Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 131
A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.
1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me.
2 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever.
Psalm 132
A Song of [b]Ascents.
1 Lord, [earnestly] remember to David’s credit all his humiliations and hardships and endurance—
2 How he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 Surely I will not enter my dwelling house or get into my bed—
4 I will not permit my eyes to sleep or my eyelids to slumber,
5 Until I have found a place for the Lord, a habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.(A)
6 Behold, at Ephratah we [first] heard of [the discovered ark]; we found it in the fields of the wood [at Kiriath-jearim].(B)
7 Let us go into His tabernacle; let us worship at His footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, to Your resting-place, You and the ark [the symbol] of Your strength.
9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (right living and right standing with God); and let Your saints shout for joy!
10 For Your servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of Your anointed and reject not Your own king.
11 The Lord swore to David in truth; He will not turn back from it: One of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.(C)
12 If your children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon your throne forever.
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His habitation:
14 This is My resting-place forever [says the Lord]; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will surely and abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests also will I clothe with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
17 There will I make a horn spring forth and bud for David; I have ordained and prepared a lamp for My anointed [fulfilling the promises of old].(D)
18 His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
Psalm 133
A Song of [c]Ascents. Of David.
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment poured on the head, that ran down on the beard, even the beard of Aaron [the first high priest], that came down upon the collar and skirts of his garments [consecrating the whole body].(E)
3 It is like the dew of [lofty] Mount Hermon and the dew that comes on the hills of Zion; for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore [upon the high and the lowly].
Psalm 134
A Song of [d]Ascents.
1 Behold, bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, [singers] who by night stand in the house of the Lord.(F)
2 Lift up your hands in holiness and to the sanctuary and bless the Lord [affectionately and gratefully praise Him]!
3 The Lord bless you out of Zion, even He Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 135
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the name of the Lord; praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!
2 You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,
3 Praise the Lord! For the Lord is good; sing praises to His name, for He is gracious and lovely!
4 For the Lord has chosen [the descendants of] Jacob for Himself, Israel for His peculiar possession and treasure.(G)
5 For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the Lord pleases, that has He done in the heavens and on earth, in the seas and all deeps—
7 Who causes the vapors to arise from the ends of the earth, Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who brings the wind out of His storehouses;
8 Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast;(H)
9 Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants;
10 Who smote nations many and great and slew mighty kings—
11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
12 [The Lord] gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His people.
13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your fame, O Lord, throughout all ages.
14 For the Lord will judge and vindicate His people, and He will delay His judgments [manifesting His righteousness and mercy] and take into favor His servants [those who meet His terms of separation unto Him].(I)
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
16 [Idols] have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
17 They have ears, but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make [idols] are like them; so is everyone who trusts in and relies on them.(J)
19 Bless (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord, O house of Israel; bless the Lord, O house of Aaron [God’s ministers].
20 Bless the Lord, O house of Levi [the dedicated tribe]; you who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, bless the Lord [affectionately and gratefully praise Him]!(K)
21 Blessed out of Zion be the Lord, Who dwells [with us] at Jerusalem! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine [mixed with oil]. And she sat beside the reapers; and he passed her some parched grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi].
15 And when she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
16 And let fall some handfuls for her on purpose and let them lie there for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned. It was about an ephah of barley.
18 And she took it up and went into the town; she showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought forth and gave her the food she had reserved after she was satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you. So [Ruth] told [her], The name of him with whom I worked today is Boaz.
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord who has not ceased his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is a near relative of ours, one who has the right to redeem us.(A)
21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said to me also, Stay close to my young men until they have harvested my entire crop.
22 And Naomi said to Ruth, It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his maidens, lest in any other field you be molested.
23 So she kept close to the maidens of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or we do not, like some [false teachers], need written credentials or letters of recommendation to you or from you, [do we]?
2 [No] you yourselves are our letter of recommendation (our credentials), written in [a]your hearts, to be known (perceived, recognized) and read by everybody.
3 You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.(A)
4 Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God.
5 Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.
6 [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.(B)
7 Now if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone [the ministration of the Law], was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, [a glory] that was to fade and pass away,(C)
8 Why should not the dispensation of the Spirit [this spiritual [b]ministry whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory?
9 For if the service that condemns [the ministration of doom] had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous [the ministry that produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God]!
10 Indeed, in view of this fact, what once had splendor [[c]the glory of the Law in the face of Moses] has come to have no splendor at all, because of the overwhelming glory that exceeds and excels it [[d]the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ].
11 For if that which was but passing and fading away came with splendor, how much more must that which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor!
12 Since we have such [glorious] hope (such joyful and confident expectation), we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly.
13 Nor [do we act] like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing [splendor which had been upon it].
14 In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.
15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
16 But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).(D)
18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
27 You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.(A)
28 But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna).
30 And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell (Gehenna).
31 It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.
32 But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.(B)
33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].
34 But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.(C)
36 And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.
37 Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.(D)
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