Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5[a]
Prayer for Divine Help
1 For the leader; with wind instruments. A psalm of David.
I
2 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
understand my sighing.(A)
3 Attend to the sound of my cry,
my king and my God!
For to you I will pray, Lord;
4 in the morning you will hear my voice;
in the morning I will plead before you and wait.(B)
II
5 You are not a god who delights in evil;
no wicked person finds refuge with you;
6 the arrogant cannot stand before your eyes.
You hate all who do evil;
7 you destroy those who speak falsely.(C)
A bloody and fraudulent man
the Lord abhors.
III
8 But I, through the abundance of your mercy,[b]
will enter into your house.
I will bow down toward your holy sanctuary
out of fear of you.(D)
9 Lord, guide me in your justice because of my foes;
make straight your way before me.(E)
IV
10 For there is no sincerity in their mouth;
their heart is corrupt.
Their throat[c] is an open grave;(F)
on their tongue are subtle lies.
11 Declare them guilty, God;
make them fall by their own devices.(G)
Drive them out for their many sins;
for they have rebelled against you.
V
12 Then all who trust in you will be glad
and forever shout for joy.(H)
You will protect them and those will rejoice in you
who love your name.
13 For you, Lord, bless the just one;
you surround him with favor like a shield.
Psalm 6[d]
Prayer in Distress
1 For the leader; with stringed instruments, “upon the eighth.”[e]
A psalm of David.
I
2 Do not reprove me in your anger, Lord,
nor punish me in your wrath.(I)
3 Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are shuddering.(J)
4 My soul too is shuddering greatly—
and you, Lord, how long…?[f](K)
5 Turn back, Lord, rescue my soul;
save me because of your mercy.
6 For in death there is no remembrance of you.
Who praises you in Sheol?[g](L)
II
7 I am wearied with sighing;
all night long I drench my bed with tears;
I soak my couch with weeping.
8 My eyes are dimmed with sorrow,
worn out because of all my foes.(M)
III
Psalm 10
I
1 Why, Lord, do you stand afar
and pay no heed in times of trouble?
2 Arrogant scoundrels pursue the poor;
they trap them by their cunning schemes.(A)
II
3 The wicked even boast of their greed;
these robbers curse and scorn the Lord.(B)
4 In their insolence the wicked boast:
“God does not care; there is no God.”(C)
5 Yet their affairs always succeed;
they ignore your judgment on high;
they sneer at all who oppose them.
6 They say in their hearts, “We will never fall;
never will we see misfortune.”
7 Their mouths are full of oaths, violence, and lies;
discord and evil are under their tongues.(D)
8 They wait in ambush near towns;
their eyes watch for the helpless
to murder the innocent in secret.(E)
9 They lurk in ambush like lions in a thicket,
hide there to trap the poor,
snare them and close the net.(F)
10 The helpless are crushed, laid low;
they fall into the power of the wicked,
11 Who say in their hearts, “God has forgotten,
shows no concern, never bothers to look.”(G)
III
12 Rise up, Lord! God, lift up your hand!
Do not forget the poor!
13 Why should the wicked scorn God,
say in their hearts, “God does not care”?
14 But you do see;
you take note of misery and sorrow;(H)
you take the matter in hand.
To you the helpless can entrust their cause;
you are the defender of orphans.(I)
15 Break the arm of the wicked and depraved;
make them account for their crimes;
let none of them survive.
IV
16 The Lord is king forever;(J)
the nations have vanished from his land.
17 You listen, Lord, to the needs of the poor;
you strengthen their heart and incline your ear.
18 You win justice for the orphaned and oppressed;(K)
no one on earth will cause terror again.
Psalm 11[a]
Confidence in the Presence of God
1 For the leader. Of David.
I
In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains!(L)
2 See how the wicked string their bows,
fit their arrows to the string
to shoot from the shadows at the upright of heart.(M)
3 [b]If foundations are destroyed,
what can the just one do?”
II
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.(N)
God’s eyes keep careful watch;
they test the children of Adam.
5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
hates those who love violence,
6 And rains upon the wicked
fiery coals and brimstone,
a scorching wind their allotted cup.[c](O)
7 The Lord is just and loves just deeds;
the upright will see his face.
The Return to Bethlehem. 19 So they went on together until they reached Bethlehem. On their arrival there, the whole town was excited about them, and the women asked: “Can this be Naomi?” 20 (A)But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi [‘Sweet’]. Call me Mara [‘Bitter’], for the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 [a](B)I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why should you call me ‘Sweet,’ since the Lord has brought me to trial, and the Almighty has pronounced evil sentence on me.” 22 Thus it was that Naomi came back with her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.[b]
Chapter 2
The Meeting. 1 [c]Naomi had a powerful relative named Boaz,(C) through the clan of her husband Elimelech. 2 [d]Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go and glean grain in the field of anyone who will allow me.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz, of the clan of Elimelech. 4 [e]Soon, along came Boaz from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you,” and they replied, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Boaz asked the young man overseeing his harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The young man overseeing the harvesters answered, “She is the young Moabite who came back with Naomi from the plateau of Moab.(D) 7 [f]She said, ‘I would like to gather the gleanings into sheaves after the harvesters.’ Ever since she came this morning she has remained here until now, with scarcely a moment’s rest.”
8 Boaz then spoke to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my young women. 9 Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them. Have I not commanded the young men to do you no harm? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the vessels the young people have filled.” 10 Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, she said to him, “Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your attention?” 11 (E)Boaz answered her: “I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom previously you did not know. 12 (F)May the Lord reward what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” 13 She said, “May I prove worthy of your favor, my lord. You have comforted me. You have spoken to the heart of your servant[g]—and I am not even one of your servants!”
18 I entrust this charge to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophetic words once spoken about you.[a] Through them may you fight a good fight(A) 19 by having faith and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith,(B) 20 among them Hymenaeus[b] and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.(C)
III. Problems of Discipline
Chapter 2
Prayer and Conduct. 1 [c]First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,(D) 2 for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. 3 This is good and pleasing to God our savior,(E) 4 who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.(F)
5 For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and the human race,
Christ Jesus, himself human,(G)
6 who gave himself as ransom for all.
This was the testimony[d] at the proper time.(H) 7 For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.(I)
8 [e]It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.
10 He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. 11 And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” 13 He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. 14 (A)But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” 15 [a]The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?(B) 16 [b]This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”(C) 17 When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed.(D)
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