Book of Common Prayer
A Plea for Deliverance from Persecution
For the music director, according to The Lilies. Of David.[a]
69 Save me, O God,
because waters have come up to my neck.[b]
2 I sink in the mud of the deep, and there is no foothold.
I have come to watery depths,
and the torrent floods over me.
3 I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched.
My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.
4 More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those hating me without a cause.
Those who are destroying me—my enemies wrongfully[c]— are mighty.
What I did not steal, I then must restore.
5 O God, you yourself know[d] my foolishness,
and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.
6 Let those who wait for you not be put to shame because of me,
O Lord Yahweh of hosts.
Let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 Because on account of you I have borne reproach;
disgrace has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers
and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,
9 because the zeal for your house[e] has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept in the fasting of my soul,
it became reproaches for me.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became for them a byword.
12 Those sitting at the gate talk about me
as also[f] the songs of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time,
O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love.
Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.
14 Deliver me from the mud and do not let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me
and from the watery depths.
15 Do not let the torrent of waters flood over me,
or the deep swallow me,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love is good;
according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,
17 and do not hide your face from your servant.
Because I am in trouble, answer me quickly.
18 Draw near to my soul; redeem it.
Because of my enemies, ransom me.
19 You know my reproach, my shame and my disgrace.
Fully known[g] to you are all my adversaries.
20 Reproach has broken my heart and I am sick.
And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for food,[h]
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table before them be a trap,
and their times of peace a snare.
23 Let their eyes be dark so they cannot see,
and make their loins continually tremble.
24 Pour out your indignation on them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 Let their camp be desolate.
Let none dwell in their tents,
26 because they persecute those whom you, yourself, have struck,
and they tell of the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add guilt on top of their guilt,[i]
and do not let them be acquitted.[j]
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
and let them not be recorded with the righteous.
29 But as for me, though I am afflicted and pained,
your salvation will protect[k] me, O God.
30 I will praise the name of God in song,
and magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 For Yahweh it will be better than an ox or bull,
horned and hoofed.[l]
32 The afflicted will see and rejoice.
O God seekers, let your heart revive,[m]
33 because Yahweh hears the needy
and does not despise his own who are prisoners.
34 Let heavens and earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them,
35 because God will save Zion
and build the cities of Judah,
that they may dwell there and possess it.
36 And the offspring of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will abide in it.
The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted
A song of Asaph.[a]
73 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those pure of heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped,
3 because I envied the boastful
when I saw the well-being[b] of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains up to their death,
and their bodies are healthy.[c]
5 They do not have ordinary trouble,[d]
and they are not plagued as other people.[e]
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
an outfit of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fat.[f]
Imaginings overflow their heart.
8 They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;
they speak as though from on high.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue roams the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn there,[g]
and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?”
and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 See, these are the wicked,
and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 And I have been plagued all day
and rebuked every morning.[h]
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
behold, I would have acted treacherously
against your children’s generation.
16 When I thought about how to understand this,
it was troubling in my eyes
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their fate.
18 Surely you set them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall onto ruin.[i]
19 How they become a desolation in a moment!
They come to a complete end by terrors.
20 Like a dream upon awakening,
when you wake up, O Lord,
you will despise their fleeting form.[j]
21 When my heart was embittered
and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
22 then I was brutish and ignorant.
With you I was like the beasts.
23 But I am continually with you;
you have hold of my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice,
and afterward you will take me into honor.[k]
25 Whom do I have in the heavens except you?
And with you I have no other desire on earth.
26 My flesh and heart failed,
but God is the strength[l] of my heart and my reward forever.
27 For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.
You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
28 But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.
I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
in order to tell all your works.
27 Blessed be Yahweh the God of our ancestors,[a] who put this in the heart of the king to glorify the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem 28 and who extended to me loyal love before the king and his counselors, and before all of the mighty officials of the king. I took courage, for the hand of Yahweh my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
Ezra Proclaims a Fast
21 I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, “the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them.” 23 So we fasted and sought our God for this and he responded to our prayer.
The Priests’ Gift for the Temple
24 I set apart twelve of the official priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them. 25 Then I weighed out to them silver and gold and the vessels, the offering of the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his commanders, and all of Israel who was present offered. 26 I weighed out into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, one hundred vessels of silver, one hundred talents of gold, 27 twenty gold bowls worth one thousand darics, and two vessels of good polished bronze as precious as gold. 28 And I said to them, “You are holy to Yahweh and the vessels are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, God of your ancestors.[a] 29 Guard and look after them until you weigh them before the chief priests, the Levites, and the heads of the families[b] of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chamber of the house of Yahweh.” 30 So the priests and Levites took over the weighed silver, gold, and the vessels to bring to Jerusalem for the house of our God.
Return to Jerusalem
31 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the river of Ahava to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushing on the way. 32 We came to Jerusalem and remained there three days. 33 On the fourth day, the silver, gold, and vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of priest Meremoth, the son of Uriah, and with him Eleazar son of Phinehas. With them were the Levites, Jehozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. 34 The amount and weight of all the weighed items was recorded at that time.
35 The exiles that returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel; twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve goats as a sin offering. All was a burnt offering to Yahweh. 36 They delivered the customs of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governor of the province Beyond the River. And they supported the people of the house of God.
Seven Angels with Seven Last Plagues
15 And I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels having seven plagues that are the last ones, because with them the wrath of God is completed. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and his image and the number of his name were standing by[a] the glassy sea, holding harps from God. 3 And they were singing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are your works,
Lord God All-Powerful;
righteous and true are your ways,
King of the ages![b]
4 Who would never fear, Lord,
and glorify your name?
For only you are holy,
because all the nations[c] will come
and worship before you,
because your righteous deeds have been revealed.”
5 And after these things I looked, and the temple, the tent of the testimony in heaven, was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out from the temple, dressed in clean, bright linen garments, and girded with golden belts around their[d] chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever[e], 8 and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
The Feeding of Five Thousand
13 Now when[a] Jesus heard it,[b] he withdrew from there in a boat to an isolated place by himself. And when[c] the crowds heard it,[d] they followed him by land from the towns. 14 And as he[e] got out, he saw the large crowd and had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it[f] was evening, the disciples came to him saying, “The place is desolate and the hour is late.[g] Release the crowds so that they can go away into the villages and[h] purchase food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need[i] to go away. You give them something[j] to eat.” 17 And they said to him, “We do not have anything[k] here except five loaves and two fish.” 18 So he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 And he commanded the crowds to recline for a meal on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and[l] looking up to heaven, he gave thanks. And after[m] breaking them,[n] he gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them[o] to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 Now those who ate were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.
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