Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70
Hurry to Save Me
(Psalm 40:13-17)
Heading
For the choir director. By David. To bring to remembrance.
Hurry to Help Me
1 Hurry, God! Rescue me!
Lord, hurry to help me!
2 May those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace.
May all who desire to harm me be turned back and disgraced.
3 May those who say, “Aha! We got you!” be dismayed,
because they have been put to shame.
4 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
May those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be exalted!”
5 Yet I am oppressed and poor.
God, hurry to me. You are my help and my deliverer.
O Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 71
Do Not Throw Me Away When I Am Old
Opening Prayer
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge.
May I not be put to shame forever.
2 In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me.
Turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock and my refuge to which I can always go.
You give the command to save me,
because you are my high ridge and my stronghold.
4 My God, deliver me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and the ruthless.
Remembrance of Past Help
5 For you have been my hope, Lord God,
my confidence since my youth.
6 I have depended on[a] you since I was in the womb.
You separated me from my mother’s body.
My praise to you is continuous.
Statement of Present Need
7 I am like an evil omen to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with praise for you
and with your splendor all day long.
Plea for Help in Present Trouble
9 Do not throw me away in old age.
As my strength fails, do not forsake me.
10 For my enemies speak against me,
and those who seek my life conspire together.
11 They say, “God has forsaken him.
Pursue him and seize him,
because there is no one to rescue him.”
12 God, do not be far from me.
My God, hurry to help me.
13 Let them be ashamed.
Let my murderous accusers be consumed.
Let those who seek to harm me be covered
with shame and disgrace.
Present and Future Praise
14 But as for me, I will always keep hoping.
I will keep adding to my praise for you.
15 My mouth will tell about your righteousness,
about your salvation all day long,
although I do not know how to tell all about it.
16 I will come and tell about your mighty deeds, Lord God.
I will commemorate[b] your righteousness, yours alone.
17 God, you have taught me since my youth,
and even now I still declare your marvelous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
till I declare the strength of your arm to the next generation,
your power to all who are to come.
Closing Confidence
19 Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heights.
You have done great things.
God, who is like you,
20 you who have made us see many troubles and disasters?
You will give us life again.
From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me once again.
Closing Praise
22 Yes, I will praise you, my God, for your faithfulness.
I will praise you with an instrument, with the harp.
I will make music to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout with joy when I make music to you.
Even my soul, which you have redeemed, will shout.
24 Indeed, my tongue will tell of your righteousness all day long.
How ashamed, how disgraced they are—
those who are trying to harm me.
Psalm 74
The Destruction of the Temple
Heading
A maskil[a] by Asaph.
Introductory Plea
1 Why do you stay angry to the end, O God?
Why does your anger smoke against the flock in your pasture?
2 Remember your community that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed to be your possession.
Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.
3 March toward the perpetual ruins.
March against all the evil done by the enemy in the sanctuary.
The Destruction
4 Your foes roared in the middle of your appointed place.
They set up their battle standards as signs.
5 They looked like men swinging axes in a thicket of trees.
6 Yes, they even chopped up all the carved paneling
with their hatchets and hammers.
7 They delivered your sanctuary to the fire.
They defiled the dwelling place for your Name
by throwing it to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
They burned all the appointed places of God in the land.
Deserted?
9 We do not see any signs to guide us.
There is no longer a prophet,
and none of us knows how long this will go on.
10 How long will the foe scoff, O God?
Will the enemy insult your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket[b] and finish them off!
God’s Past Goodness
12 But you, O God, are my king from long ago,
the one who works salvation right here on earth.
13 It was you who shattered the sea by your power.
You broke the heads of the great sea monsters.
14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan.[c]
You gave him as food to the people who live in the desert.
15 It was you who opened up a spring and a seasonal stream.
You dried up the rivers that flow year-round.
16 The day belongs to you, and the night is also yours.
You set the moon and sun in place.
17 It was you who laid out all the boundaries of the earth.
Summer and winter—you shaped them.
Plea for Relief
18 Remember this—the enemy scoffs, Lord,
and a foolish people has insulted your name.
19 Do not surrender the life of your turtledove to a wild animal.
Do not forget the life of your afflicted ones forever.
20 Pay attention to the covenant,
because dens of violence fill the dark places in the land.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in disgrace.
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and prosecute your case.
Remember how the fools mocked you all day long.
23 Do not forget the sound of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.
Strong and Weak Christians Both Belong to the Lord
14 Accept a person who is weak in faith, and do not pass judgment on things that are just a difference of opinion. 2 One person believes it is right to eat anything. Another person who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything should not look down on the person who does not do so, and the one who does not eat everything should not judge the person who does, because God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is up to his master to decide whether that servant stands or falls. And he will stand, because God[a] is able to make him stand.
5 One person values one day above another. Another person values every day the same. Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The person who honors a certain day does this for the Lord, and the person who eats does this for the Lord, because he gives thanks to God. And the person who does not eat does this for the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 In fact, not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. 8 Indeed, if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this reason he died, rose,[b] and lived, to be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Do Not Cause a Weak Christian to Stumble in Faith
10 But you, why do you pass judgment on your brother? And you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s[c] judgment seat. 11 Indeed, it is written:
As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to me,
and every tongue will acknowledge God.[d]
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
A Demon-Possessed Man and a Herd of Pigs
26 They sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes,[a] which is across from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. In fact, the unclean spirit had seized him many times. He was kept under guard, and although he was bound with chains and shackles, he would break the restraints and was driven by the demon into deserted places.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Legion,” because many demons had gone into him. 31 They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss. 32 A herd of many pigs was feeding there on the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
34 When those who were feeding the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. 35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. 36 Those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed man was saved. 37 The whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes[b] asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.
As Jesus got into the boat and started back, 38 the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.