Book of Common Prayer
In God I Trust
Psalm 56
1 For the music director: “A Silent Dove Far Away,” a Michtam of David, when the Philistines had seized him in Gath.
2 Be gracious to me, O God!
For man has crushed me,
fighting all day he oppresses me.
3 My foes trample me all day.
For many are fighting me arrogantly.
4 In a day when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
5 In God—I keep praising His word—
in God I trust, I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
6 All day they twist my words.
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
7 They stir up strife; they lie hidden.
They mark my steps, eager to take my soul.
8 In spite of such sin, will they escape?
In fierce anger, O God, cast down such people!
9 You have recorded my wanderings.
You put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
10 Then my enemies will turn back in the day I call.
This I know—that God is for me.
11 In God—I keep praising His word—
in Adonai—I keep praising His word—
12 in God I trust, I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
13 I am under vows to You, O God.
I will present thank offerings to You.
14 For You have delivered my soul from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Be Exalted Over All the Earth
Psalm 57
1 For the music director, “Do Not Destroy,” a Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
2 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
for in You my soul takes refuge.
In the shadow of Your wings I take refuge,
until destruction passes by.
3 I will cry out to El Elyon,
to God who accomplishes it for me.
4 He will send from heaven and save me.
He rebukes the one trampling on me. Selah
God is sending His mercy and His truth.
5 My soul is in the midst of lions.
I lie among those breathing fire—
sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongue is a sharp sword.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be over all the earth!
7 They spread a net for my steps,
my soul is bowed down.
They have dug a pit before me—
they fell into it themselves. Selah
8 My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing, yes, I will make music.
9 Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
10 I will praise You, my Lord, among the peoples.
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
11 For Your lovingkindness is great up to the heavens,
and Your truth to the skies.
12 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be over all the earth!
God Really Judges
Psalm 58
1 For the music director: “Do Not Destroy,” a Michtam of David.
2 Do you really speak of justice, O “gods”?
Do you judge with fairness, sons of man?
3 No, in heart you devise injustice.
Your hands weigh out violence on earth.
4 The wicked are strangers from the womb.
Speaking lies, they go astray from birth.
5 Their venom is like a serpent’s venom,
like a deaf cobra shutting its ear—
6 not hearing the voice of charmers,
or a cunning spell binder.
7 O God, break their teeth in their mouths.
Tear out the fangs of young lions, Adonai.
8 Let them flow away like water that runs off.
When he bends his bow, let the arrows be cut off.
9 Like a slug melting away as it slithers,
like a woman’s miscarriage,
may they never see the sun.
10 Even before your pots can feel a thorn
—whether alive or ablaze—
He will sweep the wicked away.
11 The righteous one will rejoice
when he beholds vengeance,
when he washes his feet in the blood of the wicked.
12 Then men will say:
“There really is a reward for the righteous.
There really is a God who judges on earth!”
Protect Me from Conspiracies
Psalm 64
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint.
Protect my life from terror of the enemy.
3 Hide me from the conspiracy of evildoers,
from the tumult of workers of iniquity,
4 who sharpened their tongue like a sword,
and aimed their arrow—bitter words,
5 to shoot from hiding at the innocent,
shooting suddenly at him, with no fear.
6 They are firming up their evil plan.
They talk about setting secret traps.
They asked, “Who would see them?”
7 They are plotting injustices:
“We have completed a perfect plot!”
A man’s inward part and heart are deep.
8 But God will shoot them with an arrow—
suddenly their wounds will appear.
9 So their tongue will be their downfall.
All who see them will flee away.
10 Then all men will fear.
So they will declare the work of God,
and ponder what He has done.
11 The righteous will be glad in Adonai and take refuge in Him.
Let all the upright in heart give glory!
Praise is Awaitng You in Zion
Psalm 65
1 For the music director, a psalm, a song of David.
2 Praise is awaiting You in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be fulfilled.
3 O You who hear prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
4 Records of sins overwhelm me—
You will atone for our transgressions.
5 Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your House—Your holy Temple.
6 You respond to us in righteousness with awe-inspiring works
—O God of our salvation—
hope of all ends of the earth and farthest seas,
7 who establishes mountains by His power,
being girded with might,
8 who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the tumult of the peoples.
9 Those dwelling in the uttermost parts stand in awe of Your signs.
You make morning and evening shout for joy.
10 You visit the land and make it abundant,
greatly enriching it—
the stream of God is full of water.
You prepare their grain,
for so You have prepared the earth.
11 You drench her furrows,
leveling the ridges.
You soften her with showers,
blessing her growth.
12 You crown the year with Your goodness.
Your wagon tracks drip with abundance.
13 Pastures of the wilderness overflow
and hills are robed with joy.
14 Meadows are clothed with flocks
and valleys are covered with grain—
they shout for joy, yes, they sing!
Insignificant Before God
40 Then Adonai answered Job, saying:
2 “Will the one who contends with Shaddai correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer!”
3 Then Job answered Adonai. He said:
4 “Indeed, I am unworthy—what can I reply to You?
I put my hand over my mouth.
5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I will say no more.”
6 Then Adonai answered Job from the whirlwind:
7 “Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you will inform Me!
8 “Would you really annul My judgment?
Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s
and can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Then adorn yourself in majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself in splendor and honor.
11 Scatter the fury of your anger.
Look at every proud personand bring him low;
12 look at everyone who is proud and humble him;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them together in the dust
bind their faces in the hidden place.
14 Then I—even I will acknowledge to you,
that your own right hand can save you!
Behemoth and Leviathan
15 “Look now at Behemoth, which I made along with you.
He eats grass like an ox.
16 Now look at his strength in his loins,
and his power in the muscles of his belly.
17 He stiffens his tail like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18 His bones are tubes of bronze;
His limbs like rods of iron.
19 He is first among the ways of God,
Let his Maker draw near with His sword!
20 For the mountains bring him food,
and all the wild animals play there.
21 Under the lotus plants he lies down,
in the secrecy of the reeds and marsh.
22 The lotuses conceal him in their shade;
the willows of the brook surround him.
23 If the river rages, he is not alarmed.
He is secure, even though the Jordan surges against his mouth.
24 Can anyone capture it by its eyes,
or pierce his nose with hooks?
25 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook,[a]
or tie down his tongue with a cord?
26 Can you put a reed rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
27 Will he make many supplications to you,
or speak softly to you?
28 Will he make a covenant with you,
so you can take him as a slave forever?
29 Can you play with him like a bird,
or put him on a leash for your girls?
30 Will traders barter for him?
Will they divide him among the merchants?
31 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
32 If you lay your hands on him—
you will remember the battle and never do it again!
New Teams Strengthen Communities
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return and visit the brothers and sisters in every city where we have proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are.” 37 Barnabas was planning to take along John, called Mark. 38 But Paul was insisting that they shouldn’t take him along—the one who had deserted them in Pamphylia, not accompanying them in the work. 39 A sharp disagreement took place, so that they split off from one another. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul selected Silas and went out, being entrusted by the brothers and sisters to the gracious care of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the communities.
16 Now Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. There was a disciple there named Timothy, son of a woman who was a Jewish believer and a Greek father, 2 who was well-spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him for the sake of the Jewish people in those places—for they all knew that his father was Greek.
4 As they were traveling through the cities, they were handing down the rulings that had been decided upon by the emissaries and elders in Jerusalem, for them to keep. 5 So Messiah’s communities were strengthened in the faith and kept increasing daily in number.
55 Now the Jewish Passover was near; and many people went up out of the regions to Jerusalem before Passover, to purify themselves. 56 So they were searching for Yeshua, saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Won’t He come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the ruling kohanim and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it so that they might arrest Him.
Miriam Anoints the Messiah
12 Six days before Passover, Yeshua came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Yeshua had raised from the dead. 2 So they prepared a dinner there for Yeshua. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Then Miriam took a pound[a] of very expensive oil of pure nard and anointed Yeshua’s feet, and she wiped His feet dry with her hair. Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
4 But Judah from Kriot, one of His disciples, the one who was about to betray Him, said, 5 “Why wasn’t this oil sold for three hundred denarii[b] and the money given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. Since he had the moneybox, he used to steal from what was put in it.
7 Therefore Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She set it aside for the day of My burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.