Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Victory over Enemies.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
20 [a]May the Lord answer you (David) in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high [and defend you in battle]!
2
May He send you help from the sanctuary (His dwelling place)
And support and strengthen you from Zion!
3
May He remember all your meal offerings
And accept your burnt offering. Selah.
4
May He grant you your heart’s desire
And fulfill all your plans.
5
We will sing joyously over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
6
Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
But we will remember and trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8
They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.
9
O Lord, save [the [b]king];
May the [c]King answer us in the day we call.
Praise for Help.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
21 O Lord the king will delight in Your strength,
And in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
2
You have given him his heart’s desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
3
For You meet him with blessings of good things;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
4
He asked life of You,
And You gave it to him,
Long life forever and evermore.
5
His glory is great because of Your victory;
Splendor and majesty You bestow upon him.
6
For You make him most blessed [and a blessing] forever;
You make him joyful with the joy of Your presence.(A)
7
For the king [confidently] trusts in the Lord,
And through the lovingkindness (faithfulness, goodness) of the Most High he will never be shaken.
8
Your hand will reach out and defeat all your enemies;
Your right hand will reach those who hate you.
9
You will make them as [if in] a blazing oven in the time of your anger;
The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire will devour them.
10
Their offspring You will destroy from the earth,
And their descendants from the sons of men.
11
For they planned evil against You;
They devised a [malevolent] plot
And they will not succeed.
12
For You will make them turn their backs [in defeat];
You will aim Your bowstring [of divine justice] at their faces.
13
Be exalted, Lord, in Your strength;
We will sing and praise Your power.
The Lord Gives Dominion to the King.
A Psalm of David.
110 The Lord (Father) says to my Lord (the Messiah, His Son),
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet [subjugating them into complete submission].”(A)
2
The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”(B)
3
Your people will offer themselves willingly [to participate in Your battle] in the day of Your power;
In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn,
Your young men are to You as the dew.
4
The Lord has sworn [an oath] and will not change His mind:
“[a]You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”(C)
5
The Lord is at Your right hand,
He [b]will crush kings in the day of His wrath.
6
He will execute judgment [in overwhelming punishment] among the nations;
He will fill them with corpses,
He will crush the chief men over a broad country.(D)
7
He will drink from the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He will lift up His head [triumphantly].
Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.
116 I love the Lord, because He hears [and continues to hear]
My voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs).
2
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
3
The cords and sorrows of death encompassed me,
And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;
I found distress and sorrow.
4
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, please save my life!”
5
Gracious is the Lord, and [consistently] righteous;
Yes, our God is compassionate.
6
[a]The Lord protects the simple (childlike);
I was brought low [humbled and discouraged], and He saved me.
7
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.(A)
8
For You have rescued my life from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from stumbling and falling.
9
I will walk [in submissive wonder] before the Lord
In the land of the living.
10
I believed [and clung to my God] when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”(B)
11
I said in my alarm,
“All men are liars.”
12
What will I give to the Lord [in return]
For all His benefits toward me?
[How can I repay Him for His precious blessings?]
13
I will lift up the cup of salvation
And call on the name of the Lord.
14
I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people.
15
[b]Precious [and of great consequence] in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His godly ones [so He watches over them].
16
O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid;
You have unfastened my chains.
17
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call on the name of the Lord.
18
I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people,
19
In the courts of the Lord’s house (temple)—
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
A Psalm of Praise.
117 O praise the Lord, all you nations!
Praise Him, all you people!(C)
2
For His lovingkindness prevails over us [and we triumph and overcome through Him],
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Israel Redeemed
43 But now, this is what the Lord, your Creator says, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you [from captivity];
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
2
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
3
“For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I have given Egypt [to the Babylonians] as your ransom,
Cush (ancient Ethiopia) and Seba [its province] in exchange for you.
4
“Because you are precious in My sight,
You are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in return for you and other peoples in exchange for your life.
5
“Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east [where they are scattered],
And gather you from the west.(A)
6
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My sons from far way
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
7
Everyone who is called by My Name,
Whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
Israel Is God’s Witness
8
Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,
And the deaf, even though they have ears.
9
All the nations have gathered together
So that the peoples may be assembled.
Who among them (the idolaters) can [a]predict this [that Judah would return from captivity]
And proclaim to us the former events?
Let them provide their witnesses so that they may be justified,
Or let them hear and say [in acknowledgement], “It is the truth.”(B)
10
“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.
11
“I, [only] I, am the Lord,
And there is no Savior besides Me.
12
“I have declared [the future] and saved [the nation] and proclaimed [that I am God],
And there was no strange (alien) god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses [among the pagans],” declares the Lord,
“That I am God.
13
“Even from eternity I am He,
And there is no one who can rescue from My hand;
I act, and who can revoke or reverse it?”
14 For this reason [grasping the greatness of this plan by which Jews and Gentiles are joined together in Christ] I bow my knees [in reverence] before the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ], 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth [a]derives its name [God—the first and ultimate Father]. 16 May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, 18 be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; 19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
20 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Question of the Sabbath
23 One Sabbath He was walking along [with His disciples] through the grainfields, and as they went along, His disciples began picking the heads of grain.(A) 24 The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what [a]is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and his companions;(B) 26 how he went into the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the sacred bread, which is not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and how he also gave it to the men who were with him?”(C) 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.(D) 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath [and He has authority over it].”
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
3 Again Jesus went into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was [b]withered.(E) 2 The Pharisees were watching Jesus closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him [in the Jewish high court]. 3 He said to the man whose hand was withered, “Get up and come forward!” 4 He asked them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness and arrogance of their hearts, He told the man, “Hold out your hand.” And he held it out, and his hand was [completely] restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the [c]Herodians [to plot] against Him, as to how [d]they might [fabricate some legal grounds to] put Him to death.
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