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.
God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance
8 The Lord sends a [a]message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.
9 And all the people know it,
That is, (A)Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in (B)arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will (C)rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the Lord raises superior adversaries against them from (D)Rezin
And provokes their enemies,
12 The Arameans from the east and the (E)Philistines from the west;
And they (F)devour Israel with [b]gaping jaws.
(G)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
13 Yet the people (H)do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they (I)seek the Lord of armies.
14 So the Lord cuts off (J)head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush (K)in a single day.
15 The head is (L)the elder and esteemed man,
And the prophet who teaches (M)falsehood is the tail.
16 (N)For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are [c]confused.
17 Therefore the Lord does (O)not rejoice over their young men,
(P)Nor does He have compassion on their [d]orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is (Q)godless and an (R)evildoer,
And every (S)mouth is speaking foolishness.
(T)In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away,
And His hand is still stretched out.
The Appearance of False Prophets
2 But (A)false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be (B)false teachers (C)among you, who will (D)secretly introduce (E)destructive heresies, even (F)denying the (G)Master who (H)bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their (I)indecent behavior, and because of them (J)the way of the truth will be (K)maligned; 3 and in their (L)greed they will (M)exploit you with (N)false words; (O)their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For (P)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into [a]hell and (Q)committed them to [b]pits of darkness, held for judgment; 5 and did not spare (R)the ancient world, but protected (S)Noah, a [c]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a (T)flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He (U)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an (V)example [d]of what is coming for the (W)ungodly; 7 and if He (X)rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the (Y)perverted conduct of [e](Z)unscrupulous people 8 (for by what he saw and heard that (AA)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 (AB)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from [f]a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the (AC)day of judgment, 10 and especially those who [g](AD)indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and (AE)despise [h]authority.
[i]Reckless, (AF)self-centered, they (AG)speak abusively of angelic [j]majesties without trembling,
Preaching of John the Baptist
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, (A)the Son of God,
2 (B)just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“(C)Behold, I am sending My messenger [a]before You,
Who will prepare Your way;
3 (D)The voice of one calling [b]out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, [c](E)preaching a baptism of repentance for the (F)forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore (G)a leather belt around his waist, and [d]his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was [e]preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. 8 I baptized you [f]with water; but He will baptize you [g]with the Holy Spirit.”
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