Book of Common Prayer

Childlike Trust in the Lord.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

Prayer for the Lord’s Blessing upon the Sanctuary.

A Song of Ascents.

The Excellency of Brotherly Unity.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

Greetings of Night Watchers.

A Song of Ascents.

Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Futility of Idols.

¹⁴ And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “^[a]Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied ^(A)and had some left. ¹⁵ When she got up to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not ^[b]insult her. ¹⁶ Also you are to purposely slip out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it so that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ^[c]ephah of barley. ¹⁸ And she picked it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took some out and ^(B)gave ^[d]Naomi what she had left after ^[e]she was satisfied. ¹⁹ Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who ^(C)took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” ²⁰ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “^(D)May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living and from the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative; he is one of our ^(E)redeemers.” ²¹ Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “^[f]Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You are to stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’” ²² And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not assault you in another field.” ²³ So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until ^(F)the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we beginning to ^(A)commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, ^(B)letters of commendation to you or from you? ^2 (C)You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, ³ revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Christ, ^[a](D)delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of ^(E)the living God, not on ^(F)tablets of stone but on ^(G)tablets of ^[b](H)human hearts.

⁴ Such is the ^(I)confidence we have toward God through Christ. ⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but ^(J)our adequacy is from God, ⁶ who also made us adequate as ^(K)servants of a ^(L)new covenant, not of ^(M)the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but ^(N)the Spirit gives life.

⁷ But if the ^(O)ministry of death, engraved ^(P)in letters on stones, came ^[c]with glory ^(Q)so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? ⁹ For if ^(R)the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ^(S)ministry of righteousness excel in glory. ¹⁰ For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if that which fades away was ^[d]with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^12 (T)Therefore, having such a hope, ^(U)we use great boldness in our speech, ¹³ and we are not like Moses, ^(V)who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were ^(W)hardened; for until this very day at the ^(X)reading of ^(Y)the old covenant the same veil ^[e]remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ¹⁵ But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; ^16 (Z)but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(AA)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(AB)there is freedom. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled faces, ^(AC)looking as in a mirror at the ^(AD)glory of the Lord, are being ^(AE)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^(AF)the Lord, the Spirit.

²⁷ “^(A)You have heard that it was said, ‘^(B)You shall not commit adultery’; ²⁸ but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman ^(C)with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ Now ^(D)if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, ^[a]than for your whole body to be thrown into ^[b](E)hell. ³⁰ And ^(F)if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you ^[c]to lose one of the parts of your body, ^[d]than for your whole body to go into ^[e](G)hell.

³¹ “Now it was said, ‘^(H)Whoever sends his wife away is to give her a certificate of divorce’; ^32 (I)but I say to you that everyone who ^[f]divorces his wife, except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a ^[g]divorced woman commits adultery.

³³ “Again, ^(J)you have heard that ^[h]the ancients were told, ‘^[i](K)You shall not ^[j]make false vows, but shall fulfill your ^[k]vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say to you, ^(L)take no oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is ^(M)the throne of God, ³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is the ^(N)footstool of His feet, nor ^[l]by Jerusalem, for it is ^(O)the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you take an oath by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. ³⁷ But make sure your statement is, ‘^[m]Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is ^[n]of ^(P)evil origin.