Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70
A Call for Deliverance
For the choir director. Of David. To bring remembrance.(A)
1 God, hurry to rescue me.
Lord, hurry to help me!(B)
2 Let those who seek to kill me
be disgraced and confounded;
let those who wish me harm
be turned back and humiliated.
3 Let those who say, “Aha, aha!”
retreat because of their shame.(C)
4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;
let those who love your salvation
continually say, “God is great!” (D)
5 I am oppressed and needy;
hurry to me, God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Lord, do not delay.(E)
Psalm 71
God’s Help in Old Age
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(F)
2 In your justice, rescue and deliver me;
listen closely to me and save me.(G)
3 Be a rock of refuge for me,
where I can always go.
Give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and fortress.(H)
4 Deliver me, my God, from the power of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and oppressive.(I)
5 For you are my hope, Lord God,
my confidence from my youth.(J)
6 I have leaned on you from birth;
you took me from my mother’s womb.(K)
My praise is always about you.(L)
7 I am like a miraculous sign to many,
and you are my strong refuge.(M)
8 My mouth is full of praise
and honor to you all day long.(N)
9 Don’t discard me in my old age.
As my strength fails, do not abandon me.(O)
10 For my enemies talk about me,
and those who spy on me plot together,(P)
11 saying, “God has abandoned him;
chase him and catch him,
for there is no one to rescue him.”(Q)
12 God, do not be far from me;
my God, hurry to help me.(R)
13 May my adversaries be disgraced and destroyed;
may those who intend to harm me
be covered with disgrace and humiliation.(S)
14 But I will hope continually
and will praise you more and more.(T)
15 My mouth will tell about your righteousness
and your salvation all day long,
though I cannot sum them up.(U)
16 I come because of the mighty acts of the Lord God;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.(V)
17 God, you have taught me from my youth,
and I still proclaim your wondrous works.(W)
18 Even while I am old and gray,
God, do not abandon me,(X)
while I proclaim your power
to another generation,
your strength to all who are to come.(Y)
19 Your righteousness reaches the heights, God,
you who have done great things;
God, who is like you?(Z)
20 You caused me to experience
many troubles and misfortunes,(AA)
but you will revive me again.(AB)
You will bring me up again,
even from the depths of the earth.(AC)
21 You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.(AD)
22 Therefore, I will praise you with a harp
for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing to you with a lyre,
Holy One of Israel.(AE)
23 My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you
because you have redeemed me.(AF)
24 Therefore, my tongue will proclaim
your righteousness all day long,
for those who intend to harm me
will be disgraced and confounded.(AG)
Psalm 74
Prayer for Israel
A Maskil of Asaph.(A)
1 Why have you rejected us forever, God?
Why does your anger burn
against the sheep of your pasture?(B)
2 Remember your congregation,
which you purchased long ago
and redeemed as the tribe for your own possession.(C)
Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.(D)
3 Make your way[a] to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.(E)
4 Your adversaries roared in the meeting place
where you met with us.[b]
They set up their emblems as signs.(F)
5 It was like men in a thicket of trees,
wielding axes,(G)
6 then smashing all the carvings
with hatchets and picks.(H)
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they utterly[c] desecrated
the dwelling place of your name.(I)
8 They said in their hearts,
“Let’s oppress them relentlessly.”
They burned every place throughout the land
where God met with us.[d](J)
9 There are no signs for us to see.
There is no longer a prophet.
And none of us knows how long this will last.(K)
10 God, how long will the enemy mock?
Will the foe insult your name forever?(L)
11 Why do you hold back your hand?
Stretch out[e] your right hand and destroy them!(M)
12 God my King is from ancient times,
performing saving acts on the earth.(N)
13 You divided the sea with your strength;
you smashed the heads of the sea monsters in the water;(O)
14 you crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you fed him to the creatures of the desert. (P)
15 You opened up springs and streams;(Q)
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.(R)
16 The day is yours, also the night;
you established the moon and the sun.(S)
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made summer and winter.(T)
18 Remember this: the enemy has mocked the Lord,
and a foolish people has insulted your name.(U)
19 Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;[f]
do not forget the lives of your poor people forever.(V)
20 Consider the covenant,(W)
for the dark places of the land are full of violence.(X)
21 Do not let the oppressed turn away in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.(Y)
22 Rise up, God, champion your cause!(Z)
Remember the insults
that fools bring against you all day long.(AA)
23 Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries,
the tumult of your opponents that goes up constantly.(AB)
The Law of Liberty
14 Welcome(A) anyone who is weak in faith,(B) but don’t argue about disputed matters. 2 One person believes he may eat anything,(C) while one who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat,(D) and one who does not eat must not judge one who does,(E) because God has accepted him.(F) 4 Who are you to judge(G) another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able[a] to make him stand.
5 One person judges one day to be more important than another day.(H) Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.(I) 6 Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord.[b] Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God;(J) and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.(K) 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.(L) 9 Christ died and returned to life(M) for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.(N) 10 But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.[c](O) 11 For it is written,
As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to me,(P)
and every tongue will give praise to God.[d](Q)
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.(R)
Demons Driven Out by Jesus
26 Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,[a](A) which is opposite Galilee. 27 When he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes and did not stay in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out,(B) fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me,(C) Jesus, Son of the Most High God?(D) I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was guarded, bound by chains and shackles, he would snap the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.
30 “What is your name?” Jesus asked him.
“Legion,”(E) he said, because many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to banish them to the abyss.(F)
32 A large herd of pigs was there, feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him to permit them to enter the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
34 When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus’s feet,(G) dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered.(H) 37 Then all the people of the Gerasene region[b] asked him to leave them,(I) because they were gripped by great fear. So getting into the boat, he returned.
38 The man from whom the demons had departed begged him earnestly to be with him. But he sent him away and said, 39 “Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.
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