Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for help against persecutors.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; [a]to bring to remembrance.
70 Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
Make haste to help me, O Jehovah.
2 Let them be put to shame and confounded
That seek after my soul:
Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor
That delight in my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back [b]by reason of their shame
That say, Aha, aha.
4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee;
And let such as love thy salvation say continually,
Let God be magnified.
5 But I am poor and needy;
Make haste unto me, O God:
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
O Jehovah, make no tarrying.
Prayer of an old man for deliverance.
71 In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge:
Let me never be put to shame.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me:
Bow down thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou to me a rock of habitation, whereunto I may continually resort:
Thou hast given commandment to save me;
For thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For thou art my hope, O Lord Jehovah:
Thou art my trust from my youth.
6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb;
Thou [c]art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels:
My praise shall be continually of thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many;
But thou art my strong refuge.
8 My mouth shall be filled with thy praise,
And with thy honor all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age;
Forsake me not when my strength faileth.
10 For mine enemies speak concerning me;
And they that watch for my soul take counsel together,
11 Saying, God hath forsaken him:
Pursue and take him; for there is none to deliver.
12 O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me.
13 Let them be put to shame and consumed that are adversaries to my soul;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise thee yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of thy righteousness,
And of thy salvation all the day;
For I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will come [d]with the mighty acts of the Lord Jehovah:
I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth;
And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
18 Yea, even [e]when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not,
Until I have declared [f]thy strength unto the next generation,
Thy might to every one that is to come.
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high;
Thou who hast done great things, O God, who is like unto thee?
20 Thou, who hast showed [g]us many and sore troubles,
Wilt quicken [h]us again,
And wilt bring [i]us up again from the depths of the earth.
21 Increase thou my greatness,
And turn again and comfort me.
22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery,
Even thy truth, O my God:
Unto thee will I sing praises with the harp,
O thou Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall shout for joy when I sing praises unto thee;
And my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long;
For they are put to shame, for they are confounded, that seek my hurt.
A complaint over the devastation of the land by the enemy.
Maschil of Asaph.
74 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?
Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old,
Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance;
And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,
[a]All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly;
They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 They [b]seemed as men that lifted up
Axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 And now all the carved work thereof
They break down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have set thy sanctuary on fire;
They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground.
8 They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether:
They have burned up all the [c]synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs:
There is no more any prophet;
Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.
12 Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst [d]divide the sea by thy strength:
Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces;
Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave fountain and flood:
Thou driedst up [e]mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine:
Thou hast prepared the [f]light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth:
Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy [g]hath reproached, O Jehovah,
And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.
19 Oh deliver not [h]the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast:
Forget not the [i]life of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant;
For the dark places of the [j]earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed:
Let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause:
Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.
23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries:
The tumult of those that rise up against thee [k]ascendeth continually.
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel; and they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 34 And a certain man drew his bow [a]at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between [b]the joints of the armor: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded. 35 And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even; and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And there went a cry throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country.
37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood [c](now the harlots washed themselves there); according unto the word of Jehovah which he spake. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
41 And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 And he walked in all the way of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah: howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. 44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
14 Now the [a]natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually [b]judged. 15 But he that is spiritual [c]judgeth all things, and he himself is [d]judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; 3 for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men? 4 For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men? 5 What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. 6 I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow-workers: ye are God’s [e]husbandry, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; [f]and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.
5 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: 2 and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 [a]Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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