Book of Common Prayer
A Royal Wedding Song
Psalm 45
1 For the music director, according to “Lilies.” Of the sons of Korah, a contemplative song, a love song.
2 My heart is stirred with a good word.
I speak my verses to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
3 You are the most handsome of the sons of men.
Grace pours from your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.
4 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and your majesty.
5 In your majesty ride victoriously,
on behalf of truth, meekness and justice.
Let your right hand display awesome things.
6 Your arrows are sharp.
Peoples fall beneath you—
into the heart of the king’s enemies.
7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and a scepter of justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.
8 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore, God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.[a]
9 All your robes have myrrh, aloes, cassia.
From ivory palaces, stringed instruments
make you glad.
10 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.
At your right hand stands the queen
in gold of Ophir.
11 “Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear.
Forget your people and your father’s house.
12 Then the king will desire your beauty.
Honor him, for he is your lord.
13 A daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.
The richest people will court your favor.”
14 All glorious is the king’s daughter within the palace—
her gown is interwoven with gold.[b]
15 She will be led to the king in embroidered garments.
Her virgins, her companions following her, are coming in to you.
16 They are led in with joy and gladness—
they enter into the palace of the king.
17 Your sons will take your fathers’ place.
You will make them princes throughout the land.
18 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations.
Therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.
In Celebration of God’s Reign
Psalm 47
1 For the music director, a psalm for the sons of Korah.
2 Clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of joy!
3 For Adonai Elyon is awesome,
a great King over all the earth.
4 He subdues peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
5 He chooses our inheritance for us,
the glory of Jacob whom He loved. Selah
6 God is gone up amidst shouting,
Adonai amidst the sound of the shofar.
7 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
8 For God is the King of all the earth.
Sing praises with a skillful song.
9 God reigns over the nations.
God sits upon His holy throne.
10 The princes of the peoples are gathered as a people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of earth belong to God—
He is greatly exalted!
Consider Zion’s Towers
Psalm 48
1 A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Great is Adonai, and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God—His holy mountain.
3 A beautiful height—the joy of the whole earth—
is Mount Zion, on the northern side of the city of the great King.[a]
4 God, in her palaces,
is known as a stronghold.
5 For behold, the kings assembled,
they advanced together.
6 They saw, then they were astounded,
they fled in terror.
7 Trembling seized them there,
pain like a woman in labor.
8 With an east wind
You broke the ships of Tarshish.
9 As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
10 We have meditated on Your lovingkindness, O God,
in the midst of Your Temple.
11 Like Your Name, O God,
so is Your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
12 Mount Zion is glad,
the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of Your judgments.
13 Walk about Zion, go around her.
Count her towers.
14 Consider her ramparts,
go through her palaces,
so you may describe it to the next generation.
15 For this God is our God, forever and ever!
He will guide us to the end.
Cutting a Covenant
15 After these things the word of Adonai came to Abram in a vision saying,
“Do not fear, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “My Lord Adonai, what will You give me, since I am living without children, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look! You have given me no seed, so a house-born servant is my heir.”
4 Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him saying, “This one will not be your heir, but in fact, one who will come from your own body will be your heir. 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up now, at the sky, and count the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”
6 Then he believed in Adonai and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, “I am Adonai who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to give you this land to inherit it.”
8 So he said, “My Lord Adonai, how will I know that I will inherit it?”
9 Then He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old young cow, a three year old she-goat, a three year old ram, a turtle-dove and a young bird.”
10 So he brought all these to Him and cut them in half, and put each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 Then birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
17 When the sun set and it became dark, behold, there was a smoking oven and a fiery torch that passed between these pieces.
18 On that day Adonai cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: 19 the Kenite, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaites, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Messiah Enters the Heavenly Holies
9 Now even the first one had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. [a] 2 For a tent was prepared: in the outer[b] part were the menorah, the table, and the presentation of the bread[c]—this is called the Holy Place. 3 Beyond the second curtain[d] was a dwelling called the Holy of Holies. [e] 4 It held a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, completely covered with gold. In the ark was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant[f]— 5 and above it, cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.[g] But it is not now possible to speak in detail about these things.
6 Now with these things prepared this way,
the kohanim
do continually enter
into the outer tent[h]
while completing the services;
7 but into the inner,[i]
once a year,
the kohen gadol alone[j]—and not without blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins[k] of the people. 8 By this the Ruach ha-Kodesh makes clear that the way into the Holies has not yet been revealed while the first tent is still standing. 9 It is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, gifts and sacrifices are being offered that cannot make the worshiper perfect with respect to conscience. 10 These relate only to food and drink and various washings[l]—regulations for the body imposed until a time of setting things straight.
11 But when Messiah appeared as Kohen Gadol of the good things that have now come, passing through the greater and more perfect Tent not made with hands (that is to say not of this creation), 12 He entered into the Holies once for all—not by the blood of goats and calves but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls[m] and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled[n] sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Messiah—who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God—cleanse our[o] conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Healing on Shabbat
5 After this there was a Jewish feast, and Yeshua went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem there is a pool by the sheep gate, called Bethzatha in Aramaic,[a] which has five porches. 3 In these a crowd of invalids was lying around—blind, lame, disabled. (4 )[b]
5 Now a certain man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. 6 Seeing him lying there and knowing he had been that way a long time, Yeshua said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 The invalid answered Him, “Sir, I have nobody to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m trying to get in, somebody else steps down before me!”
8 Yeshua tells him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”
9 Immediately, the man was healed! He took up his mat and started walking around. Now that day was Shabbat, 10 so Judean leaders were saying to the man who was healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s not permitted for you to carry your mat.”
11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” 13 But the man who had been healed didn’t know who it was, for Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd in that place.
14 Afterwards, Yeshua finds him in the Temple. He said to him, “Look, you’ve been healed! Stop sinning, so nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man left and told the Judean leaders that it was Yeshua who had made him well.
Sent by the Father
16 Because Yeshua was doing these things on Shabbat, the Judean leaders started persecuting Him. 17 But Yeshua said to them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” 18 So for this reason the Judean leaders kept trying even harder to kill Him—because He was not only breaking Shabbat,[c] but also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.