Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 45[a]
Nuptial Ode for the Messianic King
1 For the director.[b] According to “Lilies.” A maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song.
2 [c]My heart[d] is moved by a noble theme
as I sing my poem to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a skillful scribe.
3 You are the most handsome of men;[e]
grace has anointed your lips,
for God has blessed you forever.
4 Gird your sword upon your thigh, O warrior,
and advance in splendor and majesty.
5 Ride on triumphantly in truth, humility, and justice;
may your right hand perform wondrous deeds.
6 Your arrows are sharp;
nations will lie beneath your feet;
the enemies of the king will lose heart.[f]
7 Your throne, O God,[g] will last forever and ever;
the scepter of your kingdom will be a scepter of justice.
8 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has established you above your fellow kings
by anointing you with the oil of gladness.
9 [h]All your robes are fragrant
with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
from palaces of ivory
stringed instruments bring joy to your heart.
10 Daughters of kings[i] are among your women in waiting;
at your right hand is your queen
adorned in gold of Ophir.
11 My daughter, listen carefully to my words
and follow them diligently.
Forget your people and your father’s house;[j]
12 then the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord,
13 bow down before him.
The Daughter of Tyre[k] will bring you gifts,
people of wealth will seek your favor.
14 Within the palace the king’s daughter is adorned
in robes threaded with gold.
15 In embroidered garments she is led to the king,
followed by her virgin companions,
who are also led to you.,[l]
16 They are brought in with joy and gladness
as they enter the palace of the king.
17 Your[m] sons will take the place of your ancestors;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
18 I will extol your name through all generations;
therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever.[n]
Psalm 47[a]
The Lord, King of All Nations
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 All you peoples, clap your hands,[c]
shout to God with cries of gladness.
3 For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome;
he is the great King over all the earth.
4 He subdued nations under us
and brought peoples under our feet.
5 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob,[d] whom he loved. Selah
6 [e]God has ascended amid shouts of joy;
the Lord, amid the sound of trumpets.
7 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
8 For God is the King of the entire earth;
sing hymns of praise to him.
9 God reigns over all the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
10 The princes of the nations assemble
with the people of the God of Abraham;
for the rulers[f] of the earth belong to God,
and he is exalted on high.
Psalm 48[g]
Thanksgiving for the Deliverance of God’s People
1 A psalm of the sons of Korah.[h] A song.
2 Great is the Lord and worthy of high praise
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain,[i] 3 towering in its beauty,
is the joy of the entire earth.
Mount Zion, the true heights of the north,[j]
is the city of the great King.
4 God is in her citadels
and has revealed himself as her fortress.[k]
5 [l]For the kings conspired together
and came onward in unison.
6 As soon as they beheld her, they were astounded;
filled with panic, they fled.
7 They were seized with trembling,
with pains like those of a woman in labor,
8 as though a wind from the east[m]
were breaking up the ships of Tarshish.
9 What we had heard,
we have now beheld for ourselves[n]
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God
that he established to endure forever. Selah
10 O God, as we stand in the midst of your temple,
we will meditate on your kindness.[o]
11 Like your name,[p] O God,
your praise extends to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness;
12 let Mount Zion rejoice.
Let the towns of Judah exult
in your saving judgments.[q]
13 [r]Walk around Zion; pass throughout her;
count the number of her towers.
14 Take careful note of her ramparts,
walk through her citadels,
so that you may recount for future generations
15 that such is God;
our God forever and ever,
he will be our guide eternally.[s]
12 Sold as a Slave.[a] His brothers went out to pasture the flocks of their father at Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “You know that your brothers have gone to pasture at Shechem. Come, I wish to send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
14 He said, “Go to see how things are going for your brothers and the animals, then return and tell me.” He had him leave from the Valley of Hebron and travel to Shechem.
15 As Joseph was wandering through the fields, he found a man who asked him, “For whom are you looking?”
16 He answered, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me how to find where they are pasturing their flocks.”
17 That man said, “They pulled up their camp from here and I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ”
Joseph therefore went in search of his brothers, and he found them in Dothan. 18 They saw him from a distance, and, before he could draw close to them, they plotted to put him to death.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes the dreamer. 20 Come, let us kill him and throw him in some cistern. We will say, ‘A wild animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”
21 But Reuben heard this and wanted to save him from their hands. He said, “Let us not take his life.” 22 Then he said to them, “Do not spill his blood. Throw him into this cistern in the desert, but do not lay your hands upon him.” He intended to save him from their hands and restore him to their father.
23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the long tunic that he wore. 24 They took him and cast him into a dry cistern.
20 Where now are the wise ones? Where are the men of learning? Where are the debaters of this present age? Has God not shown the wisdom of the world to be foolish? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world was unable to come to know him through wisdom, he chose, through the folly of preaching, to save those who have faith.
22 Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified. This is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles;[a] 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 God Has Chosen Those Who Count for Nothing. Consider, brethren, your calling. Not many of you were wise by human standards,[b] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 Rather, God chose those who were regarded as foolish by the world to shame the wise; God chose those in the world who were weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose those in the world who were lowly and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were regarded as worthy, 29 [c]so that no one could boast in the presence of God.
30 It is through him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom of God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “If anyone wishes to boast, let him boast in the Lord.”
Is Jesus the Messiah?[a]
First Testimonies of the Messiah’s Mission
14 Jesus Inaugurates His Mission. After John had been arrested,[b] Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, 15 “The time of fulfillment has arrived, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
16 The First Disciples.[c] As Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 Immediately, they abandoned their nets and followed him.
19 As he proceeded farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They also were in a boat mending their nets. 20 Immediately, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers and followed him.
21 Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon.[d] They journeyed to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus immediately entered the synagogue and began to instruct the people. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
23 In that synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shrieked, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”[e] 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
26 The unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry emerged from him. 27 The people were all amazed, and they began to ask one another, “What is this? It must be a new kind of teaching! With authority he gives commands even to unclean spirits, and they obey him!” 28 His reputation quickly began to spread everywhere throughout the entire region of Galilee.
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