Book of Common Prayer
A Song Celebrating the King’s Marriage.
To the Chief Musician; set to the [tune of] “Lilies.” A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. A Song of Love.
45 [a]My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my psalm to the King.
My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.
2
You are fairer than the sons of men;
Graciousness is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
3
Strap Your sword on Your thigh, O mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your majesty!
4
And in Your majesty ride on triumphantly
For the cause of truth and humility and righteousness;
Let Your right hand guide You to awesome things.
5
Your arrows are sharp;
The peoples (nations) fall under You;
Your arrows pierce the hearts of the King’s enemies.
6
[b]Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7
You have loved righteousness (virtue, morality, justice) and hated wickedness;
Therefore God, your God, has anointed You
Above Your companions with the oil of jubilation.(A)
8
All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes and cassia;
From ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad.
9
Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;
At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
10
Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear [to my instruction]:
Forget your people and your father’s house;
11
Then the King will desire your beauty;
Because He is your Lord, bow down and honor Him.
12
The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
The rich among the people will seek your favor.
13
Glorious is the King’s daughter within [the palace];
Her robe is interwoven with gold.(B)
14
She will be brought to the King in embroidered garments;
The virgins, her companions who follow her,
Will be brought to You.
15
With gladness and rejoicing will they be led;
They will enter into the King’s palace.
16
In place of your fathers will be [c]your sons;
You shall make princes in all the land.
17
I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations;
Therefore the peoples will praise and give You thanks forever and ever.
God the King of the Earth.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
47 O clap your hands, all you people;
Shout to God with the voice of triumph and songs of joy.
2
For the Lord Most High is to be feared [and worshiped with awe-inspired reverence and obedience];
He is a great King over all the earth.
3
He subdues peoples under us
And nations under our feet.
4
He chooses our inheritance for us,
The glory and excellence of Jacob whom He loves.(A) Selah.
5
God has ascended amid shouting,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7
For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding.
8
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.
9
The princes of the people have gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham,
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is highly exalted.
The Beauty and Glory of Zion.
A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
In the city of our God, His holy mountain.
2
Fair and beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth,
Is Mount Zion [the City of David] in the far north,
The city of the great King.(B)
3
God, in her palaces,
Has made Himself known as a stronghold.
4
For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,
They [came and] passed by together.
5
They saw it, then they were amazed;
They were stricken with terror, they fled in alarm.
6
Panic seized them there,
And pain, as that of a woman in childbirth.
7
With the east wind
You shattered the ships of Tarshish.
8
As we have heard, so have we seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God:
God will establish her forever. Selah.
9
We have thought of Your lovingkindness, O God,
In the midst of Your temple.
10
As is Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness (rightness, justice).
11
Let Mount Zion be glad,
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your [righteous] judgments.
12
Walk about Zion, go all around her;
Count her towers,
13
Consider her ramparts,
Go through her palaces,
That you may tell the next generation [about her glory].
14
For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even until death.
Laws of the Sanctuary
12 “These are the statutes and judgments (precepts) which you shall be careful to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and smash their [idolatrous] pillars and burn their [a]Asherim in the fire; you shall cut down the carved and sculpted images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. 4 You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. 5 But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to establish His [b]Name there for His dwelling [place], and there you shall come [to worship Him]. 6 There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive (pledged, vowed) offerings, your freewill (voluntary) offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all to which you put your hand, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here [in the camp] today, every man doing whatever is right in his [own] eyes. 9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and to the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, 11 then it shall come about that the place which the Lord your God will choose for His Name [and Presence] to dwell; there you shall bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and the [voluntary] contribution of your hand [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choice votive offerings which you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your [city] gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.
3 we put no obstruction in anyone’s path, so that the ministry will not be discredited, 4 but we commend ourselves in every way as servants of God: in great endurance, in sufferings, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6 in purity and sincerity, in knowledge and spiritual insight, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, 7 in [speaking] the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand [like holding the sword to attack] and for the left [like holding the shield to defend], 8 amid glory and dishonor; by evil report and good report; branded as deceivers and yet [vindicated as] truthful; 9 as unknown [to the world], yet well-known [by God and His people]; as dying, yet we live; as punished, yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet bestowing riches on many; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
11 We are speaking freely to you, Corinthians [we are keeping nothing back], and our heart is opened wide.(A) 12 There is no limit to our affection for you, but you are limited in your own affection [for us]. 13 Now in the same way as a fair exchange [for our love toward you]—I am speaking as [I would] to children—open wide [your hearts] to us also.
14 Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said:
“I will dwell among them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.(B)
17
“So come out from among unbelievers and be separate,” says the Lord,
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will graciously receive you and welcome you [with favor],(C)
18
And I will be a Father to you,
And you will be My sons and daughters,”
Says the Lord Almighty.(D)
Paul Reveals His Heart
7 Therefore, since we have these [great and wonderful] promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, completing holiness [living a consecrated life—a life set apart for God’s purpose] in the fear of God.
Ten Lepers Cleansed
11 While Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing [along the border] between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance; 13 and they raised their voices and called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were [miraculously] healed and made clean.(A) 15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying and praising and honoring God with a loud voice; 16 and he lay face downward at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him [over and over]. He was a [a]Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten [of you] cleansed? Where are the [other] nine? 18 Was there no one found to return and to give thanks and praise to God, except this foreigner?” 19 Jesus said to him, “Get up and go [on your way]. Your faith [your personal trust in Me and your confidence in God’s power] has restored you to health.”
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