Book of Common Prayer
56 (0) For the leader. Set to “The Silent Dove in the Distance.” By David; a mikhtam, when the P’lishtim captured him in Gat:
2 (1) Show me favor, God;
for people are trampling me down —
all day they fight and press on me.
3 (2) Those who are lying in wait for me
would trample on me all day.
For those fighting against me are many.
Most High, 4 (3) when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
5 (4) In God — I praise his word —
in God I trust; I have no fear;
what can human power do to me?
6 (5) All day long they twist my words;
their only thought is to harm me.
7 (6) They gather together and hide themselves,
spying on my movements, hoping to kill me.
8 (7) Because of their crime, they cannot escape;
in anger, God, strike down the peoples.
9 (8) You have kept count of my wanderings;
store my tears in your water-skin —
aren’t they already recorded in your book?
10 (9) Then my enemies will turn back
on the day when I call;
this I know: that God is for me.
11 (10) In God — I praise his word —
in Adonai — I praise his word —
12 (11) in God I trust; I have no fear;
what can mere humans do to me?
13 (12) God, I have made vows to you;
I will fulfill them with thank offerings to you.
14 (13) For you rescued me from death,
you kept my feet from stumbling,
so that I can walk in God’s presence,
in the light of life.
57 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, a mikhtam, when he fled from Sha’ul into the cave:
2 (1) Show me favor, God, show me favor;
for in you I have taken refuge.
Yes, I will find refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the storms have passed.
3 (2) I call to God, the Most High,
to God, who is accomplishing his purpose for me.
4 (3) He will send from heaven and save me
when those who would trample me down mock me. (Selah)
God will send his grace and his truth.
5 (4) I am surrounded by lions,
I am lying down among people breathing fire,
men whose teeth are spears and arrows
and their tongues sharp-edged swords.
6 (5) Be exalted, God, above heaven!
May your glory be over all the earth!
7 (6) They prepared a snare for my feet,
but I am bending over [to avoid it].
They dug a pit ahead of me,
but they fell into it themselves. (Selah)
8 (7) My heart is steadfast, God, steadfast.
I will sing and make music.
9 (8) Awake, my glory! Awake, lyre and lute!
I will awaken the dawn.
10 (9) I will thank you, Adonai, among the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations.
11 (10) For your grace is great, all the way to heaven,
and your truth, all the way to the skies.
12 (11) Be exalted, God, above heaven!
May your glory be over all the earth!
58 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David, a mikhtam:
2 (1) [Rulers,] does your silence really speak justice?
Are you judging people fairly?
3 (2) [No!] In your hearts you devise wrongs,
your hands dispense violence in the land.
4 (3) From the womb, the wicked are estranged,
liars on the wrong path since birth.
5 (4) Their venom is like snake’s venom;
they are like a serpent that stops its ears,
6 (5) so as not to hear the voice of the charmer,
no matter how well he plays.
7 (6) God, break their teeth in their mouth!
Shatter the fangs of these lions, Adonai!
8 (7) May they vanish like water that drains away.
May their arrows be blunted when they aim their bows.
9 (8) May they be like a slug that melts as it moves,
like a stillborn baby that never sees the sun.
10 (9) Before your cook-pots feel the heat of the burning thorns,
may he blow them away, green and blazing alike.
11 (10) The righteous will rejoice to see vengeance done,
they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked;
12 (11) and people will say, “Yes, the righteous are rewarded;
there is, after all, a God who judges the earth.”
64 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Hear my voice, God, as I plead:
preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
3 (2) Hide me from the secret intrigues of the wicked
and the open insurrection of evildoers.
4 (3) They sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrows, poisoned words,
5 (4) in order to shoot from cover at the innocent,
shooting suddenly and fearing nothing.
6 (5) They support each other’s evil plans;
they talk of hiding snares
and ask, “Who would see them?”
7 (6) They search for ways to commit crimes,
bringing their diligent search to completion
when each of them has thought it through
in the depth of his heart.
8 (7) Suddenly God shoots them down with an arrow,
leaving them with wounds;
9 (8) their own tongues make them stumble.
All who see them shake their heads.
10 (9) Everyone is awestruck —
they acknowledge that it is God at work,
they understand what he has done.
11 (10) The righteous will rejoice in Adonai;
they will take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will exult.
65 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David. A song:
2 (1) To you, God, in Tziyon, silence is praise;
and vows to you are to be fulfilled.
3 (2) You who listen to prayer,
to you all living creatures come.
4 (3) When deeds of wickedness overwhelm me,
you will atone for our crimes.
5 (4) How blessed are those you choose and bring near,
so that they can remain in your courtyards!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the Holy Place of your temple.
6 (5) It is just that you answer us with awesome deeds,
God of our salvation,
you in whom all put their trust,
to the ends of the earth and on distant seas.
7 (6) By your strength you set up the mountains.
You are clothed with power.
8 (7) You still the roaring of the seas,
their crashing waves, and the peoples’ turmoil.
9 (8) This is why those living at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your signs.
The places where the sun rises and sets
you cause to sing for joy.
10 (9) You care for the earth and water it,
you enrich it greatly;
with the river of God, full of water,
you provide them grain and prepare the ground.
11 (10) Soaking its furrows and settling its soil,
you soften it with showers and bless its growth.
12 (11) You crown the year with your goodness,
your tracks overflow with richness.
13 (12) The desert pastures drip water,
the hills are wrapped with joy,
14 (13) the meadows are clothed with flocks
and the valleys blanketed with grain,
so they shout for joy and break into song.
40 Continuing to address Iyov, Adonai said:
2 “Does the critic still want to dispute Shaddai?
Let him who wants to correct God give an answer!”
3 Then Iyov replied to Adonai:
4 “I am too ashamed; I have nothing to say.
I lay my hand over my mouth.
5 Yes, I spoke once, but I won’t answer more;
all right, twice, but I won’t go on.”
6 Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:
7 “Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;
I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!
8 “Are you impugning my justice?
Putting me in the wrong to prove yourself right?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Come on, deck yourself with majesty and dignity,
robe yourself in glory and splendor.
11 Let loose your furious anger,
look at all who are proud, and humble them.
12 Look at all who are proud, and bring them down;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Bury them in the ground together,
bind their faces in the hidden world.
14 If you do this, then I will confess to you
that your own power can save you.
15 “Now consider Behemot, whom I made along with you.
He eats grass like an ox.
16 What strength he has in his loins!
What power in his stomach muscles!
17 He can make his tail as stiff as a cedar,
the muscles in his thighs are like cables,
18 his bones are like bronze pipes,
his limbs like iron bars.
19 “He ranks first among God’s works.
Only his maker can approach him with his sword.
20 The mountains produce food for him there,
where all the wild animals play.
21 He lies down under the thorny lotus bushes
and is hidden by the reeds in the swamp;
22 the lotus bushes cover him with their shade,
and the willows by the stream surround him.
23 If the river overflows, it doesn’t worry him;
he is confident even if the Yarden rushes by his mouth.
24 Can anyone catch him by his eyes
or pierce his nose with a hook?
25 (41:1) “And Livyatan! Can you catch him with a fishhook
or hold his tongue down with a rope?
26 (41:2) Can you put a ring in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a barb?
27 (41:3) Will he entreat you at length?
Will he speak with you softly?
28 (41:4) Will he agree with you
to be your slave forever?
29 (41:5) Will you play with him as you would with a bird
or keep him on a string to amuse your little girls?
30 (41:6) Will a group of fishermen turn him into a banquet?
Will they divide him among the merchants?
31 (41:7) Can you fill his skin with darts
or his head with fish-spears?
32 (41:8) If you lay your hand on him,
you won’t forget the fight, and you’ll never do it again!
36 After some time, Sha’ul said to Bar-Nabba, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we proclaimed the message about the Lord, and see how they’re doing.” 37 Now Bar-Nabba wanted to take with them Yochanan, the one called Mark. 38 But Sha’ul thought it would be unwise to take this man with them, since he had gone off and left them in Pamphylia to do the work by themselves. 39 There was such sharp disagreement over this that they separated from each other, with Bar-Nabba taking Mark and sailing off to Cyprus.
40 However, Sha’ul chose Sila and left, after the brothers had committed him to the love and kindness of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the congregations.
16 Sha’ul came down to Derbe and went on to Lystra, where there lived a talmid named Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who had come to trust, and a Greek father. 2 All the brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. 3 Sha’ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a b’rit-milah, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.
4 As they went on through the towns, they delivered to the people the decisions reached by the emissaries and the elders in Yerushalayim for them to observe. 5 Accordingly, the congregations were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.
55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. 56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?” 57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P’rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua’s whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.
12 Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El‘azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead; 2 so they gave a dinner there in his honor. Marta served the meal, and El‘azar was among those at the table with him. 3 Miryam took a whole pint of pure oil of spikenard, which is very expensive, poured it on Yeshua’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of the talmidim, Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who was about to betray him, said, 5 “This perfume is worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief — he was in charge of the common purse and used to steal from it. 7 Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She kept this for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.