Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 45

The Wedding of the Victorious King

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For the choir director. According to “Lilies.”^[a]
By the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A love song.

Introduction

The Glory of the Royal Groom

The Beauty of the Bride

The Glory of the King’s Children

Psalm 47

The King’s Empire

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For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

Praise the Great King of All the Earth!

Psalm 48

The Security of the King’s Holy City

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A song. A psalm by the Sons of Korah.

Call to Praise

Defeat of the Enemies

Thanksgiving

The Death of Samuel

25 Samuel died. All Israel gathered together and mourned for him. They buried him at his house in Ramah.

David, Nabal, and Abigail

Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

² There was a man in Maon who made his livelihood in Carmel. This man was very wealthy. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep at Carmel. ³ The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. This woman had good judgment and was beautiful, but her husband was a harsh, unbending man, who behaved badly. He was from the family line of Caleb.

⁴ In the wilderness David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵ So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go up to Carmel. Approach Nabal and wish him peace in my name. ⁶ Tell him this: ‘Long life to you! Peace be with you! Peace be with your household! Peace be with all that you have! ⁷ Now I hear that you are shearing sheep. Your shepherds have recently been with us, and we did not harm them. Nothing was missing from them the whole time they were in Carmel. ⁸ Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on a good day. Please give whatever you can to your servants and to your son David.’”

⁹ So David’s men came and said all those things to Nabal in the name of David. When they had finished, ¹⁰ Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are so many servants breaking away from their masters these days. ¹¹ Should I take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have butchered for my shearers and give it to men when I do not know where they come from?”

¹² So David’s men left and went on their way. They came back and told David all these things.

¹³ David said to his men, “Each of you, strap on your sword!”

So every man strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴ One of Nabal’s young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Listen to me. You need to know what happened. David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. ¹⁵ Those men have been very good to us, and we have not been harmed, nor have we had anything missing the entire time we were in the countryside with them. ¹⁶ They were a wall around us night and day, the whole time we were among them while we were taking care of the sheep. ¹⁷ So carefully consider what you should do, for they are determined to bring disaster on our master and on his entire household, since he is such a worthless good-for-nothing that no one can talk to him.”

¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers^[a] of wine, five sheep that were already prepared, a bushel^[b] of roasted grain, one hundred clumps of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dried figs. She loaded these supplies on donkeys. ¹⁹ She said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me. I will follow right after you.” But she did not tell her husband, Nabal. ²⁰ As she rode on her donkey and came down to the secluded trail^[c] on the mountain, she saw that David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.

²¹ Now David had said, “It was all for nothing that I have protected everything that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing from everything that belonged to him. But he has repaid me evil for good. ²² May God punish the enemies of David^[d] severely and double it, if by the morning light I leave alive so much as one person who urinates against a wall.”^[e]

In Iconium

14 The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. ² But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³ Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by granting them the ability to perform miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴ But the people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

⁵ When there was a plot by both Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them, ⁶ they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside. ⁷ There they kept on preaching the good news.

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there was a man who was sitting down because he had no strength in his feet. He had never walked because he was lame from birth. ⁹ When he was listening to Paul as he was speaking, Paul looked at him closely and saw that he had faith to be healed. ¹⁰ Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form.” ¹² Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the main speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the city gates, because he wanted to offer sacrifices along with the crowds.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Paul and Barnabas heard about this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men with the same nature as you. We are preaching the good news to you so that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. ¹⁶ In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet he did not leave himself without testimony of the good he does. He gives you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He fills you with food and fills your hearts with gladness.” ¹⁸ Even though they said these things, they had a hard time stopping the crowds from sacrificing to them.

A Lamp and a Lampstand

²¹ He also said to them, “A lamp is not brought out to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it placed on a lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not come to light. ²³ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

²⁴ He went on to tell them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. ²⁵ Yes, whoever has will be given more. And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Seed Sprouts and Grows

²⁶ He said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground, ²⁷ and while he sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.”

Mustard Seed

³⁰ Then he said, “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or with what parable may we picture it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is one of the smallest of all the seeds planted in the ground. ³² Yet when it is planted, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ With many similar parables he continued to speak the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. ³⁴ He did not speak to them without a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.