Book of Common Prayer
ז ZAYIN
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
50 This is my (A)comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.
51 The proud have me in great derision,
Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,
And have comforted myself.
53 (B)Indignation 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 pilgrimage.
55 (C)I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,
And I keep Your law.
56 This has become mine,
Because I kept Your precepts.
ח HETH
57 (D)You are my portion, O Lord;
I have said that I would keep Your words.
58 I entreated Your favor with my whole heart;
Be merciful to me according to Your word.
59 I (E)thought about my ways,
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
60 I made haste, and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.
61 The cords of the wicked have bound me,
But I have not forgotten Your law.
62 (F)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 (G)The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy;
Teach me Your statutes.
ט TETH
65 You have dealt well with Your servant,
O Lord, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good judgment and (H)knowledge,
For I believe Your commandments.
67 Before I was (I)afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
68 You are (J)good, and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
69 The proud have (K)forged[a] a lie against me,
But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart.
70 (L)Their heart is [b]as fat as grease,
But I delight in Your law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
72 (M)The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
The Confidence of the Foolish
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
49 Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my [a]dark saying on the harp.
5 Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
6 Those who (A)trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor (B)give to God a ransom for him—
8 For (C)the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
9 That he should continue to live eternally,
And (D)not [b]see the Pit.
10 For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
11 [c]Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They (E)call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not [d]remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.
13 This is the way of those who are (F)foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
(G)The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
(H)And their beauty shall be consumed in [e]the grave, far from their dwelling.
15 But God (I)will redeem my soul from the power of [f]the grave,
For He shall (J)receive me. Selah
16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives (K)he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see (L)light.[g]
20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
(M)Is like the beasts that perish.
Folly of the Godless, and the Restoration of Israel(A)
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A [a]Contemplation of David.
53 The (B)fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
(C)There is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who (D)seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
The Decree of Darius
6 Then King Darius issued a decree, (A)and a search was made in the [a]archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. 2 And at [b]Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of (B)Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written thus:
3 In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a (C)decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem: “Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices; and let the foundations of it be firmly laid, its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, 4 (D)with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the (E)expenses be paid from the king’s treasury. 5 Also let (F)the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place; and deposit them in the house of God”—
6 (G)Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, and Shethar-Boznai, and your companions the Persians who are beyond the River, keep yourselves far 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 on its site.
8 Moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this [c]house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered. 9 And whatever they need—young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given them day by day without fail, 10 (H)that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
11 Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it; (I)and let his house be made a refuse heap because of this. 12 And may the God who causes His (J)name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this [d]house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a decree; let it be done diligently.
The Temple Completed and Dedicated
13 Then Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions diligently did according to what King Darius had sent. 14 (K)So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the [e]command of (L)Cyrus, (M)Darius, and (N)Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. 16 Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated (O)the dedication of this [f]house of God with joy. 17 And they (P)offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God, one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 They assigned the priests to their (Q)divisions and the Levites to their (R)divisions, over the service of God in Jerusalem, (S)as it is written in the Book of Moses.
The Passover Celebrated(T)
19 [g]And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover (U)on the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites had (V)purified themselves; all of them were ritually clean. And they (W)slaughtered the Passover lambs for all the descendants of the captivity, for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 21 Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the (X)filth[h] of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. 22 And they kept the (Y)Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and (Z)turned the heart (AA)of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
The Lamb Takes the Scroll
5 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (A)a scroll written inside and on the back, (B)sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, (C)“Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.
4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open [a]and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, (D)the Lion of the tribe of (E)Judah, (F)the Root of David, has (G)prevailed to open the scroll (H)and [b]to loose its seven seals.”
6 And I looked, [c]and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood (I)a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and (J)seven eyes, which are (K)the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand (L)of Him who sat on the throne.
Worthy Is the Lamb
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, (M)the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the (N)prayers of the saints. 9 And (O)they sang a new song, saying:
The Purpose of Parables(A)
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because (B)it has been given to you to know the [a]mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 (C)For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
(D)‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not (E)perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears (F)are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have (G)closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I [b]should (H)heal them.’
16 But (I)blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you (J)that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.