Book of Common Prayer

The King’s Wedding Song

45 My heart flows over with good words. I sing my songs to the King. My tongue writes the words of a good writer. ² You are more beautiful than the children of men. Loving-favor is poured upon Your lips. So God has honored You forever.

³ Put Your sword on at Your side, O Powerful One, in Your greatness and power that can be seen. ⁴ And in Your great power, move on to win the fight for truth and for not having pride and for what is right and good. Let Your right hand teach You to do great things. ⁵ Your arrows are sharp. The people fall under You. Your arrows are in the heart of those who hate the King.

⁶ O God, Your throne is forever and ever. You rule Your holy nation by what is right. ⁷ You have loved what is right and good. You have hated what is wrong. That is why God, Your God, has chosen You. He has poured over You the oil of joy more than over anyone else. ⁸ All Your clothes smell of fine perfumes. Out of ivory palaces music of strings have made You glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among Your women of honor. At Your right hand stands the queen, wearing gold from Ophir.

¹⁰ Listen, O daughter, hear my words and think about them. Forget your people and your father’s house. ¹¹ Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. ¹² And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich people will ask for your favor.

¹³ The daughter of the King is beautiful within. Her clothes are made with gold. ¹⁴ She will be led to the King in clothes sewed for beauty. The young women who have never had men are her friends. They follow her and will be brought to You. ¹⁵ They will be led in with joy and happiness, because they will come into the King’s palace.

¹⁶ Instead of Your fathers, it will be Your sons whom You will make rulers over all the earth. ¹⁷ I will make Your name to be remembered to all the children-to-come. So that the nations will honor You forever and ever.

God—the King of the Earth

47 Show your happiness, all peoples! Call out to God with the voice of joy! ² For the Lord Most High is to be feared. He is a great King over all the earth. ³ He sets people under us, and nations under our feet. ⁴ He chooses for us what is to be ours, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves.

⁵ God has gone up with a loud voice, the Lord with the sound of a horn. ⁶ Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our King. Sing praises. ⁷ For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with a well written song. ⁸ God rules over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. ⁹ The rulers of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. For the powers of the earth belong to God. He is much honored.

It Is Foolish to Trust in Riches

48 The Lord is great and should be given much praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. ² Mount Zion in the far north is beautiful and high, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King. ³ God has made Himself known as a safe place in that city.

⁴ For, see, the kings gathered themselves and went up together. ⁵ They saw it, then they were surprised and afraid. And they ran away fast in fear. ⁶ They began shaking there. And they suffered pain like a woman giving birth. ⁷ You wreck the ships of Tarshish with the east wind. ⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of All, in the city of our God. God will make her last forever.

⁹ O God, we have thought about Your loving-kindness within Your holy house. ¹⁰ Like Your name, O God, Your praise is heard to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of what is right and good. ¹¹ Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the people of Judah be full of joy because You are right in how You judge. ¹² Walk in Zion, and go around her. See how many towers she has. ¹³ Give thought to her walls. Go through her beautiful houses where kings live. And tell about it to the children-to-come. ¹⁴ This is God, our God forever and ever. He will show us the way until death.

Job Tells of His Past Days

29 Then Job spoke again and said, ² “If only I could be now as I was in the months past when God watched over me! ³ His lamp shined over my head then and by His light I walked through darkness. ⁴ Those days were my best days when God was my friend watching over my tent. ⁵ The All-powerful was still with me, and my children were around me. ⁶ My path was washed with milk, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me. ⁷ When I went to the city gate and took my place with the leaders of the city, ⁸ the young men saw me and let me go by. The old men rose and stood. ⁹ The leaders stopped talking, and put their hands on their mouths. ¹⁰ The voices of the rulers were quiet. Their tongues held to the roof of their mouths. ¹¹ Those who heard me, honored me. Those who saw me, respected me, ¹² because I helped the poor man when he cried for help and the child without parents who had no one to help him. ¹³ Good came to me from the man who was dying. And I made the heart of the woman whose husband had died sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on what was right and good, and it clothed me. The right things done were my coat and head-covering. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the man who could not walk. ¹⁶ I was a father to those in need. And I helped those I did not know who had a need. ¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the sinful, and took from their teeth what they had taken. ¹⁸ Then I thought, ‘I will die in my nest. My days will be as many as the sand. ¹⁹ My roots go to the water. As the water is on the grass in the early morning, it will be all night on my branches. ²⁰ My honor is always new to me, and my bow is new in my hand.’

Paul and Barnabas Preach in Iconium

14 In the city of Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish place of worship. They preached with power and many people became Christians. These people were Jews and Greeks. ² But the Jews who did not want to believe worked against those who were not Jews. They made them turn against the Christians. ³ Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time preaching with the strength the Lord gave. God helped them to do powerful works when they preached which showed He was with them. ⁴ The people of the city were divided. Some were on the side of the Jews. Some were on the side of the missionaries. ⁵ All the people and the leaders tried to hurt them and throw stones at them.

Paul and Barnabas Go to Lystra

⁶ When Paul and Barnabas heard this, they got away and went to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia and to the country close by. ⁷ They stayed there and kept on preaching the Good News. ⁸ There was a man in Lystra who had never walked from the time he was born. ⁹ This man listened as Paul spoke. Paul watched him. He saw that the man believed he could be healed. ¹⁰ Calling to him with a loud voice, Paul said, “Stand up on your feet!” The man jumped up and walked around.

Paul and Barnabas Are Called Gods, Then Stoned

¹¹ The people saw what Paul did. They called with loud voices in the language of the people of Lycaonia, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.” ¹² They said that Barnabas was Jupiter. Paul was called Mercury because he spoke more than Barnabas. ¹³ The god of Jupiter was in a building near the gate leading into the city. The religious leader of that place brought cattle and flowers to the gate. He and many other people wanted to burn these as gifts in an act of worship to Paul and Barnabas.

¹⁴ When Paul and Barnabas heard this, they ran among the people. They tore their clothes and cried out, ¹⁵ “Why are you doing this? We are only men with feelings like yours. We preach the Good News that you should turn from these empty things to the living God. He made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ¹⁶ Long ago He allowed all people to live the way they wanted to. ¹⁷ Even then God did not leave you without something to see of Him. He did good. He gave you rain from heaven and much food. He made you happy.” ¹⁸ Even with these words it was hard for Paul and Barnabas to keep the people from burning cattle in an act of worship to them.

Jesus Talks to Angry Men

³¹ Again the Jews picked up stones to throw at Him. ³² Jesus said to them, “Many good things have I shown you from My Father. For which of these things are you going to throw stones at Me?” ³³ They said, “We are not going to throw stones at You for any good work. It is because of the way You talk against God. It is because You make Yourself to be God when You are only a man.” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ^{(A) 35} The Holy Writings were given to them and God called them gods. (The Word of God cannot be put aside.) ³⁶ But God has set Me apart for Himself. He sent Me into the world. Then how can you say that I am speaking against God because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷ If I am not doing the works of My Father, do not believe Me. ³⁸ But if I do them, even if you do not believe Me, believe the works that I do. Then you will know the Father is in Me and I am in Him.” ³⁹ They tried again to take Him but He got out of their hands.

Jesus Goes to the Other Side of the Jordan River

⁴⁰ Jesus went away to the other side of the Jordan River to the place where John was baptizing people. Jesus stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people came to Him and said, “John did no powerful work, but what John said about this Man is true.” ⁴² Many people put their trust in Jesus there.