Book of Common Prayer

Book I: Psalms 1–41

3 ⁽⁰⁾ A psalm of David, when he fled from Avshalom his son:

32 (RY: iii; LY: vi) The descendants of Re’uven and the descendants of Gad had vast quantities of livestock. When they saw that the land of Ya‘zer and the land of Gil‘ad were good for livestock, ² the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven came and spoke to Moshe, El‘azar the cohen and the community leaders. They said, ³ “‘Atarot, Divon, Ya‘zer, Nimrah, Heshbon, El‘aleh, S’vam, N’vo and Be‘on, ⁴ the country that Adonai conquered before the community of Isra’el, is livestock country; and your servants have livestock. ⁵ If you regard us favorably,” they went on, “let this land be given to your servants as their possession; and don’t have us cross the Yarden.”

⁶ Moshe answered the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven: “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?

¹⁶ But they came up to him and said, “Here we will build enclosures for our livestock and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but we ourselves will be armed and ready for action to march at the head of the people of Isra’el, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will stay in the fortified cities here because of the people now living in the land. ¹⁸ However, we will not return to our own homes until every man in Isra’el has taken possession of his land for inheritance. ¹⁹ We will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Yarden, westward; because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Yarden, eastward.”

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ²⁰ Moshe said to them, “If you will do this — if you will arm yourselves to go before Adonai to the war, ²¹ and if every one of your soldiers will cross the Yarden before Adonai, until he has driven out his enemies ahead of him, ²² and if the land has been conquered before Adonai, and only after that do you return — then you will be clear before Adonai and before Isra’el, and this land here will be yours to possess before Adonai. ²³ But if you will not do this, then you have sinned against Adonai, and you must understand that your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build cities for your little ones and enclosures for your sheep; then do what you said you would do.”

²⁵ The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Re’uven said to Moshe, “Your servants will do as my lord orders. ²⁶ Our little ones, wives, flocks and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gil‘ad; ²⁷ but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before Adonai to do battle, as my lord says.”

²⁶ Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God’s people accord with God’s will. ²⁸ Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; ²⁹ because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; ³⁰ and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!

23 Then Yeshua addressed the crowds and his talmidim: ² “The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe. ³ So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act! ⁴ They tie heavy loads onto people’s shoulders but won’t lift a finger to help carry them. ⁵ Everything they do is done to be seen by others; for they make their t’fillin broad and their tzitziyot long, ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and they love being greeted deferentially in the marketplaces and being called ‘Rabbi.’

⁸ “But you are not to let yourselves be called ‘Rabbi’; because you have one Rabbi, and you are all each other’s brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘Father.’ because you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to let yourselves be called ‘leaders,’ because you have one Leader, and he is the Messiah! ¹¹ The greatest among you must be your servant, ¹² for whoever promotes himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be promoted.