Book of Common Prayer
Majestic and Unshakable
Psalm 93
1 Adonai reigns—He is robed in majesty!
Adonai has robed and armed Himself with strength.
Yes, the world is firmly established—unshakable.
2 Your throne is established from of old.
You are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, Adonai,
the floods have lifted up their voice,
the floods lift up their crashing waves.
4 More than the sounds of many waters—
more majestic than the breakers of the sea—
so majestic is Adonai on high!
5 Your testimonies are very sure.
Holiness befits Your House, Adonai, for endless days.
Sing a New Song
Psalm 96
1 Sing to Adonai a new song!
Sing to Adonai, all the earth.
2 Sing to Adonai, bless His Name.
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the nations,
His marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is Adonai, and greatly to be praised.
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but Adonai made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before Him.
Strength and beauty are in His Sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to Adonai, O families of peoples.
Ascribe to Adonai glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to Adonai the glory of His Name.
Bring an offering and come into His courts.
9 Bow down to Adonai in holy splendor.
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations: “Adonai reigns!”
The world is firmly established—it will not move.
He will judge the peoples with fairness.
11 Let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice.
Let the sea roar—and all that fills it.
12 Let the land exult—and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy—
13 before Adonai, for He is coming!
For He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples in His faithfulness.[a]
Taste and See
Psalm 34
1 Of David, when he feigned insanity before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.
2 I will bless Adonai at all times.
His praise is continually in my mouth.
3 My soul boasts in Adonai.
The humble ones hear of it and rejoice.
4 Magnify Adonai with me
and let us exalt His Name together.
5 I sought Adonai, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
6 They who looked to Him were radiant,
and their faces will never be ashamed.
7 This poor man cried, and Adonai heard,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
8 The angel of Adonai encamps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.
9 Taste and see how good Adonai is.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.
10 Fear Adonai, His kedoshim,
For those who fear Him lack nothing.
11 Young lions may lack, and go hungry,
but those who seek Adonai want for no good thing.
12 Come, children, listen to me:
I will teach you the fear of Adonai.
13 Who is the one who delights in life,
and loves to see good days?
14 Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking treachery.
15 Depart from evil and do good.
Seek shalom and pursue it.[a]
16 The eyes of Adonai are on the righteous,
and His ears are attentive to their cry.
17 The face of Adonai is against evildoers,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
18 The righteous cry out and Adonai hears,
and delivers them from all their troubles.
19 Adonai is close to the brokenhearted,
and saves those crushed in spirit.
20 Many are the distresses of the righteous,
but Adonai delivers him out of them all.
21 He keeps all his bones—
not one of them is broken.[b]
22 Evil kills the wicked—
those who hate the righteous will be held guilty.
23 Adonai redeems the soul of His servants
—no one who takes refuge in Him will be held guilty.
Haman Hates the Jews
3 Some time later King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, elevating him and setting his chair above all the officials who were with him. 2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded it. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay him honor.
3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 Day after day, they spoke to him but he would not listen to them. Therefore they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai’s resolve would prevail, for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him honor, Haman was filled with rage. 6 But it was repugnant in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him the identity of Mordecai’s people. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month (that is the month of Nisan), in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast the pur (that is, ‘the lot’) in the presence of Haman from day to day and month to month, up to the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
8 Haman then said to King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of every other people and who do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let an edict be written to destroy them. I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out this business, to put it into the king’s treasuries.”
10 The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman—son of Hammedatha the Agagite—enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The silver and the people are yours—do with them as you please.”
12 The king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and an edict was written as Haman had commanded. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s provincial governors, and to the officials who were in every province, and to the officials of every people, province by province, according to its script and people by people according to its language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, stating to destroy, slay, and annihilate all the Jews—from the youth to the elderly, both little children and women—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. 14 A copy of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to all people, so that they would be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly with the king’s command and the edict was issued in the palace in Shushan. The king and Haman then sat down to drink. But the city of Shushan was dumbfounded.
If I Perish!
4 When Mordecai learned all that was done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city crying out in a loud and bitter voice. 2 He went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one could enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 In each and every province where the king’s edict and law came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many put on sackcloth and ashes.
Quick to Listen, Slow to Anger
19 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger[a]— 20 for human anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 21 So put away all moral filth and excess of evil and receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror— 24 for once he looks at himself and goes away, he immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect Torah, the Torah that gives freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts—he shall be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and yet does not bridle his tongue[b] but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress,[c] and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Righteous Living
6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before others to be seen by them; otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you do tzedakah, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Amen, I tell you, they have their reward in full! 3 But when you do tzedakah, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your tzedakah may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you.
5 “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Amen, I tell you, they have their reward in full! 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room; and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not become sad-faced like the hypocrites, for they neglect their faces to make their fasting evident to men. Amen, I tell you, they have their reward in full! 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting won’t be evident to men, but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.[a]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.