Book of Common Prayer
A Royal Wedding Song
Psalm 45
1 For the music director, according to “Lilies.” Of the sons of Korah, a contemplative song, a love song.
2 My heart is stirred with a good word.
I speak my verses to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
3 You are the most handsome of the sons of men.
Grace pours from your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.
4 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and your majesty.
5 In your majesty ride victoriously,
on behalf of truth, meekness and justice.
Let your right hand display awesome things.
6 Your arrows are sharp.
Peoples fall beneath you—
into the heart of the king’s enemies.
7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
and a scepter of justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.
8 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore, God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.[a]
9 All your robes have myrrh, aloes, cassia.
From ivory palaces, stringed instruments
make you glad.
10 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.
At your right hand stands the queen
in gold of Ophir.
11 “Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear.
Forget your people and your father’s house.
12 Then the king will desire your beauty.
Honor him, for he is your lord.
13 A daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.
The richest people will court your favor.”
14 All glorious is the king’s daughter within the palace—
her gown is interwoven with gold.[b]
15 She will be led to the king in embroidered garments.
Her virgins, her companions following her, are coming in to you.
16 They are led in with joy and gladness—
they enter into the palace of the king.
17 Your sons will take your fathers’ place.
You will make them princes throughout the land.
18 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations.
Therefore the nations will praise you forever and ever.
In Celebration of God’s Reign
Psalm 47
1 For the music director, a psalm for the sons of Korah.
2 Clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of joy!
3 For Adonai Elyon is awesome,
a great King over all the earth.
4 He subdues peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
5 He chooses our inheritance for us,
the glory of Jacob whom He loved. Selah
6 God is gone up amidst shouting,
Adonai amidst the sound of the shofar.
7 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
8 For God is the King of all the earth.
Sing praises with a skillful song.
9 God reigns over the nations.
God sits upon His holy throne.
10 The princes of the peoples are gathered as a people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of earth belong to God—
He is greatly exalted!
Consider Zion’s Towers
Psalm 48
1 A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Great is Adonai, and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God—His holy mountain.
3 A beautiful height—the joy of the whole earth—
is Mount Zion, on the northern side of the city of the great King.[a]
4 God, in her palaces,
is known as a stronghold.
5 For behold, the kings assembled,
they advanced together.
6 They saw, then they were astounded,
they fled in terror.
7 Trembling seized them there,
pain like a woman in labor.
8 With an east wind
You broke the ships of Tarshish.
9 As we have heard, so have we seen,
in the city of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
10 We have meditated on Your lovingkindness, O God,
in the midst of Your Temple.
11 Like Your Name, O God,
so is Your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
12 Mount Zion is glad,
the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of Your judgments.
13 Walk about Zion, go around her.
Count her towers.
14 Consider her ramparts,
go through her palaces,
so you may describe it to the next generation.
15 For this God is our God, forever and ever!
He will guide us to the end.
Prophets Restart the Project
5 Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the House of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them supporting them.
3 At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates came to them and asked them, “Who gave you the authority to build this House and to complete this structure?” 4 They also asked them, “What are the names of the men who are constructing this building?”
5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and a written reply about it be returned.
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shetar-bozenai, and his colleagues, officials of Trans-Euphrates, sent to King Darius. 7 The report they sent to him was written as follows:
“To King Darius.
“All Shalom!
8 “Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the House of the great God, which is being built with large stones and timber is being set in the walls. Now this work is being done diligently and is succeeding in their hands.
9 Then we questioned those elders, asking them, ‘Who gave you the authority to build this House and to complete this structure?’ 10 We also asked them their names in order to inform you, so that we might write the names of the men who were in charge of them.
11 They responded to us saying,
‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the House that was built many years ago. A great king of Israel built and finished it. 12 But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean. He destroyed this House and carried the people away to Babylon.
13 ‘However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this House of God. 14 Even the gold and silver utensils of the House of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem and had carried away to the temple in Babylon—King Cyrus took those things from the temple in Babylon and gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.
15 ‘Then he said to him, “Take these vessels and go and deposit them in the Temple in Jerusalem and let the House of God be built in its place!” 16 So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the House of God in Jerusalem. From that time until now it has been under construction, yet it is not yet finished.’
17 “Now, if it pleases the king, let a search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see if in fact King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this House of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision about this matter.”
The Heavenly Throne of Adonai
4 After these things I looked, and behold, a door was standing open in heaven.[a] And the first voice, which I had heard speaking with me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
2 Immediately I was in the Ruach;[b] and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One seated on the throne. [c] 3 And the One who was seated was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. [d] 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes with golden crowns on their heads. 5 And out from the throne come flashes of lightning and rumblings and clashes of thunder[e]—and seven torches of fire burning before the throne,[f] which are the seven spirits of God. 6 And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
In the middle of the throne and around it were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.[g]
7 The first living creature was like a lion,
the second living creature was like an ox,
the third living creature had a face
like a man,
and the fourth living creature was
like a flying eagle.[h]
8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes all around and within.[i] They do not rest day or night, chanting,
“Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot,[j]
asher haya v’hoveh v’yavo!
Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of Hosts,
who was and who is
and who is to come!”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, [k] 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. And they throw their crowns down before the throne, chanting,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
For You created all things,
and because of Your will
they existed and were created!”
Simple Stories, Profound Truths
13 On that day after Yeshua left the house, He was sitting by the sea. 2 And large crowds gathered around Him; so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went out to spread some seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some seeds fell by the road; and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil. They sprang up immediately, because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched; and because they had no roots, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out. 8 But others fell on good soil and were producing fruit. They yielded a crop—some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears,[a] let him hear.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.