A Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors

571 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; For my soul taketh refuge in thee: Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I take refuge, Until [these] calamities be overpast. 2 I will cry unto God Most High, Unto God that performeth [all things] for me. 3 He will send from heaven, and save me, [When] he that would swallow me up reproacheth; [Selah God will send forth his lovingkindness and his truth. 4 My soul is among lions; I lie among them that are set on fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; [Let] thy glory [be] above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down: They have digged a pit before me; They are fallen into the midst thereof themselves. [Selah]

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises. 8 Awake up, my glory; Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake right early. 9 I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the peoples: I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. 10 For thy lovingkindness is great unto the heavens, And thy truth unto the skies. 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; [Let] thy glory [be] above all the earth.

A Prayer for the Punishment of the Wicked

581 Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? 2 Nay, in heart ye work wickedness; Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: [They are] like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, 5 Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, Charming never so wisely.

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah. 7 Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off. 8 [Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away, [Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; 11 So that men shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.

A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

591 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: Set me on high from them that rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from the bloodthirsty men. 3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; The mighty gather themselves together against me: Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah. 4 They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault: Awake thou to help me, and behold. 5 Even thou, O Jehovah God of hosts, the God of Israel, Arise to visit all the nations: Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. [Selah] 6 They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go round about the city. 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth; Swords are in their lips: For who, [say they], doth hear?

8 But thou, O Jehovah, wilt laugh at them; Thou wilt have all the nations in derision. 9 [Because of] his strength I will give heed unto thee; For God is my high tower. 10 My God with his lovingkindness will meet me: God will let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies. 11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield. 12 [For] the sin of their mouth, [and] the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, And for cursing and lying which they speak. 13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they shall be no more: And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob, Unto the ends of the earth. [Selah] 14 And at evening let them return, let them howl like a dog, And go round about the city. 15 They shall wander up and down for food, And tarry all night if they be not satisfied. 16 But I will sing of thy strength; Yea, I will sing aloud of thy lovingkindness in the morning: For thou hast been my high tower, And a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing praises: For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

The Example of Abraham

41 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, hath found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God. 3 For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness. 6 Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, 7 [saying], Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom, the Lord will not reckon sin.

9 Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness. 10 How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; 12 and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision.

The Promise Realized through Faith

13 For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: 15 for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. 16 For this cause [it is] of faith, that [it may be] according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

17 (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. 18 Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb; 20 yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; 24 but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.