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.
The Decree of Darius
6 Then Darius the king issued a decree and a search was made in the house of records, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. 2 At Ecbatana, in the provincial palace of the Medes, a scroll was found, and in it the following record was written:
3 “In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God at Jerusalem:
“Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be strongly laid, to a height of sixty cubits,[a] and a width of sixty cubits. 4 Let it consist of three rows of great stones and a row of new timber, and let the expenses be paid from the king’s treasury. 5 Also, let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be returned and brought back to their places in the temple in Jerusalem. Put them in the house of God.
6 “Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, and Shethar-Bozenai, along with your colleagues, the officials who are in the province Beyond the River, stay far away from there. 7 Let the work of this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place.
8 “Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God:
“The cost is to be paid to these men, in full and without delay, from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province Beyond the River. 9 Whatever they need—whether young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings to the God of heaven, or wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests in Jerusalem—let it be given them daily without fail, 10 so that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven, as well as pray for the life of the king and of his sons.
11 “Also, I have issued a decree that whoever shall violate this word, the timber will be pulled down from his house and arranged so that he may be hanged on it. Thus shall his house be made a dunghill for this. 12 May the God who has caused His name to dwell there overthrow all kings and people who stretch forth their hand to violate or destroy this house of God in Jerusalem.
“I, Darius, have issued the decree; so let it be done diligently.”
Completion and Dedication of the Temple
13 In compliance, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-Bozenai, and their companions speedily accomplished what Darius the king had decreed. 14 The rebuilding by the elders of the Jews prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built, and finished it, according to the decree of the God of Israel and according to the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This temple was finished on the third day of the month Adar during the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
16 The children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the descendants of the captivity kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 At the dedication of this house of God, they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and as a sin offering for all Israel, they offered twelve goats (according to the number of the tribes of Israel). 18 They appointed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their orders for the service of God in Jerusalem, as it had been written in the Book of Moses.
The Passover
19 The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 Because the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. So, they slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves. 21 Then they ate together, both the children of Israel who had come out of captivity and all those who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land, in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. 22 With joy they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days because the Lord had made them joyful. He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them and strengthened their hands in the work on the house of God, who is the God of Israel.
The Scroll and the Lamb
5 Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look in it. 4 I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look in it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
6 I saw a Lamb in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
and to open its seals;
for You were slain,
and have redeemed us to God by Your blood
out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 and have made us kings and priests unto our God;
and we shall reign on the earth.”
The Purpose of the Parables(A)
10 The disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For to him who has, will more be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables:
‘Because they look, but do not see.
And they listen, but they do not hear, neither do they understand.’[a]
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:
‘By hearing, you will hear and shall not understand,
and seeing, you will see and shall not perceive;[b]
15 for this people’s heart has grown dull.
Their ears have become hard of hearing,
and they have closed their eyes,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts,
and turn, and I should heal them.’[c]
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.