Book of Common Prayer
A Davidic Song of Ascents
Hope in the Lord
131 Lord, my heart is not arrogant,
nor do I look haughty.
I do not aspire[a] to great things,
nor concern myself with things beyond my ability.
2 Instead, I have composed and quieted myself
like a weaned child with its mother;
I am like a weaned child.
3 Place your hope in the Lord, Israel,
both now and forever.
A Song of Ascents
The Lord Lives in Zion
132 Lord, remember in David’s favor
all of his troubles;
2 how he swore an oath to the Lord,
vowing to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter[b] my house,
or lie down on[c] my bed,
4 or let myself go to sleep[d]
or even take a nap,[e]
5 until I locate a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard about it[f] in Ephrata;[g]
we found it in the fields of Jaar.[h]
7 Let’s go to his dwelling place
and worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, Lord,
and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 May your priests be clothed with righteousness
and may your godly ones shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The Lord made an oath to David
from which he will not retreat:
“One of your sons
I will set in place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my statutes that I will teach them,
then their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion,
desiring it as his dwelling place.
14 “This is my resting place forever.
Here I will live,
because I desire to do so.
15 I will bless its provisions abundantly;
I will satiate its poor with food.[i]
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation
and its godly ones will shout for joy.
17 There I will create a power base[j] for David—
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with disgrace,
but on him his crown will shine.”
A Davidic Song of Ascents
The Significance of Unity
133 Look how good and how pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil on the head,
descending to the beard—
even to Aaron’s beard—
and flowing down to the edge of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon
falling on Zion’s mountains.
For there the Lord commanded his blessing—
life everlasting.
A Song of Ascents
Praise to the Creator
134 Now bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord
who serve[k] nightly in the Lord’s Temple.
2 Lift up your hands to the Holy Place
and bless the Lord.
3 May the Lord who fashions heaven and earth
bless you from Zion.
Praising God for His Graciousness
135 Hallelujah!
Praise the name of the Lord!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord,
2 you who are standing in the Lord’s Temple,
in the courtyards of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord,
because the Lord is good;
Sing to his name,
for he is gracious.
4 It is Jacob whom the Lord chose for himself—
Israel as his personal possession.
5 Indeed, I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord[l] surpasses all gods.
6 The Lord does whatever pleases him
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all its[m] deep regions.
7 He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth,
fashioning lightning for the rain,
bringing the wind from his storehouses.
8 It was the Lord[n] who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
including both men and animals.
9 He sent signs and wonders among you, Egypt,
before[o] Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations,
killing many kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
and every kingdom of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance to his people Israel.
13 Your name, Lord, exists forever,
and your reputation, Lord, throughout the ages.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people,
and he will show compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
worked by[p] the hands of human beings.
16 Mouths are attributed to them,
but they cannot speak;
sight is attributed to them,
but they cannot see;
17 ears are attributed to them,
but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who craft them—
and all[q] who trust in them—
will become like them.
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord!
House of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who lives in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
14 At lunchtime, Boaz invited her, “Come on over, have some food, and dip your bread in our oil and[a] vinegar.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he handed her some roasted grain, which she ate until she was satisfied. She kept what was left over.
Boaz the Benefactor
15 After she had left to glean, Boaz commanded his servants,[b] “Allow her to glean also among the cut sheaves, and don’t taunt her. 16 One other thing[c]—drop some handfuls[d] deliberately, leaving them for her so she can gather it. And don’t bother her.” 17 So Ruth[e] gathered grain out in the field until dusk, and then threshed what she had gathered—about a week’s supply[f] of barley. 18 She picked up her grain[g] and went back to town.
Her mother-in-law noticed how much Ruth[h] had gleaned and had brought back from what was left over from her lunch. 19 So her mother-in-law quizzed her, “Where did you glean today? Where, precisely, did you work? May the one who took notice of you be blessed.”
So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Naomi replied, “May the one who hasn’t abandoned his gracious love to the living or to the dead be blessed by the Lord.” Naomi added, “This man is closely related to us, our related redeemer,[i] as a matter of fact!”
21 Then Ruth the Moabite woman added, “He also told me ‘Stay close to my young men until they have completed my entire harvest.’”
22 Naomi responded to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is prudent, my daughter, for you to go out with his women servants, so someone won’t attack you in another field.” 23 So Ruth[j] continued to stay close to the young women who worked for Boaz, gathering grain until both the barley and wheat harvests were complete, all the while living with her mother-in-law.
Ministers of the New Covenant
3 Are we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. 3 You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah’s[a] letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah.[b] 5 By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God, 6 who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text[c] brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on Moses’ face (because the glory was fading away from it), 8 will not the Spirit’s ministry have even more glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, then the ministry of justification has an overwhelming glory. 10 In fact, that which once had glory lost its glory, because the other glory surpassed it. 11 For if that which fades away came[d] through glory, how much more does that which is permanent have glory?
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak very boldly, 13 not like Moses, who kept covering his face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of what was fading away. 14 However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah[e] is that veil removed.[f] 15 Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18 As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord’s Spirit.
Teaching about Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You are not to commit adultery.’[a] 28 But I say to you, anyone who stares at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body thrown into hell.[b] 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell.”[c]
Teaching about Divorce(A)
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.’[d] 32 But I say to you, any man who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Teaching about Oaths
33 “Again, you have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, ‘You must not swear an oath falsely,’ but, ‘You must fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’[e] 34 But I tell you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne, 35 nor by the earth, because it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the Great King. 36 Nor should you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Instead, let your message be ‘Yes’ for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ for ‘No.’ Anything more than that comes from the evil one.”
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