Book of Common Prayer
45 My heart is overflowing with a beautiful thought! I will write a lovely poem to the King, for I am as full of words as the speediest writer pouring out his story.
2 You are the fairest of all;
Your words are filled with grace;
God himself is blessing you forever.
3 Arm yourself, O mighty one,
So glorious, so majestic!
4 And in your majesty
Go on to victory,
Defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to awe-inspiring deeds!
5 Your arrows are sharp
In your enemies’ hearts;
They fall before you.
6 Your throne, O God, endures forever.
Justice is your royal scepter.
7 You love what is good
And hate what is wrong.
Therefore God, your God,
Has given you more gladness
Than anyone else.
8 Your robes are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. In your palaces of inlaid ivory, lovely music is being played for your enjoyment. 9 Kings’ daughters are among your concubines.[a] Standing beside you is the queen, wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir.
10-11 “I advise you, O daughter, not to fret about your parents in your homeland far away. Your royal husband delights in your beauty. Reverence him, for he is your lord. 12 The people of Tyre, the richest people of our day, will shower you with gifts and entreat your favors.”
13 The bride,[b] a princess, waits within her chamber, robed in beautiful clothing woven with gold. 14 Lovely[c] she is, led beside her maids of honor to the king! 15 What a joyful, glad procession as they enter in the palace gates! 16 “Your sons will some day be kings like their father. They shall sit on thrones around the world!
17 “I will cause your name to be honored in all generations; the nations of the earth will praise you forever.”
47 Come, everyone, and clap for joy! Shout triumphant praises to the Lord! 2 For the Lord, the God above all gods, is awesome beyond words; he is the great King of all the earth. 3 He subdues the nations before us 4 and will personally select his choicest blessings for his Jewish people[a]—the very best for those he loves.
5 God has ascended with a mighty shout, with trumpets blaring. 6-7 Sing out your praises to our God, our King. Yes, sing your highest praises to our King, the King of all the earth. Sing thoughtful praises! 8 He reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne. 9 The Gentile rulers of the world have joined with us in praising him—praising[b] the God of Abraham—for the battle shields of all the armies of the world are his trophies. He is highly honored everywhere.
48 How great is the Lord! How much we should praise him. He lives upon Mount Zion in Jerusalem. 2 What a glorious sight! See Mount Zion rising north of the city[c] high above the plains for all to see—Mount Zion, joy of all the earth, the residence of the great King.
3 God himself is the defender of Jerusalem.[d] 4 The kings of the earth have arrived together to inspect the city. 5 They marvel at the sight and hurry home again, 6 afraid of what they have seen; they are filled with panic like a woman in travail! 7 For God destroys the mightiest warships with a breath of wind. 8 We have heard of the city’s glory—the city of our God, the Commander of the armies of heaven. And now we see it for ourselves! God has established Jerusalem forever.
9 Lord, here in your Temple we meditate upon your kindness and your love. 10 Your name is known throughout the earth, O God. You are praised everywhere for the salvation[e] you have scattered throughout the world. 11 O Jerusalem,[f] rejoice! O people of Judah, rejoice! For God will see to it that you are finally treated fairly. 12 Go, inspect the city! Walk around and count her many towers! 13 Note her walls and tour her palaces so that you can tell your children.
14 For this great God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide until we die.
29 Job continues:
2 “Oh, for the years gone by when God took care of me, 3 when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness; 4 yes, in my early years, when the friendship of God was felt in my home; 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me; 6 when my projects prospered and even the rock poured out streams of olive oil to me!
7 “Those were the days when I went out to the city gate and took my place among the honored elders. 8 The young saw me and stepped aside, and even the aged rose and stood up in respect at my coming. 9 The princes stood in silence and laid their hands upon their mouths. 10 The highest officials of the city stood in quietness. 11 All rejoiced in what I said. All who saw me spoke well of me.
12 “For I, as an honest judge,[a] helped the poor in their need and the fatherless who had no one to help them. 13 I helped those who were ready to perish, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy. 14 All I did was just and honest, for righteousness was my clothing! 15 I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. 16 I was as a father to the poor and saw to it that even strangers received a fair trial. 17 I knocked out the fangs of the godless oppressors and made them drop their victims.
18 “I thought, ‘Surely I shall die quietly in my nest after a long, good life.’ 19 For everything I did prospered; the dew lay all night upon my fields and watered them. 20 Fresh honors were constantly given me, and my abilities were constantly refreshed and renewed.
14 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together to the synagogue and preached with such power that many—both Jews and Gentiles—believed.
2 But the Jews who spurned God’s message stirred up distrust among the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, saying all sorts of evil things about them. 3 Nevertheless, they stayed there a long time, preaching boldly, and the Lord proved their message was from him by giving them power to do great miracles. 4 But the people of the city were divided in their opinion about them. Some agreed with the Jewish leaders, and some backed the apostles.
5-6 When Paul and Barnabas learned of a plot to incite a mob of Gentiles, Jews, and Jewish leaders to attack and stone them, they fled for their lives, going to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding area, 7 and preaching the Good News there.
8 While they were at Lystra, they came upon a man with crippled feet who had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. 9 He was listening as Paul preached, and Paul noticed him and realized he had faith to be healed. 10 So Paul called to him, “Stand up!” and the man leaped to his feet and started walking!
11 When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted (in their local dialect, of course), “These men are gods in human bodies!” 12 They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Jupiter, and that Paul, because he was the chief speaker, was Mercury! 13 The local priest of the Temple of Jupiter, located on the outskirts of the city, brought them cartloads of flowers and prepared to sacrifice oxen to them at the city gates before the crowds.
14 But when Barnabas and Paul saw what was happening, they ripped at their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, 15 “Men! What are you doing? We are merely human beings like yourselves! We have come to bring you the Good News that you are invited to turn from the worship of these foolish things and to pray instead to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In bygone days he permitted the nations to go their own ways, 17 but he never left himself without a witness; there were always his reminders—the kind things he did such as sending you rain and good crops and giving you food and gladness.”
18 But even so, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them!
31 Then again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill him.
32 Jesus said, “At God’s direction I have done many a miracle to help the people. For which one are you killing me?”
33 They replied, “Not for any good work, but for blasphemy; you, a mere man, have declared yourself to be God.”
34-36 “In your own Law it says that men are gods!” he replied. “So if the Scripture, which cannot be untrue, speaks of those as gods to whom the message of God came, do you call it blasphemy when the one sanctified and sent into the world by the Father says, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 Don’t believe me unless I do miracles of God. 38 But if I do, believe them even if you don’t believe me. Then you will become convinced that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
39 Once again they started to arrest him. But he walked away and left them, 40 and went beyond the Jordan River to stay near the place where John was first baptizing. 41 And many followed him.
“John didn’t do miracles,” they remarked to one another, “but all his predictions concerning this man have come true.” 42 And many came to the decision that he was the Messiah.[a]
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.