Book of Common Prayer
(A special psalm by the clan of Korah and for the music leader. To the tune “Lilies.” A love song.)
For a Royal Wedding
1 My thoughts are filled
with beautiful words
for the king,
and I will use my voice
as a writer would use
pen and ink.
2 No one is as handsome as you!
Your words are always kind.
That is why God
will always bless you.
3 Mighty king, glorious ruler,
strap on your sword
4 and ride out in splendor!
Win victories for truth
and mercy and justice.
Do fearsome things
with your powerful arm.
5 Send your sharp arrows
through enemy hearts
and make all nations fall
at your feet.
6 (A) You are God, and you will rule
forever as king.[a]
Your royal power
brings about justice.
7 You love justice and hate evil.
And so, your God chose you
and made you happier
than any of your friends.
8 The sweet aroma of the spices
myrrh, aloes, and cassia
covers your royal robes.
You enjoy the music of harps
in palaces decorated
with ivory.
9 Daughters of kings are here,
and your bride stands
at your right side,
wearing a wedding gown
trimmed with pure gold.[b]
10 Bride of the king,
listen carefully to me.
Forget your own people
and your father's family. 11 The king adores you.
He is your master,
so do what he desires.
12 All of the richest people
from the city of Tyre
will try to influence you
13 with precious treasures.
Your bride, my king,
has inward beauty,[c]
and her wedding gown is woven
with threads of gold.
14 Wearing the finest garments,
she is brought to you,
followed by her young friends,
the bridesmaids.
15 Everyone is excited,
as they follow you
to the royal palace.
16 Your sons and your grandsons
will also be kings
as your ancestors were.
You will make them rulers
everywhere on earth.
17 I will make your name famous
from now on,
and you will be praised
forever and ever.
(A psalm by the clan of Korah and for the music leader.)
God Rules the Nations
1 All of you nations,
clap your hands and shout
joyful praises to God.
2 The Lord Most High is fearsome,
the ruler of all the earth.
3 God has put every nation
under our power,
4 and he chose for us the land
that was the pride of Jacob,
his favorite.
5 God goes up to his throne,
as people shout
and trumpets blast.
6 Sing praises to God our King,
7 the ruler of all the earth!
Praise God with songs.
8 God rules the nations
from his sacred throne.
9 Their leaders come together
and are now the people
of Abraham's God.
All rulers on earth
surrender their weapons,
and God is greatly praised!
(A song and a psalm by the clan of Korah.)
The City of God
1 The Lord God is wonderful!
He deserves all praise
in the city where he lives.
His holy mountain,
2 (A) beautiful and majestic,
brings joy to all on earth.
Mount Zion, truly sacred,
is home for the Great King.
3 God is there to defend it
and has proved to be
its protector.
4 Kings joined forces
to attack the city,
5 but when they saw it,
they were terrified
and ran away.
6 They trembled all over
like women giving birth
7 or like seagoing ships[a]
wrecked by eastern winds.
8 We had heard about it,
and now we have seen it
in the city of our God,
the Lord All-Powerful.
This is the city that God
will let stand forever.
9 Our God, here in your temple
we think about your love.
10 You are famous and praised
everywhere on earth,
as you win victories
with your powerful arm.
11 Mount Zion will celebrate,
and all Judah will be glad,
because you bring justice.
12 Let's walk around Zion
and count its towers.
13 We will see its strong walls
and visit each fortress.
Then you can say
to future generations,
14 “Our God is like this forever
and will always[b] guide us.”
The Lord's Promise to Abram
15 Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”
2 But Abram answered, “Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own.[a] 3 You have not given me any children, and this servant of mine will inherit everything.”
4 The Lord replied, “No, he won't! You will have a son of your own, and everything you have will be his.” 5 (A) Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.” 6 (B) Abram believed the Lord, so the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.
The Lord Makes Another Promise to Abram
7 The Lord said to Abram, “I brought you here from Ur in Chaldea, and I gave you this land.”
8 Abram asked, “Lord God, how can I know the land will be mine?”
9 Then the Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram obeyed the Lord. Then he cut[b] the animals in half and laid the two halves of each animal opposite each other on the ground. But he did not cut the doves and pigeons in half. 11 And when birds came down to eat the animals, Abram chased them away.
17 Sometime after sunset, when it was very dark, a smoking cooking pot[a] and a flaming fire passed between the two halves of each animal. 18 (A) At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him:
I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor River[b] on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River. 19 They will possess the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
The Tent in Heaven
9 The first promise included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth. 2 (A) The first part of the tent was called the holy place, and a lampstand, a table, and the sacred loaves of bread were kept there.
3 (B) Behind the curtain was the most holy place. 4 (C) The gold altar for burning incense was in this holy place. The gold-covered sacred chest was also there, and inside it were three things. First, there was a gold jar filled with manna.[a] Then there was Aaron's walking stick that sprouted.[b] Finally, there were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them. 5 (D) On top of the chest were the glorious creatures with wings[c] opened out above the place of mercy.[d]
Now isn't the time to go into detail about these things. 6 (E) But this is how everything was when the priests went each day into the first part of the tent to do their duties. 7 (F) However, only the high priest could go into the second part of the tent, and he went in only once a year. Each time he carried blood to offer for his sins and for any sins that the people had committed without meaning to.
8 All of this is the Holy Spirit's way of saying no one could enter the most holy place while the tent was still the place of worship. 9 This also has a meaning for today. It shows we cannot make our consciences clear by offering gifts and sacrifices. 10 These rules are merely about such things as eating and drinking and ceremonies for washing ourselves. And rules about physical things will last only until the time comes to change them for something better.
11 (G) Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now here.[e] He also went into a much better tent that wasn't made by humans and that doesn't belong to this world. 12 Then Christ went once for all into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own blood instead of the blood of goats and bulls.
13 (H) According to the Law of Moses, those people who become unclean are not fit to worship God. Yet they will be considered clean, if they are sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf. 14 But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. This is why his blood is much more powerful and makes our[f] consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death.
Jesus Heals a Sick Man
5 Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for another Jewish festival.[a] 2 In the city near the sheep gate was a pool with five porches, and its name in Hebrew was Bethzatha.[b]
3-4 Many sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying close to the pool.[c]
5 Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for 38 years. 6 When Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The man answered, “Sir, I don't have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first.”
8 Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk!” 9 Right then the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking around. The day on which this happened was a Sabbath.
10 (A) When the Jewish leaders saw the man carrying his mat, they said to him, “This is the Sabbath! No one is allowed to carry a mat on the Sabbath.”
11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk.”
12 They asked him, “Who is this man that told you to pick up your mat and walk?” 13 But he did not know who Jesus was, and Jesus had left because of the crowd.
14 Later, Jesus met the man in the temple and told him, “You are now well. But don't sin anymore or something worse might happen to you.” 15 The man left and told the leaders that Jesus was the one who had healed him. 16 They started making a lot of trouble for Jesus because he did things like this on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus said, “My Father has never stopped working, and this is why I keep on working.” 18 (B) Now the leaders wanted to kill Jesus for two reasons. First, he had broken the law of the Sabbath. But even worse, he had said God was his Father, which made him equal with God.
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