Book of Common Prayer
ז Zayin
49 Remember Your word to Your servant,
on which You have caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
for Your word revives me.
51 The proud ones have derided me,
yet I have not forsaken Your law.
52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
and I have comforted myself.
53 Fury has taken hold of me because of the wicked
who forsake Your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my temporary dwelling.
55 I have remembered Your name, O Lord, in the night,
and have kept Your law.
56 This is my blessing,
because I have kept Your precepts.
ח Heth
57 You are my portion, O Lord;
I have said that I would keep Your words.
58 I seek Your favor with my whole heart;
be merciful to me according to Your word.
59 I consider my ways,
and I turn my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I made haste, and I did not delay
to keep Your commandments.
61 The bands of the wicked have trapped me,
but I have not forgotten Your law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
because of Your righteous judgments.
63 I am a companion of all who fear You,
and of those who keep Your precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy;
teach me Your statutes.
ט Teth
65 You have been good to Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge,
for I have believed Your commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I wandered,
but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good and do good;
teach me Your statutes.
69 The proud have spoken lies against me,
but I keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as thick as fat,
but I delight in Your law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I might learn Your statutes.
72 The law from Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver coins.
Psalm 49
For the Music Director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all you people;
give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will expound my riddle with a harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
when the iniquity of my stalkers 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 the other,
nor give to God a ransom for anyone,
8 for the redemption of their souls is costly;
even so people cease to exist forever,
9 making efforts to live eternally,
and not see the pit.
10 For one sees that wise men die,
together the fool and the brute perish,
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves become their perpetual homes,
and their dwelling places to all generations,
though they call their lands after their own names.
12 But a man does not abide in honor;
mankind is like the beasts that come to ruin.
13 This is their way, it is their folly;
yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
and their form shall waste away in Sheol,
far from their dwelling.
15 But God shall redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
for He shall receive me. Selah
16 Do not fear when one is made rich,
when the glory of his house is increased,
17 for he takes nothing away in death;
his glory does not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he blesses his soul—
and men will praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 that soul will go to the generation of his fathers;
they will never see light.
20 A man in honor, and yet without understanding,
is like the animals that perish.
Psalm 53(A)
For the Music Director. According to Mahalath. A Contemplative Maskil of David.
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abhorrent injustice;
there is none who does good.
2 God looked down from heaven
on the children of men,
to see if there were any who have insight,
who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
they are altogether corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call on God?
5 There they were in fear,
where there was nothing to fear,
for God has scattered the bones of him who camps 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 the captivity of His people,
Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.
The Message Against Israel
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
and it falls upon Israel.
9 All the people shall know,
even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in the pride
and stoutness of heart,
10 “The bricks are fallen down,
but we will build with hewn stones;
the sycamores are cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore, the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and join his enemies together.
12 The Arameans shall be before and the Philistines behind;
and they shall devour Israel with open jaws.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
and His hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who struck them,
nor do they seek the Lord of Hosts.
14 Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and bulrush, in one day.
15 The elder and honorable man, he is the head;
and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err,
and those who are led by them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men,
nor shall He have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
for every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
and His hand is stretched out still.
False Prophets and Teachers(A)
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their judgment, made long ago, does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.
4 For if God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if He did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, making them an example to those afterward who would live ungodly lives; 7 and if He delivered righteous Lot, who was distressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man lived among them, and what he saw and heard of their lawless deeds tormented his righteous soul day after day); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the Day of Judgment, 10 especially those who walk after the flesh in pursuit of unclean desires, and despise authority.
They are presumptuous and arrogant, and are not afraid to slander the angelic beings.
The Preaching of John the Baptist(A)
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Look, I am sending My messenger before Your face,
who will prepare Your way before You.”[a]
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make His paths straight.’ ”[b]
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 The whole region of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist. And he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He preached saying, “After me is coming One mightier than I, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.