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
God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel
12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, (A)I am the (B)First,
I am also the Last.
13 Indeed (C)My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When (D)I call to them,
They stand up together.
14 “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
(E)The Lord loves him;
(F)He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, (G)I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16 “Come near to Me, hear this:
(H)I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now (I)the Lord God and His Spirit
[a]Have sent Me.”
17 Thus says (J)the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
(K)Who leads you by the way you should go.
18 (L)Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
(M)Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 (N)Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
20 (O)Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has (P)redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
21 And they (Q)did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He (R)caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
Contacts at Jerusalem(A)
18 Then after three years (B)I went up to Jerusalem to see [a]Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But (C)I saw none of the other apostles except (D)James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
21 (E)Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which (F)were in Christ. 23 But they were (G)hearing only, “He who formerly (H)persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they (I)glorified God in me.
Defending the Gospel(J)
2 Then after fourteen years (K)I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up [b]by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but (L)privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means (M)I might run, or had run, in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of (N)false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our (O)liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, (P)that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that (Q)the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
6 But from those (R)who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; (S)God [c]shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something (T)added nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, (U)when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised (V)had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter 8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the (W)circumcised (X)also (Y)worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), 9 and when James, [d]Cephas, and John, who seemed to be (Z)pillars, perceived (AA)the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, (AB)that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, (AC)the very thing which I also was eager to do.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth(A)
6 Then (B)He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were (C)astonished, saying, (D)“Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and (E)brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they (F)were offended at Him.
4 But Jesus said to them, (G)“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 (H)Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And (I)He marveled because of their unbelief. (J)Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
Sending Out the Twelve(K)
7 (L)And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out (M)two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. 8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts— 9 but (N)to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.
10 (O)Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. 11 (P)And [a]whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, (Q)shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. [b]Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”
12 So they went out and preached that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, (R)and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.