Book of Common Prayer
Your Throne, O God, Is Forever
For the choir director. According to [a]Shoshannim. Of the sons of Korah. A [b]Maskil. A Song of Love.
45 My heart [c]overflows with a good theme;
I [d]address my [e]verses to the [f]King;
My tongue is the pen of (A)a skillful scribe.
2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
(B)Grace is poured [g]upon Your lips;
Therefore God has (C)blessed You forever.
3 Gird (D)Your sword on Your thigh, O [h](E)Mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!
4 And in Your majesty ride on victoriously,
For the cause of truth and (F)meekness and righteousness;
Let Your (G)right hand teach You [i]awesome things.
5 Your (H)arrows are sharp;
The (I)peoples fall under You;
Your arrows are (J)in the heart of the King’s enemies.
6 (K)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of (L)uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You have (M)loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has (N)anointed You
With the oil of joy above Your companions.
8 All Your garments are fragrant with (O)myrrh and aloes and cassia;
Out of ivory palaces (P)stringed instruments have made You glad.
9 Kings’ daughters are among (Q)Your noble ladies;
At Your (R)right hand stands the queen in (S)gold from Ophir.
10 Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear:
(T)Forget your people and your father’s house;
11 Then the King will desire your beauty.
Because He is your (U)Lord, (V)bow down to Him.
12 The daughter of (W)Tyre will come with a present;
The (X)rich among the people will seek your favor.
13 The King’s daughter is all glorious within her chamber;
Her clothing is (Y)interwoven with gold.
14 She will be (Z)led to the King (AA)in embroidered work;
The (AB)virgins, her companions who follow her,
Will be brought to You.
15 They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing;
They will enter into the King’s palace.
God Is King of All the Earth
For the choir director. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.
47 O (A)clap your hands, all peoples;
(B)Make a loud shout to God with the sound of a shout of [a]joy.
2 For Yahweh Most High is [b](C)fearsome,
A (D)great King over all the earth.
3 He (E)subdues peoples under us
And nations under our feet.
4 He chooses our (F)inheritance for us,
The (G)pride of Jacob whom He loves. [c]Selah.
5 God has (H)ascended [d]with a loud shout,
Yahweh, [e]with the (I)sound of a trumpet.
6 (J)Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Sing praises to (K)our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the (L)King of all the earth;
Sing praises (M)with a [f]skillful psalm.
8 God (N)reigns over the nations,
God [g]sits on (O)His holy throne.
9 The (P)nobles of the peoples have assembled themselves with the (Q)people of the God of Abraham,
For the (R)shields of the earth belong to God;
He [h]is (S)highly exalted.
The City of Our God
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 (T)Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised,
In the (U)city of our God, His (V)holy mountain.
2 (W)Beautiful in elevation, (X)the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion in the far north,
The (Y)city of the great King.
3 God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a (Z)stronghold.
4 For, behold, the (AA)kings assembled themselves,
They passed by together.
5 They saw it, then they were astonished;
They were (AB)dismayed, they [i]fled in alarm.
6 [j]Panic seized them there,
Anguish, as of (AC)a woman in childbirth.
7 With the (AD)east wind
You (AE)break the (AF)ships of Tarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God;
God will (AG)establish her forever. [k]Selah.
9 We have thought on (AH)Your lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Your temple.
10 As is Your (AI)name, O God,
So is Your (AJ)praise to the ends of the earth;
Your (AK)right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount (AL)Zion be glad,
Let the (AM)daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and go around her;
Count her (AN)towers;
13 Consider her (AO)ramparts;
Go through her palaces,
That you may (AP)recount it to the next generation.
14 For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will (AQ)guide us [l]over death.
Rebuilding the House of God Begins Again
5 And the prophets, (A)Haggai the prophet and (B)Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then (C)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and (D)the prophets of God were with them supporting them.
3 At that time (E)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the [a]River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them thus, “(F)Who issued you a decree to rebuild this house and to complete this structure?” 4 (G)Then we told them accordingly what the names of the men were who were rebuilding this building. 5 But (H)the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report could come to Darius, and then a document be returned concerning this.
Tattenai and Others Write to King Darius
6 This is the copy of the letter which (I)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues (J)the officials, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. 7 They sent word to him in which it was written thus:
“To Darius the king, all peace.
8 Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, and it is being built with huge stones, and timber is being put within the walls; and that work is going on with all diligence and is succeeding in their hands.
9 Then we asked those elders and said to them thus, ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this house and to complete this structure?’
10 And we also asked them their names in order to make known to you, and that we might write down the names of the men who were at their head.
11 Thus they responded with a word to us, saying,
‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, (K)which a great king of Israel built and completed.
12 But (L)because our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, (M)He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and took the people away into exile in Babylon.
13 However, (N)in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus (O)issued a decree to rebuild this house of God.
14 Also (P)the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple [b]in Jerusalem and brought them to the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out from the temple of Babylon, and they were given to one (Q)whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.
15 He said to him, “Take these articles, go and deposit them in the temple [c]in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in its place.”
16 Then that Sheshbazzar came and (R)laid the foundations of the house of God [d]in Jerusalem; and from then until now it is being rebuilt, and it is (S)not yet finished.’
17 So now if it seems good to the king, (T)let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, if it be that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild that house of God in Jerusalem; and let the king send to us his will concerning this matter.”
The Throne in Heaven
4 After (A)these things I looked, and behold, (B)a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, (C)like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “(D)Come up here, and I will (E)show you what must take place after these things.” 2 Immediately I was [a](F)in the Spirit, and behold, (G)a throne was standing in heaven, and (H)One sitting on the throne. 3 And He who was sitting was like a (I)jasper stone and a (J)sardius in appearance; and there was a [b](K)rainbow around the throne, like an (L)emerald in appearance. 4 (M)Around the throne were (N)twenty-four thrones, and upon those thrones I saw (O)twenty-four elders (P)sitting, clothed in (Q)white garments, and (R)golden crowns on their heads. 5 And out from the throne come (S)flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were (T)seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are (U)the seven Spirits of God. 6 And before the throne there was something like a (V)sea of glass, like crystal. And in the [c]center and (W)around the throne, (X)four living creatures (Y)full of eyes in front and behind. 7 (Z)And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. 8 And the (AA)four living creatures, each one of them having (AB)six wings, are (AC)full of eyes around and within, and (AD)day and night [d]they do not cease to say,
“(AE)Holy, holy, holy is the [e](AF)Lord God, the Almighty, (AG)who was and who is and who [f]is to come.”
9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who (AH)sits on the throne, to (AI)Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the (AJ)twenty-four elders will (AK)fall down before Him who (AL)sits on the throne, and will worship (AM)Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their (AN)crowns before the throne, saying,
The Parable of the Sower
13 On that day Jesus went out of (A)the house and was sitting (B)by the sea. 2 And [a]large crowds gathered to Him, so (C)He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
3 And He spoke many things to them in (D)parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And others fell [b]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and were yielding [c]a crop, some a (E)hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 (F)He who has ears, [d]let him hear.”
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