Book of Common Prayer
Book I: Psalms 1–41
1 How blessed are those
who reject the advice of the wicked,
don’t stand on the way of sinners
or sit where scoffers sit!
2 Their delight
is in Adonai’s Torah;
on his Torah they meditate
day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams —
they bear their fruit in season,
their leaves never wither,
everything they do succeeds.
4 Not so the wicked,
who are like chaff driven by the wind.
5 For this reason the wicked
won’t stand up to the judgment,
nor will sinners
at the gathering of the righteous.
6 For Adonai watches over
the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked
is doomed.
2 Why are the nations in an uproar,
the peoples grumbling in vain?
2 The earth’s kings are taking positions,
leaders conspiring together,
against Adonai
and his anointed.
3 They cry, “Let’s break their fetters!
Let’s throw off their chains!”
4 He who sits in heaven laughs;
Adonai looks at them in derision.
5 Then in his anger he rebukes them,
terrifies them in his fury.
6 “I myself have installed my king
on Tziyon, my holy mountain.”
7 “I will proclaim the decree:
Adonai said to me,
‘You are my son;
today I became your father.
8 Ask of me, and I will make
the nations your inheritance;
the whole wide world
will be your possession.
9 You will break them with an iron rod,
shatter them like a clay pot.’”
10 Therefore, kings, be wise;
be warned, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Adonai with fear;
rejoice, but with trembling.
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
and you perish along the way,
when suddenly his anger blazes.
How blessed are all who take refuge in him.
3 (0) A psalm of David, when he fled from Avshalom his son:
2 (1) Adonai, how many enemies I have!
How countless are those attacking me;
3 (2) how countless those who say of me,
“There is no salvation for him in God.” (Selah)
4 (3) But you, Adonai, are a shield for me;
you are my glory, you lift my head high.
5 (4) With my voice I call out to Adonai,
and he answers me from his holy hill. (Selah)
6 (5) I lie down and sleep, then wake up again,
because Adonai sustains me.
7 (6) I am not afraid of the tens of thousands
set against me on every side.
8 (7) Rise up, Adonai!
Save me, my God!
For you slap all my enemies in the face,
you smash the teeth of the wicked.
9 (8) Victory comes from Adonai;
may your blessing rest on your people. (Selah)
4 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David:
2 (1) O God, my vindicator!
Answer me when I call!
When I was distressed, you set me free;
now have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
3 (2) Men of rank, how long will you shame my honor,
love what is vain, chase after lies? (Selah)
4 (3) Understand that Adonai sets apart
the godly person for himself;
Adonai will hear when I call to him.
5 (4) You can be angry, but do not sin!
Think about this as you lie in bed,
and calm down. (Selah)
6 (5) Offer sacrifices rightly,
and put your trust in Adonai.
7 (6) Many ask, “Who can show us some good?”
Adonai, lift the light of your face over us!
8 (7) You have filled my heart with more joy
than all their grain and new wine.
9 (8) I will lie down and sleep in peace;
for, Adonai, you alone make me live securely.
7 (0) A shiggayon of David, which he sang to Adonai because of Kush the Ben-Y’mini:
2 (1) Adonai my God, in you I take refuge.
Save me from all my pursuers, and rescue me;
3 (2) otherwise, they will maul me like a lion
and tear me apart, with no rescuer present.
4 (3) Adonai my God, if I have caused this,
if there is guilt on my hands,
5 (4) if I paid back evil to him who was at peace with me,
when I even spared those who opposed me without cause;
6 (5) then let the enemy pursue me
until he overtakes me
and tramples my life down into the earth;
yes, let him lay my honor in the dust. (Selah)
7 (6) Rise up, Adonai, in your anger!
Arouse yourself against the fury of my foes.
Wake up for me; you commanded justice.
8 (7) May the assembly of the peoples surround you;
may you return to rule over them from on high.
9 (8) Adonai, who dispenses judgment to the peoples,
judge me, Adonai, according to my righteousness
and as my integrity deserves.
10 (9) Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and establish the righteous;
since you, righteous God,
test hearts and minds.
11 (10) My shield is God,
who saves the upright in heart.
12 (11) God is a righteous judge,
a God whose anger is present every day.
13 (12) If a person will not repent,
he sharpens his sword.
He has bent his bow, made it ready;
14 (13) he has also prepared for him
weapons of death, his arrows,
which he has made into burning shafts.
15 (14) Look how the wicked is pregnant with evil;
he conceives trouble, gives birth to lies.
16 (15) He makes a pit, digs it deep,
and falls into the hole he made.
17 (16) His mischief will return onto his own head,
his violence will recoil onto his own skull.
18 (17) I thank Adonai for his righteousness
and sing praise to the name of Adonai ‘Elyon.
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so that you won’t forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these things won’t vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your children and grandchildren — 10 the day you stood before Adonai your God at Horev, when Adonai said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their children.’ 11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain blazed with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick mist. 12 Then Adonai spoke to you out of the fire! You heard the sound of words but saw no shape, there was only a voice. 13 He proclaimed his covenant to you, which he ordered you to obey, the Ten Words; and he wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 At that time Adonai ordered me to teach you laws and rulings, so that you would live by them in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.
10 Now it is I myself, Sha’ul, making an appeal to you with the meekness and forbearance that come from the Messiah, I who am considered timid when face-to-face with you but intimidating from a distance. 2 But I beg you not to force me to be intimidating when I am with you, as I expect to be toward some who regard us as living in a worldly way. 3 For although we do live in the world, we do not wage war in a worldly way; 4 because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah. 6 And when you have become completely obedient, then we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience.
7 You are looking at the surface of things. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself that we belong to the Messiah as much as he does. 8 For even if I boast a little too much about the authority the Lord has given us — authority to build you up, not tear you down — I am not ashamed. 9 My object is not to seem as if I were trying to frighten you with these letters. 10 Someone says, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but when he appears in person he is weak, and as a speaker he is nothing.” 11 Such a person should realize that what we say in our letters when absent, we will do when present.
12 We don’t dare class or compare ourselves with some of the people who advertise themselves. In measuring themselves against each other and comparing themselves with each other, they are simply stupid. 13 We will not boast about what lies outside the area of work which God has given us; rather, we will boast within our assigned area, and that area does reach as far as you. 14 We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah. 15 We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more, 16 namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.
17 So, let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai;[a] 18 because it is not the one who recommends himself who is worthy of approval, but the one whom the Lord recommends.
7 “And when you pray, don’t babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 You, therefore, pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven!
May your Name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need today.
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
13 And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[a]For kingship, power and glory are yours forever.
Amen.’
14 For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.