Book of Common Prayer
God Protects His People
For the director of music. By alamoth. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
46 God is our protection and our strength.
He always helps in times of trouble.
2 So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes,
or the mountains fall into the sea,
3 even if the oceans roar and foam,
or the mountains shake at the raging sea. Selah
4 There is a river that brings joy to the city of God,
the holy place where God Most High lives.
5 God is in that city, and so it will not be shaken.
God will help her at dawn.
6 Nations tremble and kingdoms shake.
God shouts and the earth crumbles.
7 The Lord All-Powerful is with us;
the God of Jacob is our defender. Selah
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the amazing things he has done on the earth.
9 He stops wars everywhere on the earth.
He breaks all bows and spears
and burns up the chariots with fire.
10 God says, “Be still and know that I am God.
I will be praised in all the nations;
I will be praised throughout the earth.”
11 The Lord All-Powerful is with us;
the God of Jacob is our defender. Selah
God Loves Jerusalem
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
87 The Lord built Jerusalem on the holy mountain.
2 He loves its gates more than any other place in Israel.
3 City of God,
wonderful things are said about you. Selah
4 God says, “I will put Egypt and Babylonia
on the list of nations that know me.
People from Philistia, Tyre, and Cush
will be born there.”
5 They will say about Jerusalem,
“This one and that one were born there.
God Most High will strengthen her.”
6 The Lord will keep a list of the nations.
He will note, “This person was born there.” Selah
7 They will dance and sing,
“All good things come from Jerusalem.”
Solomon’s Prayer
22 Then Solomon stood facing the Lord’s altar, and all the Israelites were standing behind him. He spread out his hands toward the sky 23 and said:
“Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep your agreement of love with your servants who truly follow you. 24 You have kept the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You spoke it with your own mouth and finished it with your hands today. 25 Now Lord, God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant David, my father. You said, ‘If your sons are careful to obey me as you have obeyed me, there will always be someone from your family ruling Israel.’ 26 Now, God of Israel, please continue to keep that promise you made to your servant David, my father.
27 “But, God, can you really live here on the earth? The sky and the highest place in heaven cannot contain you. Surely this house which I have built cannot contain you. 28 But please listen to my prayer and my request, because I am your servant. Lord my God, hear this prayer your servant prays to you today. 29 Night and day please watch over this Temple where you have said, ‘I will be worshiped there.’ Hear the prayer I pray facing this Temple. 30 Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people Israel when we pray facing this place. Hear from your home in heaven, and when you hear, forgive us.
One in Christ
11 You were not born Jewish. You are the people the Jews call “uncircumcised.”[a] Those who call you “uncircumcised” call themselves “circumcised.” (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies.) 12 Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreements[b] with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. 14 Christ himself is our peace. He made both Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body. 15 The Jewish law had many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make peace. 16 It was also Christ’s purpose to end the hatred between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did all this with his death on the cross. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away from God, and to those who were near to God. 18 Yes, it is through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.
19 Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. 20 You are like a building that was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone[c] in that building, 21 and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in Christ you, too, are being built together with the Jews into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.