Book of Common Prayer
61 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. By David:
2 (1) Hear my cry, God;
listen to my prayer.
3 (2) From the end of the earth, with fainting heart,
I call out to you.
Set me down on a rock
far above where I am now.
4 (3) For you have been a refuge for me,
a tower of strength in the face of the foe.
5 (4) I will live in your tent forever
and find refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Selah)
6 (5) For you, God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
7 (6) Prolong the life of the king!
May his years go on for many generations.
8 (7) May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever!
Appoint grace and truth to preserve him!
9 (8) Then I will sing praise to your name forever,
as day after day I fulfill my vows.
62 (0) For the leader. Set in the style of Y’dutun. A psalm of David:
2 (1) My soul waits in silence for God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
3 (2) He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I won’t be greatly moved.
4 (3) How long will you assail a person
in order to murder him, all of you,
as if he were a sagging wall
or a shaky fence?
5 (4) They only want to shake him from his height,
they take delight in lying —
with their mouths they bless,
but inwardly they curse. (Selah)
6 (5) My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
because my hope comes from him.
7 (6) He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I won’t be moved.
8 (7) My safety and honor rest on God.
My strong rock and refuge are in God.
9 (8) Trust in him, people, at all times;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. (Selah)
10 (9) Ordinary folks are merely a breath
and important people a sham;
if you lay them on a balance-scale, they go up —
both together are lighter than nothing.
11 (10) Don’t put your trust in extortion,
don’t put false hopes in robbery;
even if wealth increases,
don’t set your heart on it.
12 (11) God has spoken once, I have heard it twice:
strength belongs to God.
13 (12) Also to you, Adonai, belongs grace;
for you reward all as their deeds deserve.
68 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David. A song:
2 (1) Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;
let those who hate him flee from his presence.
3 (2) Drive them away as smoke is driven away;
like wax melting in the presence of a fire,
let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
4 (3) But let the righteous rejoice and be glad in God’s presence;
yes, let them exult and rejoice.
5 (4) Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
extol him who rides on the clouds
by his name, Yah;
and be glad in his presence.
6 (5) God in his holy dwelling,
is a father to orphans and defender of widows.
7 (6) God gives homes to those who are alone
and leads prisoners out into prosperity.
But rebels must live in a parched wasteland.
8 (7) God, when you went out at the head of your people,
when you marched out through the wilderness, (Selah)
9 (8) the earth quaked, and rain poured from the sky,
at the presence of God.
Even Sinai [shook] at the presence of God,
the God of Isra’el.
10 (9) You rained down showers in plenty, God;
when your heritage was weary, you restored it.
11 (10) Your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, God, you provided for the poor.
12 (11) Adonai gives the command;
the women with the good news are a mighty army.
13 (12) Kings and their armies are fleeing, fleeing,
while the women at home divide the spoil.
14 (13) Even if you lie among the animal stalls,
there are wings of a dove covered with silver
and its plumes with green gold.
15 (14) When Shaddai scatters kings there,
snow falls on Tzalmon.
16 (15) You mighty mountain, Mount Bashan!
You rugged mountain, Mount Bashan!
17 (16) You rugged mountain, why look with envy
at the mountain God wants for his place to live?
Truly, Adonai will live there forever.
18 (17) God’s chariots are myriads, repeated thousands;
Adonai is among them as in Sinai, in holiness.
19 (18) After you went up into the heights,
you led captivity captive,
you took gifts among mankind,
yes, even among the rebels,
so that Yah, God, might live there.
20 (19) Blessed be Adonai!
Every day he bears our burden,
does God, our salvation. (Selah)
21 (20) Our God is a God who saves;
from Adonai Adonai comes escape from death.
22 (21) God will surely crush the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who continue in their guilt.
23 (22) Adonai said, “I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will fetch [those rebels] even from the depths of the sea;
24 (23) so that you can wash your feet in their blood,
and your dogs’ tongues too can get their share from your foes.
25 (24) They see your processions, God,
the processions of my God, my king, in holiness.
26 (25) The singers are in front, the musicians last,
in the middle are girls playing tambourines.
27 (26) “In choruses, bless God, Adonai,
you whose source is Isra’el.”
28 (27) There is Binyamin, the youngest, at the head;
the princes of Y’hudah, crowding along;
the princes of Z’vulun; the princes of Naftali.
29 (28) God, summon your strength!
Use your strength, God, as you did for us before,
30 (29) from your temple in Yerushalayim,
where kings will bring tribute to you.
31 (30) Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds,
that herd of bulls with their calves, the peoples,
who ingratiate themselves with bars of silver;
let him scatter the peoples who take pleasure in fighting.
32 (31) Let envoys come from Egypt,
Let Ethiopia stretch out its hands to God.
33 (32) Sing to God, kingdoms of the earth!
Sing praises to Adonai, (Selah)
34 (33) to him who rides on the most ancient heavens.
Listen, as he utters his voice, a mighty voice!
35 (34) Acknowledge that strength belongs to God,
with his majesty over Isra’el and his strength in the skies.
36 (35) How awe-inspiring you are, God,
from your holy places,
the God of Isra’el, who gives strength
and power to the people.
Blessed be God!
14 There is something frustrating that occurs on earth, namely, that there are righteous people to whom things happen as if they were doing wicked deeds; and, again, there are wicked people to whom things happen as if they were doing righteous deeds. I say that this too is pointless.
15 So I recommend enjoyment — a person can do nothing better under the sun than eat, drink and enjoy himself; this is what should accompany him as he does his work for as long as God gives him to live under the sun.
16 When I applied myself to gain wisdom and to observe how people occupy themselves on earth, that people’s eyes don’t see sleep either by day or by night, 17 then, on looking over all of God’s work, I realized that it is impossible to grasp all the activity taking place under the sun; because even if a person works hard at searching it out, he won’t grasp it; and even if a wise person thinks he knows it, he still won’t be able to grasp it.
9 I applied myself to all of this, sifted through it and concluded that the righteous and the wise, along with their deeds, are in God’s hands — a person cannot know whether these people and deeds will be rewarded with love or with hatred; all options are open. 2 Anything can happen to anyone; the same thing can happen to the righteous as to the wicked, to the good and clean and to the unclean, to someone who offers a sacrifice and to someone who doesn’t offer a sacrifice; it is the same for a good person as for a sinner, for someone who takes an oath rashly as for someone who fears to take an oath. 3 This is another evil among all those done under the sun, that the same events can occur to anyone. Truly, the human mind is full of evil; and as long as people live, folly is in their hearts; after which they go to be with the dead. 4 For as long as a person is linked with the living, there is hope — better to be a living dog than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost. 6 What they loved, what they hated and what they envied all disappeared long ago, and they no longer have a share in anything done under the sun.
7 So go, eat your bread with joy,
and drink your wine with a happy heart,
for God has already accepted your deeds.
8 Let your clothing always be white,
and never fail to perfume your head.
9 Enjoy life with the wife you have loved throughout your meaningless life that he has given you under the sun, all the days of your futility; for that is your allotted portion in life and in your labor that you work at under the sun. 10 Whatever task comes your way to do, do it with all your strength; because in Sh’ol, where you will go, there is neither working nor planning, neither knowledge nor wisdom.
21 Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism, don’t you hear what the Torah itself says? 22 It says that Avraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. 23 The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise. 24 Now, to make a midrash on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery — this is Hagar. 25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children. 26 But the Yerushalayim above is free, and she is our mother; 27 for the Tanakh says,
“Rejoice, you barren woman who does not bear children!
Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor!
For the deserted wife will have more children
than the one whose husband is with her!”[a]
28 You, brothers, like Yitz’chak, are children referred to in a promise of God. 29 But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit’s supernatural power, so it is now. 30 Nevertheless, what does the Tanakh say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!”[b] 31 So, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
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.