The Lord Has Chosen Zion
A Song of mAscents.
1 Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
all ythe hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and zvowed to athe Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not bgive sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I cfind a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for athe Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 Behold, we heard of it in dEphrathah;
we found it in ethe fields of Jaar.
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place;
8 hArise, O Lord, and go to your iresting place,
you and the ark of your jmight.
9 Let your kpriests be lclothed with righteousness,
and let your msaints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
11 pThe Lord swore to David a sure oath
qfrom which he will not turn back:
r“One of the sons of your body1
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall ssit on your throne.”
13 For the Lord has tchosen Zion;
he has udesired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my vresting place forever;
here I will wdwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly xbless her provisions;
I will ysatisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her zpriests I will clothe with salvation,
and her zsaints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make aa horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared ba lamp for cmy anointed.
18 His enemies I will dclothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.”
When Brothers Dwell in Unity
A Song of mAscents. Of David.
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when ebrothers dwell in unity!2
2 It is like the precious foil on gthe head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on hthe collar of his robes!
3 It is like ithe dew of jHermon,
which falls on kthe mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord lhas commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
Come, Bless the Lord
A Song of mAscents.
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you mservants of the Lord,
who nstand oby night in the house of the Lord!
2 pLift up your hands to qthe holy place
and bless the Lord!
3 May the Lord rbless you sfrom Zion,
he who tmade heaven and earth!
The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed
1 For this reason I, Paul, oa prisoner of Christ Jesus pon behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of qthe stewardship of rGod’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 show the mystery was made known to me tby revelation, uas I have written briefly. 4 vWhen you read this, you can perceive my insight into wthe mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is1 that the Gentiles are xfellow heirs, ymembers of the same body, and zpartakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 aOf this gospel I was made ba minister according to the gift of cGod’s grace, which was given me dby the working of his power. 8 To me, ethough I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, fto preach to the Gentiles the gunsearchable hriches of Christ, 9 and ito bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery jhidden for ages in2 God, kwho created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold lwisdom of God mmight now be made known to nthe rulers and authorities oin the heavenly places. 11 This was paccording to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have qboldness and raccess with sconfidence through our tfaith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering ufor you, vwhich is your glory.
Prayer for Spiritual Strength
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom wevery family3 in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to xthe riches of his glory yhe may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit zin your inner being, 17 aso that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being brooted and cgrounded in love, 18 may have strength to dcomprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and eheight and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ fthat surpasses knowledge, that gyou may be filled with all hthe fullness of God.
20 iNow to jhim who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, kaccording to the power at work within us, 21 lto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
