Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45
For the choir director; according to shoshannim;[a] a maskil by Korah’s descendants; a love song.
1 My heart is overflowing with good news.
I will direct my song to the king.
My tongue is a pen for a skillful writer.
2 You are the most handsome of Adam’s descendants.
Grace is poured on your lips.
That is why Elohim has blessed you forever.
3 O warrior, strap your sword to your side
with your splendor and majesty.
4 Ride on victoriously in your majesty
for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand teach you awe-inspiring things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies.
Nations fall beneath you.
6 Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you,
rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.
8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From ivory palaces the music of stringed instruments delights you.
9 The daughters of kings are among your noble ladies.
The queen takes her place at your right hand
and wears gold from Ophir.
10 Listen, daughter! Look closely!
Turn your ear toward me.
Forget your people, and forget your father’s house.
11 The king longs for your beauty.
He is your Lord.
Worship him.
12 The people of Tyre, the richest people,
want to win your favor with a gift.
13 The daughter of the king is glorious inside the palace.
Her dress is embroidered with gold.
14 Wearing a colorful gown, she is brought to the king.
Her bridesmaids follow her.
They will be brought to you.
15 With joy and delight they are brought in.
They enter the palace of the king.
16 Your sons will take the place of your father.
You will make them princes over the whole earth.
17 I will cause your name to be remembered throughout every generation.
That is why the nations will give thanks to you forever and ever.
Psalm 47
For the choir director; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
1 Clap your hands, all you people.
Shout to Elohim with a loud, joyful song.
2 We must fear Yahweh, Elyon.
He is the great Melek of the whole earth.
3 He brings people under our authority
and puts nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah
5 Elohim has gone up with a joyful shout.
Yahweh has gone up with the sound of a ram’s horn.
6 Make music to praise Elohim.
Play music for him!
Make music to praise our Melek.
Play music for him!
7 Elohim is the Melek of the whole earth.
Make your best music for him!
8 Elohim rules the nations.
Elohim sits upon his holy throne.
9 The influential people from the nations gather together
as the people of the Elohim of Abraham.
The rulers of the earth belong to Elohim.
He rules everything.
Psalm 48
A song; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
1 Yahweh is great.
He should be highly praised.
His holy mountain is in the city of our Elohim.
2 Its beautiful peak is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion is on the northern ridge.
It is the city of the great king.
3 Elohim is in its palaces.
He has proved that he is a stronghold.
4 The kings have gathered.
They marched together.
5 When they saw Mount Zion,
they were astonished.
They were terrified and ran away in fear.
6 Trembling seized them
like the trembling that a woman experiences during labor.
7 With the east wind you smash the ships of Tarshish.
8 The things we had only heard about, we have now seen
in the city of Yahweh Tsebaoth,
in the city of our Elohim.
Elohim makes Zion stand firm forever. Selah
9 Inside your temple we carefully reflect on your mercy, O Elohim.
10 Like your name, O Elohim,
your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion be glad
and the cities of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk around Zion.
Go around it.
Count its towers.
13 Examine its embankments.
Walk through its palaces.
Then you can tell the next generation,
14 “This Elohim is our Elohim forever and ever.
He will lead us beyond death.”
Samuel Dies
25 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David went to the desert of Paran.
David, Nabal, and Abigail
2 Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very rich man. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was sensible and beautiful, but he was harsh and mean. He was a descendant of Caleb.
4 While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Carmel, visit Nabal, and greet him for me. 6 Say to him, ‘May you live long! May you, your home, and all you have prosper! 7 I hear that your sheepshearers are with you. Your shepherds have been with us, and we have not mistreated them. Nothing of theirs has been missing as long as they’ve been in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and let them tell you. Be kind to my young men, since we have come on a special occasion. Please give us and your son David anything you can spare.’”
9 When David’s young men came to Nabal, they repeated all of this to him for David, and then they waited.
10 “Who is David?” Nabal answered David’s servants. “Who is Jesse’s son? So many servants nowadays are leaving their masters. 11 Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to men coming from who knows where?”
12 David’s young men returned and told him all this.
13 “Each of you put on your swords!” David told his men. And everyone, including David, put on his sword. About four hundred men went with David, while two hundred men stayed with the supplies.
14 One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, who yelled at them. 15 Those men were very good to us. They didn’t mistreat us, and we found that nothing was missing wherever we went with them when we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall protecting us day and night as long as we were watching the sheep near them. 17 Now, consider what you should do because our master and his whole household are doomed. And he’s such a worthless man that it’s useless to talk to him.”
18 So Abigail quickly took 200 loaves of bread, 2 full wineskins, 5 butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 bunches of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them on donkeys. 19 “Go on ahead,” she told her young men, “and I’ll follow you.” But she didn’t tell her husband Nabal about it.
20 She was riding on her donkey down a hidden mountain path when she met David and his men coming toward her. 21 David had thought, “I guarded this man’s stuff in the desert for nothing! Not one of his possessions was missing. Yet, he has paid me back with evil when I was good to him. 22 May Elohim punish me[a] if I leave even one of his men[b] alive in the morning.”
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
14 The same thing happened in the city of Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went into the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large crowd of Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up some people who were not Jewish and poisoned their minds against the believers. 3 Paul and Barnabas stayed in the city of Iconium for a long time. They spoke boldly about the Lord, who confirmed their message about his good will[a] by having them perform miracles and do amazing things. 4 But the people of Iconium were divided. Some were for the Jews, while others were for the apostles.
5 In the meantime, Paul and Barnabas found out that the non-Jewish people and the Jewish people with their rulers planned to attack them and stone them to death. 6 So they escaped to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding territory. 7 They spread the Good News there.
Paul and Barnabas in Lystra
8 A man who was born lame was in Lystra. He was always sitting because he had never been able to walk. 9 He listened to what Paul was saying. Paul observed him closely and saw that the man believed he could be made well. 10 So Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up.” The man jumped up and began to walk.
11 The crowds who saw what Paul had done shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come to us, and they look human.” 12 They addressed Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes because Paul did most of the talking. 13 Zeus’ temple was at the entrance to the city. The priest of the god Zeus brought bulls with flowery wreaths around their necks to the temple gates. The priest and the crowd wanted to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.
14 When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they were very upset. They rushed into the crowd 15 and said, “Men, what are you doing? We’re human beings like you. We’re spreading the Good News to you to turn you away from these worthless gods to the living God. The living God made the sky, the land, the sea, and everything in them. 16 In the past God allowed all people to live as they pleased. 17 Yet, by doing good, he has given evidence of his existence. He gives you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He fills you with food and your lives with happiness.” 18 Although Paul and Barnabas said these things, they hardly kept the crowd from sacrificing to them.
A Story about a Lamp
21 Yeshua said to them, “Does anyone bring a lamp into a room to put it under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a lamp stand? 22 There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. There is nothing kept secret that will not come to light. 23 Let the person who has ears listen!”
24 He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you’re listening to! Knowledge will be measured out to you by the measure of attention you give. This is the way knowledge increases. 25 Those who understand these mysteries will be given more knowledge. However, some people don’t understand these mysteries. Even what they understand will be taken away from them.”
A Story about Seeds That Grow
26 Yeshua said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds on the ground. 27 He sleeps at night and is awake during the day. The seeds sprout and grow, although the man doesn’t know how. 28 The ground produces grain by itself. First the green blade appears, then the head, then the head full of grain. 29 As soon as the grain is ready, he cuts it with a sickle, because harvest time has come.”
A Story about a Mustard Seed(A)
30 Yeshua asked, “How can we show what the kingdom of God is like? To what can we compare it? 31 It’s like a mustard seed planted in the ground. The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds on earth. 32 However, when planted, it comes up and becomes taller than all the garden plants. It grows such large branches that birds can nest in its shade.”
33 Yeshua spoke God’s word to them using many illustrations like these. In this way people could understand what he taught. 34 He did not speak to them without using an illustration. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.