Book of Common Prayer
ז Zayin
49 Remember Your word to Your servant,
on which You have caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
for Your word revives me.
51 The proud ones have derided me,
yet I have not forsaken Your law.
52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
and I have comforted myself.
53 Fury has taken hold of me because of the wicked
who forsake Your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my temporary dwelling.
55 I have remembered Your name, O Lord, in the night,
and have kept Your law.
56 This is my blessing,
because I have kept Your precepts.
ח Heth
57 You are my portion, O Lord;
I have said that I would keep Your words.
58 I seek Your favor with my whole heart;
be merciful to me according to Your word.
59 I consider my ways,
and I turn my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I made haste, and I did not delay
to keep Your commandments.
61 The bands of the wicked have trapped me,
but I have not forgotten Your law.
62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
because of Your righteous judgments.
63 I am a companion of all who fear You,
and of those who keep Your precepts.
64 The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy;
teach me Your statutes.
ט Teth
65 You have been good to Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge,
for I have believed Your commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted I wandered,
but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good and do good;
teach me Your statutes.
69 The proud have spoken lies against me,
but I keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as thick as fat,
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 coins.
Psalm 49
For the Music Director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Hear this, all you people;
give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will expound my riddle with a harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
when the iniquity of my stalkers surrounds me?
6 Those who trust in their wealth,
and boast in the multitude of their riches,
7 none of them can by any means redeem the other,
nor give to God a ransom for anyone,
8 for the redemption of their souls is costly;
even so people cease to exist forever,
9 making efforts to live eternally,
and not see the pit.
10 For one sees that wise men die,
together the fool and the brute perish,
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves become their perpetual homes,
and their dwelling places to all generations,
though they call their lands after their own names.
12 But a man does not abide in honor;
mankind is like the beasts that come to ruin.
13 This is their way, it is their folly;
yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
and their form shall waste away in Sheol,
far from their dwelling.
15 But God shall redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
for He shall receive me. Selah
16 Do not fear when one is made rich,
when the glory of his house is increased,
17 for he takes nothing away in death;
his glory does not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he blesses his soul—
and men will praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 that soul will go to the generation of his fathers;
they will never see light.
20 A man in honor, and yet without understanding,
is like the animals that perish.
Psalm 53(A)
For the Music Director. According to Mahalath. A Contemplative Maskil of David.
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abhorrent injustice;
there is none who does good.
2 God looked down from heaven
on the children of men,
to see if there were any who have insight,
who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
they are altogether corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call on God?
5 There they were in fear,
where there was nothing to fear,
for God has scattered the bones of him who camps against you;
you have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad.
13 Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stubborn people. 14 Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
15 So I returned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and indeed, you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned aside out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
18 I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all your sins which you committed, doing what was wicked in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. 20 The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as small as dust. Then I threw the dust into the brook that descended down from the mountain.
12 Be attentive, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, and you depart from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firmly to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion.”[a]
16 For who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all of those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
Jesus Knows All Men
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and did not need anyone to bear witness of man, for He knew what was in man.
Jesus and Nicodemus
3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born again,[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can this be?”
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, but you do not know these things? 11 Truly, truly I say to you, We speak of what We know and bear witness of what We have seen, but you do not receive Our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven except He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but may have eternal life.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.