Book of Common Prayer
Zayin
49 Do not forget Your promise to Your servant;
through it You have given me hope.
50 This brings me solace in the midst of my troubles:
that Your word has revived me.
51 Those who are proud cruelly ridicule me,
but I keep to the steady path of Your teachings.
52 I have considered Your ancient rulings, O Eternal One,
and their memory brings me comfort.
53 Burning anger rises in me, has me in its grip
because the unrighteous abandon Your teachings.
54 As I journey through this life,
Your statutes are my song.
55 O Eternal One, through the night, I stop to recall Your name.
That’s how I live according to Your teachings.
56 This has become my practice:
to keep Your ordinances.
Heth
57 The Eternal One is mine. He’s all I need.
I have promised to keep Your words.
58 I sought Your blessing wholeheartedly.
Show grace to me as You promised.
59 I carefully charted out my paths
to align my steps with Your decrees.
60 I did not procrastinate and hurried
to follow Your commands.
61 The wicked have entangled me in their nets,
but I have not forgotten Your teaching.
62 In the middle of the night, I wake to thank You
because Your rulings are just and right.
63 I am a friend of anyone who fears You
and of those who follow Your precepts.
64 The earth is filled with Your unfailing love, O Eternal One;
teach me to observe what You require.
Teth
65 You have handled Your servant well,
O Eternal One, as You promised.
66 Help me to learn good judgment and knowledge
because I believe Your commandments.
67 Before I had trouble, I strayed from the true path, the path of righteousness,
but now I live according to Your word.
68 You are truly good, and Your acts are too;
teach me what You require.
69 The proud smear me with their lies;
I will keep Your instructions wholeheartedly.
70 Their hearts are dull and callous;
I am delighted to study Your teaching.
71 It is a good thing that I was humbled
because it helped me learn Your limits.
72 Your teachings are more valuable to me
than a fortune in gold and silver.
Psalm 49
For the worship leader. A song of the sons of Korah.
Some songs are described as “wisdom psalms.” Similar in theme to the short sayings of Proverbs or the reflective essays of Ecclesiastes, these songs offer practical advice to the worshiper of the one True God. In Psalm 49 we find a meditation on wealth and wisdom, but others describe daily activities (127–128; 133), encouragement when evil succeeds (37; 73), and the results of following God or wickedness (112). The purpose of these songs is to edify those who sing and those who hear, reminding them, and us, how to live life as God intends.
1 Listen up, everyone!
All you who reside in this world, give an ear!
2 Everyone—rich and poor,
young and old, wise and foolish, humble and mighty—
3 My mouth will overflow with wisdom;
the reflections of my heart will guide you to understand the nature of life.
4 I will tune my ear to the words of a proverb;
to the sounds of a harp, I will reveal my riddle.
5 Why should I be afraid when dark evils swirl about me,
when I am walking among the sin of evildoers—
6 Those who depend on their own fortunes,
who boast about their earthly riches?
7 One person can’t grant salvation to another
or make a payment to the True God for another.
8 Redeeming a life is costly;
no premium is enough, ever enough,
9 That one’s body might live on forever
and never fear the grave’s decay.
10 Everyone knows that even the wisest ones die,
perishing together with the foolish and the stupid.
For all die—beggars and kings, fools and wise men.
Their wealth remains behind for others.
11 Although they wish to dwell in fine houses forever,
their graves are their real resting places.
Their homes are for all future generations,
yet for a while they have named lands after themselves.
12 [No one, regardless of how rich or important, can live forever;
he is][a] just like the animals that perish and decay.
13 This is the destiny of those foolish souls who have faith only in themselves;
this will be the end of those happy to follow in their ways.
[pause][b]
14 The fate of fools is the grave, and just like sheep,
death will feast on them.
The righteous will rule over them at dawn,
their bodies, their outward forms, rotting in the grave
far away from their great mansions.
15 But God will reach into the grave and save my life from its power.
He will fetch me and take me into His eternal house.
[pause]
16 Do not be afraid of the rich and powerful
as their prestige and honor grow,
17 For they cannot take anything with them when they die.
Their fame and glory will not follow them into the grave.
18 During their lives, they seek every blessing and advantage
because others praise you when you’ve done well.
19 But they will soon join their ancestors, for all of time,
among the tombs of the faithless—a place of no light.
20 Anyone who is rich or important without understanding
is just like the animals that perish and decay.
Psalm 53
For the worship leader. A contemplative song[a] of David. A song for the dance.[b]
1 The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God.
Their souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice.
Not one of them does good.
2 From heaven the one True God examines the earth
to see if any understand the big picture,
if any seek to know the True God.
3 All have turned back to their wicked ways; they’ve become totally perverse.
Not one of them does good,
not even one.
4 Do the wicked relish their ignorance,
the wicked ones who consume My people as if they were bread
and fail to call upon the True God?
5 They trembled with great fear,
though they’d never been afraid before,
Because the True God ravaged the bones of those who rose against you.
You humiliated them because the True God spat them out.
6 Oh, that the liberation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When the True God reclaims His people,
let Jacob celebrate; let Israel rejoice.
3 Teacher: For everything that happens in life—there is a season, a right time for everything under heaven:
2 A time to be born, a time to die;
a time to plant, a time to collect the harvest;
3 A time to kill, a time to heal;
a time to tear down, a time to build up;
4 A time to cry, a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, a time to dance;
5 A time to scatter stones, a time to pile them up;
a time for a warm embrace, a time for keeping your distance;
6 A time to search, a time to give up as lost;
a time to keep, a time to throw out;
7 A time to tear apart, a time to bind together;
a time to be quiet, a time to speak up;
8 A time to love, a time to hate;
a time to go to war, a time to make peace.
9 What good comes to anyone who works so hard, all to gain a few possessions? 10 I have seen the kinds of tasks God has given each of us to do to keep one busy, 11 and I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God. 12 I know there is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good throughout our lives; 13 to eat and drink and see the good in all of our hard work is a gift from God. 14 I know everything God does endures for all time. Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be taken away from it. We humans can only stand in awe of all God has done. 15 What has been and what is to be—already is. And God holds accountable all the pursuits of humanity.[a]
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, there was a problem. I got in his face and exposed him in front of everyone. He was clearly wrong. 12 Here’s what was going on: before certain people from James arrived, Cephas used to share meals with the Gentile outsiders. And then, after they showed up, Cephas suddenly became aloof and distanced himself from the outsiders because he was afraid of those believers who thought circumcision was necessary.
Since Christianity arises from Judaism, some traveling preachers from Jerusalem think that Jewish believers must remain true to Jewish rules regarding circumcision, Sabbath observance, and kosher food. If they rigorously follow the food rules, then Jewish believers are not supposed to share a meal with “unclean” Gentile outsiders, as Peter has been doing in Antioch. They advocate that Gentile outsiders need to follow Jewish ways and practices to become full members of the family of God. Paul—and the Jerusalem council (Acts 15)—strongly reject this. The apostle argues that it is only the faithfulness of Jesus and the presence of the Spirit that serve as the foundation of the new covenant and as the entrance into the people of God.
13 The rest of the Jewish believers followed his lead, including Barnabas! Their hypocritical behavior was so obvious— 14 their actions were not at all consistent with everything the good news of our Lord represents. So I approached Cephas and told him in plain sight of everyone: “If you, a Jew, have lived like the Gentile outsiders and not like the Jews, then how can you turn around and urge the outsiders to start living like Jews?” 15 We are natural-born Jews, not sinners from the godless nations. 16 But we know that no one is made right with God by meeting the demands of the law. It is only through the faithfulness of Jesus[a] the Anointed that salvation is even possible. This is why we put faith in Jesus the Anointed: so we will be put right with God. It’s His faithfulness—not works prescribed by the law—that puts us in right standing with God because no one will be acquitted and declared “right” for doing what the law demands. 17 Even though we are seeking a right relationship with God through the Anointed, the fact is we have been found out. We are sinners. But does that mean the Anointed is the one responsible for our sins? Absolutely not! 18 If I reconstruct something I have worked so hard to destroy, then I prove myself a sinner.
So why all this personal history? Paul thinks it is useful because the people preaching the false gospel in Galatia claim to be operating under the authority of some of the followers of Jesus from Jerusalem, the mother church. Paul doesn’t have their pedigree and, according to them, doesn’t deserve the rank he claims as the emissary to the nations. They say that not only is Paul deficient, but his message is, too, because it doesn’t bring outsiders to follow the law. So Paul goes toe-to-toe with them, defending not only his call but also his message. The good news he preaches comes directly from the risen Jesus and is confirmed by the Jerusalem leaders.
19 The law has provided the means to end my dependence on it for righteousness, and so I died to the law. Now I have found the freedom to truly live for God. 20 I have been crucified with the Anointed One—I am no longer alive—but the Anointed is living in me; and whatever life I have left in this failing body I live by the faithfulness of God’s Son, the One who loves me and gave His body on the cross for me. 21 I can’t dismiss God’s grace, and I won’t. If being right with God depends on how we measure up to the law, then the Anointed’s sacrifice on the cross was the most tragic waste in all of history!
14 At this time, the ruler of Galilee was Herod Antipas. He began to hear reports about all that Jesus was doing.
2 Like the people of Nazareth, Herod wondered where Jesus’ power came from.
Herod (to his servants): He must be John the Baptist,[a] raised from the dead; thus his powers are at work in him.
Herod is concerned with the attention that John is receiving, but he doesn’t want to be seen killing a holy man. And now, Jesus is creating an even greater problem.
3-5 Herod’s brother Philip had married a woman named Herodias, who eventually married Herod. John denounced Herod’s marriage to her as adulterous. Herod was incensed (not to mention a little fearful) and wanted to kill John, but he knew the people considered John a prophet. Instead, he bound John and put him in jail.
6-7 There John sat until Herod’s birthday. On that night, Salome, Herodias’s daughter by Philip, came and danced for her stepfather and all his birthday guests. Herod so enjoyed her dancing that he vowed to give her whatever she wanted.
Salome (after whispering with her mother): 8 Bring me the head of John the Baptist,[b] displayed on a platter.
This is not what Herod expected—he imagined his stepdaughter would ask for a necklace or maybe a slave.
9 Herod still thought it unwise to kill John, but because he had made such a show of his promise—because he had actually sworn an oath and because the scene was playing out in front of the watchful eyes of so many guests—Herod felt bound to give his stepdaughter what she wanted. 10 And so he sent orders to the prison to have John beheaded, 11 and there was his head, displayed on a platter, given first to Salome and then passed on to her mother.
12 John’s disciples went to the prison, got John’s body, and buried him. Then they went to tell Jesus.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.