words to the nations and have destroyed the sinful. You have thrown out their name forever and ever. ⁶ Those who fight against You are finished forever. You have destroyed their cities. They will be remembered no more. ⁷ But the Lord lives forever. He has set up His throne to say who is guilty or not. ⁸ He will punish the world by what is right. He will be fair as He rules the people.

⁹ The Lord also keeps safe those who suffer. He is a safe place in times of trouble. ¹⁰ Those who know Your name will put their trust in You. For You, O Lord, have never left alone those who look for You. ¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, Who lives in Zion! Tell all the nations what He has done! ¹² For He Who punishes for the blood of another remembers them. He does not forget the cry of those who suffer. ¹³ Have pity on me, O Lord! See how I suffer from those who hate me, You Who have lifted me up from the gates of death, ¹⁴ that I may tell of all Your praises in the gates of the people of Zion. There I will be full of joy because You save.

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the hole they have dug. Their own feet have been caught in the net they have hidden. ¹⁶ The Lord has made Himself known. He is fair in His Law. The sinful trap themselves by the work of their own hands. ¹⁷ The sinful, all the nations that forget God, will be turned back into the grave.

¹⁸ But those in need will not always be forgotten. The hope of the poor will not be lost forever. ¹⁹ Rise up, O Lord! Do not let man win the fight against You. Let the nations come to You and be judged. ²⁰ Make them afraid, O Lord. Let the nations know they are only men.

Good Men

15 O Lord, who may live in Your tent? Who may live on Your holy hill? ² He who walks without blame and does what is right and good, and speaks the truth in his heart. ³ He does not hurt others with his tongue, or do wrong to his neighbor, or bring shame to his friend. ⁴ He looks down upon a sinful person, but honors those who fear the Lord. He keeps his promises even if it may hurt him. ⁵ He gives money to be used without being paid for its use. And he does not take money to hurt those who are not guilty. He who does these things will never be shaken.

It Is Bad for the Sinful

⁸ It is bad for those who join house to house and field to field until there is no empty space, and you have to live alone in the land. ⁹ The Lord of All has sworn in my ears, “For sure, many houses will be laid waste. Large and beautiful houses will be empty. ¹⁰ For ten fields of vines will give only eleven large bottles of wine. And 110 jars of seed will give only eleven jars of grain.” ¹¹ It is bad for those who get up early in the morning to run after strong drink! It is bad for those who stay up late in the evening that they may get drunk! ¹² They have harps, a noise-maker, a horn, and wine at their special suppers. But they do not think about the works of the Lord. They do not think of the work of His hands.

¹⁸ It is bad for those who pull sin along with ropes of lies, who pull wrong-doing as with a wagon rope, ¹⁹ who say, “Let Him hurry. Let Him be quick to do His work, that we may see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel be done, that we may know it!” ²⁰ It is bad for those who call what is sinful good, and good sinful, who say dark is light and light is dark, who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter! ²¹ It is bad for those who are wise in their own eyes, and who think they know a lot! ²² It is bad for those who are good at drinking wine, and are proud as they mix strong drink! ²³ They take money in secret for saying that bad people are good. And they take away the rights of those who are not guilty.

Watch for the Lord to Come Again

5 You do not need anyone to write to tell you when and at what kind of times these things will happen. ² You know for sure that the day the Lord comes back to earth will be as a robber coming in the night. ³ When they say, “Everything is fine and safe,” then all at once they will be destroyed. It will be like pain that comes on a woman when a child is born. They will not be able to get away from it. ⁴ But you are not in darkness, Christian brothers. That day will not surprise you as a robber would. ⁵ For you are children of the light and of the day. We are not of darkness or of night. ⁶ Keep awake! Do not sleep like others. Watch and keep your minds awake to what is happening. ⁷ People sleep at night. Those who get drunk do it at night. ⁸ Because we are men of the day, let us keep our minds awake. Let us cover our chests with faith and love. Let us cover our heads with the hope of being saved. ⁹ God planned to save us from the punishment of sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not plan for us to suffer from His anger. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, dead or alive, we will be with Him. ¹¹ So comfort each other and make each other strong as you are already doing.

Days of Trouble and Pain and Sorrow

²⁰ “When you see armies all around Jerusalem, know that it will soon be destroyed. ²¹ Those in the country of Judea must run to the mountains. Those in the city must leave at once. Those in the country must not go into the city. ²² People will be punished in these hard days. All things will happen as it is written.

²³ “It will be hard for women who will soon be mothers. It will be hard for those feeding babies in those days. It will be very hard for the people in the land and anger will be brought down on them. ²⁴ People will be killed by the sword. They will be held in prison by all nations. Jerusalem will be walked over by the people who are not Jews until their time is finished.

Jesus Will Come Again in His Shining-Greatness

²⁵ “There will be special things to look for in the sun and moon and stars. The nations of the earth will be troubled and will not know what to do. They will be troubled at the angry sea and waves. ²⁶ The hearts of men will give up because of being afraid of what is coming on the earth. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and much greatness. ²⁸ When these things begin to happen, lift up your heads because you have been bought by the blood of Christ and will soon be free.”