Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Prayer for Help

35 O Lord, stand against those who stand against me. Fight those who fight me. ² Take hold of a safe-covering and rise up to help me. ³ Take a spear and battle-ax against those who come to get me. Say to my soul, “I am the One Who saves you.” ⁴ Let the people be ashamed and without honor who want to take my life. Let those be turned away and brought to shame who plan to hurt me. ⁵ Let them be like straw in the wind. May the angel of the Lord drive them away. ⁶ Let their way be dark and dangerous, with the angel of the Lord going to get them. ⁷ For without a reason they hid their net for me. Without a reason, they dug a hole for my soul. ⁸ Let them be destroyed before they know it. And let them be caught in their own net. May they destroy themselves as they fall into their own hole.

⁹ My soul will be happy in the Lord. It will be full of joy because He saves. ¹⁰ All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You? Who saves the weak from those too strong for them? Who saves the poor from those who would rob them?”

²² But God was angry because he was going. The angel of the Lord stood in the way against him. Balaam was sitting on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword in his hand, the donkey turned off the road and went into the field. But Balaam hit the donkey to turn her on the road again. ²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path in the grape-field, with a wall on each side. ²⁵ The donkey saw the angel of the Lord. So she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against it, so he hit her again. ²⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went farther. He stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right or the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. So Balaam was angry and hit the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you? Why have you hit me these three times?”

³² I want you to be free from the cares of this world. The man who is not married can spend his time working for the Lord and pleasing Him. ³³ The man who is married cares for the things of the world. He wants to please his wife. ³⁴ Married women and women who have never been married are different. The woman who has never been married can spend her time working for the Lord. She wants to please the Lord with her body and spirit. The woman who is married cares for the things of the world. She wants to please her husband. ³⁵ I am saying these things to help you. I am not trying to keep you from getting married. I want you to do what is best. You should work for Him without other things taking your time.

³⁶ If a man and woman expect to get married, and he thinks his desires to marry her are getting too strong, and she is getting older, they should get married. It is no sin. ³⁷ But if a man has the power to keep from getting married and knows in his mind that he should not, he is wise if he does not get married. ³⁸ The man who gets married does well, but the man who does not get married does better.

³⁹ A wife is not free as long as her husband lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wants, if he is a Christian. ⁴⁰ I think she will be much more happy if she does not get married again. This is what I think. I believe it is what the Holy Spirit is saying.