Book of Common Prayer
49 Remember [fervently] the word and promise to Your servant, in which You have caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort and consolation in my affliction: that Your word has revived me and given me life.(A)
51 The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined in my interest in or turned aside from Your law.
52 When I have [earnestly] recalled Your ordinances from of old, O Lord, I have taken comfort.
53 Burning indignation, terror, and sadness seize upon me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have [earnestly] remembered Your name, O Lord, in the night, and I have observed Your law.
56 This I have had [as the gift of Your grace and as my reward]: that I have kept Your precepts [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
57 You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep Your words.
58 I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful and gracious to me according to Your promise.
59 I considered my ways; I turned my feet to [obey] Your testimonies.
60 I made haste and delayed not to keep Your commandments.
61 Though the cords of the wicked have enclosed and ensnared me, I have not forgotten Your law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous ordinances.
63 I am a companion of all those who fear, revere, and worship You, and of those who observe and give heed to Your precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy and loving-kindness; teach me Your statutes.
65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your promise.
66 Teach me good judgment, wise and right discernment, and knowledge, for I have believed (trusted, relied on, and clung to) Your commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
68 You are good and kind and do good; teach me Your statutes.
69 The arrogant and godless have put together a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their hearts are as fat as grease [their minds are dull and brutal], 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 pieces.
Psalm 49
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
2 Both low and high, rich and poor together:
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will submit and consent to a parable or proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle (my problem).
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of those who would supplant me surrounds me on every side,
6 Even of those who trust in and lean on their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the ransom of a life is too costly, and [the price one can pay] can never suffice—
9 So that he should live on forever and never see the pit (the grave) and corruption.
10 For he sees that even wise men die; the [self-confident] fool and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] and after their own names.
12 But man, with all his honor and pomp, does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident, yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the place of the dead); death shall be their shepherd. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their form and beauty shall be consumed, for Sheol shall be their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem me from the power of Sheol (the place of the dead); for He will receive me. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
16 Be not afraid when [an ungodly] one is made rich, when the wealth and glory of his house are increased;
17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he counts himself happy and prosperous, and though a man gets praise when he does well [for himself],
19 He will go to the generation of his fathers, who will nevermore see the light.
20 A man who is held in honor and understands not is like the beasts that perish.
Psalm 53
To the Chief Musician; in a mournful strain. A skillful song, or didactic or reflective poem of David.
1 The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt and evil are they, and doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood, who sought (inquired after and desperately required) God.
3 Every one of them has gone back [backslidden and fallen away]; they have altogether become filthy and corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.(A)
4 Have those who work evil no knowledge (no understanding)? They eat up My people as they eat bread; they do not call upon God.
5 There they are, in terror and dread, where there was [and had been] no terror and dread! 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 and deliverance of Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of His people, then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
29 And Job again took up his discussion and said,
30 But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.
16 And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.
17 My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.
19 [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.
21 You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.
22 You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living.
24 However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help?
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?
26 But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].
30 My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
19 But some Jews arrived there from Antioch and Iconium; and having persuaded the people and won them over, they stoned Paul and [[a]afterward] dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead.
20 But the disciples formed a circle about him, and he got up and went back into the town; and on the morrow he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 When they had preached the good news (Gospel) to that town and made disciples of many of the people, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch,
22 Establishing and strengthening the souls and the hearts of the disciples, urging and warning and encouraging them to stand firm in the faith, and [telling them] that it is through many hardships and tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
23 And when they had appointed and ordained elders for them in each church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in Whom they had come to believe [being full of joyful trust that He is the Christ, the Messiah].
24 Then they went through Pisidia and arrived at Pamphylia.
25 And when they had spoken the Word in Perga [the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God], they went down to Attalia;
26 And from there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had [first] been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had [now] completed.
27 Arriving there, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had accomplished with them and how He had opened to the Gentiles a door of faith [in Jesus as the Messiah, through Whom we obtain salvation in the kingdom of God].
28 And there they stayed no little time with the disciples.
11 Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill. He was of Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
2 This Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was [now] sick.
3 So the sisters sent to Him, saying, Lord, he whom You love [so well] is sick.
4 When Jesus received the message, He said, This sickness is not to end in death; but [on the contrary] it is to honor God and to promote His glory, that the Son of God may be glorified through (by) it.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [They were His dear friends, and He held them in loving esteem.]
6 Therefore [even] when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He still stayed two days longer in the same place where He was.
7 Then after that interval He said to His disciples, Let us go back again to Judea.
8 The disciples said to Him, Rabbi, the Jews only recently were intending and trying to stone You, and are You [thinking of] going back there again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? Anyone who walks about in the daytime does not stumble, because he sees [by] the light of this world.
10 But if anyone walks about in the night, he does stumble, because there is no light in him [the light is lacking to him].
11 He said these things, and then added, Our friend Lazarus is at rest and sleeping; but I am going there that I may awaken him out of his sleep.
12 The disciples answered, Lord, if he is sleeping, he will recover.
13 However, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He referred to falling into a refreshing and natural sleep.
14 So then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead,
15 And for your sake I am glad that I was not there; it will help you to believe (to trust and rely on Me). However, let us go to him.
16 Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go too, that we may die [be killed] along with Him.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation