Book of Common Prayer
45 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” By the descendants of Korach. A maskil. A lovesong:
2 (1) My heart is stirred by a noble theme;
I address my verses to the king;
My tongue is the pen of an expert scribe.
3 (2) You are the most handsome of men;
gracious speech flows from your lips.
For God has blessed you forever.
4 (3) Warrior, strap your sword at your thigh;
[gird on] your splendor and majesty.
5 (4) In your majesty, succeed, ride on
in the cause of truth, meekness and righteousness.
May your right hand teach you awesome things.
6 (5) Your arrows are sharp. The people fall under you,
as they penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.
7 (6) Your throne, God, will last forever and ever;
you rule your kingdom with a scepter of equity.
8 (7) You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of joy in preference to your companions.
9 (8) Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
from ivory palaces stringed instruments bring you joy.
10 (9) Daughters of kings are among your favorites;
at your right stands the queen in gold from Ofir.
11 (10) Listen, daughter! Think, pay attention!
Forget your own people and your father’s house,
12 (11) and the king will desire your beauty;
for he is your lord, so honor him.
13 (12) Then the daughter of Tzor, the richest of peoples,
will court your favor with gifts.
14 (13) Inside [the palace], the king’s daughter looks splendid,
attired in checker-work embroidered with gold.
15 (14) In brocade, she will be led to the king,
to you, with the virgins in her retinue.
16 (15) They will be led in with gladness and joy,
they will enter the king’s palace.
17 (16) You will have sons to succeed your ancestors;
you will make them princes in all the land.
18 (17) I will make your name known through all generations;
thus the peoples will praise you forever and ever.
47 (0) For the leader. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:
2 (1) Clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with cries of joy!
3 (2) For Adonai ‘Elyon is awesome,
a great king over all the earth.
4 (3) He makes peoples subject to us,
puts nations under our feet.
5 (4) He chooses our heritage for us,
the pride of Ya‘akov, whom he loves. (Selah)
6 (5) God goes up to shouts of acclaim,
Adonai to a blast on the shofar.
7 (6) Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our king, sing praises!
8 (7) For God is king of all the earth;
sing praises in a maskil.
9 (8) God rules the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
10 (9) The leaders of the people gather together,
the people of the God of Avraham;
for the rulers of the earth belong to God,
who is exalted on high.
48 (0) A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korach:
2 (1) Great is Adonai
and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God,
his holy mountain,
3 (2) beautiful in its elevation,
the joy of all the earth,
Mount Tziyon, in the far north,
the city of the great king.
4 (3) In its citadels God
has been revealed as a strong defense.
5 (4) For the kings met by agreement;
together they advanced.
6 (5) They saw and were filled with consternation;
terrified, they took to flight.
7 (6) Trembling took hold of them,
pains like those of a woman in labor,
8 (7) as when the wind out of the east
wrecks the “Tarshish” ships.
9 (8) We heard it, and now we see for ourselves
in the city of Adonai-Tzva’ot,
in the city of our God.
May God establish it forever. (Selah)
10 (9) God, within your temple
we meditate on your grace.
11 (10) God, your praise, like your name,
extends to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
12 (11) Let Mount Tziyon rejoice,
let the daughters of Y’hudah be glad,
because of your judgment [on the enemy].
13 (12) Walk through Tziyon, go all around it;
count how many towers it has.
14 (13) Note its ramparts, pass through its citadels,
so that you can tell generations to come
15 (14) that such is God, our God forever;
he will guide us eternally.
12 “Listen to me, Ya‘akov;
Isra’el, whom I have called:
I am he who is first;
I am also the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summoned them,
at once they rose into being.
14 “All of you, assemble and listen:
which of you has foretold what is coming?
Adonai’s friend will do his will against Bavel,
using his arm against the Kasdim.
15 It is I who have spoken,
I have summoned him,
I have brought him,
and he will succeed.
16 “Come close to me, and listen to this:
since the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
since the time things began to be, I have been there;
and now Adonai Elohim has sent me and his Spirit.”
17 Thus says Adonai, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Isra’el:
“I am Adonai, your God,
who teaches you for your own good,
who guides you on the path you should take.
18 If only you would heed my mitzvot!
Then your peace would flow on like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would be numerous as the sand,
your offspring countless as its grains.
Their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from my presence.”
20 Get out of Bavel! Flee the Kasdim!
With shouts of joy announce it, proclaim it!
Send the news out to the ends of the earth!
Say, “Adonai has redeemed his servant Ya‘akov.”
21 They weren’t thirsty when he led them through the deserts,
he made water flow from the rock for them —
he split the rock, and out gushed the water.
18 Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, 19 but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya‘akov the Lord’s brother. 20 (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!) 21 Next I went to Syria and Cilicia; 22 but in Y’hudah, the Messianic congregations didn’t even know what I looked like — 23 they were only hearing the report, “The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy”; 24 and they praised God for me.
2 Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus. 2 I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles — but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.
3 But they didn’t force my Gentile companion Titus to undergo b’rit-milah. 4 Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in — they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us. 5 Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.
6 Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders — what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances — these leaders added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised; 8 since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles. 9 So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya‘akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised. 10 Their only request was that we should remember the poor — which very thing I have spared no pains to do.
6 Then Yeshua left and went to his home town, and his talmidim followed him. 2 On Shabbat he started to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They asked, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom he has been given? What are these miracles worked through him? 3 Isn’t he just the carpenter? the son of Miryam? the brother of Ya‘akov and Yosi and Y’hudah and Shim‘on? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 But Yeshua said to them. “The only place people don’t respect a prophet is in his home town, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 So he could do no miracles there, other than lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of trust.
Then he went through the surrounding towns and villages, teaching.
7 Yeshua summoned the Twelve and started sending them out in pairs, giving them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He instructed them, “Take nothing for your trip except a walking stick — no bread, no pack, no money in your belt. 9 Wear shoes but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place; 11 and if the people of some place will not welcome you, and they refuse to hear you, then, as you leave, shake the dust off your feet as a warning to them.”
12 So they set out and preached that people should turn from sin to God, 13 they expelled many demons, and they anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.