Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70[a]
Insistent Prayer for Divine Assistance
1 For the director.[b] Of David. For remembrance.
2 [c]Make haste, O God, to rescue me;
O Lord, come quickly to my aid.
3 [d]May all those who seek to take my life
endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
be turned back and humiliated.
4 May those who cry out to me, “Aha! Aha!”[e]
be forced to retreat in shame.
5 But may all who seek you
rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
cry out forever, “May God be magnified.”[f]
6 As for me, I am poor and needy;[g]
hasten to my aid, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Psalm 71[h]
Prayer of the Righteous in Old Age
1 In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me;
hear my plea and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge
to which I can always go;
proclaim the order to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 O my God, rescue me from the hands of the impious,
from the grasp of cruel and ruthless foes.
5 You, O Lord, are my hope,
my confidence, O God, from my youth.
6 I have relied upon you since birth,
and you have been my strength from my mother’s womb;
my praise rises unceasingly to you.[i]
7 I have become a portent to many,[j]
but you are my sure refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praises
as I relate your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in my old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is completely spent.
10 For my enemies speak against me,
and those who seek my life plot together.
11 They say: “God has abandoned him;
go after him and seize him,
for no one will come to his rescue.”
12 O God, do not remain aloof from me;
come quickly to help me, O my God.
13 Let those who accuse me
be put to shame and perish;
let those who are determined to harm me
incur contempt and disgrace.[k]
14 But I will hope in you continually
and will render even more praise to you.
15 [l]My lips will proclaim your righteous deeds
and your salvation all day long,
though I do not know their extent.[m]
16 I will speak of your mighty deeds, O Lord God,
and declare your righteousness,[n] yours alone.
17 O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and to this day I proclaim your marvelous works.
18 Now that I am old and my hair is gray,[o]
do not abandon me, O God,
until I have extolled your might
to all the generations yet to come,
your strength 19 and your righteousness, O God,
to the highest heavens.
You have done great things;
O God, who is there who is like you?
20 You have shown me many afflictions and hardships,
but you will once again revive me.
From the depths of the earth[p]
you will once again raise me up.
21 You will restore my honor
and console me once again.
22 Then I will also praise[q] you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 When I sing to you, my lips will rejoice,
and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
24 All day long my tongue
will relate your righteousness.
For those who intended to do me harm
will suffer shame and disgrace.
Psalm 74[a]
Prayer in Time of Calamity
1 A maskil[b] of Asaph.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why[c] does your anger blaze forth
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember the people that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed as your own possession,[d]
and Mount Zion that you chose as your dwelling.
3 Direct now your steps[e] to the endless ruins,
toward the sanctuary destroyed by the enemy.
4 Your foes exulted triumphantly in the place of your assembly
and set up their memorial emblems.
5 They set upon it with their axes
as if it were a thicket of trees.
6 And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they bludgeoned all the carved work.
7 They set your sanctuary ablaze;
they razed and defiled the dwelling place of your name.[f]
8 They said to themselves, “We will utterly crush them,”
and they burned every shrine of God in the land.[g]
9 Now we see no signs,
there are no longer any prophets,
and none of us knows how long this will last.[h]
10 How long, O God, will the foe mock you?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?[i]
11 Why do you hold back your right hand?
Take it out from your robe and destroy them.[j]
12 Yet you, O God, are my King from of old,
working deeds of salvation throughout the earth.
13 [k]By your power you split the sea in two
and shattered the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food for the wild beasts.
15 You opened up springs and torrents
and turned flowing rivers into dry land.[l]
16 [m]Yours is the day, and yours also is the night,
for you set in place both sun and moon.
17 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth
and created both summer and winter.
18 [n]Remember, O Lord, how the enemy has mocked you,
how a foolish people has blasphemed your name.
19 Do not surrender the soul of your dove[o] to wild beasts;
do not forget forever the life of your poor.
20 Have regard for your covenant!
For the land is filled with darkness,
and the pastures are haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy[p] bless your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.
23 Do not ignore the outbursts of your enemies,
the unceasing tumult of your foes.
Chapter 11
The Splendid Adventure of Life[a]
1 Cast your bread upon the waters,[b]
and eventually you will get it back.
2 Share with seven or with eight,[c]
for you never can predict what disasters will come.
3 When clouds are full of rain,
they will pour it out upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
wherever it falls, there will it lie.
4 One who continues to watch the wind will never sow,
and one who keeps staring at the clouds will never reap.
5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind
or how the body is formed in a woman’s womb,
so you do not know the work of God,
the Creator of all.
6 In the morning sow your seed,[d]
and do not cease your labor until evening.
For you do not know which of the sowings will succeed
or whether all alike will turn out well.
Poem on Youth and Old Age[e]
In the Evening of Life
God and Light
7 Light is sweet,
and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8 No matter how many years you may live,
you should enjoy all of them,
for remember that the days of darkness will be many.
Everything that is to come is vanity.
16 Hence, I advise you to be guided by the Spirit, so that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Spirit, and those of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh. They are in conflict with one another, so that you cannot do what you want. 18 But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.
19 [a]Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you previously, that no one who does such things will inherit the kingdom of God.
22 [b]In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
13 Peter’s Confession of Christ’s Divinity.[a]When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi,[b] he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the Prophets.” 15 “But you,” he said to them, “who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[c]
17 Then Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood[d] has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father. 18 And I say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,[e] and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”[f] 20 Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell[g] anyone that he was the Christ.
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