Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 131
A pilgrimage song. Of David.
131 Lord, my heart isn’t proud;
my eyes aren’t conceited.
I don’t get involved with things too great or wonderful for me.
2 No. But I have calmed and quieted myself[a]
like a weaned child on its mother;
I’m like the weaned child that is with me.
3 Israel, wait for the Lord—
from now until forever from now!
Psalm 132
A pilgrimage song.
132 Lord, remember David—
all the ways he suffered
2 and how he swore to the Lord,
how he promised the strong one of Jacob:
3 “I won’t enter my house,
won’t get into my bed.
4 I won’t let my eyes close,
won’t let my eyelids sleep,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the strong one of Jacob.”
6 Yes, we heard about it in Ephrathah;
we found it[b] in the fields of Jaar.
7 Let’s enter God’s dwelling place;
let’s worship at the place God rests his feet!
8 Get up, Lord, go to your residence—
you and your powerful covenant chest!
9 Let your priests be dressed in righteousness;
let your faithful shout out with joy!
10 And for the sake of your servant David,
do not reject your anointed one.
11 The Lord swore to David
a true promise that God won’t take back:
“I will put one of your own children on your throne.
12 And if your children keep my covenant
and the laws that I will teach them,
then their children too will rule on your throne forever.”
13 Because the Lord chose Zion;
he wanted it for his home.
14 “This is my residence forever.
I will live here because I wanted it for myself.[c]
15 I will most certainly bless its food supply;
I will fill its needy full of food!
16 I will dress its priests in salvation,
and its faithful will shout out loud with joy!
17 It is there that I will make David’s strength thrive.[d]
I will prepare a lamp for my anointed one there.
18 I will dress his enemies in shame,
but the crown he wears will shine.”
Psalm 133
A pilgrimage song. Of David.
133 Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families[e] live together as one!
2 It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Psalm 134
A pilgrimage song.
134 All you who serve the Lord: bless the Lord right now!
All you who minister in the Lord’s house at night: bless God!
2 Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
and bless the Lord!
3 May the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.
Psalm 135
135 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord’s name!
All you who serve the Lord, praise God!
2 All you who stand in the Lord’s house—
who stand in the courtyards of our God’s temple—
3 praise the Lord, because the Lord is good!
Sing praises to God’s name because it is beautiful!
4 Because the Lord chose Jacob as his own,
God chose Israel as his treasured possession.
5 Yes, I know for certain that the Lord is great—
I know our Lord is greater than all other gods.
6 The Lord can do whatever he wants
in heaven or on earth,
in the seas and in every ocean depth.
7 God forms clouds at the far corners of the earth.
God makes lightning for the rain.
God releases the wind from its storeroom.
8 God struck down the Egyptians’ oldest offspring—
both human and animal!
9 God sent signs and wonders into the very center of Egypt—
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 God struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings:
11 Sihon the Amorite king,
Og the king of Bashan,
and all the Canaanite kings.
12 Then God handed their land over as an inheritance—
as an inheritance to Israel, his own people.
13 Lord, your name is forever!
Lord, your fame extends from one generation to the next!
14 The Lord gives justice to his people
and has compassion on those who serve him.
15 The nations’ idols are just silver and gold—
things made by human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they can’t speak.
They have eyes, but they can’t see.
17 They have ears, but they can’t listen.
No, there’s no breath in their lungs!
18 Let the people who made these idols
and all who trust in them
become just like them!
19 House of Israel, bless the Lord!
House of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 House of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who honor the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Bless the Lord from Zion—
bless the one who lives in Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord!
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here, eat some of the bread, and dip your piece in the vinegar.” She sat alongside the harvesters, and he served roasted grain to her. She ate, was satisfied, and had leftovers. 15 Then she got up to glean.
Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her glean between the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. 16 Also, pull out some from the bales for her and leave them behind for her to glean. And don’t scold her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed what she had gleaned; it was about an ephah[a] of barley. 18 She picked it up and went into town. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over after eating her fill and gave it to her. 19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? May the one who noticed you be blessed.”
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 replied to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, who hasn’t abandoned his faithfulness with the living or with the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our close relatives; he’s one of our redeemers.”
21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they’ve finished all of my harvest.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It’s good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that men don’t assault you in another field.”
23 Thus she stayed with Boaz’s young women, gleaning until the completion of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of introduction to you or from you like other people, do we? 2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are Christ’s letter, delivered by us. You weren’t written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. You weren’t written on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 This is the confidence that we have through Christ in the presence of God. 5 It isn’t that we ourselves are qualified to claim that anything came from us. No, our qualification is from God. 6 He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not based on what is written but on the Spirit, because what is written kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Ministers of the new covenant
7 The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone tablets. It came with such glory that the Israelites couldn’t look for long at Moses’ face because his face was shining with glory, even though it was a fading glory. 8 Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation has glory, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? 10 In fact, what was glorious isn’t glorious now, because of the glory that is brighter. 11 If the glory that fades away was glorious, how much more glorious is the one that lasts!
12 So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence. 13 We aren’t like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t watch the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were closed. Right up to the present day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil is not removed because it is taken away by Christ. 15 Even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But whenever someone turns back to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18 All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Law of adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, Don’t commit adultery.[a] 28 But I say to you that every man who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart. 29 And if your right eye causes you to fall into sin, tear it out and throw it away. It’s better that you lose a part of your body than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to fall into sin, chop it off and throw it away. It’s better that you lose a part of your body than that your whole body go into hell.
Law of divorce
31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a divorce certificate.’[b] 32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except for sexual unfaithfulness forces her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Law of solemn pledges
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago: Don’t make a false solemn pledge, but you should follow through on what you have pledged to the Lord.[c] 34 But I say to you that you must not pledge at all. You must not pledge by heaven, because it’s God’s throne. 35 You must not pledge by the earth, because it’s God’s footstool. You must not pledge by Jerusalem, because it’s the city of the great king. 36 And you must not pledge by your head, because you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible