Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 45^[a]

Song for a Royal Wedding

¹ For the leader; according to “Lilies.” A maskil of the Korahites. A love song.

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Psalm 47^[a]

The Ruler of All the Nations

¹ For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.

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Psalm 48^[d]

The Splendor of the Invincible City

¹ A psalm of the Korahites.^[e] A song.

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Chapter 15

The Covenant with Abram.^{[a] 1} Some time afterward, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great.

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir.^{(A) 5} He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be.^{(B) 6 (C)}Abram put his faith in the Lord, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.^[b]

⁷ He then said to him: I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.^{(D) 8} “Lord God,” he asked, “how will I know that I will possess it?” ^9 [c]He answered him: Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.^{(E) 10} He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. ¹¹ Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them away.

¹⁷ When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. ^18 [a]On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates,^{(A) 19 (B)}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.

Chapter 9

The Worship of the First Covenant.^{[a] 1} Now [even] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tabernacle was constructed, the outer one,^[b] in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place.^{(A) 3 [c]}Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies,^{(B) 4} in which were the gold altar of incense^[d] and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.^{(C) 5 [e]}Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of expiation. Now is not the time to speak of these in detail.^(D)

⁶ With these arrangements for worship, the priests, in performing their service,^[f] go into the outer tabernacle repeatedly,^{(E) 7} but the high priest alone goes into the inner one once a year, not without blood^[g] that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people.^{(F) 8} In this way the holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed while the outer tabernacle still had its place. ⁹ This is a symbol of the present time,^[h] in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience ¹⁰ but only in matters of food and drink and various ritual washings: regulations concerning the flesh, imposed until the time of the new order.^(G)

Sacrifice of Jesus. ^11 [i]But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be,^[j] passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,^{(H) 12} he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.^{(I) 13} For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes^[k] can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed,^{(J) 14} how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit^[l] offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.^(K)

Chapter 5^[a]

Cure on a Sabbath. ¹ After this, there was a feast^[b] of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(A) 2} Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate]^[c] a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.^{(B) 3} In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.^[d] [⁴ ]^{[e] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”^{(C) 9} Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.^(D)

Now that day was a sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”^{(E) 11} He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.^{(F) 14 [f]}After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,^(G) “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.^{(H) 17 [g]}But Jesus answered them,^(I) “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.^(J)