Book of Common Prayer
A Royal Wedding Song[a]
45 Beautiful words fill my mind,
as I compose this song for the king.
Like the pen of a good writer
my tongue is ready with a poem.
2 You are the most handsome of men;
you are an eloquent speaker.
God has always blessed you.
3 Buckle on your sword, mighty king;
you are glorious and majestic.
4 Ride on in majesty to victory
for the defense of truth and justice![b]
Your strength will win you great victories!
5 Your arrows are sharp,
they pierce the hearts of your enemies;
nations fall down at your feet.
6 (A)The kingdom that God has given you[c]
will last forever and ever.
You rule over your people with justice;
7 you love what is right and hate what is evil.
That is why God, your God, has chosen you
and has poured out more happiness on you
than on any other king.
8 The perfume of myrrh and aloes is on your clothes;
musicians entertain you in palaces decorated with ivory.
9 Among the women of your court are daughters of kings,
and at the right of your throne stands the queen,
wearing ornaments of finest gold.
10 Bride of the king, listen to what I say—
forget your people and your relatives.
11 Your beauty will make the king desire you;
he is your master, so you must obey him.
12 The people of Tyre will bring you gifts;
rich people will try to win your favor.
13 The princess is in the palace—how beautiful she is!
Her gown is made of gold thread.
14 In her colorful gown she is led to the king,
followed by her bridesmaids,
and they also are brought to him.
15 With joy and gladness they come
and enter the king's palace.
16 You, my king, will have many sons
to succeed your ancestors as kings,
and you will make them rulers over the whole earth.
17 My song will keep your fame alive forever,
and everyone will praise you for all time to come.
The Supreme Ruler[a]
47 Clap your hands for joy, all peoples!
Praise God with loud songs!
2 The Lord, the Most High, is to be feared;
he is a great king, ruling over all the world.
3 He gave us victory over the peoples;
he made us rule over the nations.
4 He chose for us the land where we live,
the proud possession of his people, whom he loves.
5 God goes up to his throne.
There are shouts of joy and the blast of trumpets,
as the Lord goes up.
6 Sing praise to God;
sing praise to our king!
7 God is king over all the world;
praise him with songs!
8 God sits on his sacred throne;
he rules over the nations.
9 The rulers of the nations assemble
with the people[b] of the God of Abraham.
More powerful than all armies is he;
he rules supreme.
Zion, the City of God[c]
48 The Lord is great and is to be highly praised
in the city of our God, on his sacred hill.[d]
2 (A)Zion, the mountain of God, is high and beautiful;
the city of the great king brings joy to all the world.
3 God has shown that there is safety with him
inside the fortresses of the city.
4 The kings gathered together
and came to attack Mount Zion.
5 But when they saw it, they were amazed;
they were afraid and ran away.
6 There they were seized with fear and anguish,
like a woman about to bear a child,
7 like ships tossing in a furious storm.
8 We have heard what God has done,
and now we have seen it
in the city of our God, the Lord Almighty;
he will keep the city safe forever.
9 Inside your Temple, O God,
we think of your constant love.
10 You are praised by people everywhere,
and your fame extends over all the earth.
You rule with justice;
11 let the people of Zion be glad!
You give right judgments;
let there be joy in the cities of Judah!
12 People of God, walk around Zion and count the towers;
13 take notice of the walls and examine the fortresses,
so that you may tell the next generation:
14 “This God is our God forever and ever;
he will lead us for all time to come.”
16 No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die—wise and foolish alike. 17 So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.
18 Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor, 19 and he might be wise, or he might be foolish—who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless. 20 So I came to regret that I had worked so hard. 21 You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right! 22 You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it? 23 (A)As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.
24 (B)The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. 25 How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all? 26 (C)God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.
18 (A)It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks. 19 I did not see any other apostle except James,[a] the Lord's brother.
20 What I write is true. God knows that I am not lying!
21 Afterward I went to places in Syria and Cilicia. 22 At that time the members of the churches in Judea did not know me personally. 23 They knew only what others were saying: “The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy!” 24 And so they praised God because of me.
Paul and the Other Apostles
2 (B)Fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went because God revealed to me that I should go. In a private meeting with the leaders I explained the gospel message that I preach to the Gentiles. I did not want my work in the past or in the present to be a failure. 3 My companion Titus, even though he is Greek, was not forced to be circumcised, 4 although some wanted it done. Pretending to be believers, these men slipped into our group as spies, in order to find out about the freedom we have through our union with Christ Jesus. They wanted to make slaves of us, 5 but in order to keep the truth of the gospel safe for you, we did not give in to them for a minute.
6 (C)But those who seemed to be the leaders—I say this because it makes no difference to me what they were; God does not judge by outward appearances—those leaders, I say, made no new suggestions to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that God had given me the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the task of preaching the gospel to the Jews. 8 For by God's power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was made an apostle to the Jews. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, recognized that God had given me this special task; so they shook hands with Barnabas and me, as a sign that we were all partners. We agreed that Barnabas and I would work among the Gentiles and they among the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should remember the needy in their group, which is the very thing I have[b] been eager to do.
Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth(A)
53 When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place 54 and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. “And what about his miracles? 55 Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? 56 Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?” 57 (B)And so they rejected him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family.” 58 Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.