Book of Common Prayer
Nations Conspire Against Israel
Psalm 83
1 A song: a psalm of Asaph.
2 God, do not keep silent.
Do not hold Your peace, O God.
Do not be still.
3 For look, Your enemies make an uproar.
Those who hate You lift up their head.
4 They make a shrewd plot against Your people,
conspiring against Your treasured ones.
5 “Come,” they say, “let’s wipe them out as a nation!
Let Israel’s name be remembered no more!”
6 For with one mind they plot together.
Against You do they make a covenant.
7 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
8 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre,
9 even Assyria has joined them,
becoming a strong arm for Lot’s sons. Selah
10 Do to them as You did to Midian,
to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River,
11 who perished at En-dor—
they became as dung for the ground.
12 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb—
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13 who said,
“Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.”
14 My God, make them like tumbleweed,
like chaff before the wind.
15 As a fire burns a forest,
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
16 so pursue them with Your tempest,
and terrify them with Your storm.
17 Cover their faces with shame,
so they may seek Your Name—Adonai.
18 Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever.
Let them be humiliated and perish.
19 Let them know that You alone
—whose Name is Adonai—
are El Elyon over all the earth.
Justice of the Kingdom
Psalm 146
1 Halleluyah! Praise Adonai, O my soul!
2 I will praise Adonai all my life.
I will praise my God yet again.
3 Do not put your trust in princes—
in man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 His breath departs,
he returns to his dust.
In that very day his plans perish.
5 Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in Adonai his God,
6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps truth forever,
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives bread to the hungry.
Adonai sets the prisoners free.
8 Adonai opens the eyes of the blind.[a]
Adonai raises up those who are bowed down.
Adonai loves the righteous.
9 Adonai protects outsiders,
upholds the fatherless and the widow,
but thwarts the way of the wicked.
10 Adonai will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.
Halleluyah!
He Builds Up Jerusalem
Psalm 147
1 Halleluyah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God.
How pleasant and fitting is praise.
2 Adonai builds up Jerusalem.
He gathers together the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars.
He gives them all their names.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power—
His understanding is infinite!
6 Adonai upholds the humble.
He brings the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to Adonai with thanksgiving.
Sing praises to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds.
He provides rain for the earth.
He makes grass sprout on the hills.
9 He gives food to the cattle
and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delights not in the horse’s strength,
nor takes pleasure in a man’s legs.
11 Adonai delights in those who revere Him,
in those who trust in His lovingkindness.
12 Exalt Adonai, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He strengthens the bars of your gates.
He blesses your children within you.
14 He puts shalom within your borders.
He satisfies you with the finest wheat.
15 He sends earth His command—
His word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool.
He scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down His hail like pebbles—
who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends forth His word and melts them.
He makes His wind blow and waters flow.
19 He declares His word to Jacob,
His decrees and His rulings to Israel.
20 He has not done so with any other nation.
They have not known His judgments.
Halleluyah!
Restore Your People from Captivity
Psalm 85
1 For the music director, a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Adonai, will you favor Your land?
Will You restore Jacob from captivity?
3 Will You bear away Your people’s iniquity,
Will You pardon all their sin?[a] Selah
4 Will You withdraw all Your wrath?
Will You turn from Your burning anger?[b]
5 Restore us, O God of our salvation,
and renounce Your indignation with us.
6 Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger from generation to generation?
7 Will You not revive us again,
so Your people may rejoice in You?
8 Show us Your mercy, Adonai,
and grant us Your salvation.
9 Let me hear what God Adonai will say.
For He will speak shalom to His people, and to His kedoshim—
but let them not turn back to folly.
10 Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him,
so that glory may dwell in our land.
11 Lovingkindness and truth meet together.
Righteousness and shalom kiss each other.
12 Truth will spring up from the earth,
and justice will look down from heaven.
13 Yes, Adonai will give what is good,
and our land will yield its produce.
14 Righteousness is going before Him
and prepares a way for His feet.
Slow to Anger, Full of Chesed
Psalm 86
1 A prayer of David.
Turn Your ear, Adonai, and answer me,
for I am weak and needy.
2 Watch over my soul, for I am godly.
You are my God—
save Your servant who trusts in You.
3 Be gracious to me, my Lord,
for to You I cry all day.
4 Gladden the soul of Your servant,
for to You, my Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For You, my Lord, are good,
and ready to forgive
and full of mercy to all who call upon You.
6 Give ear, Adonai, to my prayer,
listen to the voice of my supplications.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon You,
for You will answer me.
8 There is none like You among the gods,
my Lord, there are no deeds like Yours.
9 All nations You have made will come
and bow down before You, my Lord,
and they will glorify Your Name.
10 For You are great, and do wonders—
You alone are God.
11 Teach me Your way, Adonai,
that I may walk in Your truth.
Give me an undivided heart to fear Your Name.
12 I praise You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and glorify Your Name forever.
13 For great is Your lovingkindness toward me.
You have delivered my soul from the lowest part of Sheol.
14 God, the proud have risen up against me
and a gang of ruthless people have sought my life,
and have not set You before them.
15 But You, my Lord,
are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, full of love and truth.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.
Give Your strength to Your servant,
and save the son of Your maidservant.
17 Make me a sign for good,
so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed.
For You, Adonai, have helped me and comforted me.
Esther Intercedes for Her People
7 So the king and Haman came to dine with Queen Esther, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king asked Esther again, “Whatever you request, even as much as half of the kingdom, it will be given to you.”
3 So Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare the life of my people—this is my request! 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, for destruction, slaughter and annihilation. If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not be worth disturbing the king.”
5 King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man that presumed to do this?”
6 Esther replied, “The man—the adversary and foe—is this wicked Haman!”
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 Enraged, the king got up from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to plead with Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king had determined a catastrophic end for him.
8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the same couch where Esther was. The king exclaimed, “Will he also assault the queen while she is with me in the palace?”
As soon as these words came out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “Look, a gallows fifty cubits high is standing next to Haman’s house. Haman himself made it for Mordecai, who spoke good on behalf of the king!”[a]
The king said, “Hang him on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s rage subsided.
11 God was doing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 But some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yeshua, saying, “I charge you by the Yeshua whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish ruling kohen named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “I know Yeshua and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
16 Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, subduing and overpowering all of them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jewish and Greek people. Fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Yeshua was being magnified.
18 Many also of those who had believed came confessing and recounting their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together in a heap, burning them before everyone. They totaled the value of the books and found it to be about fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord was growing in power and prevailing.
Isaiah’s Prophecy Fulfilled in Natzeret
14 Yeshua returned in the power of the Ruach to the Galilee, and news about Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone was praising Him. 16 And He came to Natzeret, where He had been raised. As was His custom, He went into the synagogue on Shabbat, and He got up to read. 17 When the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Ruach Adonai is on me,
because He has anointed me
to proclaim Good News to the poor.
He has sent me[a] to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 and to proclaim the year of Adonai’s favor.”[b]
20 He closed the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were focused on Him. 21 Then He began to tell them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”
22 All were speaking well of Him and marveling at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. And they were saying, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
23 But He said to them, “Doubtless you will say to Me this proverb, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ and ‘What we have heard was done at Capernaum, do as much here also in your hometown.’”
24 But He said, “Truly, I tell you, ‘No prophet is accepted in his own hometown.’ 25 But with all truthfulness I say to you, that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was closed for three and a half years and there came a great famine over all the land. 26 Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a widowed woman. [c] 27 There were many with tzara’at in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were purified apart from Naaman the Syrian.”[d]
28 Now all in the synagogue were filled with rage upon hearing these things. 29 Rising up, they drove Him out of the town and brought Him as far as the edge of the mountain on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. 30 But passing through the middle of them, He went on His way.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.