Book of Common Prayer
A Prayer of Humble Trust[a]
131 Lord, I have given up my pride
and turned away from my arrogance.
I am not concerned with great matters
or with subjects too difficult for me.
2 Instead, I am content and at peace.
As a child lies quietly in its mother's arms,
so my heart is quiet within me.
3 Israel, trust in the Lord
now and forever!
In Praise of the Temple
132 Lord, do not forget David
and all the hardships he endured.
2 Remember, Lord, what he promised,
the vow he made to you, the Mighty God of Jacob:
3 “I will not go home or go to bed;
4 I will not rest or sleep,
5 until I provide a place for the Lord,
a home for the Mighty God of Jacob.”
6 (A)In Bethlehem we heard about the Covenant Box,
and we found it in the fields of Jearim.
7 We said, “Let us go to the Lord's house;
let us worship before his throne.”
8 Come to the Temple, Lord, with the Covenant Box,
the symbol of your power,
and stay here forever.
9 May your priests do always what is right;
may your people shout for joy!
10 You made a promise to your servant David;
do not reject your chosen king, Lord.
11 (B)You made a solemn promise to David—
a promise you will not take back:
“I will make one of your sons king,
and he will rule after you.
12 If your sons are true to my covenant
and to the commands I give them,
their sons, also, will succeed you for all time as kings.”
13 The Lord has chosen Zion;
he wants to make it his home:
14 “This is where I will live forever;
this is where I want to rule.
15 I will richly provide Zion with all she needs;
I will satisfy her poor with food.
16 I will bless her priests in all they do,
and her people will sing and shout for joy.
17 (C)Here I will make one of David's descendants a great king;
here I will preserve the rule of my chosen king.
18 I will cover his enemies with shame,
but his kingdom will prosper and flourish.”
In Praise of Living in Peace[b]
133 How wonderful it is, how pleasant,
for God's people to live together in harmony!
2 It is like the precious anointing oil
running down from Aaron's head and beard,
down to the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon,
falling on the hills of Zion.
That is where the Lord has promised his blessing—
life that never ends.
A Call to Praise God
134 Come, praise the Lord,
all his servants,
all who serve in his Temple at night.
2 Raise your hands in prayer in the Temple,
and praise the Lord!
3 May the Lord, who made heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion!
A Hymn of Praise
135 Praise the Lord!
Praise his name, you servants of the Lord,
2 who stand in the Lord's house,
in the Temple of our God.
3 Praise the Lord, because he is good;
sing praises to his name, because he is kind.[c]
4 He chose Jacob for himself,
the people of Israel for his own.
5 I know that our Lord is great,
greater than all the gods.
6 He does whatever he wishes
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and in the depths below.
7 He brings storm clouds from the ends of the earth;
he makes lightning for the storms,
and he brings out the wind from his storeroom.
8 In Egypt he killed all the first-born
of people and animals alike.
9 There he performed miracles and wonders
to punish the king and all his officials.
10 He destroyed many nations
and killed powerful kings:
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kings in Canaan.
12 He gave their lands to his people;
he gave them to Israel.
13 Lord, you will always be proclaimed as God;
all generations will remember you.
14 The Lord will defend his people;
he will take pity on his servants.
15 (D)The gods of the nations are made of silver and gold;
they are formed by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
and eyes, but cannot see.
17 They have ears, but cannot hear;
they are not even able to breathe.
18 May all who made them and who trust in them
become[d] like the idols they have made!
19 Praise the Lord, people of Israel;
praise him, you priests of God!
20 Praise the Lord, you Levites;
praise him, all you that worship him!
21 Praise the Lord in Zion,
in Jerusalem, his home.
Praise the Lord!
14 At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come and have a piece of bread, and dip it in the sauce.” So she sat with the workers, and Boaz passed some roasted grain to her. She ate until she was satisfied, and she still had some food left over. 15-16 After she had left to go and gather grain, Boaz ordered the workers, “Let her gather grain even where the bundles are lying, and don't say anything to stop her. Besides that, pull out some heads of grain from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up.”
17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening, and when she had beaten it out, she found she had nearly twenty-five pounds. 18 She took the grain back into town and showed her mother-in-law how much she had gathered. She also gave her the food left over from the meal. 19 Naomi asked her, “Where did you gather all this grain today? Whose field have you been working in? May God bless the man who took an interest in you!”
So Ruth told Naomi that she had been working in a field belonging to a man named Boaz.
20 (A)“May the Lord bless Boaz!” Naomi exclaimed. “The Lord always keeps his promises to the living and the dead.” And she went on, “That man is a close relative of ours, one of those responsible for taking care of us.”
21 Then Ruth said, “Best of all, he told me to keep gathering grain with his workers until they finish the harvest.”
22 Naomi said to Ruth, “Yes, daughter, it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz' field. You might be molested if you went to someone else's field.” 23 So Ruth worked with them and gathered grain until all the barley and wheat had been harvested. And she continued to live with her mother-in-law.
Servants of the New Covenant
3 Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. 3 (A)It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.
4 We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. 5 There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God; 6 (B)it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 (C)The Law was carved in letters on stone tablets, and God's glory appeared when it was given. Even though the brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him. If the Law, which brings death when it is in force, came with such glory, 8 how much greater is the glory that belongs to the activity of the Spirit! 9 The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation! 10 We may say that because of the far brighter glory now the glory that was so bright in the past is gone. 11 For if there was glory in that which lasted for a while, how much more glory is there in that which lasts forever!
12 Because we have this hope, we are very bold. 13 (D)We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear. 14 Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. 15 Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. 16 (E)But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: “His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord.”[a] 17 Now, “the Lord” in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.
Teaching about Adultery
27 (A)“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart. 29 (B)So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. 30 (C)If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.
Teaching about Divorce(D)
31 (E)“It was also said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.’ 32 (F)But now I tell you: if a man divorces his wife for any cause other than her unfaithfulness, then he is guilty of making her commit adultery if she marries again; and the man who marries her commits adultery also.
Teaching about Vows
33 (G)“You have also heard that people were told in the past, ‘Do not break your promise, but do what you have vowed to the Lord to do.’ 34 (H)But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 (I)nor by earth, for it is the resting place for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 Just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’—anything else you say comes from the Evil One.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.