Book of Common Prayer
A Song for the King’s Wedding
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A maskil. A love song of the sons of Korah.
45 Beautiful words fill my mind.
I am speaking of royal things.
My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer.
2 You are more handsome than anyone.
You are a very good speaker.
God has blessed you forever.
3 Put on your sword, powerful warrior.
Show your glory and majesty.
4 In your majesty win the victory.
Defend what is true and right.
Your power will do amazing things.
5 Your sharp arrows will enter
the hearts of the king’s enemies.
Nations will be defeated before you.
6 God, your throne will last forever and ever.
You will rule your kingdom with fairness.
7 You love right and hate evil.
So God has chosen you to rule those with you.
Your God has given you much joy.
8 Your clothes smell like myrrh, aloes and cassia.
From palaces of ivory
music comes to make you happy.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.
Your bride stands at your right side
wearing gold from Ophir.
10 Listen to me, daughter. Look and pay attention.
Forget your people and your father’s family.
11 The king loves your beauty.
Because he is your master, you should obey him.
12 People from the city of Tyre have brought a gift.
Wealthy people will want to meet you.
13 The princess is very beautiful.
Her gown is woven with gold.
14 In her beautiful clothes she is brought to the king.
Her bridesmaids follow behind her.
And they are also brought to him.
15 They come with happiness and joy.
They enter the king’s palace.
16 You will have sons to take the place of your ancestors.
You will make them rulers through all the land.
17 I will make your name famous from now on.
People will praise you forever and ever.
God, the King of the World
For the director of music. A song of the sons of Korah.
47 Clap your hands, all you people.
Shout to God with joy.
2 The Lord Most High is wonderful.
He is the great King over all the earth!
3 He defeated nations for us
and put them under our control.
4 He chose the land we would inherit.
We are the children of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah
5 God has risen with a shout of joy.
The Lord has risen as the trumpets sounded.
6 Sing praises to God. Sing praises.
Sing praises to our King. Sing praises.
7 God is King of all the earth.
So sing a song of praise to him.
8 God is King over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations meet
with the people of the God of Abraham.
Even the leaders of the earth belong to God.
He is supreme.
Jerusalem, the City of God
A song of the sons of Korah.
48 The Lord is great; he should be praised
in the city of our God, on his holy mountain.
2 It is high and beautiful.
It brings joy to the whole world.
Mount Zion is like the high mountains of the north.
It is the city of the Great King.
3 God is within its palaces.
He is known as its protection.
4 Kings joined together
and came together to attack the city.
5 But when they saw it, they were amazed.
They ran away in fear.
6 Fear took hold of them.
They hurt like a woman having a baby.
7 You destroyed the large trading ships
with an east wind.
8 First we heard.
And now we have seen that
God will always keep his city safe.
It is the city of the Lord of heaven’s armies,
the city of our God. Selah
9 God, we come into your Temple.
There we think about your love.
10 God, your name is known everywhere.
Everywhere on earth people praise you.
Your right hand is full of goodness.
11 Mount Zion is happy.
All the towns of Judah rejoice
because your decisions are fair.
12 Walk around Jerusalem
and count its towers.
13 Notice how strong they are. Look at the palaces.
Then you will be able to tell your children about them.
14 This God is our God forever and ever.
He will guide us from now on.
4 The Lord your God will force those nations out ahead of you. After that, don’t say to yourself, “The Lord brought me here. I own this land because I am so good.” No! It is because these nations are evil. That is why the Lord will force them out ahead of you. 5 You are going in to own the land. But it is not because you are good and honest. It is because these nations are evil. That is why the Lord your God will force them out ahead of you. The Lord will keep his promise to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 The Lord your God is giving you this good land to own. But know this: It is not because you are good. You are a stubborn people.
Remember the Lord’s Anger
7 Remember this. Do not forget it. You made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You would not obey the Lord from the day you left Egypt until you arrived here. 8 At Mount Sinai you made the Lord angry. He was angry enough to destroy you. 9 I went up on the mountain to receive the stone tablets. The tablets were the agreement the Lord had made with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water. 10 The Lord gave me two stone tablets. God had written on them with his own finger. On them were all the commands of the Lord. He gave them to you on the mountain out of the fire. This was on the day you were gathered there.
11 Then the 40 days and 40 nights were over. And the Lord gave me the two stone tablets. Those tablets had the agreement on them. 12 Then the Lord told me, “Get up. Go down quickly from here. The people you brought out from Egypt are ruining themselves. They have quickly turned away from what I commanded. They have made an idol for themselves.”
Jesus Is Greater Than Moses
3 So all of you, holy brothers, should think about Jesus. You were all called by God. God sent Jesus to us, and he is the high priest of our faith. 2 And Jesus was faithful to God as Moses was. Moses did everything God wanted him to do in God’s family. 3 A man who is the head of a family receives more honor than others in the family. It is the same with Jesus. Jesus should have more honor than Moses. 4 Every family has its head, but God is the head of everything. 5 Moses was faithful in God’s family as a servant. He told what God would say in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a Son who is the head of God’s family. And we are God’s family if we hold on to our faith and are proud of the great hope we have.
We Must Continue to Follow God
7 So it is as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today listen to what he says.
8 Do not be stubborn as in the past
when you turned against God.
There you tested God in the desert.
9 For 40 years in the desert your ancestors saw the things I did.
But they tested me and my patience.
10 I was angry with them.
I said, ‘They are not loyal to me.
They have not understood my ways.’
11 So I was angry and made a promise.
‘They will never enter my land of rest.’”[a] Psalm 95:7-11
13 But it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast. So Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple he found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves. He saw others sitting at tables, exchanging money. 15 Jesus made a whip out of cords. Then he forced all these men, with the sheep and cattle, to leave the Temple. He turned over the tables and scattered the money of the men who were exchanging it. 16 Then he said to those who were selling pigeons, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place for buying and selling!”
17 When this happened the followers remembered what was written in the Scriptures: “My strong love for your Temple completely controls me.”[a]
18 The Jews said to Jesus, “Show us a miracle for a sign. Prove that you have the right to do these things.”
19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will build it again in three days.”
20 The Jews answered, “Men worked 46 years to build this Temple! Do you really believe you can build it again in three days?”
21 (But the temple Jesus meant was his own body. 22 After Jesus was raised from death, his followers remembered that Jesus had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and the words Jesus said.)
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.