Book of Common Prayer
ZAIN
49 Remember the Promise made to Your servant, wherein You have caused me to trust.
50 It is my comfort in my trouble. Your Promise has quickened me.
51 The proud deride me exceedingly, yet have I not turned away from Your Law.
52 I remembered Your Judgments of old, O LORD, and have been comforted.
53 Burning indignation has come upon me because of the wicked, who forsake Your Law.
54 Your Statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have remembered Your Name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept Your Law.
56 This is because I kept Your Precepts.
CHETH
57 O LORD, Who are my portion, I have determined to keep Your Words.
58 I made my supplication in Your presence with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to Your Promise.
59 I have considered my ways and turned my feet to Your Testimonies.
60 I moved quickly and did not delay in keeping Your Commandments.
61 Bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten Your Law.
62 At midnight will I rise and give thanks to You because of Your righteous Judgments.
63 I am companion of all those who fear You and keep Your Precepts.
64 O LORD, the Earth is full of Your mercy, teach me Your Statutes.
TETH
65 O LORD, You have dealt graciously with Your servant, according to Your Word.
66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed Your Commandments.
67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your Word.
68 You are good and gracious; teach me Your Statutes.
69 The proud have imagined a lie against me, but I will keep Your Precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is fat as grease; but my delight is in Your Law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your Statutes.
72 The Law of Your Mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver.
49 Hear this, all you people! Give ear, all you who dwell in the world,
2 low as well as high, both rich and poor!
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart is of knowledge.
4 I will incline my ear to a parable and utter my high saying upon the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the evil days, when the iniquity at my heels shall surround me?
6 They trust in their goods and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7 Yet a man can by no means redeem his brother. He cannot give his ransom to God,
8 (so precious is the redemption of their souls, and ceases forever)
9 so that he may yet live forever and not see the grave.
10 For he sees that wise men die; and also that the ignorant and foolish perish and leave their riches for others.
11 They think their houses and their habitations shall continue forever, from generation to generation. And they call their lands by their names.
12 But man shall not continue in honor. He is like the beasts that die.
13 This is the way of those who utter foolishness. Their posterity delights in their talk. Selah.
14 Like sheep they lie in the grave. Death devours them. And the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning. For their beauty shall be consumed, from their house to grave.
15 But God shall deliver my soul from the power of the grave; for He will receive me. Selah.
16 Do not be afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his House is increased.
17 For he shall take nothing away when he dies, nor shall his pomp descend after him.
18 For while he lived, he rejoiced over himself (and men will praise you when you make much of yourself).
19 He shall enter into the generation of his fathers. They shall not live forever.
20 An honored man who does not understand; he is like beasts that perish. A Psalm of Asaph.
53 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They have corrupted and done abominable wickedness. There is no one that does good.
2 God looked down from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who would understand and seek God.
3 Everyone has gone back. They are altogether corrupt. There is no one who does good; no, not one.
4 Do not the workers of iniquity know that they eat up my people as they eat bread? They do not call upon God.
5 There they were in fear where no fear was. For God has scattered the bones of him who besieged you. You have put them to confusion because God has cast them off.
6 Oh, give salvation to Israel out of Zion! When God turns the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice; and Israel shall be glad. To him who excels on Neginoth: A Psalm of David, to give instruction, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, “Is not David hidden among us?”
49 “Hear Me, O isles! And listen, you people from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb and made mention of My Name from My mother’s belly.
2 “And He has made My Mouth like a sharp sword. Under the shadow of His Hand has He hidden Me and made Me a chosen Shaft, hidden Me in His quiver,
3 “and said to Me, ‘You are My Servant, Israel, for I will be glorious in You.’
4 “And I said, ‘I have labored in vain. I have spent My strength in vain and for nothing. But My judgment is with the LORD, and My work with My God.’
5 “‘And now,’ says the LORD (Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, so that I may bring Jacob back to him, though Israel is not gathered. I shall still be glorious in the eyes of the LORD. And My God shall be My strength),
6 “indeed He said, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel. I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, so that You may be My Salvation to the ends of the world.’”
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him Who is despised in soul, to a nation that is abhorred, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise. And princes shall worship because of the LORD, Who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, Who has chosen You.”
8 Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time have I heard You. And on a Day of Salvation have I helped You. And I will preserve You, and will give You as a Covenant to the people, so that You may raise up the Earth and obtain the inheritance of the desolate heritages,
9 “so that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They shall feed along the ways. And their pastures shall be on all the tops of the hills.
10 “They shall not be hungry, nor shall they be thirsty, nor shall the heat strike them, nor the Sun. For He Who has compassion on them, shall lead them. Even by the springs of water shall He drive them.
11 “And I will make all My mountains as a way. And My paths shall be exalted.
12 “Behold, these shall come from far away. And lo, these from the North and from the West, and these from the land of Sinim.”
11 And when Peter had come to Antioch, I opposed him to his face. For he was to be condemned.
12 For before certain ones came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they had come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews likewise played the hypocrites with him. So much so that Barnabas was led away with them by their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they did not go the right way to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles, and not like the Jews, why constrain the Gentiles to do like the Jews?
15 “We, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,
16 “know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we, I say, have believed in Jesus Christ; that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law. Because, by the works of the Law, no flesh shall be justified.
17 “If then, while we seek to be made righteous by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ therefore the minister of sin? Absolutely not!
18 “For if I build again the things that I have destroyed, I make myself a trespasser.
19 “For I, through the Law, am dead to the Law, that I might live to God.
20 “I am crucified with Christ, but I live; yet not I anymore, but Christ lives in me. And, in that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, Who has loved me and given Himself for me.
21 “I do not abrogate the grace of God. For if righteousness is by the Law, then Christ died for nothing.”
13 And they cast out many demons. And they anointed many who were sick with oil, and healed them.
14 Then King Herod heard of Him (for His Name was now well-known) and said, “John Baptist has risen again from the dead, and therefore great works are done by him.”
15 Others said, “It is Elijah,” and some said, “It is a Prophet like one of those Prophets.”
16 So when Herod heard it, he said, “It is John, whom I beheaded. He is risen from the dead.”
17 For Herod himself had taken John and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, who was his brother Philip’s wife. Because he had married her.
18 For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19 Therefore Herodias conspired against him and would have killed him, but she could not.
20 For Herod feared John (knowing that he was a just and holy man) and respected him. And when he heard him, he did so gladly.
21 But the opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, made a banquet to his princes and captains and chief leaders of Galilee.
22 And the daughter of that same Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod, and those who sat at table together. And the King said to the maid, “Ask of me what you will and I will give it you.”
23 And he swore to her, “Whatever you shall ask of me I will give it to you, even up to the half of my kingdom.”
24 So she went forth and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “John Baptist’s head.”
25 Then she quickly returned to the King and asked, saying, “I would that you should give me, even now, on a platter, the head of John Baptist.”
26 Then the King was very sorry. Yet for his oath’s sake and for their sakes of those who sat at table with him, he would not refuse her.
27 And immediately the king sent the hangman and gave charge that John Baptist’s head should be brought in. So, he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head on a platter and gave it to the maid. And the maid gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard it, they came and took up his body and put it in a tomb.
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