Book of Common Prayer
First Book—Psalms 1–41
Psalm 1[a]
True Happiness in God’s Law
I
1 Blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the way[b] of sinners,
nor sit in company with scoffers.(A)
2 Rather, the law of the Lord[c] is his joy;
and on his law he meditates day and night.(B)
3 He is like a tree(C)
planted near streams of water,
that yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never wither;
whatever he does prospers.
II
4 But not so are the wicked,[d] not so!
They are like chaff driven by the wind.(D)
5 Therefore the wicked will not arise at the judgment,
nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.
6 Because the Lord knows the way of the just,(E)
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Psalm 2[e]
A Psalm for a Royal Coronation
1 Why do the nations protest
and the peoples conspire in vain?(F)
2 Kings on earth rise up
and princes plot together
against the Lord and against his anointed one:[f](G)
3 “Let us break their shackles
and cast off their chains from us!”(H)
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord derides them,(I)
5 Then he speaks to them in his anger,
in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I myself have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will proclaim the decree of the Lord,
he said to me, “You are my son;
today I have begotten you.(J)
8 Ask it of me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
and, as your possession, the ends of the earth.
9 With an iron rod you will shepherd them,
like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.”(K)
10 And now, kings, give heed;
take warning, judges on earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear;
exult with trembling,
Accept correction
lest he become angry and you perish along the way
when his anger suddenly blazes up.(L)
Blessed are all who take refuge in him!
Psalm 3[g]
Threatened but Trusting
1 A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.[h](M)
I
2 How many are my foes, Lord!
How many rise against me!
3 [i]How many say of me,
“There is no salvation for him in God.”(N)
Selah
4 But you, Lord, are a shield around me;
my glory, you keep my head high.(O)
II
5 With my own voice I will call out to the Lord,
and he will answer me from his holy mountain.
Selah
6 I lie down and I fall asleep,
[and] I will wake up, for the Lord sustains me.(P)
7 I do not fear, then, thousands of people
arrayed against me on every side.
III
8 Arise, Lord! Save me, my God!
For you strike the cheekbone of all my foes;
you break the teeth of the wicked.(Q)
9 Salvation is from the Lord!
May your blessing be upon your people!(R)
Selah
Psalm 4[j]
Trust in God
1 For the leader;[k] with stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
I
2 Answer me when I call, my saving God.
When troubles hem me in, set me free;
take pity on me, hear my prayer.(S)
II
3 How long, O people, will you be hard of heart?
Why do you love what is worthless, chase after lies?[l](T)
Selah
4 Know that the Lord works wonders for his faithful one;
the Lord hears when I call out to him.
5 Tremble[m] and sin no more;
weep bitterly within your hearts,
wail upon your beds,(U)
6 Offer fitting sacrifices
and trust in the Lord.(V)
III
Psalm 7[a]
God the Vindicator
1 A plaintive song of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, the Benjaminite.
I
2 Lord my God, in you I trusted;
save me; rescue me from all who pursue me,(A)
3 Lest someone maul me like a lion,
tear my soul apart with no one to deliver.
II
4 Lord my God, if I have done this,[b]
if there is guilt on my hands,
5 If I have maltreated someone treating me equitably—
or even despoiled my oppressor without cause—
6 Then let my enemy pursue and overtake my soul,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my honor in the dust.(B)
Selah
III
7 Rise up, Lord, in your anger;
be aroused against the outrages of my oppressors.(C)
Stir up the justice, my God, you have commanded.
8 Have the assembly of the peoples gather about you;
and return on high above them,
9 the Lord will pass judgment on the peoples.
Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
and my integrity.
10 Let the malice of the wicked end.
Uphold the just one,
O just God,(D)
who tries hearts and minds.
IV
11 God is a shield above me
saving the upright of heart.(E)
12 God is a just judge, powerful and patient,[c]
not exercising anger every day.
13 If one does not repent,
God sharpens his sword,
strings and readies the bow,(F)
14 Prepares his deadly shafts,
makes arrows blazing thunderbolts.(G)
V
15 Consider how one conceives iniquity;
is pregnant with mischief,
and gives birth to deception.(H)
16 He digs a hole and bores it deep,
but he falls into the pit he has made.(I)
17 His malice turns back upon his head;
his violence falls on his own skull.
VI
18 I will thank the Lord in accordance with his justice;
I will sing the name of the Lord Most High.(J)
Chapter 1
Naomi in Moab. 1 Once back in the time of the judges[a] there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah left home with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. 2 The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Some time after their arrival on the plateau of Moab, 3 Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two boys[b] nor her husband.
6 She and her daughters-in-law then prepared to go back from the plateau of Moab because word had reached her there that the Lord had seen to his people’s needs[c] and given them food. 7 She and her two daughters-in-law left the place where they had been living. On the road back to the land of Judah, 8 Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s house.[d] May the Lord show you the same kindness as you have shown to the deceased and to me. 9 (A)May the Lord guide each of you to find a husband and a home in which you will be at rest.” She kissed them good-bye, but they wept aloud, 10 crying, “No! We will go back with you, to your people.” 11 Naomi replied, “Go back, my daughters. Why come with me? Have I other sons in my womb who could become your husbands?[e] 12 Go, my daughters, for I am too old to marry again. Even if I had any such hope, or if tonight I had a husband and were to bear sons, 13 would you wait for them and deprive yourselves of husbands until those sons grew up? No, my daughters, my lot is too bitter for you, because the Lord has extended his hand against me.” 14 Again they wept aloud; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “See now,” she said, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” 16 [f]But Ruth said, “Do not press me to go back and abandon you!
Wherever you go I will go,
wherever you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people
and your God, my God.
17 Where you die I will die,
and there be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me, and more, if even death separates me from you!” 18 Naomi then ceased to urge her, for she saw she was determined to go with her.
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting.[a] 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,(A) 2 to Timothy, my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.(B)
II. Sound Teaching
Warning Against False Doctrine. 3 [b]I repeat the request I made of you when I was on my way to Macedonia,(C) that you stay in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to teach false doctrines 4 [c]or to concern themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the plan of God that is to be received by faith.(D) 5 The aim of this instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.(E) 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk,(F) 7 wanting to be teachers of the law, but without understanding either what they are saying or what they assert with such assurance.
8 [d]We know that the law is good, provided that one uses it as law,(G) 9 with the understanding that law is meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, 10 the unchaste, sodomites,[e] kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching,(H) 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.(I)
Gratitude for God’s Mercy.[f] 12 I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry.(J) 13 I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.(K) 14 Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.(L) 15 This saying is trustworthy[g] and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost.(M) 16 But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 17 To the king of ages,[h] incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.(N)
Responsibility of Timothy.[i]
Chapter 13
A Call to Repentance.[a] 1 At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate[b] had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 2 He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?(A) 3 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent,(B) you will all perish as they did! 4 Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them[c]—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? 5 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.[d] 6 (C)And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7 he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ 8 He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 9 it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”
Cure of a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath.[e]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.