PSALM 141

An Evening Prayer for Sanctification and Protection.

A Psalm of David.

1O Lord, I call upon You; hasten to me!

Give ear to my voice when I call to You!

2May my prayer be counted as incense before You;

The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

The Seventh Seal—the Trumpets

1When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

6And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

7The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

1) How does incense picture intercession?

2) How does the psalmist link prayer with incense?

3) How does Revelation portray the prayers of the saints?

5Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me;

It is oil upon the head;

Do not let my head refuse it,

For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

6Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock,

And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.

7As when one plows and breaks open the earth,

Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

8For my eyes are toward You, O God, the Lord;

In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless.

9Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me,

And from the snares of those who do iniquity.

10Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I pass by safely.

Jeremiah’s Scroll Read in the Temple

1In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2“Take a scroll and write on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel and concerning Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. 5Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted; I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities. 7Perhaps their supplication will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

9Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, to all the people.

11Now when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book, 12he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And behold, all the officials were sitting there—Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book to the people. 14Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them. 15They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them. 16When they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one to another and said to Baruch, “We will surely report all these words to the king.” 17And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18Then Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the book.” 19Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”

The Scroll Is Burned

20So they went to the king in the court, but they had deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and they reported all the words to the king. 21Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king as well as to all the officials who stood beside the king. 22Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. 23When Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. 24Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments. 25Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

The Scroll Is Replaced

27Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch had written at the dictation of Jeremiah, saying, 28“Take again another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. 29And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will make man and beast to cease from it?’ ” 30Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31I will also punish him and his descendants and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the calamity that I have declared to them—but they did not listen.” ’ ”

32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.