Psalm 53

Complete Jewish Bible

53 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. On machalat. A maskil of David:

²⁽¹⁾A brutish fool tells himself,
“There isn’t any God.”
Such people are depraved, all their deeds are vile,
not one of them does what is good.
³⁽²⁾God looks out from heaven
upon the human race
to see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.
⁴⁽³⁾Every one of them is unclean,
altogether corrupt;
not one of them does what is good,
not a single one.

⁵⁽⁴⁾Won’t these evildoers ever learn?
They devour my people
as if they were eating bread,
and they never call on God!
⁶⁽⁵⁾They will be gripped with terror,
even though now they are not afraid;
for God will scatter the bones
of him who is besieging you.
You are putting them to shame,
because God has rejected them.

⁷⁽⁶⁾If only salvation for Isra’el
would come out of Tziyon!
When God restores his people’s fortunes,
what joy for Ya‘akov! what gladness for Isra’el!

Psalm 55

Complete Jewish Bible

55 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David:

²⁽¹⁾Listen, God, to my prayer!
Don’t hide yourself from my plea!
³⁽²⁾Pay attention to me, and answer me!

I am panic-stricken as I make my complaint,
I shudder ⁴⁽³⁾at how the enemy shouts,
at how the wicked oppress;
for they keep heaping trouble on me
and angrily tormenting me.
⁵⁽⁴⁾My heart within me is pounding in anguish,
the terrors of death press down on me,
⁶⁽⁵⁾fear and trembling overwhelm me,
horror covers me.

⁷⁽⁶⁾I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove!
Then I could fly away and be at rest.
⁸⁽⁷⁾Yes, I would flee to a place far off,
I would stay in the desert. (Selah)
⁹⁽⁸⁾I would quickly find me a shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”

¹⁰⁽⁹⁾Confuse, Adonai, confound their speech!
For I see violence and fighting in the city.
¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾Day and night they go about its walls;
within are malice and mischief.
¹²⁽¹¹⁾Ruin is rife within it,
oppression and fraud never leave its streets.

¹³⁽¹²⁾For it was not an enemy who insulted me;
if it had been, I could have borne it.
It was not my adversary who treated me with scorn;
if it had been, I could have hidden myself.
¹⁴⁽¹³⁾But it was you, a man of my own kind,
my companion, whom I knew well.

¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾We used to share our hearts with each other;
in the house of God we walked with the crowd.

¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾May he put death on them;
let them go down alive to Sh’ol;
for evil is in their homes
and also in their hearts.

¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾But I will call on God,
and Adonai will save me.
¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾Evening, morning and noon I complain
and moan; but he hears my voice.
¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾He redeems me and gives me peace,
so that no one can come near me.
For there were many who fought me.
²⁰⁽¹⁹⁾God will hear and will humble them,
yes, he who has sat on his throne from the start. (Selah)
For they never change,
and they don’t fear God.

²¹⁽²⁰⁾[My companion] attacked those
who were at peace with him;
he broke his solemn word.
²²⁽²¹⁾What he said sounded smoother than butter,
but his heart was at war.
His words seemed more soothing than oil,
but in fact they were sharp swords.

²³⁽²²⁾Unload your burden on Adonai,
and he will sustain you.
He will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

²⁴⁽²³⁾But you will bring them down, God,
into the deepest pit.
Those men, so bloodthirsty and treacherous,
will not live out half their days.

But for my part, [Adonai,]
I put my trust in you.

Psalm 58

Complete Jewish Bible

58 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, a mikhtam:

²⁽¹⁾[Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice?
Are you judging people fairly?
³⁽²⁾[No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs,
your hands dispense violence in the land.

⁴⁽³⁾From the womb, the wicked are estranged,
liars on the wrong path since birth.
⁵⁽⁴⁾Their venom is like snake’s venom;
they are like a serpent that stops its ears,
⁶⁽⁵⁾so as not to hear the voice of the charmer,
no matter how well he plays.

⁷⁽⁶⁾God, break their teeth in their mouth!
Shatter the fangs of these lions, Adonai!
⁸⁽⁷⁾May they vanish like water that drains away.
May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.
⁹⁽⁸⁾May they be like a slug that melts as it moves,
like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns,
may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.

¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done,
they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;
¹²⁽¹¹⁾and people will say, “Yes, the righteous are rewarded;
there is, after all, a God who judges the earth.”

John 13:1-20

Complete Jewish Bible

13 It was just before the festival of Pesach, and Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own people in the world, he loved them to the end. ²They were at supper, and the Adversary had already put the desire to betray him into the heart of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on from K’riot. ³Yeshua was aware that the Father had put everything in his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴So he rose from the table, removed his outer garments and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the talmidim and wipe them off with the towel wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Shim‘on Kefa, who said to him, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” ⁷Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.” ⁸“No!” said Kefa, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹“Lord,” Shim‘on Kefa replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and head too!” ¹⁰Yeshua said to him, “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet — his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹(He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)

¹²After he had washed their feet, taken back his clothes and returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³You call me ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because I am. ¹⁴Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you. ¹⁶Yes, indeed! I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

¹⁸“I’m not talking to all of you — I know which ones I have chosen. But the words of the Tanakh must be fulfilled that say, ‘The one eating my bread has turned against me.’^[a] ¹⁹I’m telling you now, before it happens; so that when it does happen, you may believe that I AM [who I say I am]. ²⁰Yes, indeed! I tell you that a person who receives someone I send receives me, and that anyone who receives me receives the One who sent me.”

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