Book of Common Prayer
The Glories of the Messiah and His Bride
To the Chief Musician. (A)Set to [a]“The Lilies.” A [b]Contemplation of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.
45 My heart is overflowing with a good theme;
I recite my composition concerning the King;
My tongue is the pen of a [c]ready writer.
2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
(B)Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever.
3 [d]Gird Your (C)sword upon Your thigh, (D)O Mighty One,
With Your (E)glory and Your majesty.
4 (F)And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness;
And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies;
The peoples fall under You.
6 (G)Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A (H)scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has (I)anointed You
With the oil of (J)gladness more than Your companions.
8 All Your garments are (K)scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,
Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
9 (L)Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women;
(M)At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
10 Listen, O daughter,
Consider and incline your ear;
(N)Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty;
(O)Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
(P)The rich among the people will seek your favor.
13 The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace;
Her clothing is woven with gold.
14 (Q)She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors;
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
They shall enter the King’s palace.
Praise to God, the Ruler of the Earth
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
47 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great (A)King over all the earth.
3 (B)He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
4 He will choose our (C)inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah
5 (D)God has gone up with a shout,
The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 (E)For God is the King of all the earth;
(F)Sing praises with understanding.
8 (G)God reigns over the nations;
God (H)sits on His (I)holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have gathered together,
(J)The people of the God of Abraham.
(K)For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.
The Glory of God in Zion
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the (L)city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
2 (M)Beautiful in [a]elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
3 God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.
4 For behold, (N)the kings assembled,
They passed by together.
5 They saw it, and so they marveled;
They were troubled, they hastened away.
6 Fear (O)took hold of them there,
And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,
7 As when You break the (P)ships of Tarshish
With an east wind.
8 As we have heard,
So we have seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God:
God will (Q)establish it forever. Selah
Job’s Summary Defense
29 Job further continued his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in months (A)past,
As in the days when God (B)watched over me;
3 (C)When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
4 Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When (D)the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
5 When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
6 When (E)my steps were bathed with [a]cream,
And (F)the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!
7 “When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
8 The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
9 The princes refrained from talking,
And (G)put their hand on their mouth;
10 The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their (H)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
12 Because (I)I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 (J)I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was (K)eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor,
And (L)I searched out the case that I did not know.
17 I broke (M)the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.
At Iconium
14 Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the (A)Greeks believed. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and [a]poisoned their [b]minds against the brethren. 3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, (B)who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and (C)wonders to be done by their hands.
4 But the multitude of the city was (D)divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the (E)apostles. 5 And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, (F)to abuse and stone them, 6 they became aware of it and (G)fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7 And they were preaching the gospel there.
Idolatry at Lystra
8 (H)And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. [c]Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, (I)“Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. 11 Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, (J)“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 And Barnabas they called [d]Zeus, and Paul, [e]Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, (K)intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, (L)they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, “Men, (M)why are you doing these things? (N)We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from (O)these useless things (P)to the living God, (Q)who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16 (R)who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 (S)Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, (T)gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with (U)food and gladness.” 18 And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus
31 Then (A)the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for (B)blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, (C)make Yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, (D)‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 If He called them gods, (E)to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture (F)cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him (G)whom the Father sanctified and (H)sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ (I)because I said, ‘I am (J)the Son of God’? 37 (K)If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, (L)believe the works, that you may know and [a]believe (M)that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” 39 (N)Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.
The Believers Beyond Jordan
40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place (O)where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. 41 Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, (P)but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” 42 And many believed in Him there.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.