Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70 (A)O God, hasten to deliver me;
O Lord, hasten to my help!
2 (B)Let those be ashamed and humiliated
Who seek my [a]life;
Let those be turned back and dishonored
Who delight [b]in my hurt.
3 (C)Let those be [c]turned back because of their shame
Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4 Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified.”
5 But (D)I am afflicted and needy;
(E)Hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.
71 (F)In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
2 (G)In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
(H)Incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 (I)Be to me a rock of (J)habitation to which I may continually come;
You have given (K)commandment to save me,
For You are (L)my [d]rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the [e]grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,
5 For You are my (N)hope;
O Lord [f]God, You are my (O)confidence from my youth.
6 [g]By You I have been (P)sustained from my birth;
You are He who (Q)took me from my mother’s womb;
My (R)praise is continually [h]of You.
7 I have become a (S)marvel to many,
For You are (T)my strong refuge.
8 My (U)mouth is filled with Your praise
And with (V)Your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the (W)time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken [i]against me;
And those who (X)watch for my [j]life (Y)have consulted together,
11 Saying, “(Z)God has forsaken him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is (AA)no one to deliver.”
12 O God, (AB)do not be far from me;
O my God, (AC)hasten to my help!
13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be (AD)ashamed and consumed;
Let them be (AE)covered with reproach and dishonor, who (AF)seek [k]to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will (AG)hope continually,
And will [l](AH)praise You yet more and more.
15 My (AI)mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of (AJ)Your salvation all day long;
For I (AK)do not know the [m]sum of them.
16 I will come (AL)with the mighty deeds of the Lord [n]God;
I will (AM)make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 O God, You (AN)have taught me from my youth,
And I still (AO)declare Your wondrous deeds.
18 And even when I am (AP)old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I (AQ)declare Your [o]strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 [p]For Your (AR)righteousness, O God, reaches to the [q]heavens,
You who have (AS)done great things;
O God, (AT)who is like You?
20 You who have (AU)shown [r]me many troubles and distresses
Will (AV)revive [s]me again,
And will bring [t]me up again (AW)from the depths of the earth.
21 May You increase my (AX)greatness
And turn to (AY)comfort me.
22 I will also praise You with [u](AZ)a harp,
Even Your [v]truth, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the (BA)lyre,
O (BB)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will (BC)shout for joy when I sing praises to You;
And my (BD)soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My (BE)tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;
For they are (BF)ashamed, for they are humiliated who seek [w]my hurt.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You (A)rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger (B)smoke against the (C)sheep of Your [b]pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have (D)purchased of old,
Which You have (E)redeemed to be the (F)tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount (G)Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 [c]Turn Your footsteps toward the (H)perpetual ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own [d]standards (L)for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up
His [e](M)axe in a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now [g]all its (N)carved work
They smash with hatchet and [h]hammers.
7 They have [i](O)burned Your sanctuary [j]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let us [k]completely [l]subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our (R)signs;
There is (S)no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary (U)revile,
And the enemy (V)spurn Your name forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
From within Your bosom, (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth.
13 [m]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[n]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [o]in the waters.
14 [p]You crushed the heads of [q](AC)Leviathan;
[r]You gave him as food for the [s]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [t]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[u]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[v]You have (AG)prepared the [w]light and the sun.
17 [x]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[y]You have [z]made (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [aa]O Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)reviled,
And a (AK)foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild beast;
(AM)Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the (AN)covenant;
For the (AO)dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the (AP)oppressed return dishonored;
Let the (AQ)afflicted and needy praise Your name.
26 ‘You shall not eat anything (A)with the blood, nor practice (B)divination or soothsaying. 27 (C)You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts in your [a]body for the [b]dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.
29 ‘(D)Do not [c]profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. 30 You shall (E)keep My sabbaths and (F)revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.
31 ‘Do not turn to [d](G)mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘(H)You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the [e]aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.
33 ‘(I)When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and (J)you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.
35 ‘(K)You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. 36 You shall have (L)just balances, just weights, a just [f]ephah, and a just [g]hin; I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. 37 You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.’”
Thanksgiving for Faith and Perseverance
1 (A)Paul and (B)Silvanus and (C)Timothy,
To the (D)church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 (E)Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always (F)to give thanks to God for you, (G)brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the (H)love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4 therefore, we ourselves (I)speak proudly of you among (J)the churches of God for your [a]perseverance and faith (K)in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5 This is a (L)plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be (M)considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 [b]For after all (N)it is only just [c]for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted [d]and to us as well [e](O)when the Lord Jesus will be revealed (P)from heaven (Q)with [f]His mighty angels (R)in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who (S)do not know God and to those who (T)do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of (U)eternal destruction, (V)away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be (W)glorified [g]in His [h]saints on that (X)day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our (Y)testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end also we (Z)pray for you always, that our God will [i](AA)count you worthy of your (AB)calling, and fulfill every desire for (AC)goodness and the (AD)work of faith with power, 12 so that the (AE)name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Cure for Anxiety
25 “(A)For this reason I say to you, [a]do not be (B)worried about your [b]life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 (C)Look at the birds of the [c]air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being (D)worried can (E)add a single [d]hour to his [e]life? 28 And why are you (F)worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even (G)Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the (H)grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? (I)You of little faith! 31 Do not (J)worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for (K)your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But [f]seek first [g]His kingdom and His righteousness, and (L)all these things will be [h]added to you.
34 “So do not (M)worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will [i]care for itself. [j]Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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