Book of Common Prayer
The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride
To the Chief Musician. (A)Set to [a]“The Lilies.” A [b]Contemplation of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.
45 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a [c]ready writer.
2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
(B)Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
3 [d]Gird Your (C)sword upon Your thigh, (D)O Mighty One,
With Your (E)glory and Your majesty.
4 (F)And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness;
And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies;
The peoples fall under You.
6 (G)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A (H)scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has (I)anointed You
With the oil of (J)gladness more than Your companions.
8 All Your garments are (K)scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
9 (L)Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women;
(M)At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
10 Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
(N)Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
(O)Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
(P)The rich among the people will seek your favor.
13 The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace;
Her clothing is woven with gold.
14 (Q)She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
They shall enter the King’s palace.
Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
47 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great (A)King over all the earth.
3 (B)He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
4 He will choose our (C)inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah
5 (D)God has gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 (E)For God is the King of all the earth;
(F)Sing praises with understanding.
8 (G)God reigns over the nations;
God (H)sits on His (I)holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have gathered together,
(J)The people of the God of Abraham.
(K)For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.
The Glory of God in Zion
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the (L)city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
2 (M)Beautiful in [a]elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
3 God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.
4 For behold, (N)the kings assembled,
They passed by together.
5 They saw it, and so they marveled;
They were troubled, they hastened away.
6 Fear (O)took hold of them there,
And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,
7 As when You break the (P)ships of Tarshish
With an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
So we have seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God:
God will (Q)establish it forever. Selah
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in (A)Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.”
So he said to him, “Here I am.”
14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of (B)Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”
16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. (C)Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in (D)Dothan.
18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, (E)they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this [a]dreamer is coming! 20 (F)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”
21 But (G)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they (H)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
20 (A)Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the [a]disputer of this age? (B)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the (C)wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For (D)Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, (E)to the Jews a [b]stumbling block and to the [c]Greeks (F)foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (G)the power of God and (H)the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For [d]you see your calling, brethren, (I)that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [e]noble, are called. 27 But (J)God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [f]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and (K)righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, (L)“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry(A)
14 (B)Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, (C)preaching the gospel [a]of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, (D)“The time is fulfilled, and (E)the kingdom of God [b]is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Four Fishermen Called as Disciples(F)
16 (G)And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become (H)fishers of men.” 18 (I)They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.
Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit(J)
21 (K)Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the (L)synagogue and taught. 22 (M)And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an (N)unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, “Let us alone! (O)What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I (P)know who You are—the (Q)Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus (R)rebuked him, saying, [c]“Be quiet, and come out of him!” 26 And when the unclean spirit (S)had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, [d]“What is this? What new [e]doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” 28 And immediately His (T)fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.