Book of Common Prayer
BOOK I (Psalms 1-41)
The Righteous and the Wicked[a]
1 How blessed is the person,
who does not take[b] the advice of the wicked,
who does not stand on the path with sinners,
and who does not sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But he delights in the Lord’s instruction,[c]
and meditates in his instruction[d] day and night.
3 He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
yielding its fruit in its season,
and whose leaf does not wither.
He will prosper in everything he does.
4 But this is not the case with the wicked.
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not escape[e] judgment,
nor will sinners have a place[f] in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will be destroyed.
The Nations and God’s Anointed
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and their people involved in a vain plot?
2 As the kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed one, they say,[g]
3 “Let us tear off their shackles from us,[h]
and cast off their chains.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 In his anger he rebukes them,
and in his wrath he terrifies them:
6 “I have set my king on Zion,
my holy mountain.”
The Anointed King Speaks
7 Let me announce the decree of the Lord
that he told me:
“You are my son,
today I have become your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will give you
the nations as your inheritance,
the ends of the earth as your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
you will shatter them like pottery.”
10 Therefore, kings, act wisely!
Earthly rulers, be warned!
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss[i] the son before he becomes[j] angry,
and you die where you stand.[k]
Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him.
A Davidic Psalm, when he fled from his son Absalom.
God Delivers His Servants
3 Lord, I have so many persecutors!
Many are rising up against me!
2 Many are saying about me,
“God will never deliver him!”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud[l] to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep,
I wake up, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear multitudes of[m] people,
who set themselves against me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
For you strike the jaw of all my enemies,
and you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance comes from the Lord!
May your blessing be on your people.
To the Director: With stringed instruments. A Davidic Psalm
Trust God under Adversity
4 When I call, answer me,
my righteous God![n]
When I was in distress, you set me free.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
2 You people,
how long will you malign my reputation?
How long will you love what is vain[o]
and what is false?
3 But understand this:[p]
the Lord has set apart the godly for himself!
The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him!
A Davidic psalm,[a] which he sang to the Lord, because of the words of Cush the descendant of Benjamin.
A Prayer for Vindication
7 Lord, my God,
I seek refuge in you.
Deliver me from those who persecute me!
Rescue me!
2 Otherwise, they will rip me to shreds like a lion,
tearing me[b] apart with no one to rescue me.[c]
3 Lord, my God, if I have done this thing,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil,
if I have plundered my enemy without justification,
5 then, let my enemy pursue me,
let him overtake me,
and let him trample my life to the ground.
Let him put my honor into the dust.
6 Get up, Lord, in your anger!
Rise up, because of the fury of my enemies;
Arouse yourself for me;
you have ordained justice.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples gather around you,
and you will sit[d] high above them.
8 For the Lord will judge the peoples.
Judge me according to my righteousness, Lord,
and according to my integrity, Exalted One.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
For you are the righteous God
who discerns the inner thoughts.[e]
10 God is my shield,[f]
the one who delivers the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is angry with sinners[g] every day.
12 If the ungodly one[h] doesn’t repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will string his bow and prepare it.
13 He prepares weapons of death for himself,
he makes his arrows into fiery shafts.
14 But the wicked one[i] travails with evil,
he conceives malice and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit, even excavates it;
then he fell into the hole that he had made.
16 The trouble[j] he planned will return on his own head,
and his violence will descend on his skull.
17 But as for me,
I will praise the Lord for his righteousness,
and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.
Naomi’s Family
1 Now there came a time of famine while judges were ruling in the land of Israel.[a] A man from Bethlehem of Judah, his wife, and his two sons left to live in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and their two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They journeyed to the country of Moab and lived there for some time.[b] 3 Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Each of her sons[c] married Moabite women: one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After they lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving Naomi[d] alone with neither her husband nor her two sons.
Naomi Returns to Judah
6 She and her daughters-in-law prepared to return from the country of Moab, because she had heard while living there[e] how the Lord had come to the aid of his people, giving them relief.[f] 7 So she left the place where she had been, along with her two daughters-in-law, and they traveled along the return road to the land of Judah. 8 But along the way,[g] Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you go back home. Return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show his gracious love to you, as you have shown me and our loved ones who have died.[h] 9 May the Lord grant each of you security in your new[i] husbands’ households.” Then she kissed them good-bye,[j] and they cried loudly.
10 They both replied to her, “No! We’ll go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi responded, “Go back, my daughters. Why go with me? Are there still sons to be born to me[k] as future husbands for you? 12 So go on back, my daughters! Be on your way! I’m too old to remarry.[l] If I were to say that I’m hoping for a husband tonight and then also bore sons this very night,[m] 13 would you wait for them until they were grown? Would you refrain from marriage for them? No, my daughters! I’m more deeply grieved than you, because[n] the Lord is working against me!”
Ruth Remains with Naomi
14 They began to cry loudly again. So Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye,[o] but Ruth remained with her. 15 Naomi told Ruth,[p] “Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law!”
16 But Ruth answered, “Stop urging me to abandon you and to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I’ll go. Wherever you live, I’ll live. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I’ll die and be buried. May the Lord do this to me—and more—if anything[q] except death comes between you and me.”
18 When Naomi[r] observed Ruth’s[s] determination to travel with her, she ended the conversation.
Greetings
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus, by the command of God our Savior and the Messiah[c] Jesus, our hope.
2 To: Timothy, my genuine child in the faith.
May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Messiah[d] Jesus, our Lord, be yours!
A Warning against False Teachers
3 When I was on my way to Macedonia, I urged you to stay in Ephesus so that you could instruct certain people to stop teaching false doctrine 4 and occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These things promote controversies rather than God’s ongoing purpose, which involves faith. 5 The goal of this instruction is love that flows from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith. 6 Some people have left these qualities behind and have turned to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be teachers of the Law, yet they do not understand either what they are talking about or the things about which they speak so confidently.
8 Of course, we know that the Law is good if a person uses it legitimately, 9 that is, if he understands that the Law is not intended for righteous[e] people but for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who are unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people, 10 for those involved in sexual immorality, for homosexuals, for kidnappers,[f] for liars, for false witnesses, and for whatever else goes against the healthy teaching 11 that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
12 I thank the Messiah[g] Jesus, our Lord, who gives me strength, that he has considered me faithful and has appointed me to his service. 13 In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent[h] man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed toward me,[i] along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah[j] Jesus. 15 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves complete acceptance:[k]
I am the worst of them. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the worst sinner,[n] the Messiah[o] Jesus might demonstrate all of his patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King Eternal—the immortal, invisible, and only God—be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.
Repent or Die
13 At that time, some people who were there told Jesus[a] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.[b] 2 He asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered like this? 3 Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die. 4 What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? 5 Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die.”
The Parable about an Unfruitful Fig Tree
6 Then Jesus[c] told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree that had been planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it but didn’t find any. 7 So he told the gardener, ‘Look here! For three years I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this tree but I haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the soil?’ 8 But the gardener[d] replied, ‘Sir, leave it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 Maybe next year it will bear fruit. If not, then cut it down.’”
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