Book of Common Prayer
To the Director: An instruction[a] by the Sons of Korah. A love song to the tune of[b] “Lilies”.
A Royal Wedding Song
45 My heart is overflowing with good news;
I speak what I have composed to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of an articulate scribe.
2 You are the most handsome of Adam’s descendants;
grace has anointed your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Strap your sword to your side,
mighty warrior, along with your honor and majesty.
4 In your majesty ride forth for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness;
and your strong right hand will teach you awesome things.
5 Your arrows are sharpened
to penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies.
People will fall under you.
6 Your throne, God, exists forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom is a righteous scepter.
7 You love justice and hate wickedness.
That is why God, even your God, has anointed you
rather than your companions with the oil of gladness.
8 All your clothes are scented with[c] myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.
9 The king’s daughters are among your honorable women;
the queen, dressed in gold from Ophir, has taken her place at your right hand.”
10 Listen, daughter! Consider and pay attention.
Forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will greatly desire your beauty.
Because he is your lord, you should bow in respect before him.
12 The daughter[d] of Tyre will come with[e] a wedding gift;
wealthy people will entreat your favor.
13 In her chamber,[f] the king’s daughter is glorious;
her clothing is embroidered with gold thread.
14 In embroidered garments
she is presented to the king.
Her virgin companions who follow her train
will be presented to you.
15 Filled with joy and gladness, they are presented
when they enter the king’s palace.
16 Your sons will take the place of your ancestors,
and you will set them up as princes in all the earth.
17 From generation to generation,
I will cause your name to be remembered.
Therefore people will thank you forever and ever.
To the Director: A song by the Sons of Korah.
The Ruler over the Nations
47 Clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with a loud cry of joy!
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
even the pride of Jacob whom he loved.
5 God has ascended on high with a shout,
the Lord has ascended[a] with the blast of a trumpet.
6 Sing songs to God!
Sing songs!
Sing songs to our King!
Sing songs!
7 Indeed, God is king over all the earth;
sing a song of praise.
8 God is king over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles among the nations
have joined the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
A song: Lyrics[b] by the Sons of Korah.
Zion, City of God
48 Great is the Lord!
For he is to be praised greatly,
even in the city of our God,
his holy mountain.
2 Beautifully situated,
the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion towards the north,[c]
the city of the great King.
3 Within her citadels
God is known as a place of refuge.
4 Behold, when the kings assembled together,
when they traveled together,
5 they looked and were awestruck;
they became afraid and ran away.
6 Trembling seized them there,
pains like those of a woman in labor,
7 as when an east wind destroyed the ships of Tarshish.
8 Just as we have heard,
so have we seen;
in the city of the Lord of the heavenly armies—
even in the city of our God—
God will establish her forever.
9 God, we have meditated on your gracious love
in the midst of your Temple.
10 God, according to your name,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion will be glad;
the towns[d] of Judah will rejoice because of your judgments.
12 March around Zion;
encircle her;
count her towers.
13 Take note of her ramparts;
investigate her citadels;
that you may speak about them to the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us until death.
Job Wishes for the Old Days
29 Then Job continued with his discourse:
2 “I wish I could go back to how things were a few months ago;
when God used to watch over me,
3 when his lamp used to shine over my head,
so I could walk through the dark,
4 like when I was in my prime
and God trusted me with his secrets![a]
5 “The Almighty was still with me back then,
and my children were still around me.
6 I was successful wherever I went,[b]
and even the rocks poured out streams of olive oil for me.”
Job Remembers His Respected Position
7 “Whenever I went out to the city gate,
a seat had been reserved for me in the plaza.[c]
8 The young men would see me and withdraw,
and the aged would rise and stand.
9 Nobles would refrain from speaking,
covering their mouths with their hands.
10 The voices of the commanders-in-chief[d] were hushed,
and their tongues would cling to the roofs of their mouths.”
Job Remembers His Acts of Kindness
11 “When people heard me speak, they blessed me;
when people saw me, they approved me,
12 because I delivered the poor who were crying for help,
along with orphans who had no one to help them.
13 Those who were about to die blessed me,
and I made widows sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness like clothing;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.
15 I served as eyes for the blind
and feet for the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy;
I diligently inquired into the case of those I didn’t know.
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked,
and made him drop the prey.”
Job Remembers His Previous Condition
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
14 In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas[a] went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 They stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak boldly for the Lord, who kept affirming his word of grace and granting signs and wonders to be done by them. 4 But the people of the city were divided. Some were with the Jews, while others were with the apostles.
5 Now when an attempt was made by both gentiles and Jews, along with their authorities, to mistreat and stone them, 6 Paul and Barnabas[b] found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding territory. 7 There they kept talking about the good news.
Paul and Barnabas in Lystra
8 Now in Lystra there was a man sitting down who couldn’t use his feet. He had been crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul[c] watched him closely, and when he saw that he had faith to be healed, 10 he said in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” Then the man[d] jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” 12 They began to call Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the main speaker. 13 The priest of the temple of Zeus, which was just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates. He and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings with natures like yours. We are telling you the good news so you’ll turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.[e] 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own ways, 17 yet he has not abandoned his witness: he continues to do good, to give you rain from heaven, to give you[f] fruitful seasons, and to fill you with food and your hearts with joy.” 18 Even by saying this, it was all Paul and Barnabas[g] could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.
31 Again the Jewish leaders[a] picked up stones to stone him to death.
32 Jesus replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good actions from my[b] Father. For which of them are you going to stone me?”
33 The Jewish leaders[c] answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!”
34 Jesus replied to them, “Is it not written in your[d] Law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?[e] 35 If he called those to whom a message from God came ‘gods’ (and the Scripture cannot be disregarded), 36 how can you say to the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You’re blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I’m the Son of God’? 37 If I’m not doing my Father’s actions, don’t believe me. 38 But if I’m doing them, even though you don’t believe me, believe the actions, so that you may know and understand[f] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Again they tried to seize him, but he slipped away from them.[g] 40 Then he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and he remained there. 41 Many people came to him and kept saying, “John never performed a sign, but everything that John said about this man is true!” 42 And many believed in Jesus[h] there.
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