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.
16 Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in future generations.[a] When future days come, both will have been forgotten already. How is it that the wise man dies the same as the fool? 17 So I hated life because the work done under the sun is grievous to me. For everything is vanity and chasing wind!
18 So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all the fruit of my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also is vanity!
20 So I began to despair[b] of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun. 21 For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great calamity. 22 For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun? 23 All his days are painful, his labor brings grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also is vanity!
It is Best to Simply Enjoy the Passing Pleasures of Life as Reward for Pleasing God
24 There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find delight[c] in his toil. For I also realized that this is from the hand of God! 25 For who can eat and drink, and who can enjoy life apart from him?[d] 26 For to the person who is good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give it to him who is pleasing to him. This also is vanity and chasing wind!
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days, 19 but I did not see any others of the apostles except James, the brother of the Lord. 20 (Now the things which I am writing to you, behold, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and of Cilicia, 22 but I was unknown in person[a] to the churches of Judea that are in Christ, 23 and they were only hearing, “The one formerly persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith that formerly he was attempting to destroy,” 24 and they were glorifying God because of me.
Paul’s Ministry Recognized by the Jerusalem Apostles
2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking along Titus also. 2 Now I went up there because of a revelation and laid out to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles, but in private to the influential people, lest somehow I was running, or had run, in vain. 3 But not even Titus who was with me, although[b] he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 Now this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order that they might enslave us, 5 to whom not even for an hour did we yield in subjection, in order that the truth of the gospel might remain continually with you. 6 But from those who were influential[c] (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me, God does not show partiality[d])—for those who were influential added nothing to me. 7 But these, when they[e] saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcision, just as Peter to the circumcision 8 (for the one who was at work through Peter for his apostleship to the circumcision was at work also through me for the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John—those thought to be pillars—acknowledged the grace given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, in order that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision. 10 They asked only that we should remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.
Rejected at Nazareth
53 And it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables he went away from there. 54 And he came to his hometown and[a] began to teach[b] them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said, “From where did this man get this wisdom and these miracles? 55 Is not this one the son of the carpenter? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? From where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not perform many miracles in that place because of their unbelief.
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