Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 131[a]
Childlike Trust in God
1 A song of ascents. Of David.
O Lord, my heart[b] is not proud,
nor are my eyes raised too high.
I do not concern myself with great affairs
or with things too sublime for me.
2 Rather, I have stilled and calmed my soul,[c]
hushed it like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child held in its mother’s arms,
so is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.[d]
Psalm 132[e]
The Divine Promises Made to David
1 A song of ascents.
Remember, O Lord, for David’s sake,
all the difficulties he endured.[f]
2 [g]He swore an oath to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter the house I live in
or lie down on the bed where I sleep,
4 neither will I allow myself to fall asleep
or even to close my eyes,
5 until I find a home for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah;
we came upon it[h] in the fields of Jaar.
7 [i]Let us enter his dwelling place,
let us worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, and go up to your resting place,
you and the Ark of your might.
9 Let your priests clothe themselves with righteousness,[j]
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not reject your anointed one.[k]
11 The Lord swore this oath[l] to David,
an oath that he will not renounce:
“One of your own descendants
I will place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and the statutes that I will teach them,
their sons will also rule
on your throne from age to age.”[m]
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has designated it for his home:
14 “This will be my resting place forever;
here I will reside, for such is my wish.
15 [n]“I will bless it with abundant provisions
and satisfy its poor with their fill of bread.
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation,
and its saints will shout for joy.
17 “There I will raise up a horn for David[o]
and prepare a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but on his head there will be a resplendent crown.”[p]
Psalm 133[q]
The Blessings of Brotherly Accord
1 A song of ascents. Of David.[r]
How wonderful and delightful it is
for brothers to live together in unity.[s]
2 It is like fragrant ointment poured on the head,
running down upon the beard,
running down upon the beard of Aaron,
and flowing on the collar of his robes.[t]
3 It is like the dew of Hermon
falling upon the mountains of Zion.[u]
For there the Lord has bestowed his blessing,
life forevermore.
Psalm 134[v]
Invitation to Night Prayer
1 A song of ascents.
Come forth to bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,[w]
who minister throughout the night
in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands toward[x] the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.
3 May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.[y]
Psalm 135[z]
Praise of God, Benefactor of His People
1 [aa]Alleluia.
Praise the name of the Lord;
offer him praise, you servants of the Lord,[ab]
2 you who minister in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God.[ac]
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing to honor his name, for he is gracious.[ad]
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his treasured possession.[ae]
5 [af]I know that the Lord is great,
that our Lord is superior to all gods.[ag]
6 The Lord does whatever he pleases
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and in all their depths.[ah]
7 He causes clouds to rise
from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning[ai] with the rain
and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
8 [aj]He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,[ak]
those of humans as well as of animals.
9 He sent signs and portents into your midst, O Egypt,[al]
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations
and slew mighty kings:
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kings of Canaan.[am]
12 He then gave their lands as a heritage,
a heritage to his people Israel.[an]
13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
your renown, O Lord, lasts throughout the ages.[ao]
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people
and show compassion to his servants.[ap]
15 [aq]The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths but they cannot speak;
they have eyes but they cannot see.
17 They have ears but they cannot hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them end up like them,
as do all who place their trust in them.
19 [ar]O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed from Zion be the Lord,
he who dwells in Jerusalem.
Alleluia.[as]
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have bountifully blessed them.” 12 But he answered, “Must I not proclaim what the Lord has put into my mouth?”
13 Balaam’s Second Oracle. Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place. There you will be able to see them, but only their outposts; you will not see all of them. You can curse them for me from there.”
14 So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars, and he offered a young bull and a ram on each altar. 15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your offering, and I will meet the Lord over there.” 16 The Lord visited Balaam and put a word in his mouth saying, “Go back again to Balak and proclaim this.”
17 He returned to him. He was standing by his offering, he and the leaders of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has the Lord said?” 18 He took up his oracle and said,
“Arise, Balak, and hear;
listen to me, son of Zippor!
19 God is not human, that he should lie,[a]
or the son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act,
does he promise and then not fulfill it?
20 Behold, I have received a blessing;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
21 No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
no misery is seen in Israel.
The Lord, their God, is with them;
the shout of a king is among them.
22 God has brought them out of Egypt;
they are as strong as a wild ox.
23 There is truly no sorcery against Jacob,
nor any divination against Israel.
Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel,
‘What God has done!’
24 Behold, a people rises up like a lioness,
like a young lion it lifts itself up.
It will not lie down again until it eats the prey
and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Then do not either curse them in any way or bless them in any way!” 26 But Balaam answered Balak saying, “Did I not tell you: ‘All that the Lord says I must do!’ ”
The Spirit of God Dwells in Christians[a]
Chapter 8
There Is No Longer Any Condemnation. 1 Hence, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 That which the Law, weakened by the flesh, was unable to do, God has done. By sending his own Son in the likeness of our sinful nature as a sin offering, he condemned sin in the flesh 4 so that the righteous requirements of the Law[b] might be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Animated by the Spirit and Rendered Children of God.[c] 5 Those who live according to the flesh fix their attention on the things of the flesh, while those who live according to the Spirit set their thoughts on spiritual things. 6 The desires of the flesh result in death, but the desires of the Spirit result in life and peace. 7 Indeed, the desires of the flesh will be hostile to God, for they do not submit to the Law of God, nor could they do so. 8 Those who live according to the flesh can never be pleasing to God.
9 You, however, do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ cannot belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though the body is dead as a result of sin, the Spirit is alive in you because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you.[d]
Chapter 22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet.[a] 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent forth his servants to summon those who had been invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. 4 Then he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, my banquet has been prepared, my oxen and my fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.” ’
5 “But they ignored his invitation. One went off to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.
7 “The king was enraged, and he sent forth his troops who destroyed those murderers and burned their city to the ground. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy of that honor. 9 Go forth, therefore, to the main roads and invite everyone you can find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 The servants went forth into the streets and gathered together everyone they could find, good and bad alike. And so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 [b]“But when the king came in to greet the guests, he noticed one man who was not properly dressed for a wedding. 12 ‘My friend,’ he said to him, ‘how did you gain entrance here without a wedding garment?’ The man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet and cast him outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”[c]
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