Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
For the music director. A Psalm of David; for a memorial.
70 (A)God, hurry to save me;
Lord, hurry to help me!
2 (B)May those who seek my [a]life
Be put to shame and humiliated;
May those who delight [b]in my harm
Be turned back and dishonored.
3 (C)May those who say, “Aha, aha!” be [c]turned back
Because of their shame.
4 May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
And may those who love Your salvation say continually,
“May God be exalted!”
5 But (D)I am afflicted and needy;
(E)Hurry to me, God!
You are my help and my savior;
Lord, do not delay.
Prayer of an Old Man for Rescue.
71 (F)In You, Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be put to shame.
2 (G)In Your righteousness rescue me and save me;
(H)Extend Your ear to me and help me.
3 (I)Be to me a rock of (J)dwelling to which I may continually come;
You have given the (K)commandment to save me,
For You are (L)my rock and my fortress.
4 (M)Save me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
From the [d]grasp of the wrongdoer and the ruthless,
5 For You are my (N)hope;
Lord [e]God, You are my (O)confidence from my youth.
6 I have (P)leaned on You since my birth;
You are He who (Q)took me from my mother’s womb;
My (R)praise is continually [f]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 away at the (W)time of my old age;
Do not abandon me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies have spoken [g]against me;
And those who (X)watch for my [h]life (Y)have consulted together,
11 Saying, “(Z)God has abandoned him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is (AA)no one to save him.”
12 God, (AB)do not be far from me;
My God, (AC)hurry to my aid!
13 May those who are enemies of my soul be (AD)put to shame and consumed;
May they be (AE)covered with disgrace and dishonor, who (AF)seek [i]to injure me.
14 But as for me, I will (AG)wait continually,
And will [j](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 art of writing.
16 I will come (AL)with the mighty deeds of the Lord [k]God;
I will (AM)make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
17 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, God, do not abandon me,
Until I (AQ)declare Your [l]strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
19 [m]For Your (AR)righteousness, God, reaches to the [n]heavens,
You who have (AS)done great things;
God, (AT)who is like You?
20 You who have (AU)shown [o]me many troubles and distresses
Will (AV)revive [p]me again,
And will bring [q]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 [r](AZ)a harp,
And Your [s]truth, my God;
I will sing praises to You with the (BA)lyre,
(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 tell of Your righteousness all day long;
For they are (BF)put to shame, for they are humiliated who seek [t]my harm.
An Appeal against the Devastation of the Land by the Enemy.
A [a]Maskil of Asaph.
74 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 (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]Step toward the [d](H)irreparable ruins;
The enemy (I)has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have (J)roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their (K)own signs as (L)signs.
5 It [e]seems like one bringing up
His (M)axe into a [f]forest of trees.
6 And now they break down [g]all its (N)carved work
With axe and hammers.
7 They have [h](O)burned Your sanctuary [i]to the ground;
They have (P)defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They (Q)said in their heart, “Let’s [j]completely [k]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 anyone among us who knows (T)how long.
10 How long, God, will the enemy (U)taunt You?
Shall the enemy (V)treat Your name disrespectfully forever?
11 Why (W)do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Extend it from Your chest and (X)destroy them!
12 Yet God is (Y)my King from long ago,
Who performs acts of salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 [l]You (Z)divided the sea by Your strength;
[m]You (AA)broke the heads of the (AB)sea monsters [n]in the waters.
14 [o]You crushed the heads of [p](AC)Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the [q]creatures (AD)of the wilderness.
15 [r]You (AE)broke open springs and torrents;
[s]You (AF)dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
[t]You have (AG)prepared the [u]light and the sun.
17 [v]You have (AH)established all the boundaries of the earth;
[w]You have [x]created (AI)summer and winter.
18 Remember this, [y]Lord, that the enemy has (AJ)taunted You,
And a (AK)foolish people has treated Your name disrespectfully.
19 Do not give the soul of Your (AL)turtledove to the wild animal;
(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 places of violence.
21 May the (AP)oppressed person not return dishonored;
May the (AQ)afflicted and the needy praise Your name.
4 Now Deborah, a [a]prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to [b]sit under the (A)palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her for judgment. 6 Now she sent word and summoned (B)Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, “[c]The Lord, the God of Israel, has indeed commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. 7 I will draw out to you Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his [d]many troops to the river Kishon, and (C)I will hand him over to you.’” 8 Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” 9 She said, “I will certainly go with you; however, the fame shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, (D)for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned (E)Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up [e](F)with him; Deborah also went up with him.
11 Now Heber (G)the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the [f]father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the [g]oak in (H)Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.
12 Then they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 Sisera summoned all his chariots, (I)nine hundred iron chariots, and all the people who were with him, from (J)Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day on which the Lord has handed Sisera over to you; [h]behold, (K)the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 (L)And the Lord [i]routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; (M)not even one was left.
17 Now Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a [j]rug. 19 (N)And he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather bottle of milk and gave him a drink; then she covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand in the doorway of the tent, and it shall be if anyone comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there anyone here?’ that you shall say, ‘No.’” 21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, (O)took a tent peg and [k]a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died. 22 And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he entered [l]with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.
23 So (P)God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan on that day before the sons of Israel.
15 [a]At this time Peter stood up among (A)the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 [b]people was there together), and said, 16 “[c]Brothers, (B)the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, (C)who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was (D)counted among us and received his share in (E)this ministry.” 18 (Now this man (F)acquired a field with (G)the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in (H)their own language, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms:
‘(I)May his residence be made desolate,
And may there be none living in it’;
and,
21 Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that (K)the Lord Jesus went in and out [e]among us— 22 (L)beginning [f]with the baptism of John until the day that He (M)was taken up from us—one of these must become a (N)witness with us of His resurrection.” 23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and (O)Matthias. 24 And they (P)prayed and said, “You, Lord, who (Q)know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to [g]occupy (R)this ministry and (S)apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they [h](T)drew lots for them, and the lot fell [i]to (U)Matthias; and he was added to (V)the eleven apostles.
55 (A)And many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while (B)caring for Him. 56 Among them were (C)Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and (D)the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus Is Buried
57 (E)Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock; and he rolled (F)a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 And (G)Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 Now on the next day, that is, the day which is after (H)the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘(I)After three days I am rising.’ 64 Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a (J)guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 And they went and made the tomb secure with (K)the guard, (L)sealing (M)the stone.
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