Book of Common Prayer
Zayin
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
[a]In which You have made me hope.
50 This is my (A)comfort in my misery,
That Your word has [b]revived me.
51 The arrogant (B)utterly deride me,
Yet I do not (C)turn aside from Your Law.
52 I have (D)remembered Your judgments from [c]of old, Lord,
And comfort myself.
53 Burning (E)indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
Who (F)abandon Your Law.
54 Your statutes are my songs
In the house of my (G)pilgrimage.
55 Lord, I (H)remember Your name (I)in the night,
And keep Your Law.
56 This has become mine,
[d]That I (J)comply with Your precepts.
Heth
57 The Lord is my (K)portion;
I have [e]promised to (L)keep Your words.
58 I (M)sought Your favor (N)with all my heart;
(O)Be gracious to me (P)according to Your [f]word.
59 I (Q)considered my ways
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I hurried and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
61 The (R)snares of the wicked have surrounded me,
But I have (S)not forgotten Your Law.
62 At (T)midnight I will rise to give thanks to You
Because of Your (U)righteous judgments.
63 I am a (V)companion to all those who [g]fear You,
And to those who keep Your precepts.
64 (W)The earth is full of Your goodness, Lord;
(X)Teach me Your statutes.
Teth
65 You have treated Your servant well,
Lord, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good [h](Y)discernment and knowledge,
For I believe in Your commandments.
67 (Z)Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
68 You are (AA)good and You (AB)do good;
(AC)Teach me Your statutes.
69 The arrogant [i]have (AD)forged a lie against me;
With all my heart I will (AE)comply with Your precepts.
70 Their heart is (AF)insensitive, like fat,
But I (AG)delight in Your Law.
71 It is (AH)good for me that I was afflicted,
So that I may learn Your statutes.
72 The (AI)Law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
The Foolishness of Trusting in Riches.
For the music director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
49 (A)Hear this, all peoples;
Listen, all (B)inhabitants of the world,
2 Both (C)low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will (D)speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart will be (E)understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to (F)a proverb;
(G)I will [a]express my (H)riddle on the harp.
5 Why should I (I)fear in days of adversity,
When the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me,
6 Those who (J)trust in their wealth
And boast in the abundance of their riches?
7 No one can by any means (K)redeem another
Or give God a (L)ransom for him—
8 For (M)the redemption of [b]his soul is priceless,
And he should cease imagining forever—
9 That he might (N)live on eternally,
That he might not [c](O)undergo decay.
10 For he sees that even (P)wise people die;
The (Q)foolish and the stupid alike perish
And (R)leave their wealth to others.
11 Their [d](S)inner thought is that their houses (T)are forever
And their dwelling places to all generations;
They have (U)named their lands after their own names.
12 But (V)man in his splendor will not endure;
He is like the animals that [e]perish.
13 This is the (W)way of those who are foolish,
And of those after them who (X)approve their words. Selah
14 Like sheep they sink down (Y)to [f]Sheol;
Death will be their shepherd;
And the (Z)upright will rule over them in the morning,
And their form shall be for [g]Sheol (AA)to consume
[h]So that they have no lofty home.
15 But God will (AB)redeem my soul from the [i]power of [j]Sheol,
For (AC)He will receive me. Selah
16 Do not be afraid (AD)when a person becomes rich,
When the splendor of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies, he will (AE)take nothing with him;
His [k]wealth will not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he (AF)congratulates [l]himself—
And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 [m]He will (AG)go to the generation of his fathers;
They will never see (AH)the light.
20 (AI)Mankind in its splendor, yet without understanding,
Is (AJ)like the animals that [n]perish.
Foolishness and Wickedness of People.
For the music director; according to [a]Mahalath. A [b]Maskil of David.
53 (A)The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice;
(B)There is no one who does good.
2 God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind
To see if there is (C)anyone who [c]understands,
Who (D)seeks after God.
3 (E)Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Have the workers of injustice (F)no knowledge,
Who eat up My people like they ate bread,
And have not called upon God?
5 They were in great [d]fear there, (G)where no [e]fear had been;
For God (H)scattered the bones of [f]him who encamped against you;
You (I)put them to shame, because (J)God had rejected them.
6 Oh, that (K)the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of His people,
Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.
13 The (A)Lord also said to [a]me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a [b](B)stubborn people. 14 (C)Leave Me alone, that I may destroy them and (D)wipe out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’
15 “(E)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a cast metal image of a calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my two hands, and smashed them to pieces before your eyes! 18 (F)Then I fell down before the Lord (G)like the first time, for forty days and nights; (H)I neither ate bread nor drank water, (I)because of all your sin which you had committed by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For (J)I was afraid of the anger and the rage with which the Lord was angry with you so as to destroy you; (K)but the Lord listened to me that time as well. 20 The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 (L)And I took your [c]sinful thing which you had made, the calf, and burned it in the fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.
The Danger of Unbelief
12 (A)Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart [a]that falls away from (B)the living God. 13 But (C)encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the (D)deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ (E)if we keep the beginning of our [b](F)commitment firm until the end, 15 while it is said,
16 For who (H)provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, (I)did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, (J)whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear (K)that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were (L)disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of (M)unbelief.
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at (A)the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they (B)observed His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, because (C)He knew all people, 25 and because He did not need anyone to testify about mankind, (D)for He Himself knew what was in mankind.
The New Birth
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named (E)Nicodemus, a (F)ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to [a]Jesus at night and said to Him, “(G)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these [b](H)signs that You do unless (I)God is with him.” 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone (J)is born [c]again he cannot see (K)the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of (L)water and the Spirit, he cannot enter (M)the kingdom of God. 6 (N)That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born [d]again.’ 8 (O)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are (P)the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, (Q)we speak of what we know and (R)testify of what we have seen, and (S)you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 (T)No one has ascended into heaven, except (U)He who descended from heaven: (V)the Son of Man. 14 And just as (W)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must (X)the Son of Man (Y)be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who [e]believes will (Z)have eternal life in Him.
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