Book of Common Prayer
45 My heart is composing a goodly matter; I speak of the verses which I have made concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.
3 Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.
4 And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee fearsome things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies, whereby the people fall under Thee.
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the scepter of Thy Kingdom is a righteous scepter.
7 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
8 All Thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made Thee glad.
9 Kings’ daughters were among Thy honorable women; at Thy right hand stood the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father’s house.
11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty, for He is thy Lord; worship thou Him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor.
13 The King’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework; the virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto Thee.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the King’s palace.
16 Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make Thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever.
47 O clap your hands, all ye people! Shout unto God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; He is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises unto our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.
48 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, on the mountain of His holiness.
2 Beautiful in situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion; on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
3 God is known in her palaces as a refuge.
4 For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
5 They saw it and so they marveled; they were troubled and hastened away.
6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail;
7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
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 for ever. Selah
9 We have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.
10 According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Thy judgments!
12 Walk about Zion and go round about her, count the towers thereof;
13 mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation that follows.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death.
5 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God helping them.
3 At the same time came to them Tattenai, governor on this side of the river, and Shetharboznai and their companions, and said thus unto them: “Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall?”
4 Then said we unto them in this manner: “What are the names of the men who make this building?”
5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease until the matter came to Darius, and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter.
6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor on this side of the river, and Shetharboznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were on this side of the river, sent unto Darius the king —
7 they sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus: “Unto Darius the king, all peace.
8 Be it known unto the king that we went into the province of Judea to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on and prospereth in their hands.
9 Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus: ‘Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls?’
10 We asked their names also, to inform thee, that we might write the names of the men who were the chief of them.
11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and set up.
12 But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away into Babylon.
13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.
14 And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.
15 And he said unto him, “Take these vessels; go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in his place.”
16 Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And since that time even until now hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished.’
17 Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king’s treasure house which is there at Babylon, whether it be so that a decree was made by Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”
4 After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, “Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.”
2 And immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the throne.
3 And He that sat thereon was to look upon like a jasper and a sardius stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in appearance like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;
6 and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living beings full of eyes in front and behind.
7 And the first being was like a lion, and the second being like a calf, and the third being had the face of a man, and the fourth being was like a flying eagle.
8 And each of the four living beings had six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and they rested not day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!”
9 And when those living beings give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sits on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created.”
13 The same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.
2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 And He spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went forth to sow.
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside; and the fowls came and devoured them up.
5 Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth.
6 And when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8 But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.