Book of Common Prayer
A cry of distress, and imprecation on adversaries.
For the Chief Musician; set to [a]Shoshannim. A Psalm of David.
69 Save me, O God;
For the waters are come in unto my soul.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing:
I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried:
Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head:
They that would cut me off, being mine enemies [b]wrongfully, are mighty:
That which I took not away I have to restore.
5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness;
And my [c]sins are not hid from thee.
6 Let not them that wait for thee be put to shame through me, O Lord Jehovah of hosts:
Let not those that seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach;
Shame hath covered my face.
8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren,
And an alien unto my mother’s children.
9 For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up;
And the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me.
10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting,
That was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword unto them.
12 They that sit in the gate talk of me;
And I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Jehovah, in an acceptable time:
O God, in the abundance of thy lovingkindness,
Answer me in the truth of thy salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink:
Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the waterflood overwhelm me,
Neither let the deep swallow me up;
And let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.
16 Answer me, O Jehovah; for thy lovingkindness is good:
According to the multitude of thy tender mercies turn thou unto me.
17 And hide not thy face from thy servant;
For I am in distress; answer me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it:
Ransom me because of mine enemies.
19 Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor:
Mine adversaries are all before thee.
20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am [d]full of heaviness:
And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my food;
And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table before them become a snare;
And when they are in peace, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see;
And make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out thine indignation upon them,
And let the fierceness of thine anger overtake them.
25 Let their [e]habitation be desolate;
Let none dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten;
And they tell of the [f]sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity;
And let them not come into thy righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of [g]life,
And not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and [h]sorrowful:
Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 And it will please Jehovah better than an ox,
Or a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32 The meek have seen it, and are glad:
Ye that seek after God, let your heart live.
33 For Jehovah heareth the needy,
And despiseth not his prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
The seas, and everything that moveth therein.
35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah;
And they shall abide there, and have it in possession.
36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it;
And they that love his name shall dwell therein.
Book III
The end of the wicked contrasted with that of the righteous.
A Psalm of Asaph.
[a]73 Surely God is good to Israel,
Even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the [b]arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death;
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not [c]in trouble as other men;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness:
[d]They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:
They speak [e]loftily.
9 They have set their mouth [f]in the heavens,
And their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore [g]his people return hither:
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency;
14 For all the day long have I been plagued,
And [h]chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, I will speak thus;
Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought how I might know this,
It was [i]too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God,
And considered their latter end.
18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places:
Thou castest them down to [j]destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh,
So, O Lord, [k]when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
21 For my soul [l]was grieved,
And I was pricked in my [m]heart:
22 So brutish [n]was I, and ignorant;
I was as a beast [o]before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee:
Thou hast holden my right hand.
24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,
And afterward receive me [p]to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire [q]besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth;
But God is the [r]strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:
Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near unto God:
I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,
That I may tell of all thy works.
11 I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind [a]the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all [b]patience, by signs and wonders and [c]mighty works. 13 For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.
14 Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 15 And I will most gladly spend and be [d]spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less? 16 But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile. 17 Did I take advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent unto you? 18 I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? walked we not [e]in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
19 [f]Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying. 20 For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means there should be strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, [g]tumults; 21 lest again when I come my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many of them that have sinned heretofore, and repented not of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they committed.
41 And when he drew nigh, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, [a]If thou hadst known in [b]this day, even thou, the things which belong unto [c]peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a [d]bank about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 and shall dash thee to the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
45 And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold, 46 saying unto them, It is written, [e]And my house shall be a house of prayer: but [f]ye have made it a den of robbers.
47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him: 48 and they could not find what they might do; for the people all hung upon him, listening.
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