Your Throne, O God, Is Forever
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil1 of vthe Sons of Korah; a love song.
1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of wa ready scribe.
2 You are xthe most handsome of the sons of men;
ygrace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
6 fYour throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The gscepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
7 hyou have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore iGod, your God, has janointed you
with the oil of kgladness lbeyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant with mmyrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces nstringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping yover the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like za gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
a“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
11 for behold, the winter is past;
bthe rain is over and gone.
12 cThe flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing1 has come,
and the voice of dthe turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 eThe fig tree ripens its figs,
and fthe vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
gArise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
Traditions and Commandments
1 pNow when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes qwho had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were rdefiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,1 holding to sthe tradition of tthe elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.2 And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as uthe washing of vcups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.3) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to sthe tradition of tthe elders, wbut eat with rdefiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you xhypocrites, as it is written,
y“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as zdoctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
What Defiles a Person
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, e“Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 fThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”1
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, nsensuality, oenvy, pslander, qpride, rfoolishness. 23 sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
17 zEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from athe Father of lights, bwith whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.1 18 cOf his own will he dbrought us forth by the word of truth, ethat we should be a kind of ffirstfruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 gKnow this, my beloved brothers: let every person hbe quick to hear, islow to speak, jslow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore kput away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with lmeekness the implanted word, mwhich is able to save your souls.
22 But be ndoers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, othe law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, phe will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious qand does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s rreligion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: sto visit torphans and widows in their affliction, and uto keep oneself vunstained from the world.
