Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
70 O God, come quickly to save me;
O Lord, come quickly to help me!
2
Let those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my life;
Let them be turned back and humiliated
Who delight in my hurt.
3
Let them be turned back because of their shame and disgrace
Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4
May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”
5
But I am afflicted and needy;
Come quickly to me, O God!
You are my help and my rescuer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Rescue.
71 In you, O Lord, I have put my trust and confidently taken refuge;
Let me never be [a]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 refuge and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually come;
You have given the commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
4
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked (godless),
From the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man.
5
For You are my hope;
O Lord God, You are my trust and the source of my confidence from my youth.
6
Upon You have I relied and been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother’s womb and You have been my benefactor from that day.
My praise is continually of You.
7
I am as a wonder to many,
For You are my strong refuge.
8
My mouth is filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all day long.
9
Do not cast me off nor send me away in the time of old age;
Do not abandon me when my strength fails and I am weak.
10
For my enemies have spoken against me;
Those who watch for my life have consulted together,
11
Saying, “God has abandoned him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
12
O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, come quickly to help me!
13
Let those who attack my life be ashamed and consumed;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me.
14
But as for me, I will wait and hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15
My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of Your [deeds of] salvation all day long,
For their number is more than I know.
16
I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord God [and in His strength];
I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17
O God, You have taught me from my youth,
And I still declare Your wondrous works and miraculous deeds.
18
And even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not abandon me,
Until I declare Your [mighty] strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the [height of the] heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You, [who is Your equal]?
20
You who have shown [b]me many troubles and distresses
Will revive and renew me again,
And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21
May You increase my greatness (honor)
And turn to comfort me.
22
I will also praise You with the harp,
Your truth and faithfulness, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
24
My tongue also will speak of Your righteousness all day long;
For they are ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek my injury.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2
Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
Remember Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
3
Turn your footsteps [quickly] toward the perpetual ruins;
The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4
In the midst of Your meeting place Your enemies have roared [with their battle cry];
They have set up their own emblems for signs [of victory].
5
It seems as if one had lifted up
An axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].
6
And now all the carved work [of the meeting place]
They smash with hatchets and hammers.
7
They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
They have profaned the dwelling place of Your [a]name.
8
They said in their heart, “Let us completely subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9
We do not see our symbols;
There is no longer any prophet [to guide us],
Nor does any among us know for how long.
10
O God, how long will the adversary scoff?
Is the enemy to revile Your name forever?
11
Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand [from judging the enemy]?
Remove Your hand from Your chest, destroy them!
12
Yet God is my King of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13
You divided the [Red] Sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the [b]sea monsters in the waters.(A)
14
You crushed the heads of [c]Leviathan (Egypt);
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.(B)
15
You broke open fountains and streams;
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.(C)
16
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have established and prepared the [heavenly] light and the sun.
17
You have defined and established all the borders of the earth [the divisions of land and sea and of the nations];
You have made summer and winter.(D)
18
Remember this, O Lord, the enemy has scoffed,
And a foolish and impious people has spurned Your name.
19
Oh, do not hand over the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20
Consider the covenant [You made with Abraham],
For the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21
Let not the oppressed return dishonored;
Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.
22
Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man scoffs at You all day long.
23
Do not forget the [clamoring] voices of Your adversaries,
The uproar of those who rise against You, which ascends continually [to Your ears].
Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where they refine gold.
2
“Iron is taken out of the earth,
And copper is smelted from the stone ore.
3
“Man puts an end to darkness [by bringing in a light],
And to the farthest bounds he searches out
The rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.
4
“He breaks open (mine) shafts far away from where people live,
[In places] forgotten by the [human] foot;
They dangle [in the mines] and hang away from men.
5
“[As for] the earth, out of it comes food,
But underneath [its surface, down deep] it is turned over as fire.
6
“Its stones are the bed of sapphires;
It holds dust of gold.
7
“The path [deep within] no bird of prey knows,
And the falcon’s eye has not caught sight of it.
8
“The proud beasts [and their young] have not walked on it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9
“Man puts his hand on [and tears apart] the flinty rock;
He overturns the mountains at the base [looking for treasure].
10
“He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks;
And his eye sees every precious thing.
11
“Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine],
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.
The Search for Wisdom Is Harder
12
“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13
“Man does not know the value of it;
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14
“The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15
“It cannot be obtained for pure gold,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
16
“It cannot be valued in [terms of] the gold of Ophir,
In the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.
17
“Gold and glass cannot equal wisdom,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
18
“No mention of coral and crystal can be made;
For the possession of wisdom is even above [that of] rubies or pearls.
19
“The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20
“From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21
“It is hidden from the eyes of all the living
And concealed from the birds of the heavens.
22
“Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say,
‘We have [only] heard a report of it with our ears.’
23
“God understands the way [to wisdom]
And He knows its place [for wisdom is with God alone].
24
“For He looks to the ends of the earth
And sees everything under the heavens.
25
“When He gave weight and pressure to the wind
And allotted the waters by measure,
26
When He made a limit for the rain
And a way for the thunderbolt,
27
Then He saw wisdom and declared it;
He established it and searched it out.
28
“But to man He said, ‘Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
25 But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake, so [powerful] that the very foundations of the prison were shaken and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer, shaken out of sleep, saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, saying, “Do not hurt yourself, we are all here!” 29 Then the jailer called for torches and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out [of the inner prison], he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The Jailer Converted
31 And they answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus [as your personal Savior and entrust yourself to Him] and you will be saved, you and your household [if they also believe].” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord [concerning eternal salvation through faith in Christ] to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their bloody wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34 Then he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, since he had believed in God with his entire family [accepting with joy what had been made known to them about the Christ].
35 Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.” 36 And the jailer repeated the words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent word to release you; so come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without a trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are sending us out secretly? No! Let them come here themselves and bring us out!” 38 The officers reported this message to the chief magistrates, and [a]when they heard that the prisoners were Romans, they were frightened; 39 so they came [to the prison] and appealed to them [with apologies], and when they brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. 40 So they left the prison and went to Lydia’s house; and when they had seen the brothers and sisters, they encouraged and comforted them, and left.
Jesus Foretells His Death
27 “Now My soul is troubled and deeply distressed; what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour [of trial and agony]’? But it is for this [very] purpose that I have come to this hour [this time and place]. 28 [Rather, I will say,] ‘Father, glorify (honor, extol) Your name!’” Then a [a]voice came from heaven saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd of people who stood nearby and heard the voice said that it had thundered; others said, “An angel has spoken to Him!” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now judgment is upon this world [the sentence is being passed]. Now the ruler of this world (Satan) will be cast out. 32 And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw all people to Myself [Gentiles, as well as Jews].” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. 34 At this the crowd answered Him, “[b]We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; how then can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”(A) 35 So Jesus said to them, “The Light is among you [only] a little while longer. Walk while you have the Light [keep on living by it], so that darkness will not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going [he is drifting aimlessly]. 36 While you have the Light, believe and trust in the Light [have faith in it, hold on to it, rely on it], so that you may become sons of Light [being filled with Light as followers of God].”
Jesus said these things, and then He left and hid Himself from them.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.