Book of Common Prayer
Prologue—Psalms 1–2[a]
Psalm 1[b]
True Happiness
1 Blessed[c] is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the way of sinners,
nor sit in the company of scoffers.
2 Rather, his delight is in the law of the Lord,[d]
and on that law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted near streams of water,
which bears fruit in its season,
and whose leaves never wither.[e]
In the same way,
everything he does will prosper.
4 This is not true of the wicked,
for they are like chaff that the wind blows away.[f]
5 Therefore, the wicked will not stand firm at the judgment,[g]
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over[h] the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 2[i]
Universal Reign of the Messiah
1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples devise futile plots?
2 The kings of the earth rise up,
and the princes conspire together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One:[j]
3 “Let us finally break their shackles
and cast away their chains from us.”
4 The one who is enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord mocks their plans.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I myself have anointed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”[k]
7 I will proclaim the decree[l] of the Lord:
He said to me, “You are my son;
this day I have begotten you.”
8 Simply make the request of me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
and the ends of the earth as your possession.[m]
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter;
you will shatter them like a potter’s vessel.[n]
10 Therefore, O kings, pay heed;
take warning, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling 12 bow down in homage[o]
lest he become angry
and you perish from the way,
for his wrath can flare up in an instant.
Blessed are all those
who take refuge in him.
Book I—Psalms 3–41[p]
Psalm 3[q]
Trust in God in Time of Danger
1 A psalm of David. When he was fleeing from his son Absalom.
2 O Lord, how great is the number of my enemies,
how many are those who rise up against me.
3 How numerous are the ones who say of me,
“He will not receive salvation from God.” Selah[r]
4 But you, O Lord, are a shield to protect me;
you are my glory and the one who raises my head high.[s]
5 Whenever I cry aloud to the Lord,
he answers me from his holy mountain.[t] Selah
6 I lie down and sleep;
I awaken again, for the Lord sustains me.[u]
7 Thus, I will not fear the multitudes
who have surrounded me on every side.
8 Rise up, O Lord!
Rescue me, O my God!
You will strike all my enemies across the face[v]
and break the teeth of the wicked.
9 Salvation comes from the Lord.
May your blessing be upon your people. Selah
Psalm 4[w]
Joyful Confidence in God
1 For the director.[x] With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
2 When I call upon you, answer me, O God,
you who uphold my rights.
When I was in distress, you set me free;
have pity on me and listen to my prayer.
3 How long[y] will you people turn my glory into shame,
cherishing what is worthless and pursuing what is false? Selah
4 Remember that the Lord wonderfully favors those who are faithful,[z]
and the Lord listens when I call out to him.
5 [aa]When you are angry, be careful not to sin;
reflect in silence
as you lie upon your beds. Selah
6 Offer worthy sacrifices
and place your trust in the Lord.
7 Many exclaim, “Who will show us better times!
Let the light of your face shine on[ab] us, O Lord!”
8 You have granted my heart[ac] greater joy
than others experience when grain and wine abound.
9 In peace I lie down and sleep,
for only with your help, O Lord,
can I rest secure.
Psalm 7[a]
Appeal to the Divine Judge
1 A plaintive song of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush,[b] a Benjaminite.
2 O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you;
keep me safe from all my pursuers and deliver me,
3 lest like a lion they tear me to pieces
and carry me off, with no one to rescue me.
4 O Lord, my God, if I have done this,
if my hands are stained with guilt,
5 if I have repaid a friend with treachery—
I who spared the lives of those who without cause were my enemies—[c]
6 then let my foe pursue and overtake me;
let him trample my life into the ground
and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
7 Rise up, O Lord, in your indignation;
rise against the fury of my enemies.
Rouse yourself for me,
and fulfill the judgment you have decreed.
8 Let the peoples assemble in your presence
as you sit above them enthroned on high.
9 The Lord is the judge of the nations.
Therefore, pass judgment on me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
according to my innocence, O Most High.
10 Put an end to the malice of the wicked
but continue to sustain the righteous,
O God of justice,
you who search minds and hearts.[d]
11 God is a shield to me;
he saves those who are upright of heart.
12 God is a just judge,
a God who expresses his indignation every day.
13 When a sinner refuses to repent,
God sharpens his sword,
and he bends and aims his bow.
14 He has prepared deadly weapons for him
and made his arrows into fiery shafts.
15 [e]Behold, he who conceives iniquity
and is pregnant with mischief
will give birth to lies.
16 He digs a pit and makes it deep,
but he will fall into the trap he has made.
17 His wickedness will recoil upon his own head,
and his violence will fall back on his own crown.
18 I will offer thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness,
and I will sing hymns of praise[f] to the name of the Lord Most High.
Chapter 1[a]
Naomi’s Life in Moab. 1 In the days of the judges,[b] a famine broke out in the land. A certain man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the land of Moab along with his wife and his two sons. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They traveled to the land of Moab and dwelt there.
3 Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They both married Moabite women. The name of one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years,[c] 5 both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving the woman bereft of her husband and two sons.
6 [d]She set out with her two daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab, for in Moab she had heard how the Lord had come to the aid of his people, giving them food to eat. 7 She and her two daughters-in-law set out from the place where they had been living and took the road leading back to the land of Judah. 8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Each of you should go back to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you as much kindness as you have shown to those who died and to me. 9 May the Lord grant each of you consolation in the home of a husband.” She then kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10 They said to her, “We will go with you back to your people.” 11 But Naomi replied, “Go back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Do I still have any sons in my womb who might become your husbands? 12 Go back, my daughters. Go your way. I am too old even to have a husband. Even if I thought that there was still hope for me and I slept with a husband tonight and gave birth to sons, 13 would you wait for them to grow up? Would you stay unmarried for them? No, my daughters, for it greatly grieves me on your account that the hand of the Lord has been raised against me.”
14 Ruth Stays with Naomi. They cried out loud again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Then she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth answered, “Please do not insist on my leaving you or forsaking you. Wherever you go I will go, and wherever you live I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.[e] 17 Wherever you die, I will die and be buried there. May the Lord do this to me and even worse if anything other than death separates me from you.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Chapter 1
Salutation[a]
Address. 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior[b] and Christ Jesus our hope, 2 to Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Timothy, Champion of the Truth[c]
On Holding Fast to Sound Doctrine. When I was setting out for Macedonia,[d] I urged you to stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people that they are not to teach erroneous doctrines 4 and not to concern themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies and do not produce godly edification in faith.5 The aim of this instruction is love that derives from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6 Some people have departed from these and turned to empty speculation, 7 desiring to be teachers of the Law; but they understand neither the words they are using nor the matters about which they make such confident assertions.
Purpose of the Law. 8 We are well aware that the Law is good, provided that one uses it properly, 9 recognizing that laws are not designed for the upright. They are for the lawless and insubordinate, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and irreligious; they are for those who slay their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for those who are fornicators, sodomites,[e] slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which has been entrusted to me.
12 Called To Preach the Gospel. I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, because he judged me trustworthy and appointed me to his service, 13 even though in the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. However, I have been treated with mercy because I had acted out of ignorance and unbelief. 14 As a result, the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 This saying can be trusted and merits complete acceptance:[f] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of these. 16 But for that very reason I was treated mercifully, so that in me Jesus Christ might exhibit his inexhaustible patience, making me an example for those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God,[g] be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Chapter 13
Jesus Calls for Repentance.[a] 1 At that time, some people who were present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because the Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower fell on them at Siloam—do you think that they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you—but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.[b] 6 Then he told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, but whenever he came looking for fruit on it, he found none. 7 Therefore, he said to his vinedresser, ‘For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and have never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue to use up the soil?’ 8 But the vinedresser replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year while I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 Perhaps it will bear fruit next year. If so, well and good. If not, then you can cut it down.’ ”
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.