Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45
For the worship leader. A contemplative song[a] of the sons of Korah to the tune “The Lilies.”[b] A love song.
1 My heart is bursting with a new song;
lyrics to my king erupt like a spring
for my king, to my king;
my tongue is the pen of a poet, ready and willing.
2 Better by far are you than all others, my king;
gracious words flow from your lips;
indeed, God has blessed you forever.
Psalm 45 describes the beauty, power, and influence of God’s anointed king and may have been composed in honor of a royal wedding.
Whether we realize it or not, the overall well-being of a nation is tied directly to its leaders. When the leaders are just and make good decisions, then the welfare of a nation is secure. But when leaders are unjust and make poor decisions, and they pursue personal agendas rather than the public good, then nations suffer. This is why Scripture instructs those of faith to pray for all people everywhere, especially that those in authority would lead the world to dignity and peace (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
Psalm 45 celebrates that rare breed, a godly king who pursues truth and justice. It anticipates a joyful union and future children who will one day follow in the steps of their father. May the world witness a new breed of leader, fashioned in the image of this psalm.
3 With your sword at your side,
you are glorious, majestic,
a mighty warrior.
4 Ride on in splendor; ride into battle victorious,
for the sake of truth, humility, and justice.
Perform awesome acts, trained by your powerful right hand.
5 Razor-sharp arrows leap from your bow
to pierce the heart of the king’s foes;
they lie, defeated, before you.
6 O God, Your throne is eternal;
You will rule your kingdom with a scepter of justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is evil.
That is why God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness and lifted you above your companions.[c]
8 All of your clothing is drenched in the rich scent of myrrh, aloes, and cassia;
In palaces decked out with ivory, beautiful stringed instruments play for your pleasure.
9 At a royal wedding with the daughters of kings among the guests of honor,
your bride-queen stands at your right, adorned in gold from Ophir.
10 Hear this, daughter; pay close attention to what I am about to say:
you must forget your people and even your father’s house.
11 Because the king yearns for your beauty,
humble yourself before him, for he is now your lord.
12 The daughter of Tyre arrives with a gift;
the wealthy will bow and plead for your favor.
13 A stunning bride, the king’s daughter waits within;
her clothing is skillfully woven with gold.
14 She, in her richly embroidered gown, is carried to the king,
her virgin companions following close behind.
15 They walk in a spirit of celebration and gratefulness.
In delight, they enter the palace of the king.
16 O king, in this place where your ancestors reigned, you will have sons;
you will make them princes throughout all the land.
17 I will make sure your name is remembered by all future generations
so that the people will offer you thanks and praise now and forever.
Psalm 47
For the worship leader. A song of the sons of Korah.
1 Clap your hands, all of you;
raise your voices joyfully and loudly.
Give honor for the True God of the universe;
2 Here’s why: The Eternal, the Most High, is awesome and deserves our great respect.
He is the great King over everything in this world.
3 He’s helped us win wars, suppressed our enemies,
and made nations bow at our feet.
4 He decides the extent of our inheritance and selects the land where we and our children will live,
for we are the pride of Jacob, the ones He loves.
[pause][a]
5 The True God ascends the throne acclaimed by shouts of the people.
The Eternal is announced by the blast of a trumpet.
6 Sing! Shout! Play instruments!
Praise our God and King; sing praises to Him who is worthy.
7 For He is the King of all the earth. Sing praise, all who can.
Put words to music, and then sing praises
8 At the feet of the God who sits on His holy throne,
ruling over all the nations.
9 All those with influence in this world—princes, kings, and satraps—
gather with those who follow Abraham’s God.
For these defenders belong to God
who reigns over the nations!
Psalm 48
A song of the sons of Korah.
1 The Eternal is great and mighty, worthy of great praise
in the city of our True God, upon His holy mountain.
2 Situated high above, Mount Zion is beautiful to see,
the pleasure of the entire earth.
Mount Zion, in the north,[b]
is the city of the great King.
3 In her palaces, the True God
has revealed Himself as a mighty fortress.
4 Not long ago, enemy kings gathered together
and moved forward as one to attack the city.
5 When they saw Mount Zion, they were amazed;
amazement became fear, then panic. They fled for their lives.
6 They were overtaken by terror, trembling in anguish
like a woman in childbirth.
7 God, You shattered the ships of Tarshish
with the mighty east wind.
8 As we have heard stories of Your greatness,
now we have also seen it with our own eyes
right here, in the city of the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies.
Right here, in our God’s city,
the True God will preserve her forever.
[pause][c]
9 We have meditated upon Your loyal love, O God,
within Your holy temple.
10 Just as Your name reaches to the ends of the earth, O God,
so Your praise flows there too;
Your right hand holds justice.
11 So because of Your judgments,
may Mount Zion be delighted!
May the villages of Judah celebrate!
12 Explore Zion; make an accounting,
note all her towers;
13 Reflect upon her defenses;
stroll through her palaces
So that you can tell the coming generation all about her.
14 For so is God,
our True God, forever and ever;
He will be our guide till the end.
The Jews cannot imagine that such opposition to their rebuilding exists within the very government sanctioning and financing their work. The support of a pagan government is not enough to enable and maintain the building of the Lord’s temple. While Darius struggles with political unrest throughout his empire, God incites the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to motivate the Jews to resume work on the building.
5 1-2 The prophets Haggai and Zechariah (descendant of Iddo) spoke to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem with the words of the True God of Israel encouraging Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel) and Jeshua (son of Jozadak) to resume the reconstruction of the True God’s temple in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God gave them assistance. 3 Questioning the sudden commencement of the work, Tattenai (governor of the Persian province west of the Euphrates), Shethar-bozenai, and their associates approached the working Jews.
Persian Officials: Who told you to rebuild the temple?
4 We gave them the names of the people who were doing the work, fearing they might end our construction. 5 But the True God protected the Jewish elders. The Persians did not intend to stop the laborers until Darius received a letter concerning the situation and sent his written reply. 6 Tattenai (governor of the Persian province west of the Euphrates), Shethar-bozenai, and their fellow officials drafted that letter.
Officials’ Letter:
7 To our King Darius, we wish you peace.
8 It should be known that we have visited the great God’s temple in the province of Judah. The Jews are busy carefully laying huge stones and hoisting beams into the walls, and the work is progressing well. 9 When we saw their progress, we asked the elders who told them to resume the construction: 10 what were the names of the laborers and the superintendents. 11 They responded by telling us about Cyrus’ decree:
We are the servants of the True God of heaven and earth; we are rebuilding His house—a house that was originally crafted by one of the greatest kings of Israel early in our nation’s history. 12 Our ancestors disobeyed the True God of heaven and provoked His anger. He empowered Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean king of Babylon, to capture our rebellious ancestors, deport them to Babylon, and destroy His temple.
13 We languished in captivity for more than a generation, until King Cyrus, in his first year as king over Persia and Babylon, allowed us to rebuild the True God’s temple. 14 Cyrus returned the gold and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from the True God’s temple in Jerusalem and displayed in the Babylonian temple, to Sheshbazzar, a recently appointed governor. 15 Cyrus told him to put the vessels back into the temple in Jerusalem and rebuild the True God’s temple on the foundations of the first temple. 16 So Sheshbazzar traveled to Jerusalem and laid the foundations of the True God’s temple. We have been working on the building, either gathering supplies or building the structure, ever since, but it is far from finished.
17 We suggest that you command a thorough search of the archives in your treasure house in Babylon, if that please you. If you find that the Jews’ story is correct and that King Cyrus’ original decree commissioned the rebuilding of the True God’s temple in Jerusalem, then send us your decision as to whether or not the Jews should continue their work.
4 After I wrote down these messages, I saw a door standing open in heaven and heard again the first voice that sounded like a trumpet.
A Voice: Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.
John’s next vision begins when he sees an open door in heaven. What happens next would be impossible for John to imagine.
2 Immediately I was caught up in the Spirit, and I saw a throne that stood in heaven and One seated on the throne. 3 The One enthroned gleamed like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow encircled the throne with an emerald glow. 4 Encircling that great throne were twenty-four smaller thrones with twenty-four elders clothed in white robes with wreaths fashioned of gold on their heads. 5 Out of the great throne came flashes of lightning, sounds of voices, and peals of thunder. In front of the great throne, seven torches were ablaze, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne was a glassy sea of shimmering crystal.
In the midst of the throne and encircling the throne were four living creatures, covered all over with eyes, front to back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature was like an ox, the third creature had a face like the face of a human, and the fourth creature was like an eagle in full flight. 8 These four living creatures, each of which had six wings and was covered with eyes—eyes on the outside and on the inside—did not cease chanting. All day and night they were singing.
Four Living Creatures: Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God who is the All Powerful,
who was, and who is, and who is coming.
9 And when the living creatures declared glory and honor and thanksgiving to the One seated on the throne, the One who lives throughout all the ages, 10 the twenty-four elders fell prostrate before the One seated on the throne, worshiped the One who lives throughout all the ages, cast their golden wreaths before the throne, and chanted to Him.
11 24 Elders: Worthy are You, O Lord; worthy are You, O God,
to receive glory and honor and power.
You alone created all things,
and through Your will and by Your design, they exist and were created.
13 That same day, Jesus left the house and went to sit by the sea. 2 Large crowds gathered around Him, and He got into a boat on the sea and sat there. The crowd stood on the shore waiting for His teaching.
This next sermon series, the third of Jesus’ five Mosaic-like sermons, is filled with parables or stories with a deeper meaning about the kingdom of heaven.
3 And so Jesus began to teach. On this day, He spoke in parables. Here is His first parable:
Jesus: Once there was a sower who scattered seeds. 4 One day he walked in a field scattering seeds as he went. Some seeds fell beside a road, and a flock of birds came and ate all those seeds. 5 So the sower scattered seeds in a field, one with shallow soil and strewn with rocks. But the seeds grew quickly amid all the rocks, 6 without rooting themselves in the shallow soil. Their roots got tangled up in all the stones. The sun scorched these seeds, and they died. 7 And so the sower scattered seeds near a path, this one covered with thorny vines. The seeds fared no better there—the thorns choked them, and they died. 8 And so finally the sower scattered his seeds in a patch of good earth. At home in the good earth, the seeds grew and grew. Eventually the seeds bore fruit, and the fruit grew ripe and was harvested. The harvest was immense—30, 60, 100 times what was sown.
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.