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.
26 (A)“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. (B)You shall not interpret omens or (C)tell fortunes. 27 (D)You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any (E)cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
29 (F)“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 (G)You shall keep my Sabbaths and (H)reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31 (I)“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.
32 (J)“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall (K)fear your God: I am the Lord.
33 (L)“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 (M)You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and (N)you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35 (O)“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 (P)You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:[a] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And (Q)you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”
Greeting
1 (A)Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving
3 (B)We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,[a] as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore (C)we ourselves boast about you (D)in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith (E)in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
The Judgment at Christ's Coming
5 This is (F)evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be (G)considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it (H)just (I)to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant (J)relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when (K)the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven (L)with his mighty angels 8 (M)in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those (N)who do not know God and on those who (O)do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of (P)eternal destruction, (Q)away from[b] the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 (R)when he comes on (S)that day (T)to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our (U)testimony to you (V)was believed. 11 To this end we (W)always pray for you, that our God may (X)make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every (Y)work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus (Z)may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do Not Be Anxious
25 (A)“Therefore I tell you, (B)do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 (C)Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (D)Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his (E)span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, (F)even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, (G)O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For (H)the Gentiles seek after all these things, and (I)your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But (J)seek first (K)the kingdom of God and his righteousness, (L)and all these things will be added to you.
34 (M)“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.