Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Relief from Adversaries(A)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. (B)To bring to remembrance.
70 Make haste, (C)O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord!
2 (D)Let them be ashamed and confounded
Who seek my life;
Let them be [a]turned back and confused
Who desire my hurt.
3 (E)Let them be turned back because of their shame,
Who say, [b]“Aha, aha!”
4 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”
5 (F)But I am poor and needy;
(G)Make haste to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay.
God the Rock of Salvation
71 In (H)You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be put to shame.
2 (I)Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
(J)Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
3 (K)Be my [c]strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the (L)commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For You are (N)my hope, O Lord God;
You are my trust from my youth.
6 (O)By You I have been [d]upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
7 (P)I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
8 Let (Q)my mouth be filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life (R)take counsel together,
11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
12 (S)O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, (T)make haste to help me!
13 Let them be [e]confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
Who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my (U)youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also (V)when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.
19 Also (W)Your righteousness, O God, is [f]very high,
You who have done great things;
(X)O God, who is like You?
20 (Y)You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
(Z)Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
22 Also (AA)with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O (AB)Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And (AC)my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.
A Plea for Relief from Oppressors
A [a]Contemplation of Asaph.
74 O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
The tribe of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed—
This Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
3 Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations.
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 (A)Your enemies roar in the midst of Your meeting place;
(B)They set up their banners for signs.
5 They seem like men who lift up
Axes among the thick trees.
6 And now they break down its carved work, all at once,
With axes and hammers.
7 They have set fire to Your sanctuary;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground.
8 (C)They said in their hearts,
“Let us [b]destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
(D)There is no longer any prophet;
Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
10 O God, how long will the adversary [c]reproach?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
11 (E)Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
12 For (F)God is my King from of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 (G)You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the [d]sea serpents in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of [e]Leviathan in pieces,
And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 (H)You broke open the fountain and the flood;
(I)You dried up mighty rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is (J)Yours;
(K)You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have (L)set all the borders of the earth;
(M)You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord,
And that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
19 Oh, do not deliver the life of Your turtledove to the wild beast!
Do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
20 (N)Have respect to the covenant;
For the [f]dark places of the earth are full of the [g]haunts of [h]cruelty.
21 Oh, do not let the oppressed return ashamed!
Let the poor and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man [i]reproaches You daily.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your enemies;
The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.
Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl (A)on the great river Euphrates, (B)and its water was dried up, (C)so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean (D)spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of (E)the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of (F)the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, (G)performing signs, which go out to the kings [a]of the earth and of (H)the whole world, to gather them to (I)the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 (J)“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, (K)lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
16 (L)And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, [b]Armageddon.
Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, (M)“It is done!” 18 And (N)there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; (O)and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake (P)as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now (Q)the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And (R)great Babylon (S)was remembered before God, (T)to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then (U)every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed(A)
18 (B)Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a [a]large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
The Parable of the Leaven(C)
20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like [b]leaven, which a woman took and hid in three (D)measures[c] of meal till it was all leavened.”
The Narrow Way(E)
22 (F)And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there (G)few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 (H)“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for (I)many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 (J)When once the Master of the house has risen up and (K)shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, (L)‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, (M)‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 (N)But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. (O)Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 (P)There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, (Q)when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 (R)And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.