Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45[a]
Song for a Royal Wedding
1 For the leader; according to “Lilies.” A maskil of the Korahites. A love song.
I
2 My heart is stirred by a noble theme,
as I sing my ode to the king.
My tongue is the pen of a nimble scribe.
II
3 You are the most handsome of men;
fair speech has graced your lips,
for God has blessed you forever.(A)
4 Gird your sword upon your hip, mighty warrior!
In splendor and majesty ride on triumphant!(B)
5 In the cause of truth, meekness, and justice
may your right hand show your wondrous deeds.
6 Your arrows are sharp;
peoples will cower at your feet;
the king’s enemies will lose heart.
7 Your throne, O God,[b] stands forever;(C)
your royal scepter is a scepter for justice.
8 You love justice and hate wrongdoing;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your fellow kings.
9 With myrrh, aloes, and cassia
your robes are fragrant.
From ivory-paneled palaces[c]
stringed instruments bring you joy.
10 Daughters of kings are your lovely wives;
a princess arrayed in Ophir’s gold[d]
comes to stand at your right hand.
III
11 Listen, my daughter, and understand;
pay me careful heed.
Forget your people and your father’s house,[e]
12 that the king might desire your beauty.
He is your lord;
13 (D)honor him, daughter of Tyre.
Then the richest of the people
will seek your favor with gifts.
14 All glorious is the king’s daughter as she enters,(E)
her raiment threaded with gold;
15 In embroidered apparel she is led to the king.
The maids of her train are presented to the king.
16 They are led in with glad and joyous acclaim;
they enter the palace of the king.
IV
Psalm 47[a]
The Ruler of All the Nations
1 For the leader. A psalm of the Korahites.
I
2 All you peoples, clap your hands;
shout to God with joyful cries.(A)
3 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
the great king over all the earth,(B)
4 Who made people subject to us,
nations under our feet,(C)
5 [b]Who chose our heritage for us,
the glory of Jacob, whom he loves.(D)
Selah
II
6 [c]God has gone up with a shout;
the Lord, amid trumpet blasts.(E)
7 Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
III
8 For God is king over all the earth;(F)
sing hymns of praise.
9 God rules over the nations;
God sits upon his holy throne.
10 The princes of the peoples assemble
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God,
highly exalted.(G)
Psalm 48[d]
The Splendor of the Invincible City
1 A psalm of the Korahites.[e] A song.
I
2 Great is the Lord and highly praised
in the city of our God:(H)
His holy mountain,
3 fairest of heights,
the joy of all the earth,(I)
Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon,[f](J)
the city of the great king.
II
4 God is in its citadel,
renowned as a stronghold.
5 See! The kings assembled,
together they advanced.
6 [g]When they looked they were astounded;
terrified, they were put to flight!(K)
7 Trembling seized them there,
anguish, like a woman’s labor,(L)
8 As when the east wind wrecks
the ships of Tarshish![h]
III
9 [i]What we had heard we have now seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God,
which God establishes forever.
Selah
10 We ponder, O God, your mercy
within your temple
11 Like your name, O God,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.(M)
Your right hand is fully victorious.
12 Mount Zion is glad!
The daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!(N)
IV
16 (A)The wise person will have no more abiding remembrance than the fool; for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies[a] like the fool! 17 Therefore I detested life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is bad; for all is vanity and a chase after wind.
Study of the Fruits of Toil
To Others the Profits. 18 And I detested all the fruits of my toil under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who is to come after me. 19 And who knows whether that one will be wise or a fool? Yet that one will take control of all the fruits of my toil and wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So my heart turned to despair over all the fruits of my toil under the sun. 21 For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 (B)For what profit comes to mortals from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which they toil under the sun? 23 Every day sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night their hearts are not at rest. This also is vanity.
24 [b](C)There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or drink apart from God? 26 [c](D)For to the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the one who displeases, God gives the task of gathering possessions for the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
18 [a]Then after three years[b] I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.(A) 19 But I did not see any other of the apostles,(B) only James the brother of the Lord.[c] 20 (As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.)(C) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.(D) 22 And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”(E) 24 So they glorified God because of me.
Chapter 2
The Council of Jerusalem.[d] 1 Then after fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas,[e] taking Titus along also.(F) 2 I went up in accord with a revelation,[f] and I presented to them the gospel that I preach to the Gentiles—but privately to those of repute—so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.(G) 3 Moreover, not even[g] Titus, who was with me, although he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised,(H) 4 but because of the false brothers[h] secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus,(I) that they might enslave us— 5 to them we did not submit even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel[i] might remain intact for you.(J) 6 But from those who were reputed to be important (what they once were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those of repute made me add nothing.(K) 7 [j]On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter to the circumcised,(L) 8 for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles, 9 and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me, James and Cephas and John,[k] who were reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.(M) 10 Only, we were to be mindful of the poor,[l] which is the very thing I was eager to do.(N)
Peter’s Inconsistency at Antioch.[m]
53 When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
V. Jesus, the Kingdom, and the Church
The Rejection at Nazareth. 54 [a]He came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.(A) They were astonished[b] and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?(B) 55 Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?(C) 56 Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.”(D) 58 And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.
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