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 There is a right time for everything:

⁹ What does one really get from hard work? ¹⁰ I have thought about this in connection with all the various kinds of work God has given to mankind. ¹¹ Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I conclude that, first, there is nothing better for a man than to be happy and to enjoy himself as long as he can; ¹³ and second, that he should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of his labors, for these are gifts from God.

¹⁴ And I know this, that whatever God does is final—nothing can be added or taken from it; God’s purpose in this is that man should fear the all-powerful God.^[a]

¹⁵ Whatever is has been long ago; and whatever is going to be has been before; God brings to pass again what was in the distant past and disappeared.^[b]

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch I had to oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what he was doing, for it was very wrong. ¹² For when he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians who don’t bother with circumcision and the many other Jewish laws.^[a] But afterwards, when some Jewish friends of James came, he wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore because he was afraid of what these Jewish legalists, who insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation, would say; ¹³ and then all the other Jewish Christians and even Barnabas became hypocrites too, following Peter’s example, though they certainly knew better. ¹⁴ When I saw what was happening and that they weren’t being honest about what they really believed and weren’t following the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Though you are a Jew by birth, you have long since discarded the Jewish laws; so why, all of a sudden, are you trying to make these Gentiles obey them? ¹⁵ You and I are Jews by birth, not mere Gentile sinners, ¹⁶ and yet we Jewish Christians know very well that we cannot become right with God by obeying our Jewish laws but only by faith in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And so we, too, have trusted Jesus Christ, that we might be accepted by God because of faith—and not because we have obeyed the Jewish laws. For no one will ever be saved by obeying them.”

¹⁷ But what if we trust Christ to save us and then find that we are wrong and that we cannot be saved without being circumcised and obeying all the other Jewish laws? Wouldn’t we need to say that faith in Christ had ruined us? God forbid that anyone should dare to think such things about our Lord. ¹⁸ Rather, we are sinners if we start rebuilding the old systems I have been destroying of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws, ¹⁹ for it was through reading the Scripture that I came to realize that I could never find God’s favor by trying—and failing—to obey the laws. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.^[b]

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I am not one of those who treats Christ’s death as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping Jewish laws, then there was no need for Christ to die.

14 When King Herod^[a] heard about Jesus, ² he said to his men, “This must be John the Baptist, come back to life again. That is why he can do these miracles.” ³ For Herod had arrested John and chained him in prison at the demand of^[b] his wife Herodias, his brother Philip’s ex-wife, ⁴ because John had told him it was wrong for him to marry her. ⁵ He would have killed John but was afraid of a riot, for all the people believed John was a prophet.

⁶ But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, ⁷ so he vowed to give her anything she wanted. ⁸ Consequently, at her mother’s urging, the girl asked for John the Baptist’s head on a tray.

⁹ The king was grieved, but because of his oath, and because he didn’t want to back down in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders.

¹⁰ So John was beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.

¹² Then John’s disciples came for his body and buried it, and came to tell Jesus what had happened.