Book of Common Prayer
To the chief Musician. Upon Shoshannim. Of the sons of Korah. An instruction;—a song of the Beloved.
45 My heart is welling forth [with] a good matter: I say what I have composed touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Thou art fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword upon [thy] thigh, O mighty one, [in] thy majesty and thy splendour;
4 And [in] thy splendour ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness [and] righteousness: and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp—peoples fall under thee—in the heart of the king's enemies.
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom:
7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions.
8 Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all thy garments; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad.
9 Kings' daughters are among thine honourable women; upon thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thine own people and thy father's house:
11 And the king will desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre with a gift, the rich ones among the people, shall court thy favour.
13 All glorious is the king's daughter within; her clothing is of wrought gold:
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of embroidery; the virgins behind her, her companions, shall be brought in unto thee:
15 With joy and gladness shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king's palace.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons; princes shalt thou make them in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered throughout all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever.
To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.
47 All ye peoples, clap your hands; shout unto God with the voice of triumph!
2 For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
3 He subdueth the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He hath chosen our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5 God is gone up amid shouting, Jehovah amid the sound of the trumpet.
6 Sing psalms of God, sing psalms; sing psalms unto our King, sing psalms!
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing psalms with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the nations; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The willing-hearted of the peoples have gathered together, [with] the people of the God of Abraham. For unto God [belong] the shields of the earth: he is greatly exalted.
A Song; a Psalm. Of the sons of Korah.
48 Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the hill of his holiness.
2 Beautiful in 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 known in her palaces as a high fortress.
4 For behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together;
5 They saw,—so they marvelled; they were troubled, they fled in consternation:
6 Trembling took hold upon them there; anguish, as of a woman in travail.
7 With an east wind thou hast broken the ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God: God doth establish it for ever. Selah.
9 We have thought, O God, of thy loving-kindness, in the midst of thy temple.
10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers thereof;
13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces: that ye may tell it to the generation following.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide until death.
5 Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel [did they prophesy] to them.
2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, who helped them.
3 At that time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, and said thus to them: Who gave you orders to build this house and to complete this wall?
4 And they said to them after this manner: What are the names of the men that build this building?
5 But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease till the matter came to Darius; and then they returned answer by letter concerning it.
6 The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were on this side the river, sent to Darius the king.
7 They sent a report to him in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace!
8 Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is being built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work is being carried on with diligence, and prospers in their hand.
9 Then asked we those elders: thus we said to them, Who gave you orders to build this house and to complete this wall?
10 We asked their names also, to inform thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them.
11 And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of the heavens and the earth, and build the house that was built these many years ago; and a great king of Israel built and completed it.
12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of the heavens to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, and he destroyed this house, and carried the people away unto Babylon.
13 But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, king Cyrus gave orders to build this house of God.
14 And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was at Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, those did king Cyrus take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one Sheshbazzar by name, whom he had appointed governor.
15 And he said to him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is at Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place.
16 Then came the same Sheshbazzar, [and] laid the foundation of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and since that time even until now has it been in building, and it is not completed.
17 And now, if it seem good to the king, let search be made in the king's treasure-house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that orders were given by king Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.
4 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will shew thee the things which must take place after these things.
2 Immediately I became in [the] Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in the heaven, and upon the throne one sitting,
3 and he [that was] sitting like in appearance to a stone [of] jasper and a sardius, and a rainbow round the throne like in appearance to an emerald.
4 And round the throne twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four elders sitting, clothed with white garments; and on their heads golden crowns.
5 And out of the throne go forth lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;
6 and before the throne, as a glass sea, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, four living creatures, full of eyes, before and behind;
7 and the first living creature like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature having the face as of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having respectively six wings; round and within they are full of eyes; and they cease not day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.
9 And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanksgiving to him that sits upon the throne, who lives to the ages of ages,
10 the twenty-four elders shall fall before him that sits upon the throne, and do homage to him that lives to the ages of ages; and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O our Lord and [our] God, to receive glory and honour and power; for *thou* hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and they have been created.
13 And that [same] day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea.
2 And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that going on board ship himself he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3 And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow:
4 and as he sowed, some [grains] fell along the way, and the birds came and devoured them;
5 and others fell upon the rocky places where they had not much earth, and immediately they sprang up out of [the ground] because of not having [any] depth of earth,
6 but when the sun rose they were burned up, and because of not having [any] root were dried up;
7 and others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them;
8 and others fell upon the good ground, and produced fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty.
9 He that has ears, let him hear.
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