Book of Common Prayer
Celebration of a Royal Wedding
For the music director; according to The Lilies. Of the sons of Korah.
A maskil. A song of love.[a]
45 My heart is moved with a good word;
I recite my compositions[b] to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.
2 You are the most handsome of the sons of humankind;
grace is poured out on your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and your majesty.
4 And in your majesty ride victoriously,[c]
because of truth and humility and righteousness.
And let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharp;
peoples fall under you
in the midst of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of uprightness is
the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
from among your companions with festive oil.
8 All your robes are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From palaces of ivory stringed instruments gladden you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble ladies.
The queen stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
10 Hear, O daughter, and discern[d] and incline your ear,
and forget your people and your father’s house.
11 Let the king desire your beauty.[e]
Because he is your lord, therefore[f] bow down to him.
12 Even the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift.
The rich from among people will seek your favor.[g]
13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within;[h]
her garment is of gold embroidered cloth.
14 She is brought to the king in colorful garments.
The young women behind her, her attendants,
are being brought to you.
15 They are led with joy and gladness.
They enter the palace of the king.
16 In place of your[i] fathers will be your sons.
You will make them princes in all the land.[j]
17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.
God Is King over All the Earth
For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.[a]
47 All you peoples, clap your hands.[b]
Shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.
2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome,[c]
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdues peoples under us
and nations under our feet.
4 He chooses for us our inheritance,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
5 God has gone up with a shout,
Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises.
Sing praises to our king, sing praises.
7 For God is king of all the earth.
Sing praises with understanding.[d]
8 God reigns over nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together
with the people of Abraham’s God.
For the shields of the earth belong to God.
He is very exalted.
The Greatness of God in Zion
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[e]
48 Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.[f]
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion,[g] in the far north,[h]
the city of the great king.
3 God is in her citadels;
he is known as a high stronghold.
4 For see, the kings assembled;[i]
they advanced together.
5 They themselves saw[j] it, so they were astonished.
They were terrified; they ran off.
6 Trembling seized them there—
pain as of a woman in labor.
7 With an east wind
you shatter[k] the ships of Tarshish.[l]
8 As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
9 We have pondered your loyal love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 As is your name, O God, so is your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion[m] rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and circle it;
count her towers.
13 Consider well[n] her ramparts.
Go through her citadels
so that you can tell the next generation
14 that this is God, our God forever and ever.
He himself[o] will guide us until death.
Yahweh’s Covenant with Abram
15 After these things the word of Yahweh came[a] to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.” 2 Then[b] Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? I continue to be[c] childless, and my heir[d] is Eliezer of Damascus.” 3 And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, a member of my household[e] is my heir.”[f] 4 And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not be your heir,[g] but your own son will be your heir.”[h] 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to you, to possess it.” 8 And he said, “O Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will possess it?” 9 And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” 10 And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other,[i] but the birds he did not cut. 11 And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
17 And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces. 18 On that day Yahweh made[a] a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
The Earthly Ministry of the Old Covenant
9 Now[a] the first covenant had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place. 3 And after the second curtain was a tent called the holy of holies, 4 containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which were a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant. 5 And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now possible to speak in detail.
6 Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent continually[b] as they[c] accomplish their service, 7 but only the high priest enters into the second tent once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was making this clear, that the way into the holy place was not yet revealed, while[d] the first tent was still in existence, 9 which was a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience, 10 concerning instead only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting things right.
The Heavenly Ministry of the New Covenant
11 But Christ has arrived as a high priest of the good things to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, 12 and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the ritual purity of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?
A Paralytic Is Healed
5 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool called in Aramaic Bethzatha,[a] which has five porticoes. 3 In these were lying a large number of those who were sick, blind, lame, paralyzed.[b] 5 And a certain man was there who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness. 6 Jesus, when he[c] saw this one lying there and knew that he had been sick[d] a long time already, said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 7 The one who was sick answered him, “Sir, I do not have anyone that, whenever the water is stirred up, could put me into the pool. But while[e] I am coming, another goes down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” 9 And immediately the man became well and picked up his mat and began to walk.[f] (Now it was the Sabbath on that day.)
10 So the Jews were saying to the one who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permitted for you to pick up the mat!”[g] 11 But he answered them, “The one who made me well—that one said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk!’” 12 So they asked him,[h] “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat[i] and walk?’” 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn while[j] a crowd was in the place.
Equal with God
14 After these things Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well! Sin no longer, lest something worse happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that Jesus was the one who made him well. 16 And on account of this the Jews began to persecute[k] Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But he answered[l] them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” 18 So on account of this the Jews were seeking even more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own Father, thus[m] making himself equal with God.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software