Book of Common Prayer
85 (0) For the leader. A psalm of the sons of Korach:
2 (1) Adonai, you have shown favor to your land;
you have restored the fortunes of Ya‘akov,
3 (2) taken away the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sin, (Selah)
4 (3) withdrawn all your wrath,
turned from your fierce anger.
5 (4) Restore us, God of our salvation,
renounce your displeasure with us.
6 (5) Are you to stay angry with us forever?
Will your fury last through all generations?
7 (6) Won’t you revive us again,
so your people can rejoice in you?
8 (7) Show us your grace, Adonai;
grant us your salvation.
9 (8) I am listening. What will God, Adonai, say?
For he will speak peace to his people,
to his holy ones —
but only if they don’t relapse into folly.
10 (9) His salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory will be in our land.
11 (10) Grace and truth have met together;
justice and peace have kissed each other.
12 (11) Truth springs up from the earth,
and justice looks down from heaven.
13 (12) Adonai will also grant prosperity;
our land will yield its harvest.
14 (13) Justice will walk before him
and make his footsteps a path.
86 (0) A prayer of David:
(1) Listen, Adonai, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant,
who puts his trust in you
because you are my God.
3 Take pity on me, Adonai,
for I cry to you all day.
4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,
for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.
5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,
full of grace toward all who call on you.
6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;
pay attention to my pleading cry.
7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, Adonai;
no deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and bow before you, Adonai;
they will honor your name.
10 For you are great, and you do wonders;
you alone are God.
11 Adonai, teach me your way,
so that I can live by your truth;
make me single-hearted,
so that I can fear your name.
12 I will thank you, Adonai my God,
with my whole heart;
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For your grace toward me is so great!
You have rescued me from the lowest part of Sh’ol.
14 God, arrogant men are rising against me,
a gang of brutes is seeking my life,
and to you they pay no attention.
15 But you, Adonai,
are a merciful, compassionate God,
slow to anger
and rich in grace and truth.
16 Turn to me, and show me your favor;
strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl’s son.
17 Give me a sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me
will see it and be ashamed,
because you, Adonai,
have helped and comforted me.
91 You who live in the shelter of ‘Elyon,
who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai,
2 who say to Adonai, “My refuge! My fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!” —
3 he will rescue you from the trap of the hunter
and from the plague of calamities;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his truth is a shield and protection.
5 You will not fear the terrors of night
or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the plague that roams in the dark,
or the scourge that wreaks havoc at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand;
but it won’t come near you.
8 Only keep your eyes open,
and you will see how the wicked are punished.
9 For you have made Adonai, the Most High,
who is my refuge, your dwelling-place.
10 No disaster will happen to you,
no calamity will come near your tent;
11 for he will order his angels to care for you
and guard you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you in their hands,
so that you won’t trip on a stone.
13 You will tread down lions and snakes,
young lions and serpents you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he loves me, I will rescue him;
because he knows my name, I will protect him.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble.
I will extricate him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life
and show him my salvation.”
92 (0) A psalm. A song for Shabbat:
2 (1) It is good to give thanks to Adonai
and sing praises to your name, ‘Elyon,
3 (2) to tell in the morning about your grace
and at night about your faithfulness,
4 (3) to the music of a ten-stringed [harp] and a lute,
with the melody sounding on a lyre.
5 (4) For, Adonai, what you do makes me happy;
I take joy in what your hands have made.
6 (5) How great are your deeds, Adonai!
How very deep your thoughts!
7 (6) Stupid people can’t know,
fools don’t understand,
8 (7) that when the wicked sprout like grass,
and all who do evil prosper,
it is so that they can be eternally destroyed,
9 (8) while you, Adonai, are exalted forever.
10 (9) For your enemies, Adonai,
your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
11 (10) But you have given me
the strength of a wild bull;
you anoint me with fresh olive oil.
12 (11) My eyes have gazed with pleasure on my enemies’ ruin,
my ears have delighted in the fall of my foes.
13 (12) The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar in the L’vanon.
14 (13) Planted in the house of Adonai,
they will flourish in the courtyards of our God.
15 (14) Even in old age they will be vigorous,
still full of sap, still bearing fruit,
16 (15) proclaiming that Adonai is upright,
my Rock, in whom there is no wrong.
2 Then Hannah prayed; she said:
“My heart exults in Adonai!
My dignity has been restored by Adonai!
I can gloat over my enemies,
because of my joy at your saving me.
2 “No one is as holy as Adonai,
because there is none to compare with you,
no rock like our God.
3 “Stop your proud boasting!
Don’t let arrogance come from your mouth!
For Adonai is a God of knowledge,
and he appraises actions.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
while the feeble are armed with strength.
5 The well-fed hire themselves for bread,
while those who were hungry hunger no more.
The barren woman has borne seven,
while the mother of many wastes away.
6 “Adonai kills and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave, and he brings up.
7 Adonai makes poor, and he makes rich;
he humbles, and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts up the needy from the trash pile;
he gives them a place with leaders
and assigns them seats of honor.
“For the earth’s pillars belong to Adonai;
on them he has placed the world.
9 He will guard the steps of his faithful,
but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
For it is not by strength that a person prevails —
10 those who fight Adonai will be shattered;
he will thunder against them in heaven —
Adonai will judge the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen his king
and enhance the power of his anointed.”
2 You used to be dead because of your sins and acts of disobedience. 2 You walked in the ways of the ‘olam hazeh and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers of the Air, who is still at work among the disobedient. 3 Indeed, we all once lived this way — we followed the passions of our old nature and obeyed the wishes of our old nature and our own thoughts. In our natural condition we were headed for God’s wrath, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love 5 that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah — it is by grace that you have been delivered. 6 That is, God raised us up with the Messiah Yeshua and seated us with him in heaven, 7 in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. 8 For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. 9 You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. 10 For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.
22 On that Day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’[a]
24 “So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed — and its collapse was horrendous!”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.