Book of Common Prayer
Learn Torah Letter by Letter
Psalm 119
ALEPH א
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Torah of Adonai.
2 Happy are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with a whole heart,
3 who also do no injustice, but walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts
be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways were steadfast
to observe Your decrees!
6 Then I would not be ashamed,
when I consider all Your mitzvot.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart
as I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will observe Your statutes.
Never abandon me utterly!
BET ב
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought You
—let me not stray from Your mitzvot.
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
so I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Adonai.
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I rehearse
all the rulings of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies
above all wealth.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
and regard Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your decrees.
I will never forget Your word.
GIMEL ג
17 Do good to Your servant
that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, so I may behold
wonders from Your Torah.
19 I am a temporary dweller on earth—
do not hide Your mitzvot from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,
who wander from Your mitzvot.
22 Take scorn and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your decrees.
24 For Your testimonies are my delight—
they are also my counselors.
Silence the Flattering Lips
Psalm 12
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
3 Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
4 May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
5 They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”
6 “Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
7 The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
purified seven times.
8 You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
9 The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.
Trust in His Chesed
Psalm 13
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 How long, Adonai? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
3 How long must I have cares in my soul
and daily sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
4 Look at me and answer, Adonai my God.
Light up my eyes, or I will sleep in death.
5 Or else my enemy will say: “I have overcome him!”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
6 But I trust in Your lovingkindness,
my heart rejoices in Your salvation.
I will sing to Adonai,
because He has been good to me.
There Is No God?
Psalm 14
1 For the music director, of David.
The fool said in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt; their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.[a]
2 Adonai looked down from heaven on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They all turned aside, became corrupt.
There is no one who does good
—not even one.
4 “Will evildoers never understand—
those who consume My people as they eat bread—
and never call on Adonai?”
5 There they are, in great dread.
For God is with the righteous generation.
6 You would frustrate the plan of the lowly.
Surely Adonai is his refuge!
7 O may He give Israel’s salvation out of Zion!
When Adonai restores His captive people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad!
Parashat D’varim
Devarim: The Words that Moses Spoke
1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan—in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Di-Zahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
3 Now Moses spoke to Bnei-Yisrael, according to all Adonai had commanded him for them—in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, 4 after he had struck down Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og king of the Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Torah saying, 6 “Adonai our God spoke to us at Horeb saying: ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn, journey on, and enter the hill country of the Amorites and all their neighbors, in the Arabah, the hill country, the lowland, the Negev, and by the seashore—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you. Enter and possess the land that Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their descendants after them.’[a]
Bad Report and Poor Response
9 “I spoke to you at that time saying: ‘I am not able to bear the burden of you by myself. 10 Adonai your God has multiplied you—and here you are today, like the stars of the heavens in number.
11 “‘May Adonai, God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times as many as you are, and may He bless you just as He has promised you! 12 How can I bear your load and burden and bickering by myself? 13 Choose for yourselves wise and discerning men, well known to your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
14 “You answered me and said: ‘The thing you have said to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, men who were wise and well known, and appointed them as heads over you—leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officials for your tribes.
16 “I commanded your judges at that time saying: ‘Hear cases between your brothers, and judge fairly[b] between a man and his brother or the outsider with him. 17 You must not show partiality in judgment[c]—you must hear the small and the great alike. Fear no man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me and I will hear it.’
18 “I commanded you at that time everything you should do.
The Role of Israel
9 I tell the truth in Messiah—I do not lie, my conscience assuring me in the Ruach ha-Kodesh— 2 that my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart unending. 3 For I would pray that I myself were cursed, banished from Messiah for the sake of my people—my own flesh and blood, [a] 4 who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption[b] and the glory[c] and the covenants and the giving of the Torah[d] and the Temple service[e] and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs—and from them, according to the flesh, the Messiah, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s seed; rather, “Your seed shall be called through Isaac.” [f] 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; rather, the children of the promise are counted as seed. 9 For the word of promise is this: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” [g] 10 And not only this, but also Rebecca having twins, from one act with our father Isaac. 11 Yet before the sons were even born and had not done anything good or bad—so that God’s purpose and choice might stand not because of works but because of Him who calls— 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” [h] 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[i]
14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For to Moses He says,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[j]
16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who strives, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up—to demonstrate My power in you, so My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” [k] 18 So then He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
27 “Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, you appear righteous to men on the outside, but are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the tzaddikim. 30 And you say, ‘If we’d been alive in the days of our forefathers, we wouldn’t have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers! 33 O snakes, you brood of vipers! How will you escape the condemnation of Gehenna?
34 “Because of this, behold, I’m sending you prophets and wise men and Torah scholars. Some of them you will kill and execute at the stake, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. 35 And so, upon you shall come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah,[a] whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar. [b] 36 Amen, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
Holy Temple to Be Destroyed
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate! [c] 39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”[d]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.