Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
This is a special song that the sons of Korah wrote for the music leader. Sing it to the music that they call ‘Lilies.’
A love song[a]
45 This beautiful song makes my heart very happy.
I will sing this special poem to the king.
My voice is ready to sing it very well,
as well as a clever writer can write with a pen.
2 You are the most handsome man that there is.
You speak kind words in a beautiful way.
And so God will continue to bless you for ever.
6 God, you will continue to rule as king
always and for ever.
Your authority as king will bring justice to your people.
7 You love people to do what is right,
and you hate anything that is evil.
So God, your God, has chosen you
to be greater than all your people.
He has put special olive oil on you,
to make you happy.
8 All your clothes have the beautiful smell
of myrrh, aloes and cassia.
You hear the music of stringed instruments
that comes from beautiful palaces.
That makes you happy.
9 The daughters of kings are among your visitors.
Your royal bride stands at your right hand.
She is wearing gold from Ophir.
Hosea returns to his wife
3 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go back to your wife and show that you love her. Do that, even though she loves another man and is not faithful to you. The Lord loves the Israelites in the same way. They turn away from him to worship other gods. They love to offer gifts of raisins to idols. But the Lord still loves them.’
2 So I paid 15 pieces of silver and 50 kilograms of grain to get my wife back. 3 Then I told her, ‘You must stay at home with me for many days. You must not live as a prostitute. You must not have sex with any other man. I will also be faithful to you.’ 4 In the same way, the Israelites will have to live for many days without a king or any other leader. They will not be able to make sacrifices. They will not have their pillars, their ephods or their idols to help them.[a] 5 After that time, the Israelites will turn back to the Lord their God. They will serve their king, a descendant of King David. In the future, they will obey the Lord with fear, and they will receive his good gifts.
Pilate asks Jesus questions
28 The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house.[a] It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.[b]
29 So Pilate, the Roman ruler, went outside to meet them. He asked them, ‘What wrong thing do you say that this man has done?’ 30 They replied, ‘We would not have brought him to you if he had done nothing wrong.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘You yourselves take him away. You should judge him by your own laws.’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We do not have authority to kill anyone when they have done something bad.’[c] 32 Jesus had already told people how he would die. These things happened to make his words become true.[d]
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.