Book of Common Prayer
49 Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, for Thy word hath quickened me.
51 The proud have held me greatly in derision, yet have I not departed from Thy law.
52 I remembered Thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself.
53 Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake Thy law.
54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have remembered Thy name, O Lord, in the night and have kept Thy law.
56 This I had, because I kept Thy precepts.
57 Thou art my portion, O Lord; I have said that I would keep Thy words.
58 I entreated Thy favor with my whole heart; be merciful unto me according to Thy word.
59 I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies.
60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments.
61 The cords of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten Thy law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee, because of Thy righteous judgments.
63 I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy; teach me Thy statutes.
65 Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed Thy commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word.
68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me Thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in Thy law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes.
72 The law of Thy mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver.
49 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high, rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
4 I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at my heels shall compass me about?
6 They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches,
7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him
8 (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever),
9 that they should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
10 For he seeth that wise men die; likewise the fool and the brutish person perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man, though he be in honor, abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave away from their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul (and men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself),
19 he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
20 Man, though he is in honor but understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
53 The fool hath said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity; there is none that doeth good.
2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that understood, that had sought God.
3 Every one of them has turned back; they have altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge—those who eat up my people as they eat bread? They have not called upon God.
5 There they were in great fear, where no fear was; for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee; thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.
6 O that the salvation of Israel might come out of Zion! When God bringeth back His captive people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.
13 “If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spoke unto thee, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them,’
3 thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is proving you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him and cleave unto Him.
5 And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
6 “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend who is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers
7 (namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth),
8 thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him;
9 but thou shalt surely kill him. Thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die, because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
11 And all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
2 Receive us: we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
3 I speak this not to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts, to die and live with you.
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you; great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort; I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
5 For when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side: without were fightings, within were fears.
6 Nevertheless God, who comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
7 and not by his coming only, but also by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more.
8 For though I caused you sorrow with a letter, I do not now repent, though I did repent; for I perceive that the same epistle hath caused you sorrow, though it were but for a season.
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorrowful, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For ye were made sorrowful in a godly manner, that ye might receive injury from us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow is not to be repented of, but worketh repentance unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, when ye sorrowed in a godly manner: what earnest concern it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what requital! In all these things ye have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
12 Therefore, though I wrote unto you, I did not do so for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for his sake who suffered wrong, but that our concern for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.
13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort. Yea, we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
14 For if I have boasted anything to him of you, I am not ashamed, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found to be true.
15 And his inward affection is more abundant toward you whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.
16 I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
20 And when the Pharisees had demanded of Him when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God cometh not with outward show.
21 Neither shall they say, ‘Lo, it is here!’ or ‘Lo, it is there!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
22 And He said unto the disciples, “The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it.
23 And they shall say to you, ‘See, here!’ or ‘See, there!’ Go not after them, nor follow them.
24 For as the lightning that lighteneth one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in His day.
25 But first must He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “Even thus shall it be in the Day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 In that Day, he that shall be upon the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
32 Remember Lot’s wife.
33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”
37 And they answered and said unto Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said unto them, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
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