Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
Beside the Rivers of Babylon
Sorrow for Jerusalem
1 Beside the rivers[a] of Babylon,
there we sat, and, yes, we wept as we remembered Zion.
2 There we hung up our lyres on the willows,
3 because there our captors asked us for words of a song,
and our tormentors asked for a happy song:
“Sing for us one of the songs of Zion!”
Zeal for Zion
4 How can we sing a song of the Lord on foreign soil?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget how to play music.[b]
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my highest joy.
Zeal for God’s Vengeance
7 Remember the day of Jerusalem, O Lord,
against the descendants of Edom[c] who said,
“Tear it down, tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
how blessed is the one who repays you
with the same deeds you did against us.
9 How blessed is the one who seizes your children
and dashes them against the cliff.
Psalm 144
A Prayer for the Nation
Heading
By David.
Praise
1 Blessed be the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war.
2 He shows me mercy.
He is my stronghold, my high fortress.
He is my deliverer and my shield,
so I take refuge in him.
He subdues peoples[a] under me.
Need
3 Lord, what is man that you notice him,
the son of man that you consider him?
4 Man is like a breath.[b]
His days are like a passing shadow.
Petition
5 Lord, rip open your heavens and come down.
Touch the mountains so that they smoke.
6 Send out lightning and scatter them.
Shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from on high.
Rescue me and snatch me from the mighty waters,
from the hand of foreigners 8 whose mouths speak lies,
who raise their right hands to a false oath.[c]
Praise
9 God, I will sing a new song to you.
On the ten-stringed harp I will make music to you,
10 to you who gives victory to kings,
to you who delivers David his servant from the evil sword.
Petition
11 Rescue me and snatch me from the hand of foreigners
whose mouths speak lies,
who raise their right hands to a false oath.
The Results of Victory
12 Then our sons in their youth will be like full-grown plants.
Our daughters will be like corner pillars carved to decorate a palace.
13 Our storehouses will be filled with produce of every kind.
Our flocks will increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our countryside.
14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
There will be no breaking through our walls,
no exile into captivity,
no cry of distress in our city squares.
15 How blessed are the people for whom this is so.
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
Psalm 104
Bless the Lord, Who Creates Wonders
Introduction
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
Day One—Light
2 He wears light like a robe.
Day Two—the Sky
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy.
3 He lays beams on the waters to support his upper chambers.
He makes clouds his chariot.
He travels on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes his messengers[a] winds.
His ministers are blazing fire.
Day Three—the Waters and Plants
5 He placed the earth firmly on its foundations.
It cannot be moved forever and ever.
6 You covered it with the deep as a garment.
The waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled.
At the sound of your thunder they hurried away.
8 The waters surged up the mountains.
They went down into the valleys,[b]
to the place that you prepared for them.
9 You set a boundary that they cannot cross.
They will not return to cover the earth.
10 He makes springs flow into streams
that run between the mountains.
11 They give water to every wild animal.
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky live by the streams.
From among the branches they send out their song.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers.
The earth is filled with the fruit he produces.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants that people use[c] to produce food from the earth.
15 Also wine that makes people’s hearts glad,
olive oil to make their face shine,
and bread that sustains their lives.[d]
16 The trees of the Lord have everything they need.
He planted the cedars of Lebanon,
17 where birds make their nests.
The stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats.
The crags are a refuge for the rock badgers.
Day Four—the Lights
19 The moon marks off the months and seasons.
The sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night.
During it all the animals in the forest move about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey.
They are seeking their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they gather together.
They return to their dens and lie down.
23 Man goes out to his work.
He continues his labor until evening.
Days Five and Six—Animals and Man
24 How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and very wide.
In it creatures swarm beyond number—
living things, the small with the large.
26 There the ships go back and forth,
and the leviathan[e] that you formed to play in it.
27 All of them wait hopefully for you to give them their food in its time.
28 You give it to them. They gather it up.
You open your hand. They are satisfied with good things.
29 You hide your face. They are terrified.
You take away their breath.
They breathe their last and return to their dust.
30 You send your Spirit—they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.
Closing Benediction and Prayer
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever.
May the Lord rejoice in his works.
32 He looks at the earth and it trembles.
He touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord throughout my life.
I will make music to my God as long as I last.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him.
I will rejoice in the Lord.
35 May sinners come to an end on the earth,
and the wicked—may they be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord![f]
Boaz and Ruth Marry and Have a Son
4 Boaz went up to the city gate, and he sat down there. Just then, the redeemer about whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. Boaz said, “Come over here! Sit down, my dear friend!”[a] So he came over and sat down.
2 Then Boaz chose ten men from the elders of the town, and he said, “Sit down here!” They too sat down.
3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who returned from the territory of Moab, is putting up for sale[b] the piece of land that belongs to our brother Elimelek. 4 On my part, I thought I should call it to your attention so that you may acquire it in the presence of these residents and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you wish to redeem it, redeem it. But if you do not wish to redeem it, declare that to me. I know that there is no one ahead of you in the right to redeem, but I am right after you.”
So the man said, “Yes, I will redeem it.”
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day that you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, I will acquire[c] from Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the deceased, the means to perpetuate the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”
6 Then the redeemer said, “I am not able to redeem it for myself, or I would ruin my inheritance. You acquire for yourself my right of redemption, because I am not able to redeem it.”
7 (In Israel this used to be the custom regarding the transfer of the right of redemption: To confirm every transfer, one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other party. This was the way of ratifying a transfer in Israel.)
8 So the redeemer said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself!” Then he took off his sandal.
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelek and everything that belonged to Kilion and Mahlon. 10 Furthermore, Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, I have acquired for myself as a wife, in order to perpetuate the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased shall not be cut off from his brothers and from the city gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
11 Then all the people and the elders who were in the gatehouse said, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and like Leah, the two women who built the house of Israel, so that you prosper in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. 12 May your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed[d] whom the Lord will give to you from this young woman.”
13 Then Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went to her. The Lord enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi:
Blessed is the Lord, who has not left you without a redeemer today.
May his name be proclaimed in Israel!
15 He will restore your life[e]
and care for you in your old age,
because your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given birth to him.
She is better for you than seven sons!
16 Then Naomi took the boy and put him on her lap, and she became his caregiver. 17 The neighboring women named him, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” and they named him Obed. He became the father[f] of Jesse, the father of David.
13 Since we have that same spirit of faith, which corresponds to what is written: “I believed; therefore, I have spoken,”[a] we also believe, and therefore we speak. 14 For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us (together with you) into his presence. 15 In fact, all this is for your benefit, so that as grace increases, it will overflow to the glory of God, as more and more people give thanks.
16 Therefore we are not discouraged. But even if our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 Yes, our momentary, light trouble produces for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond any comparison. 18 We are not focusing on what is seen, but on what is not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
We Long for Heaven
5 Now we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal home in heaven, which is not made by human hands. 2 In fact, the reason we groan is that we long to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. 3 If we do indeed put it on,[b] we will certainly not be found naked. 4 To be sure, while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as the down payment.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 But we are confident and would much prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 And for this reason we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home or away. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he did while in the body, whether good or bad.
Do Not Be Hypocrites
6 “Be careful that you do not do your righteous works[a] in front of people, so that they will notice. If you do, you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 So whenever you perform acts of mercy, do not sound a trumpet for yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be praised by people. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. 3 Instead, when you perform acts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Then your acts of mercy will be in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.[b]
5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by people. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your private room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what others cannot see, will reward you.[c]
The Lord’s Prayer
7 “And when you pray, do not babble like the heathen, since they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 However do not be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Therefore pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’[d]
14 “Indeed if you forgive people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive people their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting
16 “Whenever you fast, do not make yourself look sad like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show everyone that they are fasting. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.