Book of Common Prayer
Zayin.
49
Remember [always] the word and promise to Your servant,
In which You have made me hope.
50
This is my comfort in my affliction,
That Your word has revived me and given me life.(A)
51
The arrogant utterly ridicule me,
Yet I do not turn away from Your law.
52
I have remembered [carefully] Your ancient ordinances, O Lord,
And I have taken comfort.
53
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
Who [a]reject Your law.
54
Your statutes are my songs
In the house of my pilgrimage.
55
O Lord, I remember Your name in the night,
And keep Your law.
56
This has become mine [as the gift of Your grace],
That I observe Your precepts [accepting them with loving obedience].
Heth.
57
The Lord is my portion;
I have promised to keep Your words.
58
I sought Your favor with all my heart;
Be merciful and gracious to me according to Your promise.
59
I considered my ways
And turned my feet to [follow and obey] Your testimonies.
60
I hurried and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
61
The cords of the wicked have encircled and ensnared me,
But 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 who [reverently] fear You,
And of those who keep and honor Your precepts.
64
The earth, O Lord, is full of Your lovingkindness and goodness;
Teach me Your statutes.
Teth.
65
You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your promise.
66
Teach me good judgment (discernment) and knowledge,
For I have believed and trusted and relied on Your commandments.
67
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep and honor Your word [with loving obedience].
68
You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
69
The arrogant have forged a lie against me,
But I will keep Your precepts with all my heart.
70
Their heart is insensitive like fat [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 may learn Your statutes.
72
The law from Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
The Folly of Trusting in Riches.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
49 Hear this, all peoples;
Listen carefully, all 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 and consent to a proverb;
On the lyre I will unfold my riddle.
5
Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the wickedness of those who would betray me surrounds me [on every side],
6
Even those who trust in and rely 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 his soul is too costly,
And he should cease trying forever—
9
So that he should live on eternally,
That he should never see the pit (grave) and undergo decay.
10
For he sees that even wise men die;
The fool and the stupid alike perish
And leave their wealth to others.(A)
11
Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever,
And their dwelling places to all generations;
They have named their lands after their own names [ignoring God].
12
But man, with all his [self] honor and pomp, will not endure;
He is like the beasts that perish.
13
This is the fate of those who are foolishly confident,
And of those after them who approve [and are influenced by] their words. Selah.
14
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead);
Death will be their shepherd;
And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form and beauty shall [a]be for Sheol to consume,
So that they have no dwelling [on earth].
15
But God will redeem my life from the power of Sheol,
For He will receive me. Selah.
16
Be not afraid when [an ungodly] man becomes 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 people praise you when you do well for yourself—
19
He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never again see the light.
20
A man [who is held] in honor,
Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.
Folly and Wickedness of Men.
To the Chief Musician; in a mournful strain. A skillful song, or didactic or reflective poem of David.
53 The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt and evil, and have committed repulsive injustice;
There is no one who does good.
2
God has looked down from heaven upon the children of men
To see if there is anyone who understands,
Who seeks after God [who requires Him, who longs for Him as essential to life].
3
Every one of them has turned aside and fallen away;
Together they have become filthy and corrupt;
There is no one who does good, no, not even one.(A)
4
Have workers of wickedness no knowledge or no understanding?
They eat up My people as though they ate bread
And have not called upon God.
5
There they were, in great terror and dread, where there had been no terror or dread;
For God scattered the bones of him who besieged 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 restores [the fortunes of] His people,
Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Darius Finds Cyrus’ Decree
6 Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was conducted in Babylon in the archives where the treasures [and records] were stored. 2 In Ecbatana in the fortress (palace) in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was recorded: “Memorandum— 3 In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the temple (house), the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be strongly laid, its height and its width each 60 cubits, 4 with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. 5 Also let the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought back to their [proper] places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’
6 “Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province [a]west of the [Euphrates] River, Shethar-bozenai and your associates, the officials who are west of the River, keep far away from there. 7 Leave the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. 8 Also, I issue a decree as to what you are to do for these Jewish elders for the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces west of the River, and that without delay. 9 Whatever is needed, including young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, according to the request of the priests at Jerusalem, let it all be given to them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer pleasing (sweet-smelling) sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. 11 I have also issued a decree that if there is any man who violates this edict, a beam of timber shall be pulled from his house [and set up]; then he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be turned into a refuse heap for this [violation]. 12 May the God who has caused His [b]Name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who attempts to alter this command, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; let it be carried out quickly and with due diligence.”
The Temple Completed and Dedicated
13 Then Tattenai, governor of the province west of the [Euphrates] River, with Shethar-bozenai and their associates carried out the decree with due diligence, just as King Darius had sent and commanded. 14 And the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building as commanded by the God of Israel and in accordance with the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the [c]sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16 And all Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the [former] exiles—celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and, as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats, according to the number of Israel’s tribes. 18 Then they appointed the priests to their divisions and the Levites in their orders for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
The Passover Observed
19 The [former] exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth [day] of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were [ceremonially] clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21 The Passover was eaten by the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob) who returned from exile and by all those who had separated themselves from the [ceremonial] uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them, in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. 22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had caused them to rejoice and had turned the heart of [d]the king of Assyria toward them, so that he encouraged them and strengthened their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
The Scroll with Seven Seals
5 I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, closed and sealed with seven seals.(A) 2 And I saw a strong angel announcing with a loud voice, “Who is worthy [having the authority and virtue] to open the scroll and to [a]break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth [in Hades, the realm of the dead] was able to open the scroll or look into it. 4 And I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it. 5 Then one of the [twenty-four] elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look closely, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome and conquered! He can open the scroll and [break] its seven seals.”(B)
6 And there [b]between the throne (with the four living creatures) and among the elders I saw a Lamb (Christ) standing, [bearing scars and wounds] as though it had been slain, with seven horns (complete power) and with seven eyes (complete knowledge), which are [c]the seven Spirits of God who have been sent [on duty] into all the earth.(C) 7 And He came and [d]took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb (Christ), each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of fragrant incense, which are the prayers of the saints (God’s people). 9 And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,
“Worthy and deserving are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.(D)
10
“You have made them to be a kingdom [of royal subjects] and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.”(E)
An Explanation
10 Then the disciples came to Him and asked, “Why do You speak to the crowds in parables?” 11 Jesus replied to them, “To you it has been granted to know the [a]mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.(A) 12 For whoever has [spiritual wisdom because he is receptive to God’s word], to him more will be given, and he will be richly and abundantly supplied; but whoever does not have [spiritual wisdom because he has devalued God’s word], even what he has will be taken away from him.(B) 13 This is the reason I speak to the crowds in parables: because while [having the power of] seeing they do not see, and while [having the power of] hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand and grasp [spiritual things]. 14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will hear and keep on hearing, but never understand;
And you will look and keep on looking, but never comprehend;
15
For this nation’s heart has grown hard,
And with their ears they hardly hear,
And they have [tightly] closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart, and turn [to Me]
And I would heal them [spiritually].’(C)
16 But blessed [spiritually aware, and favored by God] are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.(D) 17 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, many prophets and righteous men [who were honorable and in right standing with God] longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.