Book of Common Prayer
Qoph
145 I called to You wholeheartedly: “Answer me, O Eternal One!”
I will respect, I will follow Your statutes.
146 I cried out to You: “Rescue me,
and I will live according to Your decrees.”
147 I wake before the dawn and call for help;
I hope in Your words.
148 My eyes do not shut before each watch of the night
so that I can fix my mind on Your word.
149 Listen to my voice, in keeping with Your unfailing love.
Preserve my life, O Eternal One, according to Your just rulings.
150 Those who wish me harm are moving closer to me;
they are far away from Your teaching.
151 But You are near me, O Eternal One,
and all You have commanded is true.
152 I learned a long time ago
that You established Your decrees to last forever.
Resh
153 Give attention to my misery and rescue me
because I have not forgotten Your teaching.
154 Fight for me, and set me free;
give me life in keeping with Your promise.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked
because they do not live in pursuit of Your precepts.
156 Your mercies are tender and great, O Eternal One;
grant me life in keeping with Your ordinances.
157 I have many oppressors and foes;
still I do not swerve from Your decrees.
158 I observe the faithless and detest them
because they turn away from Your word.
159 Reflect, O God, on how I love Your precepts;
give me life, O Eternal One, in keeping with Your unfailing love.
160 The entirety of Your word is truth,
and every one of Your right rulings will surely last forever.
Shin
161 Princes persecute me without reason,
but my heart remains true and is awed by Your words.
162 I celebrate because of Your promise,
like someone who discovers great treasure.
163 I despise and abhor lies,
but I love Your law.
164 Seven times every day I praise You
because of Your right rulings.
165 Those who love Your law have an abundance of peace,
and nothing along their paths can cause them to stumble.
166 I wait for Your salvation, O Eternal One,
and I live out Your commands.
167 My soul is faithful to Your decrees,
and my love for them is extraordinary.
168 I live according to Your precepts and decrees
because everything I do is right before Your eyes.
Tav
169 Let my cry come before You, O Eternal One.
Grant me understanding in keeping with Your word.
170 Let my plea come before You;
liberate me in keeping with Your word.
171 Praise will pour from my lips
because You help me learn what You require.
172 My tongue will sing of Your word
because every command of Yours is right.
173 Let Your hand be poised to help me
because I have chosen to live by Your precepts.
174 I long for Your salvation, O Eternal One.
Meanwhile, Your teaching brings me great joy.
175 Let my soul live on so that I may praise You,
and let Your precepts guide me.
176 I have wandered down the wrong path like a lost sheep; come find me, Your servant,
because I do not forget Your commands.
Psalm 128
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 Those who stand in awe of the Eternal—
who follow wherever He leads, committed in their hearts—experience His blessings!
2 God will use your hard work to provide you food.
You will prosper in your labor, and it will go well for you.
3 Your wife will be like a healthy vine producing plenty of fruit,
a spring of life in your home.
Your children will be like young olive shoots;
you will watch them bud and bloom around your table.
4 Such are the blessings the Eternal lavishes
on those who stand in awe of Him!
5 May the Eternal continue to pour out His love on you,
showering down blessings from His holy mountain, Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper
all your days.
6 May you have the privilege of seeing your grandchildren as they grow.
May peace flourish in Israel!
Psalm 129
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 “This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
they have often attacked me since I was young.”
So let Israel now proclaim,
2 “This is not the first time my enemies assaulted me;
they have attacked me since I was young,
and yet they have not been able to overpower me.
3 The plowers plowed over me;
they plowed their furrows deep and long down my back.”
4 The Eternal is just.
He’s severed the bindings of the wicked so they can’t hurt me anymore.
5 May all who despise Zion
hang their heads in shame.
May all who despise Zion recoil and run away.
6 Let them grow like grass upon rooftops
that withers and dies in the sun long before it has time to grow,
7 Unfit to be harvested by the worker,
not worthy of the effort to carry off to the binder.
8 Unwanted, uncared for—no passersby to greet them, no one to say,
“May the favor of the Eternal be upon you;
We bless you in His name.”
Psalm 130
A song for those journeying to worship.
1 From the depths of disaster I appeal to You, O Eternal One:
2 Lord, hear my cry!
Attune Your ears to my humble prayer!
3 If You, Eternal One, recorded each offense,
Lord, who on earth could stand innocent?
4 But with You forgiveness exists;
that’s why true respect of You might flow.
5 So I wait for the Eternal—my soul awaits rescue—
and I put my hope in His transforming word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord to break into the world
more than night watchmen expect the break of day,
even more than night watchmen expect the break of day.
7 O Israel, ground your hope in the Eternal.
For in the Eternal lives the most loyal love,
and with Him comes the most abundant redemption.
8 He will ransom Israel
from all the sinful acts that stole you away.
2 Now Naomi’s deceased husband, Elimelech, had a relative in Bethlehem, an honorable, wealthy man named Boaz. 2 One day Ruth (the foreign woman who returned with Naomi from Moab) approached Naomi with a request.
Ruth: Let me go out into the field and pick up whatever grain is left behind the harvesters. Maybe someone will be merciful to me.
Naomi: Go ahead, my daughter.
3 Ruth left and went into the fields to pick up the gleanings, the grain that had been left behind by the harvesters. And so it was that the portion of the field she was working in belonged to Boaz, who was a part of Elimelech’s family.
4 As she was working in his field, Boaz happened to arrive from Bethlehem, and he greeted the harvesters.
Boaz: The Eternal One be with you.
Harvesters: May the Eternal bless you!
5 Then seeing Ruth, Boaz spoke to the young man in charge of the harvesters.
Boaz: Whom does this young woman belong to?
Overseer: 6 She is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from Moab. 7 She came and asked my permission to pick up the grain our harvesters leave behind and gather it all into sheaves for herself. Except for one small break she has been here all day, working in the field from the morning until now.
When God gives His law to the Israelites, He establishes a culture of generosity. Knowing there will be people such as widows, orphans, and resident aliens who will be too poor to farm for themselves, He set limits on how much each farmer should harvest from his own land. In Leviticus 19:9–10, farmers are told not to harvest the corners of their property or return to already-harvested rows to pick up any grain that may have been left. The remaining grain in the field is called gleanings, and those are left for the poor. In a similar law, Deuteronomy 24:19–22 explains that God does this to remind His people that once they were all poor and resident aliens themselves in Egypt. The gleaners face hard labor every day, so Ruth isn’t expecting the kindness Boaz shows her.
Boaz (to Ruth): 8 Listen to me, my daughter. Do not go and glean in any other field. In fact, do not go outside my property at all but stay with the young women who work for me following the harvesters and bundling the grain into sheaves. 9 Watch the harvesters, and see which field they are working in. Follow along behind these servants of mine. I have warned the young men not to touch you. If you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars my young men have filled for the harvesters.
10 Overwhelmed, Ruth bowed down before Boaz, putting her face to the ground in front of him.
Ruth: I am just a foreigner. Why have you noticed me and treated me as if I’m one of your favorites?
Boaz: 11 I have heard your story. I know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your own husband died. I know you left your own mother and father, your home and your country, and you have come to live in a culture that must seem strange to you. 12 May the Eternal repay you for your sacrifices and reward you richly for what you have done. It is under the wings of Israel’s God, the Eternal One, that you have sought shelter.
Ruth: 13 I pray you will continue to look upon me with such favor, my lord. I am comforted by your kind words, even though I am not as worthy of them as even one of your servant girls.
23 If I were in court today, I’d call God as a witness to my soul. Here’s the truth: I decided not to come back to Corinth in order to spare you further pain and sorrow. 24 It’s not that we want to coerce you in any matter of faith; we are coworkers called to increase your joy because you have stood firm in faith.
The believers in Corinth are exhausting Paul and one another with their negativity and criticism. Nothing destroys the beauty of Christian community more aggressively than these kinds of patterns.
2 I finally determined that I would not come to you again for yet another agonizing visit. 2 If my visits create such pain and sorrow for you, who can cheer me up except for those I’ve caused such grief? 3 This is exactly what I was writing to you about earlier so that when we are face-to-face I will not have to wallow in sadness in the presence of friends who should bring me the utmost joy. For I felt sure that my delight would also become your delight. 4 My last letter to you was covered with tears, composed with great difficulty, and frankly, a broken heart. It wasn’t my intention to depress you or cause you pain; rather, I had hoped you would see it for what it was—a demonstration of the overwhelming love I have for all of you.
Interpersonal relationships are often filled with disagreements and tensions. It’s common to hear someone long for the “good old days” of the New Testament when things were simpler and people were holier. But Paul’s ministry proves the first-century churches were no different. They were just as full of fights, tensions, and power plays as modern churches are. We should seek to be loving but also firm when the situation demands it. We should be quick to offer forgiveness to and seek reconciliation with those who turn back from their divisive actions. That’s what Paul did.
5 But if anyone has caused harm, he has not so much harmed me as he has—and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here—harmed all of you. 6 In my view, the majority of you have punished him well enough. 7 So instead of continuing to ostracize him, I encourage you to offer him the grace of forgiveness and the comfort of your acceptance. Otherwise, if he finds no welcome back to the community, I’m afraid he will be overwhelmed with extreme sorrow and lose all hope. 8 So I urge you to demonstrate your love for him once again. 9 I wrote these things to you with a clear purpose in mind: to test whether you are willing to live and abide by all my counsel. 10 If you forgive anyone, I forgive that one as well. Have no doubt, anything that I have forgiven—when I do forgive—is done ultimately for you in the presence of the Anointed One. 11 It’s my duty to make sure that Satan does not win even a small victory over us, for we don’t want to be naïve and then fall prey to his schemes.
12 When I arrived at Troas, bringing the good news of the Anointed, the Lord opened a door there for me. 13 Yet my spirit was restless because I could not find my brother Titus. Eventually I told them good-bye and set out for Macedonia.
14 Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth. 15 In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father. 16 To those who are dying, they smell the stench of death in us. And to those being rescued, we are the unmistakable scent of life. Who is worthy of this calling? 17 For we are nothing like the others who sell the word of God like a commodity. Do not be mistaken; our words come from God with the utmost sincerity, always spoken through the Anointed in the presence of God.
Righteousness is the reason Jesus has come—to make the people righteous through and through. He then begins to interpret the law of Scripture for them with this in mind.
21 As you know, long ago God instructed Moses to tell His people, “Do not murder;[a] those who murder will be judged and punished.” 22 But here is the even harder truth: anyone who is angry with his brother will be judged for his anger. Anyone who taunts his friend, speaks contemptuously toward him, or calls him “Loser” or “Fool” or “Scum,” will have to answer to the high court. And anyone who calls his brother a fool may find himself in the fires of hell.
23 Therefore, if you are bringing an offering to God and you remember that your brother is angry at you or holds a grudge against you, 24 then leave your gift before the altar, go to your brother, repent and forgive one another, be reconciled, and then return to the altar to offer your gift to God.
25 If someone sues you, settle things with him quickly. Talk to him as you are walking to court; otherwise, he may turn matters over to the judge, and the judge may turn you over to an officer, and you may land in jail. 26 I tell you this: you will not emerge from prison until you have paid your last penny.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.