Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Relief from Adversaries(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. (B)To bring to remembrance.
70 Make haste, (C)O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord!
2 (D)Let them be ashamed and confounded
Who seek my life;
Let them be [a]turned back and confused
Who desire my hurt.
3 (E)Let them be turned back because of their shame,
Who say, [b]“Aha, aha!”
4 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”
5 (F)But I am poor and needy;
(G)Make haste to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
God the Rock of Salvation
71 In (H)You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be put to shame.
2 (I)Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
(J)Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
3 (K)Be my [c]strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the (L)commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For You are (N)my hope, O Lord God;
You are my trust from my youth.
6 (O)By You I have been [d]upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
7 (P)I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
8 Let (Q)my mouth be filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life (R)take counsel together,
11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
12 (S)O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, (T)make haste to help me!
13 Let them be [e]confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
Who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my (U)youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also (V)when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.
19 Also (W)Your righteousness, O God, is [f]very high,
You who have done great things;
(X)O God, who is like You?
20 (Y)You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
(Z)Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
22 Also (AA)with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O (AB)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And (AC)my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.
A Plea for Relief from Oppressors
A [a]Contemplation of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—
This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
3 Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 (A)Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
(B)They set up their banners for signs.
5 They seem like men who lift up
Axes among the thick trees.
6 And now they break down its carved work, all at once,
With axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to Your sanctuary;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
8 (C)They said in their hearts,
“Let us [b]destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
(D)There is no longer any prophet;
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
10 O God, how long will the adversary [c]reproach?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
11 (E)Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
12 For (F)God is my King from of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 (G)You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the [d]sea serpents in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of [e]Leviathan in pieces,
And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 (H)You broke open the fountain and the flood;
(I)You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is (J)Yours;
(K)You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have (L)set all the borders of the earth;
(M)You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord,
And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
19 Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast!
Do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
20 (N)Have respect to the covenant;
For the [f]dark places of the earth are full of the [g]haunts of [h]cruelty.
21 Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!
Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man [i]reproaches You daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies;
The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.
The Value of Diligence
11 Cast your bread (A)upon the waters,
(B)For you will find it after many days.
2 (C)Give a serving (D)to seven, and also to eight,
(E)For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain,
They empty themselves upon the earth;
And if a tree falls to the south or the north,
In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
And he who regards the clouds will not reap.
5 As (F)you do not know what is the way of the [a]wind,
(G)Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,
So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
6 In the morning sow your seed,
And in the evening do not withhold your hand;
For you do not know which will prosper,
Either this or that,
Or whether both alike will be good.
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: (A)Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For (B)the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, (C)so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But (D)if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now (E)the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [a]adultery, [b]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [c]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that (F)those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But (G)the fruit of the Spirit is (H)love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, (I)goodness, (J)faithfulness, 23 [d]gentleness, self-control. (K)Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s (L)have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ(A)
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, (B)“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, (C)“Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or (D)one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do (E)you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, (F)“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, (G)for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but (H)My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that (I)you are Peter, and (J)on this rock I will build My church, and (K)the gates of Hades shall not [a]prevail against it. 19 (L)And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth [b]will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20 (M)Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.