Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
Lament of the Exiles
1 By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion.(A)
2 There we hung up our lyres
on the poplar trees,(B)
3 for our captors there asked us for songs,
and our tormentors, for rejoicing:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”(C)
Psalm 144
A King’s Prayer
Davidic.
1 May the Lord, my rock, be praised,(A)
who trains my hands for battle
and my fingers for warfare.(B)
2 He is my faithful love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer.
He is my shield,(C) and I take refuge in Him;(D)
He subdues my people[a] under me.(E)
3 Lord, what is man, that You care for him,
the son of man, that You think of him?(F)
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.(G)
5 Lord, part Your heavens and come down.(H)
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.(I)
6 Flash Your lightning and scatter the foe;[b]
shoot Your arrows and rout them.(J)
7 Reach down[c] from heaven;(K)
rescue me from deep water, and set me free
from the grasp of foreigners(L)
8 whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.(M)
9 God, I will sing a new song to You;
I will play on a ten-stringed harp for You(N)—
10 the One who gives victory to kings,
who frees His servant David
from the deadly sword.(O)
11 Set me free and rescue me
from the grasp of foreigners(P)
whose mouths speak lies,
whose right hands are deceptive.(Q)
12 Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters, like corner pillars
that are carved in the palace style.(R)
13 Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all kinds of produce;(S)
our flocks will increase by thousands
and tens of thousands in our open fields.(T)
14 Our cattle will be well fed.[d]
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,[e]
and no cry of lament in our public squares.(U)
15 Happy are the people with such blessings.
Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.(V)
Psalm 104
God the Creator
1 My soul, praise Yahweh!
Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with majesty and splendor.(A)
2 He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe,
spreading out the sky like a canopy,(B)
3 laying the beams of His palace
on the waters above,(C)
making the clouds His chariot,(D)
walking on the wings of the wind,(E)
4 and making the winds His messengers,[a]
flames of fire His servants.(F)
5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be shaken.(G)
6 You covered it with the deep
as if it were a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.(H)
7 At Your rebuke the waters fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away(I)—
8 mountains rose and valleys sank[b]—
to the place You established for them.(J)
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again.(K)
10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.(L)
11 They supply water for every wild beast;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.(M)
12 The birds of the sky live beside the springs;
they sing among the foliage.(N)
13 He waters the mountains from His palace;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of Your labor.(O)
14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,(P)
15 wine that makes man’s heart glad—
making his face shine with oil—
and bread that sustains man’s heart.(Q)
16 The trees of the Lord flourish,[c]
the cedars of Lebanon that He planted.(R)
17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork makes its home in the pine trees.(S)
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.(T)
19 He made the moon to mark the[d] festivals;[e]
the sun knows when to set.(U)
20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the forest animals stir.(V)
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.(W)
22 The sun rises; they go back
and lie down in their dens.(X)
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until evening.(Y)
24 How countless are Your works, Lord!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.[f](Z)
25 Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.(AA)
26 There the ships move about,
and Leviathan, which You formed to play there.(AB)
27 All of them wait for You
to give them their food at the right time.(AC)
28 When You give it to them,
they gather it;
when You open Your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.(AD)
29 When You hide Your face,
they are terrified;
when You take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.(AE)
30 When You send Your breath,[g]
they are created,
and You renew the face of the earth.(AF)
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in His works.(AG)
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.(AH)
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.(AI)
34 May my meditation be pleasing to Him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.(AJ)
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and wicked people be no more.(AK)
My soul, praise Yahweh!
Hallelujah!
Ruth and Boaz Marry
4 Boaz went to the gate of the town(A) and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz called him by name and said, “Come[a] over here and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2 Then Boaz took 10 men of the town’s elders(B) and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down. 3 He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling a piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.(C) 4 I thought I should inform you:[b] Buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you do[c] not want to redeem it, tell me so that I will know, because there isn’t anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am next after you.”
“I want to redeem it,” he answered.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you will also acquire[d] Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”(D)
6 The redeemer replied, “I can’t redeem it myself, or I will ruin my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I can’t redeem it.”
7 At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal(E) and gave it to the other party in order to make any matter legally binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was the method of legally binding a transaction in Israel.
8 So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy back the property yourself.”
9 Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. 10 I will also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to perpetuate the deceased man’s name on his property, so that his name will not disappear among his relatives or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”
11 The elders and all the people who were at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah,(F) who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. 12 May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah,(G) because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
13 Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he was intimate with her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons,(H) has given birth to him.” 16 Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and took care of him. 17 The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed.[e] He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,(A)[a] we also believe, and therefore speak. 14 We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus(B) and present us with you. 15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving(C) to increase to God’s glory.
16 Therefore we do not give up.(D) Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person(E) is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction[b](F) is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.(G) 18 So we do not focus on what is seen,(H) but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Our Future after Death
5 For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling[c](I) is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling[d] in the heavens,(J) not made with hands.(K) 2 Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring(L) to put on our dwelling from heaven, 3 since, when we are clothed,[e] we will not be found naked.(M) 4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality(N) may be swallowed up by life. 5 And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
6 So, 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,(O) not by sight,(P) 8 and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.(Q) 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing(R) to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the tribunal(S) of Christ,(T) so that each may be repaid(U) for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.
How to Give
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness[a] in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!(A) 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[b](B)
How to Pray
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!(C) 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[c](D) 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters,[d] since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.(E) 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.(F)
The Model Prayer
9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:(G)
Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy.(H)
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.(I)
11 Give us today our daily bread.[e]
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.(J)
13 And do not bring us into[f] temptation,(K)
but deliver us from the evil one.[g](L)
[For Yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.][h]
14 “For if you forgive people their wrongdoing,[i] your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.(M) 15 But if you don’t forgive people,[j] your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.[k]
How to Fast
16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive[l](N) so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!
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