Book of Common Prayer
מ (Mem)
97 How I love your Torah!
I meditate on it all day.
98 I am wiser than my foes,
because your mitzvot are mine forever.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
because I meditate on your instruction.
100 I understand more than my elders,
because I keep your precepts.
101 I keep my feet from every evil way,
in order to observe your word.
102 I don’t turn away from your rulings,
because you have instructed me.
103 How sweet to my tongue is your promise,
truly sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 From your precepts I gain understanding;
this is why I hate every false way.
נ (Nun)
105 Your word is a lamp for my foot
and light on my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
that I will observe your righteous rulings.
107 I am very much distressed;
Adonai, give me life, in keeping with your word.
108 Please accept my mouth’s voluntary offerings, Adonai;
and teach me your rulings.
109 I am continually taking my life in my hands,
yet I haven’t forgotten your Torah.
110 The wicked have set a trap for me,
yet I haven’t strayed from your precepts.
111 I take your instruction as a permanent heritage,
because it is the joy of my heart.
112 I have resolved to obey your laws
forever, at every step.
ס (Samekh)
113 I hate doubleminded people,
but I love your Torah.
114 You are my hiding-place and shield;
I put my hope in your word.
115 Leave me alone, you evildoers,
so that I can keep my God’s mitzvot.
116 Uphold me, as you promised; and I will live;
don’t disappoint me in my hope.
117 Support me; and I will be saved,
always putting my attention on your laws.
118 You reject all who stray from your laws,
for what they deceive themselves with is false.
119 You discard the wicked of the earth like slag;
this is why I love your instruction.
120 My body trembles for fear of you;
your rulings make me afraid.
81 (0) For the Leader. On the gittit. By Asaf:
2 (1) Sing for joy to God our strength!
Shout to the God of Ya‘akov!
3 (2) Start the music! Beat the drum!
Play the sweet lyre and the lute!
4 (3) Sound the shofar at Rosh-Hodesh
and at full moon for the pilgrim feast,
5 (4) because this is a law for Isra’el,
a ruling of the God of Ya‘akov.
6 (5) He placed it as a testimony in Y’hosef
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
I heard an unfamiliar voice say,
7 (6) “I lifted the load from his shoulder;
his hands were freed from the [laborer’s] basket.
8 (7) You called out when you were in trouble,
and I rescued you;
I answered you from the thundercloud;
I tested you at the M’rivah Spring [by saying,] (Selah)
9 (8) “‘Hear, my people, while I give you warning!
Isra’el, if you would only listen to me!
10 (9) There is not to be with you any foreign god;
you are not to worship an alien god.
11 (10) I am Adonai your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth, and I will fill it.’
12 (11) “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Isra’el would have none of me.
13 (12) So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to live by their own plans.
14 (13) How I wish my people would listen to me,
that Isra’el would live by my ways!
15 (14) I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
16 (15) Those who hate Adonai would cringe before him,
while [Isra’el’s] time would last forever.
17 (16) They would be fed with the finest wheat,
and I would satisfy you with honey from the rocks.”
82 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) Elohim [God] stands in the divine assembly;
there with the elohim [judges], he judges:
2 “How long will you go on judging unfairly,
favoring the wicked? (Selah)
3 Give justice to the weak and fatherless!
Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!
4 Rescue the destitute and needy;
deliver them from the power of the wicked!”
5 They don’t know, they don’t understand,
they wander about in darkness;
meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth
are being undermined.
6 “My decree is: ‘You are elohim [gods, judges],
sons of the Most High all of you.
7 Nevertheless, you will die like mortals;
like any prince, you will fall.’”
8 Rise up, Elohim, and judge the earth;
for all the nations are yours.
73 “So the cohanim, the L’vi’im, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Isra’el lived in their towns.”
(8:1) When the seventh month arrived, after the people of Isra’el had resettled in their towns,
8 all the people gathered with one accord in the open space in front of the Water Gate and asked ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, which Adonai had commanded Isra’el. 2 ‘Ezra the cohen brought the Torah before the assembly, which consisted of men, women and all children old enough to understand. It was the first day of the seventh month. 3 Facing the open space in front of the Water Gate, he read from it to the men, the women and the children who could understand from early morning until noon; and all the people listened attentively to the scroll of the Torah.
5 ‘Ezra opened the scroll where all the people could see him, because he was higher than all the people; when he opened it, all the people rose to their feet. 6 ‘Ezra blessed Adonai, the great God; and all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted up their hands, bowed their heads and fell prostrate before Adonai with their faces to the ground. 7 The L’vi’im Yeshua, Bani, Sherevyah, Yamin, ‘Akuv, Shabtai, Hodiyah, Ma‘aseiyah, K’lita, ‘Azaryah, Yozavad, Hanan and P’layah explained the Torah to the people, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read clearly from the scroll, in the Torah of God, translated it, and enabled them to understand the sense of what was being read.
9 Nechemyah the Tirshata, ‘Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher and the L’vi’im who taught the people said to all the people, “Today is consecrated to Adonai your God; don’t be mournful, don’t weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the Torah. 10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat rich food, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who can’t provide for themselves; for today is consecrated to our Lord. Don’t be sad, because the joy of Adonai is your strength.” 11 In this way the L’vi’im quieted the people, as they said, “Be quiet, for today is holy; don’t be sad.” 12 Then the people went off to eat, drink, send portions and celebrate; because they had understood the words that had been proclaimed to them.
13 On the second day, the heads of fathers’ clans of all the people assembled with the cohanim and L’vi’im before ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to study the words of the Torah. 14 They found written in the Torah that Adonai had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra’el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month; 15 and that they were to announce and pass the word in all their cities and in Yerushalayim, “Go out to the mountains, and collect branches of olives, wild olives, myrtles, palms, and other leafy trees to make sukkot, as prescribed.” 16 So the people went out, brought them and made sukkot for themselves, each one on the roof of his house, also in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the open space by the Water Gate and in the open space by the Efrayim Gate. 17 The entire community of those who had returned from the exile made sukkot and lived in the sukkot, for the people of Isra’el had not done this since the days of Yeshua the son of Nun. So there was very great joy. 18 Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a great millstone, and hurled it into the sea, saying,
“With violence like this
will the great city Bavel
be hurled down,
never to be found again!
22 “The sound of harpists and musicians,
flute-players and trumpeters
will never again be heard in you.
No worker of any trade
will ever again be found in you,
the sound of a mill
will never again be heard in you,
23 the light of a lamp
will never again shine in you,
the voice of bridegroom and bride
will never again be heard in you.
“For your businessmen were the most powerful on earth,
all the nations were deceived by your magic spell.
24 “In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s people,
indeed, of all who have ever been slaughtered on earth!”
29 Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; 30 and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.
32 Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” 33 The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” 34 Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” 35 After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. 37 Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. 38 Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. 39 After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.