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
23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in (A)Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, (B)Samaria,[a] after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill. 25 (C)Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. 26 For he (D)walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their (E)idols.[b]
27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28 So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.
Ahab Reigns in Israel
29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, (F)that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the (G)Sidonians; (H)and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in (I)the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 (J)And Ahab made a [c]wooden image. Ahab (K)did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation [d]with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, (L)according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.
Christ Is Preached
12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, 13 so that it has become evident (A)to the whole [a]palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; 14 and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 [b]The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
To Live Is Christ
19 For I know that (B)this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but (C)with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life (D)or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I [c]cannot tell. 23 [d]For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a (E)desire to depart and be with Christ, which is (F)far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. 25 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, 26 that (G)your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
Striving and Suffering for Christ
27 Only (H)let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, (I)with one mind (J)striving together for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but [e]to you of salvation, and that from God. 29 For to you (K)it has been granted on behalf of Christ, (L)not only to believe in Him, but also to (M)suffer for His sake, 30 (N)having the same conflict (O)which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
He Is Risen(A)
16 Now (B)when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (C)bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 (D)Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 (E)And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
6 (F)But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going [a]before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, (G)as He said to you.”
8 So they went out [b]quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. (H)And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mary Magdalene Sees the Risen Lord(I)
9 [c]Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, (J)out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 (K)She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 (L)And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
Jesus Appears to Two Disciples(M)
12 After that, He appeared in another form (N)to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
The Great Commission(O)
14 (P)Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 (Q)And He said to them, “Go into all the world (R)and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 (S)He who believes and is baptized will be saved; (T)but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these (U)signs will follow those who [d]believe: (V)In My name they will cast out demons; (W)they will speak with new tongues; 18 (X)they[e] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; (Y)they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Christ Ascends to God’s Right Hand(Z)
19 So then, (AA)after the Lord had spoken to them, He was (AB)received up into heaven, and (AC)sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them (AD)and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.