Book of Common Prayer
O Lord, Do Not Delay
To the choirmaster. Of David, (A)for the memorial offering.
70 (B)Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
3 Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”
4 May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”
5 But I am poor and needy;
(C)hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
71 (D)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of (E)refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have (F)given the command to save me,
for you are my (G)rock and my fortress.
4 (H)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my (I)hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned (J)from before my birth;
you are he who (K)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as (L)a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My (M)mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 (N)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who (O)watch for my life (P)consult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not (Q)far from me;
O my God, (R)make haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be (S)put to shame and consumed;
(T)with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who (U)seek my hurt.
14 But I will (V)hope continually
and will (W)praise you yet more and more.
15 My (X)mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for (Y)their number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to (Z)old age and gray hairs,
O God, (AA)do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 Your (AB)righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done (AC)great things,
O God, (AD)who is like you?
20 You who have (AE)made me see many troubles and calamities
will (AF)revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise you with (AG)the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O (AH)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have (AI)redeemed.
24 And my (AJ)tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been (AK)put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A Maskil[a] of (A)Asaph.
74 O God, why do you (B)cast us off forever?
Why does your anger (C)smoke against (D)the sheep of your pasture?
2 (E)Remember your congregation, which you have (F)purchased of old,
which you have (G)redeemed to be (H)the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, (I)where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to (J)the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have (K)roared in the midst of your meeting place;
(L)they set up their (M)own signs for (N)signs.
5 They were like those who swing (O)axes
in a forest of trees.[b]
6 And all its (P)carved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They (Q)set your sanctuary on fire;
they (R)profaned (S)the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They (T)said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (U)signs;
(V)there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, (W)is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why (X)do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment[c] and destroy them!
12 Yet (Y)God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You (Z)divided the sea by your might;
you (AA)broke the heads of (AB)the sea monsters[d] on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of (AC)Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You (AD)split open springs and brooks;
you (AE)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established (AF)the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have (AG)fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made (AH)summer and winter.
18 (AI)Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and (AJ)a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your (AK)dove to the wild beasts;
(AL)do not forget the life of your poor forever.
Ahab Killed in Battle
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, (A)“I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded (B)the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random[a] and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, (C)for I am wounded.” 35 And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And about sunset a cry went through the army, “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, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, (D)according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and (E)the ivory house that 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 place.
Jehoshaphat Reigns in Judah
41 (F)Jehoshaphat the son of (G)Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 (H)He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Yet (I)the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 44 (J)Jehoshaphat also 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 (K)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are (A)folly to him, and (B)he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The (C)spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 (D)“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But (E)we have the mind of Christ.
Divisions in the Church
3 But I, brothers,[a] could not address you as (F)spiritual people, but as (G)people of the flesh, as (H)infants in Christ. 2 (I)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for (J)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is (K)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For (L)when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” (M)are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? (N)Servants through whom you believed, (O)as the Lord assigned to each. 6 (P)I planted, (Q)Apollos watered, (R)but God gave the growth. 7 So (S)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each (T)will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are (U)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, (V)God's building.
10 (W)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled[b] master builder I laid a (X)foundation, and (Y)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a (Z)foundation other (AA)than that which is laid, (AB)which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 (AC)each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed (AD)by fire, and (AE)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, (AF)he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, (AG)but only as through fire.
The Sermon on the Mount
5 Seeing the crowds, (A)he went up on the mountain, and when he (B)sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
2 And (C)he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 (D)“Blessed are (E)the poor in spirit, for (F)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are (G)those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the (H)meek, for they (I)shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and (J)thirst (K)for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are (L)the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are (M)the pure in heart, for (N)they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are (O)the peacemakers, for (P)they shall be called (Q)sons[a] of God.
10 (R)“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for (S)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.