Book of Common Prayer
Zayin
49 Remember your word to your servant,
upon which you have caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my misery:
that your word[a] preserves my life.
51 The arrogant utterly deride me;
I have not turned aside from your law.
52 I remember your ordinances of old, O Yahweh,
and I take comfort.
53 Rage seizes me because of the wicked,
those who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O Yahweh,
and I heed your law.
56 This has been mine,
that I have kept your precepts.
Heth
57 Yahweh is my portion;
I intend to heed your words.
58 I seek your favor[b] with my whole heart;
be gracious to me according to your word.[c]
59 I think about my ways,
and turn my feet to your testimonies.
60 I hurry and do not delay
to heed your commands.
61 The cords of the wicked surround me,
but I do not forget your law.
62 In the middle of the night I rise to give you thanks,
because of your righteous ordinances.
63 I am a companion of all who fear you
and heed your precepts.
64 The earth, O Yahweh, is full of your loyal love.
Teach me your statutes.
Teth
65 You have dealt well with your servant,
O Yahweh, according to your word.
66 Teach me good discernment and knowledge,
for I believe your commands.
67 Before I was afflicted, I was going astray,
but now I heed your word.
68 You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
69 The arrogant smear me with lies;[d]
I keep your precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is insensitive like fat;[e]
As for me, I take delight in your law.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,
so that I might learn your statutes.
72 The law of your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver coins.
Wealth and the Fate of the Wicked
For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]
49 Hear this, all you peoples;
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 proverb;
I will propound[b] my riddle on a lyre.
5 Why should I fear in times of calamity,[c]
when iniquity surrounds me at my heels,
6 those who trust their wealth
and boast about the abundance of their riches?
7 Surely a man cannot redeem a brother.
He cannot give to God his ransom
8 (since[d] the redemption price for their life is costly
and it always fails),
9 so that he may stay alive forever
and not see the pit.
10 For he sees that the wise die,
together with the fool and brute they perish,
and leave their wealth to the next generation.
11 Within them they think their houses are forever,
their dwelling places from generation to generation.
They name[e] their lands by their own names.
12 But man cannot continue in his pomp.
He is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the journey[f] of those who have foolish confidence,
and those after them who accept their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are destined to Sheol;
death will shepherd them.
But the upright will rule over them in the morning,
and their forms will be for Sheol to consume,
far from his lofty abode.
15 Surely God will ransom my life
from the power[g] of Sheol,
because he will receive me. Selah
16 Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the wealth[h] of his house increases,
17 because when he dies he will not take away any of it.
His wealth will not follow down after him.
18 Though he congratulated his soul while he was living
—and people will praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 it[i] will go to the generation of his fathers.
Never will they see light.
20 Humankind in its pomp, but does not understand,
is like the beasts that perish.
The Folly of the Godless and Salvation for Israel
For the music director, according to Mahalath.
A maskil of David.[a]
53 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt and they have done abominable iniquity.
There is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind
to see whether there is one who has insight,
one who seeks God.
3 All of them[b] have turned back.
They are altogether corrupt.
There is none who does good;
there is not even one.
4 Do not evildoers know,
they who eat my people as though they were eating bread?
They do not call on God.
5 There they are very fearful[c]
where no fear had been,
because God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you.
You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that from Zion[d] would come salvation for Israel!
When God returns the fortunes[e] of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Command to Resume Travel
33 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ 2 And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites,[a] the Amorites,[b] and the Hittites[c] and the Perizzites,[d] the Hivites,[e] and the Jebusites,[f] 3 Go to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.” 4 And the people heard this troubling[g] word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.
5 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites,[h] ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if one moment I were to go up among you, I would destroy you. And now take down your ornaments from on you, and I will decide[i] what I will do to you.” 6 And the Israelites[j] stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.
The Tent outside the Camp
7 And Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp, and he called it the tent of assembly, and[k] all seeking Yahweh would go out to the tent of assembly, which was outside the camp. 8 And[l] at the going out of Moses to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the opening of his tent, and gaze after Moses until his entering the tent. 9 And[m] at the entering of Moses into the tent the column of cloud would descend and stand at the opening of the tent, and he would speak with Moses. 10 And all the people would see the column of cloud standing at the opening of the tent, and all the people would rise and bow in worship, each at the opening of his tent. 11 And Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his neighbor. And he would return to the camp, and his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the middle of the tent.
Presence and Glory
12 And Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you are saying to me, ‘Take this people up.’ But you have not let me know whom you will send with me, and you yourself have said, ‘I know you by name, and you also have found favor in my eyes.’ 13 And now if I have found favor in your eyes, make known to me, please, your way, and so I may know you so that I can find favor in your eyes. And see that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence is not going, do not bring us up from here. 16 And by what will it be known then that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us? And so we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the ground.”
17 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Also I will do this thing that you have spoken, because you have found favor in my eyes and I have known you by name.”
18 And he said, “Please show me your glory.”
19 And he said, “I myself will cause all my goodness to pass over before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” 20 But he said, “You are not able to see my face, because a human will not see me and live.” 21 And Yahweh said, “There is a place with me, and you will stand on the rock. 22 And[n] when my glory passes over, I will put you in the rock’s crevice, and I will cover you with my hand until I pass over. 23 And I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face will not be visible.”
Paul’s Approach to Ministry in Thessalonica
2 For you yourselves know, brothers, our reception with you, that it was not in vain, 2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, just as you know, we had the courage in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 3 For our exhortation is not from error or from impurity or with deceit, 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, thus we speak, not as pleasing people but God, who examines our hearts. 5 For never[a] did we come with a word of flattery, just as you know, nor with a pretext of greediness (God is witness), 6 nor seeking glory from people, neither from you nor from others. 7 Although we could have insisted on our own importance[b][c] as apostles of Christ, yet we became infants in your midst, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 8 Longing for you in this way, we determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own souls, because you had become dear to us.
9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and hardship: working by night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we became to you who believe, 11 just as you know how we treated each one of you, like a father his own children, 12 exhorting and consoling you and insisting that you live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you to his own kingdom and glory.
The Sermon on the Mount: The Law and the Prophets Fulfilled
17 “Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one tiny letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all takes place. 19 Therefore whoever abolishes one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps them and teaches them, this person will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.
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