Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN ז
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
on which You have made me hope.
50 My comfort in my affliction is this:
Your word has kept me alive.
51 The arrogant have viciously ridiculed me,
yet I did not turn away from Your Torah.
52 I remember Your judgments from of old,
Adonai, and comfort myself.
53 Burning indignation grips me,
because of the wicked who forsake Your Torah.
54 Your decrees have become my songs
in the house where I dwell.
55 In the night I remember Your Name, Adonai,
and keep watching over Your Torah.
56 This is my own:
that I keep Your precepts.
CHET ח
57 Adonai is my portion.
I promised to guard Your words.
58 I have entreated Your favor with all my heart.
Be gracious to me according to Your word.
59 I have considered my ways
and turned my feet back to Your testimonies.
60 I hasten and do not delay
to obey Your mitzvot.
61 The ropes of the wicked are coiled around me,
but I did not forget Your Torah.
62 At midnight I rise to praise You,
because of Your righteous rulings.
63 I am a companion of all who fear You,
of those who observe Your precepts.
64 The earth is full of Your lovingkindness.
Adonai—teach me Your decrees.
TET ט
65 You do good to Your servant,
Adonai, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good sense and knowledge,
for I trusted in Your mitzvot.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good and keep doing good—
teach me Your decrees.
69 Though the proud smeared a lie on me,
with all my heart I keep Your precepts.
70 Their minds are insensible,
but Your Torah is my delight.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,
so that I may learn Your decrees.
72 The Torah from Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Rich and Poor Alike
Psalm 49
1 For the music director: a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Hear this, all you peoples.
Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
3 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
4 My mouth speaks wisdom,
My heart’s meditation is understanding.
5 I will turn my ear to a proverb.
I will utter my riddle on the harp:
6 Why should I fear in evil days?
when the iniquity of my deceivers surrounds me?
7 Or those trusting in their wealth,
boasting about their great riches?
8 No man can redeem his brother,
or give to God a ransom for him.
9 For the redemption of a soul is costly—
so, one should stop trying forever.
10 Will he live forever—
and never see the Pit?
11 Surely he must see, even wise men die.
The fool and the brutish will alike perish,
leaving their wealth to others.[a]
12 Their inward thought is:
Their houses are eternal,
their dwellings for generation after generation.
They name their lands after themselves.
13 But the pompous man will not endure—
he is like the beasts that perish.
14 Such is the way of the self-confident,
and their followers who approve their sayings. Selah
15 Like sheep they are destined for Sheol.
Death will be their shepherd
and the upright will rule over them in the morning.
Their image will decay in Sheol—
far from its lofty place.
16 But God redeems my soul from the power of Sheol—
for He receives me. Selah
17 Do not be afraid when a man gets rich,
when his house’s splendor increases.
18 For when he dies he takes nothing away.
His splendor will not follow him down.
19 Though during his life he congratulates himself,
and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
20 He will still join his fathers’ company,
who will never see the light.
21 A pompous man, without understanding—
he is like the beasts that perish.
A Fool Denies God
Psalm 53
1 For the music director: on Mahalath, a contemplative song of David.
2 The fool says in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, commit vile injustice.
There is no one who does good.
3 God looks down from the heavens
on the children of men,
to see if anyone understands,
who seeks after God.
4 All have turned aside—
together they have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good—
no, not even one!
5 Will the evildoers never learn?
They consume My people as they would eat bread,
and never call upon God.
6 There they are in great dread—
where there is nothing to fear.
For God has scattered the bones of those besieging you.
You have put them to shame,
for God has rejected them.
7 Who will give salvation for Israel out of Zion?
When God restores His captive people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!
Job Remembers Better Days
29 Again Job took up his discourse saying:
Cry of Great Agony
30 “But now they mock me—those younger than me,
whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 Moreover, what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor has gone from them.
16 “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of suffering have taken hold of me.
17 Night pierces my bones within me;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 By great power He seizes my garment;
He binds me like the collar of my tunic.
19 He has cast me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, but You only look at me.
21 You have turned on me cruelly;
You attack me with the might of Your hand.
22 You lift me up on the wind
and make me ride on it;
You toss me about in the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all the living.
24 Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out His hand,
and in his distress cry for help?
25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Yet, when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I waited for light, then darkness came.
27 “My heart[a] seethes and never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin has turned black on me;
my bones burn with heat.
31 My harp is for mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.
19 But Jewish people came from Antioch and Iconium; and after they won the crowd over and stoned Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 But while the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went back into the city. On the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. 21 After proclaiming the Good News to that city and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. 22 They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in faith, and saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 When they had handpicked elders for them in every community, and prayed with fasting, they placed them in the care of the Lord—in whom they had put their trust.
24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphyllia. 25 After speaking the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed back to Antioch (where they had been entrusted to the gracious care of God for the work now completed). 27 When they arrived and gathered together Messiah’s community, they began to report all that God had done in helping them and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed quite awhile with the disciples.
Lazarus Is Dead
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Miriam and her sister Martha. 2 This was the same Miriam who anointed the Master with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a word to Yeshua, saying, “Master, the one you love is sick!”
4 When Yeshua heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for God’s glory, so that Ben-Elohim may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Yeshua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 However, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days.
7 Then after this, He said to His disciples, “Let’s go up to Judea again.”
8 “Rabbi,” the disciples say to Him, “just now the Judean leaders were trying to stone You! And You’re going back there again?”
9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of the world. 10 But if a man should walk around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 After He said this, He tells them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going there to wake him up.”
12 So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought He was talking about ordinary sleep.
14 Then Yeshua told them clearly, “Lazarus is dead! 15 I’m glad for your sake I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. Anyway, let’s go to him!”
16 Then Thomas called the Twin[a] said to the other disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with Him!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.