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!)
Job Says There Is No Arbitrator between God and Man
9 Then Job answered and said,
Job Despairs of God’s Dealings
10 “I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2
“I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me [and declare me guilty]!
Show me why You contend and argue and struggle with me.
3
‘Does it indeed seem right to You to oppress,
To despise and reject the work of Your hands,
And to look with favor on the schemes of the wicked?
4
‘Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a man sees?
5
‘Are Your days as the days of a mortal,
Are Your years as man’s years,
6
That You seek my guilt
And search for my sin?
7
‘Although You know that I am not guilty or wicked,
Yet there is no one who can rescue me from Your hand.
8
‘Your hands have formed and made me altogether.
Would You [turn around and] destroy me?
9
‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?
16
‘Should I lift my head up, You would hunt me like a lion;
And again You would show Your marvelous power against me.
17
‘You renew Your witnesses against me
And increase Your indignation and anger toward me;
Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].
18
‘Why then did You bring me out of the womb?
Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19
‘I should have been as though I had not existed;
[I should have been] carried from the womb to the grave.’
20
“Would He not let my few days alone,
Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer
21
Before I go—and I shall not return—
To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],
22
The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,
And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”
Peter Reports at Jerusalem
11 Now the apostles and the believers who were throughout Judea heard [with astonishment] that the Gentiles also had received and accepted the word of God [the message concerning salvation through Christ]. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision [certain Jewish believers who followed the Law] took issue with him [for violating Jewish customs], 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and [even] ate with them!” 4 But Peter began [at the beginning] and explained [the events] to them step by step, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and [it descended until] it came right down to me, 6 and looking closely at it, I saw all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air [both clean and unclean according to the Law], 7 and I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Not at all, Lord; for nothing common (unholy) or [ceremonially] unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).’ 10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And right then the three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them without the slightest hesitation. So these six brothers also went with me and we went to the man’s house. 13 And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 14 he will bring a message to you by which you will be saved [and granted eternal life], you and all your household.’ 15 When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as He did on us at the beginning [at Pentecost].(A) 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So, if God gave Gentiles the same gift [equally] as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ [as Savior], who was I to interfere or stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified and praised God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to eternal life [that is, real life after earthly death].”
Jesus Is the Light of the World
12 Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, “[a]I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees told Him, “You are testifying on Your own behalf; Your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus replied, “Even if I do testify on My own behalf, My testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to [b]human standards [just by what you see]. I do not judge anyone. 16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true and My decision is right; for I am not alone [in making it], but I and the Father who sent Me [make the same judgment]. 17 Even in your own law it is written that the testimony of two persons is true [valid and admissible].(A) 18 I am One [of the Two] who testifies about Myself, and My Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” 19 Then the Pharisees said to Him, “Where is this Father of Yours?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” 20 Jesus said these things in the treasury, as He taught in the temple [courtyard]; and no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come.
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