Book of Common Prayer
O Lord, Do Not Delay
To the choirmaster. Of David, (A)for the memorial offering.
70 (B)Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
3 Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
4 May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
(C)hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
71 (D)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of (E)refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have (F)given the command to save me,
for you are my (G)rock and my fortress.
4 (H)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my (I)hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned (J)from before my birth;
you are he who (K)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as (L)a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My (M)mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 (N)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who (O)watch for my life (P)consult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not (Q)far from me;
O my God, (R)make haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be (S)put to shame and consumed;
(T)with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who (U)seek my hurt.
14 But I will (V)hope continually
and will (W)praise you yet more and more.
15 My (X)mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for (Y)their number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to (Z)old age and gray hairs,
O God, (AA)do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 Your (AB)righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done (AC)great things,
O God, (AD)who is like you?
20 You who have (AE)made me see many troubles and calamities
will (AF)revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise you with (AG)the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O (AH)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have (AI)redeemed.
24 And my (AJ)tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been (AK)put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil[a] of (A)Asaph.
74 O God, why do you (B)cast us off forever?
Why does your anger (C)smoke against (D)the sheep of your pasture?
2 (E)Remember your congregation, which you have (F)purchased of old,
which you have (G)redeemed to be (H)the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, (I)where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to (J)the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have (K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
(L)they set up their (M)own signs for (N)signs.
5 They were like those who swing (O)axes
in a forest of trees.[b]
6 And all its (P)carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They (Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
they (R)profaned (S)the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They (T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (U)signs;
(V)there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, (W)is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why (X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment[c] and destroy them!
12 Yet (Y)God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You (Z)divided the sea by your might;
you (AA)broke the heads of (AB)the sea monsters[d] on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of (AC)Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You (AD)split open springs and brooks;
you (AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established (AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have (AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made (AH)summer and winter.
18 (AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and (AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your (AK)dove to the wild beasts;
(AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.
29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, (A)spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One (B)is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, (C)‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take (D)grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall (E)trade in the land.’”
35 (F)As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have (G)bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill (H)my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for (I)his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. (J)If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, (K)you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
Flee Sexual Immorality
12 (A)“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 (B)“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one (C)and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but (D)for the Lord, and (E)the Lord for the body. 14 And (F)God raised the Lord and (G)will also raise us up (H)by his power. 15 Do you not know that (I)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined[a] to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, (J)“The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord (K)becomes one spirit with him. 18 (L)Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin[b] a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person (M)sins against his own body. 19 Or (N)do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? (O)You are not your own, 20 (P)for you were bought with a price. (Q)So glorify God in your body.
A Lamp Under a Basket
21 (A)And he said to them, (B)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 (C)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 (D)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: (E)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 (F)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
The Parable of the Seed Growing
26 And he said, (G)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; (H)he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once (I)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 (J)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like (K)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 (L)With many such parables he spoke (M)the word to them, (N)as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them (O)without a parable, but (P)privately to his own disciples he (Q)explained everything.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.