Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN
49 Remember your word to your servant,
because you gave me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
for your word has revived me.
51 The arrogant mock me excessively,
but I don’t swerve from your law.
52 I remember your ordinances of old, Yahweh,
and have comforted myself.
53 Indignation has taken hold on me,
because of the wicked who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house where I live.
55 I have remembered your name, Yahweh, in the night,
and I obey your law.
56 This is my way,
that I keep your precepts.
HETH
57 Yahweh is my portion.
I promised to obey your words.
58 I sought your favor with my whole heart.
Be merciful to me according to your word.
59 I considered my ways,
and turned my steps to your statutes.
60 I will hurry, and not delay,
to obey your commandments.
61 The ropes of the wicked bind me,
but I won’t forget your law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you,
because of your righteous ordinances.
63 I am a friend of all those who fear you,
of those who observe your precepts.
64 The earth is full of your loving kindness, Yahweh.
Teach me your statutes.
TETH
65 You have treated your servant well,
according to your word, Yahweh.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray;
but now I observe your word.
68 You are good, and do good.
Teach me your statutes.
69 The proud have smeared a lie upon me.
With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
70 Their heart is as callous as the fat,
but I delight in your law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I may learn your statutes.
72 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
49 Hear this, all you peoples.
Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom.
My heart will utter understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb.
I will solve my riddle on the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
6 Those who trust in their wealth,
and boast in the multitude of their riches—
7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give God a ransom for him.
8 For the redemption of their life is costly,
no payment is ever enough,
9 that he should live on forever,
that he should not see corruption.
10 For he sees that wise men die;
likewise the fool and the senseless perish,
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever,
and their dwelling places to all generations.
They name their lands after themselves.
12 But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure.
He is like the animals that perish.
13 This is the destiny of those who are foolish,
and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.
14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol.[a]
Death shall be their shepherd.
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.
Their beauty shall decay in Sheol,[b]
far from their mansion.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,[c]
for he will receive me. Selah.
16 Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich,
when the glory of his house is increased;
17 for when he dies he will carry nothing away.
His glory won’t descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul—
and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 he shall go to the generation of his fathers.
They shall never see the light.
20 A man who has riches without understanding,
is like the animals that perish.
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Mahalath.” A contemplation by David.
53 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity.
There is no one who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understood,
who seek after God.
3 Every one of them has gone back.
They have become filthy together.
There is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and don’t call on God?
5 There they were in great fear, where no fear was,
for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you.
You have put them to shame,
because God has rejected them.
6 Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back his people from captivity,
then Jacob shall rejoice,
and Israel shall be glad.
13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. 17 I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. 20 Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said,
“Today if you will hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”(A)
16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. 24 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone, 25 and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, [a] he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 The wind[b] blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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