Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 146
1 Hallelujah!
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
2 I want to praise Yahweh throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
3 Do not trust influential people,
mortals who cannot help you.
4 When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans come to an end.
5 Blessed are those who receive help from the El of Jacob.
Their hope rests on Yahweh their Elohim,
6 who made heaven, earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
Yahweh remains faithful forever.
7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
He gives food to those who are hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free.
8 Yahweh gives sight to blind people.
Yahweh straightens the backs of those who are bent over.
Yahweh loves righteous people.
9 Yahweh protects foreigners.
Yahweh gives relief to orphans and widows.
But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
10 Yahweh rules as king forever.
Zion, your Elohim rules throughout every generation.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 147
1 Hallelujah!
It is good to sing psalms to our Elohim.
It is pleasant to sing his praise beautifully.
2 Yahweh is the builder of Jerusalem.
He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.
3 He is the Rophe of the brokenhearted.
He is the one who bandages their wounds.
4 He determines the number of stars.
He gives each one a name.
5 Our Adonay is great, and his power is great.
There is no limit to his understanding.
6 Yahweh gives relief to those who are oppressed.
He brings wicked people down to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh a song of thanksgiving.
Make music to our Elohim with a lyre.
8 He covers the sky with clouds.
He provides rain for the ground.
He makes grass grow on the mountains.
9 He is the one who gives food to animals
and to young ravens when they call out.
10 He finds no joy in strong horses,
nor is he pleased by brave soldiers.
11 Yahweh is pleased with those who fear him,
with those who wait with hope for his mercy.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem!
Praise your Elohim, Zion!
13 He makes the bars across your gates strong.
He blesses the children within you.
14 He is the one who brings peace to your borders
and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.
15 He is the one who sends his promise throughout the earth.
His word travels with great speed.
16 He is the one who sends snow like wool
and scatters frost like ashes.
17 He is the one who throws his hailstones like breadcrumbs.
Who can withstand his chilling blast?
18 He sends out his word and melts his hailstones.
He makes wind blow and water flow.
19 He speaks his word to Jacob,
his laws and judicial decisions to Israel.
20 He has done nothing like this for any other nation.
The other nations do not know the decisions he has handed down.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 111[a]
1 Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart
in the company of decent people and in the congregation.
2 Yahweh’s deeds are spectacular.
They should be studied by all who enjoy them.
3 His work is glorious and majestic.
His righteousness continues forever.
4 He has made his miracles unforgettable.
Yahweh is merciful and compassionate.
5 He provides food for those who fear him.
He always remembers his promise.[b]
6 He has revealed the power of his works to his people
by giving them the lands of other nations as an inheritance.
7 His works are done with truth and justice.
All his guiding principles are trustworthy.
8 They last forever and ever.
They are carried out with truth and decency.
9 He has sent salvation to his people.
He has ordered that his promise should continue forever.
His name is holy and terrifying.
10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.
Good sense is shown by everyone who follows God’s guiding principles.
His praise continues forever.
Psalm 112[c]
1 Hallelujah!
Blessed is the person who fears Yahweh
and is happy to obey his commands.
2 His descendants will grow strong on the earth.
The family of a decent person will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in his home.
His righteousness continues forever.
4 Light will shine in the dark for a decent person.
He is merciful, compassionate, and fair.
5 All goes well for the person who is generous and lends willingly.
He earns an honest living.
6 He will never fail.
A righteous person will always be remembered.
7 He is not afraid of bad news.
His heart remains secure, full of confidence in Yahweh.
8 His heart is steady, and he is not afraid.
In the end he will look triumphantly at his enemies.
9 He gives freely to poor people.
His righteousness continues forever.
His head is raised in honor.
10 The wicked person sees this and becomes angry.
He angrily grits his teeth and disappears.
The hope that wicked people have will vanish.
Psalm 113
1 Hallelujah!
You servants of Yahweh, praise him.
Praise the name of Yahweh.
2 Thank the name of Yahweh now and forever.
3 From where the sun rises to where the sun sets,
the name of Yahweh should be praised.
4 Yahweh is high above all the nations.
His glory is above the heavens.
5 Who is like Yahweh our Elohim?
He is seated on his high throne.
6 He bends down to look at heaven and earth.
7 He lifts the poor from the dust.
He lifts the needy from a garbage heap.
8 He seats them with influential people,
with the influential leaders of his people.
9 He makes a woman who is in a childless home
a joyful mother.
Hallelujah!
David’s Sin—He Takes a Census(A)
24 Yahweh became angry with Israel again, so he provoked David to turn against Israel. He said, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”
2 King David said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people. That way I will know how many there are.”
10 After David counted the people, his conscience troubled him. David said to Yahweh, “I have committed a terrible sin by what I have done. Yahweh, please forgive me because I have acted very foolishly.”
11 When David got up in the morning, Yahweh spoke his word to the prophet Gad, David’s seer.[a] 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I’m offering you three choices. Choose the one you want me to do to you.’”
13 When Gad came to David, he told David this and asked, “Should seven years of famine come to you and your land, or three months during which you flee from your enemies as they pursue you, or should there be a three-day plague in your land? Think it over, and decide what answer I should give the one who sent me.”
14 “I’m in a desperate situation,” David told Gad. “Please let us fall into Yahweh’s hands because he is very merciful. But don’t let me fall into human hands.”
15 So Yahweh sent a plague among the Israelites from that morning until the time he had chosen. Of the people from Dan to Beersheba, 70,000 died. 16 But when the Messenger stretched out his arm to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh changed his mind about the disaster. “Enough!” he said to the Messenger who was destroying the people. “Put down your weapon.” The Messenger of Yahweh was at the threshing floor[b] of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the Messenger who had been killing the people, he said to Yahweh, “I’ve sinned. I’ve done wrong. What have these sheep done? Please let your punishment be against me and against my father’s family.”
18 That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go, set up an altar for Yahweh at Araunah the Jebusite’s threshing floor.”
19 David went as Gad had told him and as Yahweh had commanded him. 20 When Araunah looked down and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down with his face touching the ground in front of the king. 21 “Why has Your Majesty come to me?” Araunah asked.
David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you and to build an altar for Yahweh. Then the plague on the people will stop.”
22 Araunah said to David, “Take it, Your Majesty, and offer whatever you think is right. There are oxen for the burnt offering, and there are threshers and oxen yokes[c] for firewood.” 23 All this Araunah gave to the king and said, “May Yahweh your Elohim accept you.”
24 “No!” the king said to Araunah. “I must buy it from you at a fair price. I won’t offer Yahweh my Elohim burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 1¼ pounds of silver. 25 David built an altar for Yahweh there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Yahweh heard the prayers for the country, and the plague on Israel stopped.
23 We were kept under control by Moses’ laws until this faith came. We were under their control until this faith which was about to come would be revealed.
24 Before Christ came, Moses’ laws served as our guardian. Christ came so that we could receive God’s approval by faith. 25 But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the control of a guardian. 26 You are all God’s children by believing in Christ Yeshua. 27 Clearly, all of you who were baptized in Christ’s name have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There are neither Jews nor Greeks, slaves nor free people, males nor females. You are all the same in Christ Yeshua. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants and heirs, as God promised.
You Are God’s Children
4 Let me explain further. As long as an heir is a child, he is no better off than a slave, even though he owns everything. 2 He is placed under the control of guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 It was the same way with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the principles of this world. 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son into the world. A woman gave birth to him, and he came under the control of the laws given to Moses. 5 God sent him to pay for the freedom of those who were controlled by these laws so that we would be adopted as his children. 6 Because you are God’s children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into us to call out, “Abba![a] Father!” 7 So you are no longer slaves but God’s children. Since you are God’s children, God has also made you heirs.
Jesus Speaks with the Pharisees about His Father
12 Yeshua spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark.”
13 The Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony isn’t true.”
14 Yeshua replied to them, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true because I know where I came from and where I’m going. However, you don’t know where I came from or where I’m going. 15 You judge the way humans do. I don’t judge anyone. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is valid because I don’t make it on my own. I make my judgment with the Father who sent me. 17 Your own teachings say that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 The Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?”
Yeshua replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
20 Yeshua spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury area of the temple courtyard. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.