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Ode for a Royal Wedding

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song.

45 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
    I address my verses to the king;
    my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

You are the fairest of the sons of men;
    grace is poured upon your lips;
    therefore God has blessed you for ever.
Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one,
    in your glory and majesty!

In your majesty ride forth victoriously
    for the cause of truth and to defend[a] the right;
    let your right hand teach you dread deeds!
Your arrows are sharp
    in the heart of the king’s enemies;
    the peoples fall under you.

Your divine throne[b] endures for ever and ever.
    Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity;
    you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness above your fellows;
    your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
    daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
    at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, O daughter, consider, and incline your ear;
    forget your people and your father’s house;
11     and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him;
12     the people[c] of Tyre will sue your favor with gifts,
    the richest of the people 13 with all kinds of wealth.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;[d]
14     in many-colored robes she is led to the king,
    with her virgin companions, her escort,[e] in her train.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
    as they enter the palace of the king.

16 Instead of your fathers shall be your sons;
    you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
    therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 45:4 Cn: Heb and the meekness of
  2. Psalm 45:6 Or Your throne is a throne of God, or Thy throne, O God
  3. Psalm 45:12 Heb daughter
  4. Psalm 45:13 Or people. All glorious is the princess within, gold embroidery is her clothing
  5. Psalm 45:14 Heb those brought to you

The Destiny of the Righteous

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be an affliction,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of men they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them for ever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his elect,
and he watches over his holy ones.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Wisdom 3:9 The text of this line is uncertain, and it is omitted here by some ancient authorities. Compare 4.15

The Supremacy of Christ

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born[a] of all creation; 16 for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he[b] might be pre-eminent. 19 For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, 23 provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

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Footnotes

  1. 1.15 first-born: Born of the Father before all ages. The reference here is to the divine person of the Word; see verse 16.
  2. 1.18 His human nature.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

12 In these days he went out into the hills to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles; 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Teaches and Heals

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; 18 and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all.

Blessings and Woes

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:[a]

“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

24 “But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

25 “Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.

“Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

26 “Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

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Footnotes

  1. 6.20-49 Luke’s discourse is shorter than that of Matthew because it does not contain Matthew’s additional material collected from other occasions, or his details that would interest only Jews.

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