Book of Common Prayer
Michtam of David.
1 ¶ Preserve me, O God: for in thee I have put my trust.
2 I said unto the LORD, Thou art my goodness: I have no goodness apart from thee;
3 to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent: all my delight is towards them.
4 The sorrows of those that hasten after another god shall be multiplied; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; thou dost maintain my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I will bless the LORD, who gives me counsel: my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because when he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thy Merciful One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
A Prayer of David.
1 ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.
3 Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.
5 Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.
6 I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.
7 Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.
8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,
9 from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth
12 like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;
14 from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
To the Overcomer upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my cry?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest in the midst of the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee and were delivered: they trusted in thee and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people.
7 All those that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 Turn him over to the LORD, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb; thou hast made me wait upon thee since I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 ¶ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about.
13 They opened their mouth upon me as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may count all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the unicorns.
22 ¶ I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the poor in spirit; neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before those that fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied: those that seek him shall praise the LORD; your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD; and all the families of the Gentiles shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s, and he shall have dominion over the Gentiles.
29 All those that are fat upon earth shall eat and worship; all those that go down to the dust shall bow before him; and no one can keep his own soul alive.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this.
4 ¶ And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and, behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke came by unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! Come here and sit down. And he came and sat down.
2 Then he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.
3 And he said unto the redeemer, Naomi, that is come again out of the field of Moab, sold a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s,
4 and I decided to cause thee to know this and tell thee to take it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it, but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one to redeem it besides thee, and I after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.
5 Then Boaz replied, The day that thou dost receive the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must also receive Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
6 And the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I ruin my own inheritance; redeem thou; I cede my right to you, for I shall not be able to redeem it.
7 Now for a long time in Israel there had been this custom concerning redemption or contracts, that for the confirmation of all matters: one plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour, and this was a testimony in Israel.
8 Therefore, the former owner of the right of redemption said unto Boaz, Buy it thyself. So he drew off his shoe.
9 ¶ And Boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.
10 Moreover, I also take Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. Ye shall be witnesses of this today.
11 And all the people that were in the gate and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, who built the house of Israel; and be thou a man of valour in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem;
12 let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
13 ¶ So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.
14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left thee this day without a redeemer, whose name shall be famous in Israel.
15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy soul and a sustainer in thy old age, for thy daughter-in-law, whom thou doth love, who is better to thee than seven sons, has given birth.
16 And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and was his nurse.
17 And the women, her neighbours, named him, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. This is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
17 ¶ Let the elders that govern well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine.
18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
19 Against an elder do not receive an accusation, unless there are two or three witnesses.
20 Those that persist in sin rebuke before all, that the others may also fear.
21 I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
22 Lay hands suddenly on no one, neither be partaker of the sins of others; keep thyself pure.
23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
24 Some men’s sins are manifest beforehand, before they come unto judgment, but to others they follow after.
25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and those that are otherwise cannot be hid.
14 ¶ And it came to pass as he went into the house of one of the princes of the Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day that they watched him.
2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him who had the dropsy.
3 And Jesus, answering, spoke unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4 And they were silent. And he took him and healed him and dismissed him
5 and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
6 And they could not answer him as to these things.
7 ¶ And observing how they chose the first seats at the table, he put forth a parable to those who were invited, saying unto them,
8 When thou art called to a wedding by anyone, do not sit down in the highest place, lest a more honourable man than thou be invited of him,
9 and he that called thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to have the lowest place.
10 But when thou art called, go and sit down in the lowest place that when he that invited thee comes, he may say unto thee, Friend, come up higher; then shalt thou have glory in the presence of those that sit at the table with thee.
11 For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International