Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 70[a]
For the music director, by David; written to get God’s attention.[b]
70 O God, please be willing to rescue me.[c]
O Lord, hurry and help me.[d]
2 May those who are trying to take my life
be embarrassed and ashamed.[e]
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.[f]
3 May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be driven back[g] and disgraced.[h]
4 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you.
May those who love to experience[i] your deliverance say continually,[j]
“May God[k] be praised!”[l]
5 I am oppressed and needy.[m]
O God, hurry to me.[n]
You are my helper and my deliverer.
O Lord,[o] do not delay.
Psalm 71[p]
71 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
2 Vindicate me by rescuing me.[q]
Listen to me.[r] Deliver me.[s]
3 Be my protector and refuge,[t]
a stronghold where I can be safe.[u]
For you are my high ridge[v] and my stronghold.
4 My God, rescue me from the power[w] of the wicked,
from the hand of the cruel oppressor.
5 For you are my hope;
O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.[x]
6 I have leaned on you since birth;[y]
you pulled me[z] from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually.[aa]
7 Many are appalled when they see me,[ab]
but you are my secure shelter.
8 I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long.[ac]
9 Do not reject me in my old age.[ad]
When my strength fails, do not abandon me.
10 For my enemies talk about me;
those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.[ae]
11 They say,[af] “God has abandoned him.
Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him.”
12 O God, do not remain far away from me.
My God, hurry and help me.[ag]
13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated.
May those who want to harm me[ah] be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 As for me, I will wait continually,
and will continue to praise you.[ai]
15 I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation,[aj]
though I cannot fathom its full extent.[ak]
16 I will come and tell about[al] the mighty acts of the Sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice—yours alone.
17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring[am] your amazing deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,[an]
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power.[ao]
19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above;[ap]
you have done great things.[aq]
O God, who can compare to you?[ar]
20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress,[as]
revive me once again.[at]
Bring me up once again[au] from the depths of the earth.
21 Raise me to a position of great honor.[av]
Turn and comfort me.[aw]
22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,
praising[ax] your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,
O Holy One of Israel.[ay]
23 My lips will shout for joy. Yes,[az] I will sing your praises.
I will praise you when you rescue me.[ba]
24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,
for those who want to harm me[bb] will be embarrassed and ashamed.[bc]
Psalm 74[a]
A well-written song[b] by Asaph.
74 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us?[c]
Why does your anger burn[d] against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your people[e] whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued[f] so they could be your very own nation,[g]
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 Hurry[h] to the permanent ruins,
and to all the damage the enemy has done to the temple.[i]
4 Your enemies roar[j] in the middle of your sanctuary;[k]
they set up their battle flags.[l]
5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest.[m]
6 And now[n] they are tearing down[o] all its engravings[p]
with axes[q] and crowbars.[r]
7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground.[s]
8 They say to themselves,[t]
“We will oppress all of them.”[u]
They burn down all the places in the land where people worship God.[v]
9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence;[w]
there are no longer any prophets,[x]
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last.[y]
10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him.[z]
12 But God has been my[aa] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[ab]
13 You destroyed[ac] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[ad] in the water.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[ae]
you fed[af] him to the people who live along the coast.[ag]
15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[ah]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[ai]
16 You established the cycle of day and night;[aj]
you put the moon[ak] and sun in place.[al]
17 You set up all the boundaries[am] of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter.[an]
18 Remember how[ao] the enemy hurls insults, O Lord,[ap]
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name.
19 Do not hand the life of your dove[aq] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[ar] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[as]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[at]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[au]
22 Rise up, O God. Defend your honor.[av]
Remember how fools insult you all day long.[aw]
23 Do not disregard[ax] what your enemies say,[ay]
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you.[az]
The Lord Gives an Invitation
55 “Hey,[a] all who are thirsty, come to the water!
You who have no money, come!
Buy and eat!
Come! Buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.[b]
2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you?[c]
Why spend[d] your hard-earned money[e] on something that will not satisfy?
Listen carefully[f] to me and eat what is nourishing![g]
Enjoy fine food.[h]
3 Pay attention and come to me.
Listen, so you can live.[i]
Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to[j] you,
just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.[k]
4 Look, I made him a witness to nations,[l]
a ruler and commander of nations.”
5 Look, you will summon nations[m] you did not previously know;
nations[n] that did not previously know you will run to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,[o]
for he bestows honor on you.
6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available;[p]
call to him while he is nearby!
7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle[q]
and sinful people their plans.[r]
They should return[s] to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them,[t]
and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.[u]
8 “Indeed,[v] my plans[w] are not like[x] your plans,
and my deeds[y] are not like[z] your deeds,” says the Lord,
9 “for just as the sky[aa] is higher than the earth,
so my deeds[ab] are superior to[ac] your deeds
and my plans[ad] superior to your plans.
10 [ae] The rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return,
but instead water the earth
and make it produce and yield crops,
and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.
11 In the same way, the promise that I make
does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.[af]
No, it is realized as I desire
and is fulfilled as I intend.”[ag]
12 Indeed you will go out with joy;
you will be led along in peace;
the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you,
and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.
13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes,
firs will grow in place of nettles;
they will be a monument to the Lord,[ah]
a permanent reminder that will remain.[ai]
Freedom of the Believer
5 For freedom[a] Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke[b] of slavery. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey[c] the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous[d] by the law have been alienated[e] from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.[f]
7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying[g] the truth? 8 This persuasion[h] does not come from the one who calls you! 9 A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise![i] 10 I am confident[j] in the Lord that you will accept no other view.[k] But the one who is confusing[l] you will pay the penalty,[m] whoever he may be. 11 Now, brothers and sisters,[n] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?[o] In that case the offense of the cross[p] has been removed.[q] 12 I wish those agitators[r] would go so far as to[s] castrate themselves![t]
Practice Love
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters;[u] only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh,[v] but through love serve one another.[w] 14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment,[x] namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”[y] 15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another,[z] beware that you are not consumed[aa] by one another.
Peter’s Confession
27 Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples,[a] “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They said,[b] “John the Baptist, others say Elijah,[c] and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him,[d] “You are the Christ.”[e] 30 Then[f] he warned them not to tell anyone about him.[g]
First Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
31 Then[h] Jesus[i] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer[j] many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law,[k] and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke openly about this. So[l] Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”[m]
Following Jesus
34 Then[n] Jesus[o] called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower,[p] he must deny[q] himself, take up his cross,[r] and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life[s] will lose it,[t] but whoever loses his life because of me and because of the gospel[u] will save it. 36 For what benefit is it for a person[v] to gain the whole world, yet[w] forfeit his life? 37 What can a person give in exchange for his life? 38 For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him[x] when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9 1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth,[y] there are some standing here who will not[z] experience[aa] death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”[ab]
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