Book of Common Prayer
Meditations on the Excellencies of the Word of God
א ALEPH
119 Blessed are the [a]undefiled in the way,
(A)Who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the (B)whole heart!
3 (C)They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!
6 (D)Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments.
7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will keep Your statutes;
Oh, do not forsake me utterly!
ב BETH
9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have (E)sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 (F)Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O Lord!
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have (G)declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And [b]contemplate Your ways.
16 I will (H)delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
ג GIMEL
17 (I)Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.
19 (J)I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 (K)My soul [c]breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
22 (L)Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.
Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy
To the Chief Musician. (A)On [a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.
12 Help,[b] Lord, for the godly man (B)ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 (C)They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and [c]a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord [d]cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks [e]proud things,
4 Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are (D)pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
Trust in the Salvation of the Lord
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
(E)How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
(F)Enlighten my eyes,
(G)Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph(H)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
14 The (I)fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.
2 (J)The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 (K)They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
14 Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and (A)was satisfied, and kept some back. 15 And when she rose up to [a]glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not [b]reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of (B)barley. 18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her (C)what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who (D)took notice of you.”
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, (E)“Blessed be he of the Lord, who (F)has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, (G)one of [c]our close relatives.”
21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”
22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not [d]meet you in any other field.” 23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Qualifications of Overseers
3 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a [a]bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not [b]given to wine, not violent, [c]not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not [d]covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a [e]novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the (A)snare of the devil.
Qualifications of Deacons
8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, (B)not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the [f]mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. 11 Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not [g]slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. 13 For those who have served well as deacons (C)obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The Great Mystery
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and [h]ground of the truth. 16 And without controversy great is the [i]mystery of godliness:
The Parable of the Mustard Seed(A)
18 (B)Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a [a]large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
The Parable of the Leaven(C)
20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like [b]leaven, which a woman took and hid in three (D)measures[c] of meal till it was all leavened.”
The Narrow Way(E)
22 (F)And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there (G)few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 (H)“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for (I)many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 (J)When once the Master of the house has risen up and (K)shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, (L)‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, (M)‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 (N)But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. (O)Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ 28 (P)There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, (Q)when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. 29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 (R)And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.