Book of Common Prayer
This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader. Sing it to the music that they call ‘Lilies.’
A love song[a]
45 This beautiful song makes my heart very happy.
I will sing this special poem to the king.
My voice is ready to sing it very well,
as well as a clever writer can write with a pen.
2 You are the most handsome man that there is.
You speak kind words in a beautiful way.
And so God will continue to bless you for ever.
3 Brave soldier, wear your sword at your side!
Show what a great king you are!
4 Wear your royal clothes
and ride out to win against your enemies!
Win the war on behalf of truth and justice!
Then your strong right hand will do powerful things!
5 Your sharp arrows will cut into the heart of your enemies.
Nations will fall down under your feet.
6 God, you will continue to rule as king
always and for ever.
Your authority as king will bring justice to your people.
7 You love people to do what is right,
and you hate anything that is evil.
So God, your God, has chosen you
to be greater than all your people.
He has put special olive oil on you,
to make you happy.
8 All your clothes have the beautiful smell
of myrrh, aloes and cassia.
You hear the music of stringed instruments
that comes from beautiful palaces.
That makes you happy.
9 The daughters of kings are among your visitors.
Your royal bride stands at your right hand.
She is wearing gold from Ophir.
10 Royal daughter, listen to me.
Listen carefully to what I am saying.
Forget your people and your family.
11 You are very beautiful
and the king will want to be with you.
He is your master, so respect him.
12 Rich people will come from Tyre to give gifts to you.
They will want you to help them.
13 The king's bride is in the palace,
and she looks beautiful!
Her dress has gold threads in it.[b]
14 Now they lead her to the king in her beautiful clothes.
Her young friends follow after her
to bring her to the king.
15 They are very happy as they walk together
and they go into the king's palace.
16 You will have sons to become kings,
as your ancestors were kings before you.
You will make them princes
to rule over all the land.
17 In future years I will cause people to remember
that you are a great king!
Then people will praise you always and for ever.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
God rules the earth!
47 People from every nation,
clap your hands together.
Shout aloud to God,
with the sound of happy songs.
2 The Lord, the Most High God, is wonderful.
He is the great King
who rules over the whole earth.
3 He has won the battle against our enemies,
and those nations are now under our power.
4 He chose a special land to belong to us.
Jacob's descendants are proud of that land.
They are his own people that he loves.
Selah.
5 God has gone up to sit on his throne,
while the people shout aloud.
The Lord has gone up there,
while the trumpets make a loud noise.
6 Sing to praise God! Yes, sing!
Sing to praise our king! Sing!
7 God is the King who rules over the whole earth!
So sing a special song to praise him!
8 God rules over the nations.
God is sitting on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations have met together.
They have joined with the people who serve Abraham's God.[a]
God has authority over all the world's rulers
and their armies.
Everyone should praise him,
for he is great!
This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote.
Zion is God's city
48 The Lord is great.
He deserves that people praise him
in the city of our God,
on his holy mountain.
2 That place is high up and it is beautiful.
It brings joy to the whole world.
Mount Zion is the city of the great King.
It is where the true God lives.[b]
3 God is there in its strong places
and he keeps the city safe.
4 Look! There are kings of other nations
who join together to attack our city.
5 But when they come near and they see it,
they are very surprised.
It frightens them so much
that they quickly run away!
6 They cannot stop themselves shaking,
like a woman who is giving birth to a baby!
7 You push them away,
like an east wind that destroys great ships.
8 We had heard about the great things that God has done.
Now we have seen them for ourselves,
here in the city of the Lord Almighty,
the city of our God.
It is God who keeps the city safe for ever!
Selah.
9 When we are in your temple, God,
we think about your faithful love.
10 You are famous all over the world,
so that people praise you as you deserve.
You are powerful
and you rule with justice.
11 Because you judge people in a right way,
Mount Zion and all the towns of Judah will be happy.
12 Walk all round Zion and look at it.
Count the towers.
13 Look at its strong buildings and its strong walls.
Then you will be able to describe it to your children.[c]
14 Yes, this is our God, who is with us for ever!
He will always be our guide.
The Israelites destroy Ai
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid. Continue to be brave! Take the whole army with you and go to attack Ai. This time, I will give the king and all his people to you. I will also give to you the city and its land. 2 You must destroy the city and its king as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may take their valuable things and their animals for yourselves. Hide some of your men behind the city, so that they are ready to attack.’
3 So Joshua and the whole army marched towards Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of the best soldiers and he sent some of them out at night time. 4 He said to them, ‘Listen carefully. Go and hide behind the city. Stay near to it. Be ready to attack! 5 In the morning, I will march towards the city with our other soldiers. When we get near to the city, the enemy's men will come out of the city to fight against us, as they did before. Then we will turn round and we will run away. 6 They will chase us away from the city. They will say, “The Israelites are running away from us, as they did before.” We will continue to run away from them. 7 Then you must leave the place where you have hidden. Go into the city and take it. The Lord your God will give it to you. 8 When you have taken the city, start to burn it. Do what the Lord has told you to do. Be sure that you obey my commands.’
9 Then Joshua sent the men away. They went and they hid on the west side of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. But Joshua stayed with his other soldiers that night.
10 Early the next morning, Joshua took the army to march towards Ai. He and the leaders of Israel marched in front. 11 The soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to the city. They stopped in front of it, on the north side. They put up their tents there, where there was a valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had already sent about 5,000 men to hide on the west side of the city, between Bethel and Ai. 13 The whole Israelite army was ready to fight. Most of them were with their tents on the north side of the city. The other soldiers were hiding on the west side of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
14 The king of Ai saw that Israel's army had arrived. Early the next morning, the king and his army hurried out of the city. They wanted to fight against Israel's army at the same place as before, on the hill near the Jordan Valley. But the king of Ai did not know that some Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the city. 15 Joshua and his army let the men of Ai chase after them. They pretended to be afraid. They ran towards the desert. 16 The king told all the men who remained in the city to chase the Israelites. So they continued to chase after them, far away from their city. 17 No men remained in Ai or Bethel. They all chased after the Israelites. There was nobody left to keep the city safe.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out the spear that is in your hand. Point it towards Ai. I am now giving the city to you.’
So Joshua held out his spear towards Ai.
19 As soon as he did this, the men who were hiding behind the city came out quickly. They ran into the city and they took it. Immediately, they used fire to burn it. 20 The men of Ai looked behind them and they saw smoke in the sky above the city. But they could do nothing to escape. The Israelites who had been running away from them now turned round to fight them. 21 Joshua and his army also saw the smoke. They knew that the other group of soldiers had taken the city. So they turned round and began to attack the men of Ai. 22 Now the Israelites who had gone into the city also came out to fight. So the men of Ai were in between the two groups of Israelite soldiers. The Israelites killed all the men of Ai.
Accept all Christians
14 It is difficult for some Christians to trust God completely about everything. You should accept people like that as your friends. Do not argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 Some people believe that they may eat all kinds of food. But other people are not so sure, so they eat only vegetables. 3 People who eat anything must not think that they are better than people who eat only vegetables. Also, people who eat only vegetables must not judge other people who eat anything. They are not doing anything wrong, because God himself has accepted them.
4 God is the master of all believers and they are his servants. You do not have authority to judge someone else's servant. The servant's own master will decide if he has done well or he has done something wrong. And he will serve his master well, because the Lord is able to help him to do that.
5 Some people think that certain days are special and more important than other days. Other people think that all days are the same. Each person should decide what seems right to him. 6 A person who makes a certain day special does that so that he can respect the Lord. A person who eats all kinds of food does that so that he can respect the Lord. He thanks God for the food that he eats. A person who refuses to eat certain foods also does that so that he can respect the Lord. And he also thanks God.
7 None of us lives only to please ourselves. And we do not die to please ourselves. 8 While we live, we want to please the Lord. And when we die, we want that to please the Lord too. So, while we live, or if we die, we continue to belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and then he became alive again. That happened so that he could be the Lord of all people, those who have died and those who are still alive.
10 So then, if you eat only vegetables, you must not judge other believers. Also, if you eat anything, you must not think that you are better than other believers. Remember that all of us will have to stand in front of God. He will decide whether we have done what is right or wrong. 11 This is written in the Bible:
‘The Lord God says,
“As surely as I live, this will certainly happen:
Everyone will go down on their knees in front of me.
Everyone will praise me that I am God.” ’[a]
12 So each of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done.
The soldiers take hold of Jesus
47 While Jesus was still speaking, Judas arrived. He was one of Jesus' 12 disciples. A crowd also came with him. They were carrying swords and heavy sticks. The leaders of the priests and the important Jews had sent these people with Judas. 48 Judas was ready to help the Jewish leaders to take hold of Jesus. Before this, he had told them, ‘I will kiss one of the men. You must take hold of that man.’
49 Now Judas went immediately to Jesus. He said, ‘Hello, Teacher.’ Then he kissed Jesus in a friendly way.[a]
50 Jesus said to Judas, ‘My friend, now do what you have come here to do.’
Then the crowd of men came up to Jesus. They took hold of him to lead him away. 51 Then one of Jesus' disciples took hold of his sword. He hit the servant of the leader of the priests with it and he cut off the servant's ear.
52 Then Jesus said to the disciple, ‘Put your sword back in its place. People who use a sword to kill others will themselves die in the same way. Someone will kill them with a sword. 53 You should know that I could ask my Father God to help me. He would immediately send more than 12 large groups of angels to fight for me. 54 They would save me. But then the things that God has said in the Bible about this would not happen. So it must happen in this way.’
55 At that time, Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have come out here with swords and heavy sticks to take hold of me. Do you really believe that I am leading people to fight against our country's rulers? No! I was teaching people every day in the yard of the temple. But you did not try to take hold of me then. 56 The prophets wrote long ago that all this would happen to me. Now it has become true.’
Then all of Jesus' disciples ran away and left him.
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