Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45
To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Lilies” [probably a popular air. A Psalm] of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. A song of love.
1 My heart overflows with a [a]goodly theme; I address my psalm to a King. My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
2 You are fairer than the children of men; graciousness is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.
3 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O mighty One, in Your glory and Your majesty!
4 And in Your majesty ride on triumphantly for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); and let Your right hand guide You to tremendous things.
5 Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under You; Your darts pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with God and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.(A)
8 Your garments are all fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia; stringed instruments make You glad.
9 Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hear, O daughter, consider, submit, and consent to my instruction: forget also your own people and your father’s house;
11 So will the King desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, be submissive and reverence and honor Him.
12 And, O daughter of Tyre, the richest of the people shall entreat your favor with a gift.
13 The King’s daughter in the inner part [of the palace] is all glorious; her clothing is inwrought with gold.(B)
14 She shall be brought to the King in raiment of needlework; with the virgins, her companions that follow her, she shall be brought to You.
15 With gladness and rejoicing will they be brought; they will enter into the King’s palace.
16 Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, whom You will make princes in all the land.
17 I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise and give You thanks forever and ever.
Psalm 47
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 O clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy!
2 For the Lord Most High excites terror, awe, and dread; He is a great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us, the glory and pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
5 God has ascended amid shouting, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.
8 God reigns over the nations; God sits upon His holy throne.
9 The princes and nobles of the peoples are gathered together, a [united] people for the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.
Psalm 48
A song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,
2 Fair and beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth—[a]Mount Zion [the City of David], to the northern side [Mount Moriah and the temple], the [whole] city of the Great King!(B)
3 God has made Himself known in her palaces as a Refuge (a High Tower and a Stronghold).
4 For, behold, the kings assembled, they came onward and they passed away together.
5 They looked, they were amazed; they were stricken with terror and took to flight [affrighted and dismayed].
6 Trembling took hold of them there, and pain as of a woman in childbirth.
7 With the east wind You shattered the ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
9 We have thought of Your steadfast 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 (rightness and justice).
11 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of Your [righteous] judgments!
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her, number her towers (her lofty and noble deeds of past days),
13 Consider well her ramparts, go through her palaces and citadels, that you may tell the next generation [and cease recalling disappointments].
14 For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide [even] until death.
8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Fear not nor be dismayed. Take all the men of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that its spoil and its cattle [this time] you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city behind it.
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; [he] chose thirty thousand mighty men of strength and sent them forth by night.
4 And he commanded them, Behold, you shall lie in wait against the city behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us, as the first time, we will flee before them
6 Till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee before them.
7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 When you have taken the city, you shall set it afire; as the Lord commanded, you shall do. See, I have commanded you.
9 So Joshua sent them forth, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the men, and went up with the elders of Israel before the warriors to Ai.
11 And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of [it], with a ravine between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.
13 So they stationed all the army—the main encampment that was north of the city and their men in ambush behind and on the west of the city—and Joshua went that night into the midst of the ravine.
14 When the king [and people] of Ai saw it, they hastily rose early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle [at a time and place appointed] before the Arabah [plain]. But he did not know of the ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them, and fled toward the wilderness.
16 So all the people in Ai were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. Leaving the city open, they pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city.
19 The men in the ambush arose quickly out of their place and ran when he stretched out his hand; and they entered the city and took it, and then hastened and set it afire.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to the heavens, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. Then the Israelites who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the others came forth out of the city against them [of Ai], so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And [the Israelites] smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
14 As for the man who is a weak believer, welcome him [into your fellowship], but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions.
2 One [man’s faith permits him to] believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one [limits his] eating to vegetables.
3 Let not him who eats look down on or despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains criticize and pass judgment on him who eats; for God has accepted and welcomed him.
4 Who are you to pass judgment on and censure another’s household servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he shall stand and be upheld, for the Master (the Lord) is mighty to support him and make him stand.
5 One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike [sacred]. Let everyone be fully convinced (satisfied) in his own mind.
6 He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. He also who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; while he who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 None of us lives to himself [but to the Lord], and none of us dies to himself [but to the Lord, for]
8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For Christ died and lived again for this very purpose, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10 Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.
11 For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God [acknowledge Him to His honor and to His praise].(A)
12 And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God.
47 As He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve [apostles], came up, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The One I shall kiss is the Man; seize Him.
49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Hail (greetings, good health to You, long life to You), Master! And he [a]embraced Him and kissed Him [b]with [pretended] warmth and devotion.
50 Jesus said to him, Friend, for what are you here? Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him.
51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword and, striking the body servant of the high priest, cut off his ear.
52 Then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back into its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.(A)
53 Do you suppose that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will immediately provide Me with more than twelve legions [[c]more than 80,000] of angels?
54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must come about this way?
55 At that moment Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out with swords and clubs as [you would] against a robber to capture Me? Day after day I was [d]accustomed to sit in the [e]porches and courts of the temple teaching, and you did not arrest Me.
56 But all this has taken place in order that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted Him and, fleeing, escaped.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation