Book of Common Prayer
101 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) I am singing of grace and justice;
I am singing to you, Adonai.
2 I will follow the path of integrity;
when will you come to me?
I will run my life with a sincere heart
inside my own house.
3 I will not allow before my eyes
any shameful thing.
I hate those who act crookedly;
what they do does not attract me.
4 Deviousness will depart from me;
I will not tolerate evil.
5 If someone slanders another in secret,
I will cut him off.
Haughty eyes and proud hearts
I cannot abide.
6 I look to the faithful of the land,
so that they can be my companions;
those who live lives of integrity
can be servants of mine.
7 No deceitful person can live in my house;
no liar can be my advisor.
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of Adonai.
109 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
(1) God, whom I praise, don’t remain silent!
2 For wicked and deceitful men
have opened their mouths against me,
spoken against me with lying tongues,
3 surrounded me with hateful words,
and attacked me without cause.
4 In return for my love they became my accusers,
even though I prayed for them.
5 They repay me evil for good
and hatred for my love.
6 [They say,] “Appoint a wicked man over him,
may an accuser stand at his right.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
may even his plea be counted a sin.
8 May his days be few,
may someone else take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars,
foraging for food from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize all he owns
and strangers make off with his earnings.
12 May no one treat him kindly,
and may no one take pity on his orphaned children.
13 May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be erased within a generation.
14 May the wrongs of his ancestors be remembered by Adonai,
and may the sin of his mother not be erased;
15 may they always be before Adonai,
so he can cut off all memory of them from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness
but hounded the downtrodden, the poor
and the brokenhearted to death.
17 He loved cursing; may it recoil on him!
He didn’t like blessing; may it stay far from him!
18 He clothed himself with cursing
as routinely as with his coat;
May it enter inside him as easily as water,
as easily as oil into his bones.
19 May it cling to him like the coat he wears,
like the belt he wraps around himself.”
20 This is what my adversaries want Adonai to do,
those who speak evil against me.
21 But you, God, Adonai,
treat me as your name demands;
rescue me, because your grace is good.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart within me is wounded.
23 Like a lengthening evening shadow, I am gone;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from lack of food,
my flesh wastes away for lack of nourishment.
25 I have become the object of their taunts;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Adonai, my God!
Save me, in keeping with your grace;
27 so that they will know that this comes from your hand,
that you, Adonai, have done it.
28 Let them go on cursing;
but you, bless!
When they attack, let them be put to shame;
but let your servant rejoice.
29 Let my adversaries be clothed with confusion,
let them wear their own shame like a robe.
30 I will eagerly thank Adonai with my mouth,
I will praise him right there in the crowd,
ע (‘Ayin)
121 I have done what is just and right;
don’t abandon me to my oppressors.
122 Guarantee your servant’s well-being;
don’t let the arrogant oppress me.
123 My eyes fail from watching for your salvation
and for [the fulfillment of] your righteous promise.
124 Deal with your servant in accordance with your grace,
and teach me your laws.
125 I am your servant; give me understanding,
so that I can know your instruction.
126 The time has come for Adonai to act,
because they are breaking your Torah.
127 Therefore I love your mitzvot
more than gold, more than fine gold.
128 Thus I direct my steps by [your] precepts;
every false way I hate.
פ (Peh)
129 Your instruction is a wonder;
this is why I follow it.
130 Your words are a doorway that lets in light,
giving understanding to the thoughtless.
131 My mouth is wide open, as I pant
with longing for your mitzvot.
132 Turn to me, and show me your favor;
in keeping with [your] judgment for those who love your name.
133 Guide my footsteps by your word;
don’t let any kind of sin rule me.
134 Redeem me from human oppression,
and I will observe your precepts.
135 Make your face shine on your servant,
and teach me your laws.
136 Rivers of tears flow down from my eyes,
because they don’t observe your Torah.
צ (Tzadeh)
137 You are righteous, Adonai;
and your rulings are upright.
138 You have commanded your instructions
in righteousness and great faithfulness.
139 My zeal is destroying me,
because my foes have forgotten your words.
140 Your word is refined to complete purity,
and your servant loves it.
141 I may be small and despised,
but I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is eternal righteousness,
and your Torah is truth.
143 Trouble and distress have overtaken me,
but your mitzvot are my delight.
144 Your instruction is righteous forever;
give me understanding, and I will live.
13 For the promise to Avraham and his seed[a] that he would inherit the world did not come through legalism but through the righteousness that trust produces. 14 For if the heirs are produced by legalism, then trust is pointless and the promise worthless. 15 For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law, there is also no violation.
16 The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God’s free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of the Torah, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had — Avraham avinu for all of us. 17 This accords with the Tanakh, where it says, “I have appointed you to be a father to many nations.”[b] Avraham is our father in God’s sight because he trusted God as the one who gives life to the dead and calls nonexistent things into existence. 18 For he was past hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been told, “So many will your seed be.”[c] 19 His trust did not waver when he considered his own body — which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old — or when he considered that Sarah’s womb was dead too. 20 He did not by lack of trust decide against God’s promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God, 21 for he was fully convinced that what God had promised he could also accomplish. 22 This is why it was credited to his account as righteousness.[d]
23 But the words, “it was credited to his account . . . ,” were not written for him only. 24 They were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead — 25 Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and raised to life in order to make us righteous.
20 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the workers on a wage of one denarius, [the standard daily wage,] he sent them off to his vineyard. 3 Then, on going out at about nine in the morning, he saw more men standing around in the market-square doing nothing, 4 and said to them, ‘You go to the vineyard too — I’ll pay you a fair wage.’ So they went. 5 At noon, and again around three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6 About an hour before sundown, he went out, found still others standing around, and asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing?” 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ ‘You too,’ he told them, ‘go to the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and ending with the first.’ 9 The workers who came an hour before sunset each received a denarius, 10 so the workers who came first expected they would get more, but each of them also received just a denarius. 11 On receiving their wages, they began grumbling to the farmer, 12 ‘These latecomers have worked only one hour, while we have borne the brunt of the day’s work in the hot sun, yet you have put them on an equal footing with us!’ 13 But he answered one of them, ‘Look, friend, I’m not being unfair with you. Didn’t you agree to work today for a denarius? 14 Now take your pay and go! I choose to give the last worker as much as I’m giving you. 15 Haven’t I the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 Thus the last ones will be first and the first last.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.