Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.
For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David.
55 (A)Give ear to my prayer, O God;
And (B)do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
2 Give (C)heed to me and answer me;
I am restless in my (D)complaint and [b](E)am surely distracted,
3 Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the (F)pressure of the wicked;
For they (G)bring down [c]trouble upon me
And in anger they (H)bear a grudge against me.
4 My (I)heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of (J)death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and (K)trembling come upon me,
And [d](L)horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and [e](M)be at rest.
7 “Behold, I would wander far away,
I would (N)lodge in the wilderness. [f]Selah.
8 “I would hasten to my place of refuge
From the (O)stormy wind and tempest.”
9 [g]Confuse, O Lord, (P)divide their tongues,
For I have seen (Q)violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around her upon her walls,
And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.
11 (R)Destruction is in her midst;
(S)Oppression and deceit do not depart from her [h]streets.
12 For it is (T)not an enemy who reproaches me,
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who hates me who (U)has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
13 But it is you, a man [i]my equal,
My (V)companion and my [j](W)familiar friend;
14 We who had sweet [k]fellowship together
(X)Walked in the house of God in the throng.
15 Let [l]death come (Y)deceitfully upon them;
Let them (Z)go down alive to [m]Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.
16 As for me, I shall (AA)call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
17 (AB)Evening and (AC)morning and at (AD)noon, I will complain and murmur,
And He will hear my voice.
18 He will (AE)redeem my soul in peace [n]from the battle which is against me,
For they are (AF)many who strive with me.
19 God will (AG)hear and [o]answer them—
Even the one (AH)who [p]sits enthroned from of old— Selah.
With whom there [q]is no change,
And who (AI)do not fear God.
20 He has put forth his hands against (AJ)those who were at peace with him;
He has [r](AK)violated his covenant.
21 His [s]speech was (AL)smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were (AM)softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn (AN)swords.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You (A)rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger (B)smoke against the (C)sheep of Your [b]pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have (D)purchased of old,
Which You have (E)redeemed to be the (F)tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount (G)Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 [c]Turn Your footsteps toward the (H)perpetual ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own [d]standards (L)for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up
His [e](M)axe in a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now [g]all its (N)carved work
They smash with hatchet and [h]hammers.
7 They have [i](O)burned Your sanctuary [j]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let us [k]completely [l]subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (R)signs;
There is (S)no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary (U)revile,
And the enemy (V)spurn Your name forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
From within Your bosom, (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 [m]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[n]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [o]in the waters.
14 [p]You crushed the heads of [q](AC)Leviathan;
[r]You gave him as food for the [s]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [t]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[u]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[v]You have (AG)prepared the [w]light and the sun.
17 [x]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[y]You have [z]made (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [aa]O Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)reviled,
And a (AK)foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild beast;
(AM)Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the (AN)covenant;
For the (AO)dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the (AP)oppressed return dishonored;
Let the (AQ)afflicted and needy praise Your name.
God’s Anger over Israel
2 How the Lord has (A)covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He has (B)cast from heaven to earth
The (C)glory of Israel,
And has not remembered His (D)footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has (E)swallowed up; He has not spared
All the habitations of Jacob.
In His wrath He has (F)thrown down
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has (G)brought them down to the ground;
He has (H)profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 In fierce anger He has cut off
[a]All the (I)strength of Israel;
He has (J)drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
And He has (K)burned in Jacob like a flaming fire
Consuming round about.
4 He has bent His (L)bow like an enemy;
He has set His right hand like an adversary
And slain all that were (M)pleasant to the eye;
In the tent of the daughter of Zion
He has (N)poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The Lord has become like an (O)enemy.
He has (P)swallowed up Israel;
He has swallowed up all its (Q)palaces,
He has destroyed its strongholds
And (R)multiplied in the daughter of Judah
Mourning and moaning.
6 And He has violently treated His [b]tabernacle like a garden booth;
He has (S)destroyed His appointed [c]meeting place.
The Lord has (T)caused to be forgotten
The appointed feast and sabbath in Zion,
And He has (U)despised king and priest
In the indignation of His anger.
7 The Lord has (V)rejected His altar,
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He (W)has delivered into the hand of the enemy
The walls of her palaces.
They have made a (X)noise in the house of the Lord
As in the day of an appointed feast.
8 The Lord [d]determined to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has (Y)stretched out a line,
He has not restrained His hand from [e]destroying,
And He has (Z)caused rampart and wall to lament;
They have languished together.
9 Her (AA)gates have sunk into the ground,
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her princes are among the nations;
The (AB)law is no more.
Also, her prophets find
(AC)No vision from the Lord.
14 Your (A)prophets have seen for you
False and foolish visions;
And they have not (B)exposed your iniquity
So as to restore you from captivity,
But they have (C)seen for you false and misleading [a]oracles.
15 All who pass along the way
(D)Clap their hands in derision at you;
They (E)hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem,
“Is this the city of which they said,
‘(F)The perfection of beauty,
(G)A joy to all the earth’?”
16 All (H)your enemies
Have opened their mouths wide against you;
They hiss and (I)gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have (J)swallowed her up!
Surely this is the (K)day for which we waited;
We have reached it, we have seen it.”
17 The Lord has (L)done what He purposed;
He has accomplished His word
Which He commanded from days of old.
He has thrown down (M)without sparing,
And He has caused the enemy to (N)rejoice over you;
He has (O)exalted the [b]might of your adversaries.
23 But (A)I call God as witness [a]to my soul, that (B)to spare you I did not come again to (C)Corinth. 24 Not that we (D)lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are (E)standing firm.
Reaffirm Your Love
2 But I determined this [b]for my own sake, that I (F)would not come to you in sorrow again. 2 For if I (G)cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? 3 This is the very thing I (H)wrote you, so that (I)when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having (J)confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I (K)wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.
5 But (L)if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—[c]in order not to say too much—to all of you. 6 Sufficient for such a one is (M)this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather (N)forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For to this end also (O)I wrote, so that I might [d](P)put you to the test, whether you are (Q)obedient in all things. 10 But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes (R)in the presence of Christ, 11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by (S)Satan, for (T)we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Parable of the Vine-growers
12 (A)And He began to speak to them in parables: “(B)A man (C)planted a vineyard and put a [a]wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to [b]vine-growers and went on a journey. 2 At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. 3 They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. 6 He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the [c]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture:
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