Book of Common Prayer
40 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) I waited patiently for Adonai,
till he turned toward me and heard my cry.
3 (2) He brought me up from the roaring pit,
up from the muddy ooze,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my footing firm.
4 (3) He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will look on in awe
and put their trust in Adonai.
5 (4) How blessed the man who trusts in Adonai
and does not look to the arrogant
or to those who rely on things that are false.
6 (5) How much you have done, Adonai my God!
Your wonders and your thoughts toward us —
none can compare with you!
I would proclaim them, I would speak about them;
but there’s too much to tell!
7 (6) Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.
Instead, you have given me open ears;
8 (7) so then I said, “Here I am! I’m coming!
In the scroll of a book it is written about me.
9 (8) Doing your will, my God, is my joy;
your Torah is in my inmost being.
10 (9) I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, Adonai, as you know.
11 (10) I did not hide your righteousness in my heart
but declared your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your grace and truth
from the great assembly.”
12 (11) Adonai, don’t withhold your mercy from me.
Let your grace and truth preserve me always.
13 (12) For numberless evils surround me;
my iniquities engulf me — I can’t even see;
there are more of them than hairs on my head,
so that my courage fails me.
14 (13) Be pleased, Adonai, to rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
15 (14) May those who seek to sweep me away
be disgraced and humiliated together.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
16 (15) May those who jeer at me, “Aha! Aha!”
be aghast because of their shame.
17 (16) But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“Adonai is great and glorious!”
18 (17) But I am poor and needy;
may Adonai think of me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
my God, don’t delay!
54 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David, 2 when the Zifim came and told Sha’ul, “David is hiding with us”:
3 (1) God, deliver me by your name;
in your power, vindicate me.
4 (2) God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words from my mouth.
5 (3) For foreigners are rising against me,
violent men are seeking my life;
they give no thought to God. (Selah)
6 (4) But God is helping me;
Adonai is my support.
7 (5) May he repay the evil
to those who are lying in wait for me.
In your faithfulness, destroy them!
8 (6) Then I will generously sacrifice to you;
I will praise your name, Adonai,
because it is good,
9 (7) because he rescued me from all trouble,
and my eyes look with triumph at my enemies.
51 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:
3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.
6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.
7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.
9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.
12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.
18 (16) For you don’t want sacrifices, or I would give them;
you don’t take pleasure in burnt offerings.
19 (17) My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit;
God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart.
20 (18) In your good pleasure, make Tziyon prosper;
rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim.
21 (19) Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then they will offer bulls on your altar.
3 So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God.[a] 2 Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory!
5 Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature — sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (which is a form of idolatry); 6 for it is because of these things that God’s anger is coming on those who disobey him. 7 True enough, you used to practice these things in the life you once lived; 8 but now, put them all away — anger, exasperation, meanness, slander and obscene talk. 9 Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways, 10 and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. 11 The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything.
7 When Yeshua had finished speaking to the people, he went back to K’far-Nachum. 2 A Roman army officer there had a servant he regarded highly, who was sick to the point of death. 3 Hearing about Yeshua, the officer sent some Jewish elders to him with the request that he come and heal his servant. 4 They came to Yeshua and pleaded earnestly with him, “He really deserves to have you do this, 5 for he loves our people — in fact, he built the synagogue for us!” 6 So Yeshua went with them. He had not gone far from the house, when the officer sent friends who said to him, “Sir, don’t trouble yourself. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof — 7 this is why I didn’t presume to approach you myself. Instead, just give a command and let my servant recover. 8 For I too am a man set under authority. I have soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 9 Yeshua was astonished at him when he heard this; and he turned and said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Isra’el have I found such trust!” 10 When the messengers got back to the officer’s house, they found the servant in good health.
11 The next day Yeshua, accompanied by his talmidim and a large crowd, went to a town called Na‘im. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead man was being carried out for burial. His mother was a widow, this had been her only son, and a sizeable crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, “Don’t cry.” 14 Then he came close and touched the coffin, and the pallbearers halted. He said, “Young man, I say to you: get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Yeshua gave him to his mother.[a] 16 They were all filled with awe and gave glory to God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us,” and, “God has come to help his people.” 17 This report about him spread throughout all Y’hudah and the surrounding countryside.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.