Book of Common Prayer
49-50 Never forget your promises to me your servant, for they are my only hope. They give me strength in all my troubles; how they refresh and revive me! 51 Proud men hold me in contempt for obedience to God, but I stand unmoved. 52 From my earliest youth I have tried to obey you; your Word has been my comfort.
53 I am very angry with those who spurn your commands. 54 For these laws of yours have been my source of joy and singing through all these years of my earthly pilgrimage. 55 I obey them even at night and keep my thoughts, O Lord, on you. 56 What a blessing this has been to me—to constantly obey.
57 Jehovah is mine! And I promise to obey! 58 With all my heart I want your blessings. Be merciful just as you promised. 59-60 I thought about the wrong direction in which I was headed, and turned around and came running back to you. 61 Evil men have tried to drag me into sin, but I am firmly anchored to your laws.
62 At midnight I will rise to give my thanks to you for your good laws. 63 Anyone is my brother who fears and trusts the Lord and obeys him. 64 O Lord, the earth is full of your loving-kindness! Teach me your good paths.
65 Lord, I am overflowing with your blessings, just as you promised. 66 Now teach me good judgment as well as knowledge. For your laws are my guide. 67 I used to wander off until you punished me; now I closely follow all you say. 68 You are good and do only good; make me follow your lead.
69 Proud men have made up lies about me, but the truth is that I obey your laws with all my heart. 70 Their minds are dull and stupid, but I have sense enough to follow you.
71-72 The punishment you gave me was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws. They are more valuable to me than millions in silver and gold!
49 1-2 Listen, everyone! High and low, rich and poor, all around the world—listen to my words, 3 for they are wise and filled with insight.
4 I will tell in song accompanied by harps the answer to one of life’s most perplexing problems:
5 There is no need to fear when times of trouble come, even though surrounded by enemies! 6 They trust in their wealth and boast about how rich they are, 7 yet not one of them, though rich as kings, can ransom his own brother from the penalty of sin! For God’s forgiveness does not come that way.[a] 8-9 For a soul is far too precious to be ransomed by mere earthly wealth. There is not enough of it in all the earth to buy eternal life for just one soul, to keep it out of hell.[b]
10 Rich man! Proud man! Wise man! You must die like all the rest! You have no greater lease on life than foolish, stupid men. You must leave your wealth to others. 11 You name your estates after yourselves as though your lands could be forever yours and you could live on them eternally. 12 But man with all his pomp must die like any animal. 13 Such is the folly of these men, though after they die they will be quoted as having great wisdom.
14 Death is the shepherd of all mankind. And “in the morning” those who are evil will be the slaves of those who are good. For the power of their wealth is gone when they die;[c] they cannot take it with them.
15 But as for me, God will redeem my soul from the power of death, for he will receive me. 16 So do not be dismayed when evil men grow rich and build their lovely homes. 17 For when they die, they carry nothing with them! Their honors will not follow them. 18 Though a man calls himself happy all through his life—and the world loudly applauds success— 19 yet in the end he dies like everyone else and enters eternal darkness.
20 For man with all his pomp[d] must die like any animal.
53 Only a fool would say to himself, “There is no God.” And why does he say it?[a] Because of his wicked heart, his dark and evil deeds. His life is corroded with sin.
2 God looks down from heaven, searching among all mankind to see if there is a single one who does right and really seeks for God. 3 But all have turned their backs on him; they are filthy with sin—corrupt and rotten through and through. Not one is good, not one! 4 How can this be? Can’t they understand anything? For they devour my people like bread and refuse to come to God. 5 But soon unheard-of terror will fall on them. God will scatter the bones of these, your enemies. They are doomed, for God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that God would come from Zion now and save Israel! Only when the Lord himself restores them can they ever be really happy again.
3 Then the Angel showed me (in my vision) Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord; and Satan was there too, at the Angel’s right hand, accusing Joshua of many things.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I reject your accusations, Satan;[a] yes, I, the Lord, for I have decided to be merciful to Jerusalem—I rebuke you. I have decreed mercy to Joshua and his nation; they are like a burning stick pulled out of the fire.”
3 Joshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood before the Angel of the Lord.
4 Then the Angel said to the others standing there, “Remove his filthy clothing.” And turning to Joshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”
5-6 Then I said, “Please, could he also have a clean turban on his head?” So they gave him one.
Then the Angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Joshua and said, 7 “The Lord Almighty declares: ‘If you will follow the paths I set for you and do all I tell you to, then I will put you in charge of my Temple, to keep it holy; and I will let you walk in and out of my presence with these angels. 8 Listen to me, O Joshua the High Priest, and all you other priests, you are illustrations of the good things to come. Don’t you see?—Joshua represents my servant the Branch[b] whom I will send. 9 He will be the Foundation Stone of the Temple that Joshua is standing beside, and I will engrave this inscription on it seven times:[c] I will remove the sins of this land in a single day. 10 And after that,’ the Lord Almighty declares, ‘you will all live in peace and prosperity, and each of you will own a home of your own where you can invite your neighbors.’”
4 Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before, which sounded like a mighty trumpet blast, spoke to me and said, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen in the future!”
2 And instantly I was in spirit there in heaven and saw—oh, the glory of it!—a throne and someone sitting on it! 3 Great bursts of light flashed forth from him as from a glittering diamond or from a shining ruby, and a rainbow glowing like an emerald encircled his throne. 4 Twenty-four smaller thrones surrounded his, with twenty-four Elders sitting on them; all were clothed in white, with golden crowns upon their heads. 5 Lightning and thunder issued from the throne, and there were voices in the thunder. Directly in front of his throne were seven lighted lamps representing the sevenfold Spirit of God.[a] 6 Spread out before it was a shiny crystal sea. Four Living Beings, dotted front and back with eyes, stood at the throne’s four sides. 7 The first of these Living Beings was in the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had the face of a man; and the fourth, the form of an eagle, with wings spread out as though in flight. 8 Each of these Living Beings had six wings, and the central sections of their wings were covered with eyes. Day after day and night after night they kept on saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty—the one who was, and is, and is to come.”
45 “Are you a wise and faithful servant of the Lord? Have I given you the task of managing my household, to feed my children day by day? 46 Blessings on you if I return and find you faithfully doing your work. 47 I will put such faithful ones in charge of everything I own!
48 “But if you are evil and say to yourself, ‘My Lord won’t be coming for a while,’ 49 and begin oppressing your fellow servants, partying and getting drunk, 50 your Lord will arrive unannounced and unexpected, 51 and severely whip you and send you off to the judgment of the hypocrites; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.