Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
For the music director. Of David. To bring to remembrance.[a]
70 O God, make haste to deliver me.
O Yahweh, make haste to help me.
2 Let them be ashamed and abashed
who seek my life.
Let them be repulsed and humiliated
who desire my harm.
3 let them turn back because of their shame,
those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
4 Let them rejoice and be glad in you,
all those who seek you.
Let them say continually, “God is great!”
those who love your salvation.
5 But I am poor and needy;
O God hasten to me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
O Yahweh, do not delay.
A Prayer to God the Rock of Refuge
71 In you, O Yahweh, I have taken 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 for me a rock of refuge to resort to always;
you have ordained[b] to save me,
because you are my rock and my fortress.
4 My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp[c] of the evildoer and the oppressor,
5 because you are my hope,
O Lord Yahweh, my confidence from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from birth.[d]
It was you who took[e] me from the womb of my mother.
My praise is of you continually.
7 I have become a wonder to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
with your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me away in the time of old age;
when my strength fails do not abandon me.
10 For my enemies talk concerning me,
and those who watch for my life conspire together,
11 saying, “His God has abandoned him.
Pursue and seize him, because there is no deliverer.”
12 O God, do not be far from me.
My God, hurry to help me.
13 Let them be ashamed; let them perish
who are my adversaries.[f]
Let them wrap themselves with scorn and disgrace
who seek my harm.
14 But as for me, I will hope continually
and increase your praise.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
your salvation all day long,[g]
though I do not know the full sum of them.
16 I will come in to tell the mighty deeds of Lord Yahweh.
I will make known[h] your righteousness, yours only.
17 O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and up to now I have proclaimed your wonderful deeds.
18 And even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not abandon me
until I proclaim your strength[i] to this generation,
your power to every one that comes after.
19 And your righteousness, O God, is to the height of heaven.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
20 You who have caused me[j] to see many troubles and evils,
you will again revive me.[k]
And from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
21 You will increase my greatness,
and you will comfort me all around.[l]
22 On my part, I will praise you with a stringed instrument,
and your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with a lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will sing 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 the day,
because they have been put to shame, because they have been humiliated
who seek my harm.
A Lament in Time of National Defeat
A maskil of Asaph.[a]
74 Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation that you bought long ago,
when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance.
Remember Mount Zion[b] where you have dwelt.
3 Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they have set up their signs for signs.
5 They are[c] known to be like those who wield[d]
axes in a thicket of trees.
6 And now[e] its[f] carved works altogether
they have smashed with axe and hammer.
7 They have set fire to your sanctuary.
They have defiled to the ground,
the dwelling place for your name.
8 They have said in their heart,
“We will completely[g] oppress them.”
They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs,
and there is no longer a prophet.
No one with us knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary taunt?
Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it from your bosom;[h] destroy them!
12 But God has been my king from long ago,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You split open the sea by your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.
15 You split open spring and wadi.[i]
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 Yours is the day, yours is the night also.
You established light and the sun.
17 You defined[j] all the boundaries of the earth;
Summer and winter—you formed them.
18 O Yahweh, remember this: the enemy taunts,
and foolish people treat your name with contempt.
19 Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;
do not ever forget the life of your afflicted ones.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
because the dark places of the land are full of
the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back humiliated;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember the reproaching of you by the foolish all day long.[k]
23 Do not forget the sound of your adversaries,
the roar of those rising up against you ascending continually.
Living in the Light of the Limits of Human Knowledge
11 Send out your bread on the water,
for in many days you will find it.
2 Divide your share in seven or in eight,
for you do not know what disaster will happen on the earth.
3 When the clouds are full,
they empty rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or whether it falls to the north,
the place where the tree falls—there it will be.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not sow;
whoever watches the clouds will not reap.
5 Just as you do not know how the path of the wind[a] goes,
nor how the bones of a fetus form in a mother’s womb,
so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and do not let your hands rest in the evening,
for you do not know what will prosper—
whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will succeed.
Enjoy Life to the Fullest within the Auspices of the Fear of God
7 The light is sweet,
and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 For if a man lives many years,
let him rejoice in all of them!
Let him remember that the days of the darkness will be many—
all that is coming is vanity!
Live by the Spirit and Reject the Deeds of the Flesh
16 But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that whatever you want, you may not do these things. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, things which I am telling you in advance, just as I said before, that the ones who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ[a][b] have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires.
Peter’s Confession at Caesarea Philippi
13 Now when[a] Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi,[b] he began asking[c] his disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, Some[d] say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 And Simon Peter answered and[e] said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” 17 And Jesus answered and[f] said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this[g] to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it! 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound[h] in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will be released[i] in heaven.” 20 Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ.
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