Book of Common Prayer
Walking with Integrity
Psalm 26
1 Of David.
Vindicate me, Adonai,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and trusted in Adonai without wavering.
2 Probe me, Adonai, and test me,
refine my mind and my heart.
3 For Your love is before my eyes
and I have walked in Your truth.
4 I have not sat with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5 I detest the company of evildoers,
and do not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
so I can walk around Your altar, Adonai,
7 hearing the voice of thanksgiving
while proclaiming all Your wonders.
8 Adonai, I love the House where You live,
the place where Your glory dwells.
9 Do not take my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with people of bloodshed—
10 in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hand is full of bribes.
11 But I—I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My feet stand on level ground.
In congregations I will bless Adonai.
Hoshia-na!
Psalm 28
1 Of David.
To You, Adonai, I call—
my Rock, do not be deaf to me.
If You were silent to me,
I would become like those going down to the Pit.
2 Hear the sound of my pleas,
when I cry to You for help,
when I lift up my hands toward Your holy Sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked and with doers of iniquity,
who speak peace with their neighbors,
while evil is in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds, their evil acts.
Repay them for the deeds of their hands.
Bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Since they show no regard for the deeds of Adonai
nor the work of His hands,
He will tear them down
and never build them up.
6 Blessed be Adonai, because He has heard
the sound of my supplications.
7 Adonai is my strength and my shield.[a]
My heart trusts in Him, and I was helped.
Therefore my heart leaps for joy,
and I will praise Him with my song.
8 Adonai is their strength—
a stronghold of salvation for His anointed.
9 Save Your people, bless Your inheritance,
shepherd them and carry them forever.
With God Is the Fountain of Life
Psalm 36
1 For the music director, of David the servant of Adonai.
2 An oracle of Transgression—within my heart, to the wicked one:
“There is no fear of God before his eyes.[a]
3 For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
too much to notice his iniquity—or hate it.
4 His mouth’s words are iniquity and deceit.
He has ceased to be wise and do good.
5 Even on his bed he plans sin.
He puts himself on a path that is no good, never refusing evil.”
6 Your love, Adonai, is in the heavens,
Your faithfulness up to the skies.
7 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God.
Your judgments are like the great deep.
You preserve man and beast, Adonai.
8 How precious is Your love, O God!
The children of men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
9 They drink their fill from the abundance of Your House.
You give them drink from the river of Your delights.
10 For with You is the fountain of life—
in Your light we see light.
11 Continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
and Your justice to the upright in heart.
12 May the foot of pride never tread on me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
13 There the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!
Make Me Know the Number of My Days
Psalm 39
1 For the music director, for Jeduthun, a psalm of David.
2 I said:
“I will guard my ways, so I will not sin with my tongue.
I will muzzle my mouth while the wicked are before me.”
3 So I became utterly speechless,
kept silent even from good,
but my anguish was stirred up.
4 My heart was hot within me,
while I was musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
5 “Let me know, Adonai, my end
and what the number of my days is.
Let me know how short-lived I am.
6 Behold, You made my days mere hand-breadths,
and my lifetime as nothing before You.
Surely all humanity is but vapor. Selah
7 Everyone goes about as a mere phantom.
Surely they are making an uproar in vain, heaping up stuff—
yet not knowing who will gather it.[a]
8 And now, my Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
9 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of a fool.
10 I am speechless, not opening my mouth
—for You have done it.
11 Remove Your scourge from me.
I perish by the blow of Your hand.
12 With rebukes You chasten one for iniquity
and You consume like a moth what he finds pleasure in.
Surely all humanity is but a vapor. Selah
13 Hear my prayer, Adonai,
and listen to my cry—
do not keep silent at my tears.
For with You I am an outsider, a sojourner,
as all my fathers were.
14 Turn your gaze away from me, so I may smile again,
before I go, and am no more.”
16 Better is little with the fear of Adonai
than great wealth with turmoil.
17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love,
than a fattened ox where there is hatred.
18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but one who is slow to anger calms a quarrel.
19 The way of the slacker is a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a highway.
20 A wise child brings joy to his father,
but a foolish person despises his mother.
21 Folly is joy to one who lacks sense,
but one with discernment walks straight.
22 Plans fail when there is no counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.
23 A person has joy in an appropriate answer—
how good is a timely word.
24 The path of life leads upward for the wise
to keep him from going down to Sheol.
25 Adonai tears down a proud man’s house,
but He maintains the widow’s boundary.
26 Evil thoughts are an abomination to Adonai,
but pleasant words are pure.
27 One greedy for gain troubles his household,
but whoever hates bribes will live.
28 A righteous heart thinks before answering,
but a wicked mouth blurts out evil things.
29 Adonai is far from the wicked,
but hears the prayer of the righteous.[a]
30 Bright eyes bring joy to the heart.
Good news gives health to the bones.
31 One whose ear heeds
a life-giving reproof dwells among the wise.
32 Whoever avoids correction despises himself,
but whoever heeds reproof acquires understanding.
33 The fear of Adonai is the discipline of wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.
Fight the Good Fight
18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in keeping with the prophecies once spoken about you, so that by them you fight the good fight, 19 holding onto faith and a good conscience. By rejecting these, some have suffered shipwreck regarding their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander—whom I have handed over to satan to be disciplined not to blaspheme.
Godliness in Prayer and Worship
2 Therefore, first of all I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people— 2 for kings and all who are in authority[a]—so we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and respectfulness. 3 This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. 4 He desires all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. [b] 5 For there is one God[c] and there is one Mediator between God and men[d]—a human, Messiah Yeshua, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all[e]—the testimony at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an emissary (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faithfulness and truth.
8 So I desire all men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands,[f] without anger and argument.
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you who are evil say anything good? For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man from his good treasury brings forth good, and the evil man from his evil treasury brings forth evil. 36 But I tell you that on the Day of Judgment, men will give account for every careless word they speak. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
A Sign Greater than Jonah
38 Then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees answered Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But Yeshua replied to them, “An evil and adulterous generation clamors for a sign, yet no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights,[a] so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South[b] will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.