Book of Common Prayer
Childlike Trust in the Lord.
A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.
131 Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
2
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child [resting] with his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me [composed and freed from discontent].
3
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
Prayer for the Lord’s Blessing Upon the Sanctuary.
A Song of [b]Ascents.
132 O Lord, remember on David’s behalf
All his hardship and affliction;
2
How he swore to the Lord
And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3
“I absolutely will not enter my house,
Nor get into my bed—
4
I certainly will not permit my eyes to sleep
Nor my eyelids to slumber,
5
Until I find a place for the Lord,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob (Israel).”(A)
6
Behold, we heard of it at Ephrathah;
We found it in the field of Jaar.(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 let Your godly ones shout for joy.
10
For the sake of Your servant David,
Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
11
The Lord swore to David
A truth from which He will not turn back:
“One of your [c]descendants I will set upon your throne.(C)
12
“If your children will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I will teach them,
Their children also shall sit upon your throne forever.”
13
For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
14
“This is My resting place forever” [says the Lord];
“Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
15
“I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16
“Her priests also I will clothe with salvation,
And her godly ones will shout aloud for joy.
17
“There I will make the horn (strength) of David grow;
I have prepared a lamp for My anointed [fulfilling the promises].(D)
18
“His enemies I will clothe with shame,
But upon himself shall his crown shine.”
The Excellency of Brotherly Unity.
A Song of [d]Ascents. Of David.
133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
2
It is like the precious oil [of consecration] poured on the head,
Coming down on the beard,
Even the beard of Aaron,
Coming down upon the edge of his [priestly] robes [consecrating the whole body].(E)
3
It is like the dew of [Mount] Hermon
Coming down on the hills of Zion;
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.
Greetings of Night Watchers.
A Song of [e]Ascents.
134 Behold, bless and praise the Lord, all servants of the Lord (priests, Levites),
Who stand and serve by night in the house of the Lord.(F)
2
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.
3
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.
Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Vanity of Idols.
135 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Praise the name of the Lord;
Praise Him, O servants of the Lord (priests, Levites),
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 it is gracious and lovely.
4
For the Lord has chosen [the descendants of] Jacob for Himself,
Israel for His own special treasure and possession.(G)
5
For I know that the Lord is great
And that our Lord is above all gods.
6
Whatever the Lord pleases, He does,
In the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all deeps—
7
Who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth;
Who makes lightning for the rain,
Who brings the wind from His storehouses;
8
Who struck the firstborn of Egypt,
Both of man and animal;(H)
9
Who sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,
Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.
10
Who struck many nations
And killed mighty kings,
11
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, king of Bashan,
And all the kingdoms of Canaan;
12
And He gave their land as a heritage,
A heritage to Israel His people.
13
Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your fame and remembrance, O Lord, [endures] throughout all generations.
14
For the Lord will judge His people
And He will have compassion on His servants [revealing His mercy].(I)
15
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
16
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
They have eyes, but they do not see;
17
They have ears, but they do not hear,
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18
Those who make idols are like them [absolutely worthless—spiritually blind, deaf, and powerless];
So is everyone who trusts in and relies on them.(J)
19
O house of Israel, bless and praise the Lord [with gratitude];
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord;
20
O house of Levi, bless the Lord;
You who fear the Lord [and worship Him with obedience], bless the Lord [with grateful praise]!(K)
21
Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
Who dwells [with us] at Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here and eat some bread and dip your bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi]. 15 When she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his servants, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. 16 Also you shall purposely pull out for her some stalks [of grain] from the sheaves and leave them so that she may collect them, 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 [a]ephah of barley. 18 She picked it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth also took out and gave to Naomi what she had saved after she [had eaten and] was satisfied. 19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” 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, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not ceased His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our closest relatives, one who has the right to [b]redeem us.”(A) 21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘Stay close to my servants until they have harvested my entire crop.’” 22 Naomi said to Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, for you to go out [to work] with his maids, so that others do not assault you in another field.” 23 So she stayed close to the maids of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ministers of a New Covenant
3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some [false teachers], letters of recommendation to you or from you? [No!] 2 You are our letter [of recommendation], written in our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not 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 confidence and steadfast reliance and absolute trust that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficiently qualified in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency and qualifications come from God. 6 He has qualified us [making us sufficient] as ministers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not of the letter [of a written code] but of the Spirit; for the letter [of the Law] kills [by revealing sin and demanding obedience], but the Spirit gives life.(B)
7 Now if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stones [the covenant of the Law which led to death because of sin], came with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, [a brilliance] that was fading,(C) 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit [the new covenant which allows us to be Spirit-filled] fail to be even more glorious and splendid? 9 For if the ministry that brings condemnation [the old covenant, the Law] has glory, how much more does glory overflow in the ministry that brings righteousness [the new covenant which declares believers free of guilt and sets them apart for God’s special purpose]! 10 Indeed, what had glory [the Law], in this case no longer has glory because of the glory that surpasses it [the gospel]. 11 For if that [Law] which fades away came with glory, how much more must that [gospel] which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor!
12 Since we have such a [glorious] hope and confident expectation, we speak with great courage, 13 and we are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites would not gaze at the end of the glory which was fading away. 14 But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].(D) 18 And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which 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 lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye makes you stumble and leads you to sin, tear it out and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble and leads you to sin, cut it off and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31 “It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife is to give her a certificate of divorce’; 32 but I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on grounds of 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 make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord [as a religious duty].’ 34 But I say to you, do not make 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 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’ [a firm yes or no]; anything more than that comes from the evil one.(D)
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.