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.
Destroying Altars to False Gods
12 “These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the Lord God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth. 2 Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. 3 Tear down their altars, then cut down their sacred poles[a] and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods in order to destroy their names from that place.”
Sacrifice at the Central Sanctuary
4 “You must not act like this with respect to the Lord your God. 5 Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the Lord your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. 6 Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely-given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with all the things you have made by your own effort[b] and with which he[c] blessed you.
8 “You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit, 9 since you haven’t arrived yet to your allotted place[d] that the Lord your God is about to give you. 10 But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely, 11 then bring to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling place—where he will establish his name—everything that I’m commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the Lord.
12 “Rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city—because there is no territorial allotment[e] for him as you have.
We are God’s Servants
3 We do not put an obstacle in anyone’s way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry. 4 Instead, in every way we demonstrate that we are God’s servants by tremendous endurance in the midst of difficulties, hardships, and calamities; 5 in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger; 6 with purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; with the Holy Spirit, genuine love, 7 truthful speech, and divine power; through the weapons of righteousness in the right and left hands; 8 through honor and dishonor; through ill repute and good repute; perceived[a] as deceivers and yet true, 9 as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and yet—as you see—very much alive, as punished and yet not killed, 10 as sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor and yet enriching many, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken frankly[b] to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are wide open. 12 We have not cut you off, but you have cut off your own feelings toward us. 13 Do us a favor—I ask you as my children—and open wide your hearts.
Relating with Unbelievers
14 Stop becoming[c] unevenly yoked with unbelievers. What partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? What fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony exists between the Messiah[d] and Beliar,[e] or what do a believer and an unbeliever have in common? 16 What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we[f] are the temple of the living God, just as God said:
“I will live and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”[g]
17 Therefore,
“Get away from them
and separate yourselves from them,”
declares the Lord,[h]
“and don’t touch anything unclean.
Then I will welcome you.
18 I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,”
declares the Lord[i] Almighty.[j]
Cleanse Yourselves in Holiness
7 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let’s cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
11 One day, Jesus[a] was traveling along the border between Samaria and Galilee on the way to Jerusalem. 12 As he was going into a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance 13 and shouted, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 When Jesus[b] saw them, he told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” While they were going, they were made clean. 15 But one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, came back and praised God with a loud voice. 16 He fell on his face at Jesus’[c] feet and thanked him. Now that man[d] was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Ten men were made clean, weren’t they? Where are the other nine? 18 Except for this foreigner, were any of them found to return and give praise to God?” 19 Then he told the man,[e] “Get up, and go home! Your faith has saved you.”[f]
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