Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer for Guidance
To the Chief Musician. With [a]flutes. A Psalm of David.
5 Give (A)ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my [b]meditation.
2 Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
(B)In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil [c]dwell with You.
5 The (C)boastful shall not (D)stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the (E)bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You I will worship toward [d]Your holy temple.
8 (F)Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.
9 For there is no [e]faithfulness in their mouth;
Their inward part is destruction;
(G)Their throat is an open tomb;
They flatter with their tongue.
10 Pronounce them guilty, O God!
Let them fall by their own counsels;
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You.
11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;
Let them ever shout for joy, because You [f]defend them;
Let those also who love Your name
Be joyful in You.
12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. (H)On [g]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
6 O Lord, (I)do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, (J)heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly (K)troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 (L)For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
A Song of Confidence in God’s Triumph over Evil
10 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do You hide in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride [a]persecutes the poor;
(A)Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
3 For the wicked (B)boasts of his heart’s desire;
[b]He (C)blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.
4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
[c]God is in none of his (D)thoughts.
5 His ways [d]are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
6 (E)He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
(F)I shall never be in adversity.”
7 (G)His mouth is full of cursing and (H)deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
9 He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 So [e]he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his [f]strength.
11 He has said in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.”
12 Arise, O Lord!
O God, (I)lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the (J)humble.
13 Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
“You will not require an account.”
14 But You have (K)seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless (L)commits[g] himself to You;
(M)You are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.
16 (N)The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
18 To [h]do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may [i]oppress no more.
Faith in the Lord’s Righteousness
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
11 In (O)the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! (P)The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot [j]secretly at the upright in heart.
3 (Q)If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
4 The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s (R)throne is in heaven;
(S)His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The Lord (T)tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
(U)Shall be [k]the portion of their cup.
19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that (A)all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, (B)“Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me [a]Naomi; call me [b]Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, (C)and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and [c]the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem (D)at the beginning of barley harvest.
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 There was a (E)relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of (F)Elimelech. His name was (G)Boaz. 2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the (H)field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.”
And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 Now behold, Boaz came from (I)Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, (J)“The Lord be with you!”
And they answered him, “The Lord bless you!”
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman (K)who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
10 So she (L)fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found (M)favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, (N)all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 12 (O)The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, (P)under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
13 Then she said, (Q)“Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken [d]kindly to your maidservant, (R)though I am not like one of your maidservants.”
Fight the Good Fight
18 This [a]charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are (A)Hymenaeus and (B)Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to (C)blaspheme.
Pray for All Men
2 Therefore I [b]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 (D)for kings and (E)all who are in [c]authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and [d]reverence. 3 For this is (F)good and acceptable in the sight (G)of God our Savior, 4 (H)who desires all men to be saved (I)and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 (J)For there is one God and (K)one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 (L)who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 (M)for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth [e]in Christ and not lying—(N)a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Men and Women in the Church
8 I desire therefore that the men pray (O)everywhere, (P)lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
A Spirit of Infirmity
10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way [a]raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your (A)infirmity.” 13 (B)And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had (C)healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, (D)“There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and (E)not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, [b]“Hypocrite! (F)Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, (G)being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were (H)done by Him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.