Book of Common Prayer
30 (0) A psalm. A song for the dedication of the house. By David:
2 (1) I will exalt you, Adonai, because you drew me up;
you didn’t let my enemies rejoice over me.
3 (2) Adonai my God, I cried out to you,
and you provided healing for me.
4 (3) Adonai, you lifted me up from Sh’ol;
you kept me alive when I was sinking into a pit.
5 (4) Sing praise to Adonai, you faithful of his;
and give thanks on recalling his holiness.
6 (5) For his anger is momentary,
but his favor lasts a lifetime.
Tears may linger for the night,
but with dawn come cries of joy.
7 (6) Once I was prosperous and used to say,
that nothing could ever shake me —
8 (7) when you showed me favor, Adonai,
I was firm as a mighty mountain.
But when you hid your face,
I was struck with terror.
9 (8) I called to you, Adonai;
to Adonai I pleaded for mercy:
10 (9) “What advantage is there in my death,
in my going down to the pit?
Can the dust praise you?
Can it proclaim your truth?
11 (10) Hear me, Adonai, and show me your favor!
Adonai, be my helper!”
12 (11) You turned my mourning into dancing!
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
13 (12) so that my well-being can praise you and not be silent;
Adonai my God, I will thank you forever!
32 (0) By David. A maskil:
(1) How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
those whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed those to whom Adonai imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
because of my groaning all day long;
4 day and night your hand was heavy on me;
the sap in me dried up as in a summer drought. (Selah)
5 When I acknowledged my sin to you,
when I stopped concealing my guilt,
and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai”;
then you, you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah)
6 This is what everyone faithful should pray
at a time when you can be found.
Then, when the floodwaters are raging,
they will not reach to him.
7 You are a hiding-place for me,
you will keep me from distress;
you will surround me
with songs of deliverance. (Selah)
8 “I will instruct and teach you
in this way that you are to go;
I will give you counsel;
my eyes will be watching you.”
9 Don’t be like a horse or mule
that has no understanding,
that has to be curbed with bit and bridle,
or else it won’t come near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but grace surrounds those who trust in Adonai.
11 Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Book II: Psalms 42–72
42 (0) For the leader. A maskil of the descendants of Korach:
2 (1) Just as a deer longs for running streams,
God, I long for you.
3 (2) I am thirsty for God, for the living God!
When can I come and appear before God?
4 (3) My tears are my food, day and night,
while all day people ask me, “Where is your God?”
5 (4) I recall, as my feelings well up within me,
how I’d go with the crowd to the house of God,
with sounds of joy and praise from the throngs
observing the festival.
6 (5) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for the salvation that comes from his presence.
7 (6) My God, when I feel so downcast,
I remind myself of you
from the land of Yarden, from the peaks of Hermon,
from the hill Mizar.
8 (7) Deep is calling to deep
at the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your surging rapids and waves
are sweeping over me.
9 (8) By day Adonai commands his grace,
and at night his song is with me
as a prayer to the God of my life.
10 (9) I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
11 (10) My adversaries’ taunts make me feel
as if my bones were crushed,
as they ask me all day long,
‘Where is your God?’ ”
12 (11) My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.
43 Judge me, God, and plead my cause
against a faithless nation.
Rescue me from those who deceive
and from those who are unjust.
2 For you are the God of my strength;
why have you thrust me aside?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them be my guide;
let them lead me to your holy mountain,
to the places where you live.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and delight;
I will praise you on the lyre,
God, my God.
5 My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for being my Savior and God.
16 (15) But these men descended on the king and said to him, “Remember, your majesty, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or edict, once issued by the king, can be revoked.”
17 (16) So the king gave the order, and they brought Dani’el and threw him into the lion pit. The king said to Dani’el, “Your God, whom you are always serving, will save you.” 18 (17) A stone was brought to block the opening of the pit, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing concerning Dani’el could be changed.
19 (18) Then the king returned to his palace. He spent the night fasting and refusing to be entertained, as sleep eluded him. 20 (19) Early in the morning, the king got up and hurried to the lion pit. 21 (20) On approaching the pit where Dani’el was, the king cried in a pained voice to Dani’el, “Dani’el, servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you are always serving, been able to save you from the lions?” 22 (21) Then Dani’el answered the king, “May the king live forever! 23 (22) My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths, so they haven’t hurt me. This is because before him I was found innocent; and also I have done no harm to you, your majesty.” 24 (23) The king was overjoyed and ordered Dani’el taken up from the pit. So Dani’el was taken up from the pit, and he was found to be completely unharmed, because he had trusted in his God.
25 (24) Then the king gave an order, and they brought those men who had accused Dani’el, and they threw them into the lion pit — them, their children and their wives — and before they even reached the bottom of the pit, the lions had them in their control and broke all their bones to pieces.
26 (25) King Daryavesh wrote all the peoples, nations and languages living anywhere on earth:
“Shalom rav! [Abundant peace!]
27 (26) “I herewith issue a decree that everywhere in my kingdom, people are to tremble and be in awe of the God of Dani’el.
“For he is the living God;
he endures forever.
His kingdom will never be destroyed;
his rulership will last till the end.
28 (27) He saves, rescues, does signs and wonders
both in heaven and on earth.
He delivered Dani’el
from the power of the lions.”
1 From: The Elder
To: Dear Gaius, whom I love in truth:
2 Dear friend, I am praying that everything prosper with you and that you be in good health, as I know you are prospering spiritually. 3 For I was so happy when some brothers came and testified how faithful you are to the truth, as you continue living in the truth. 4 Nothing gives me greater joy than hearing that my children are living in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in all the work you are doing for the brothers, even when they are strangers to you. 6 They have testified to your love in front of the congregation. You will be doing well if you send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, 7 since it was for the sake of HaShem that they went out without accepting anything from the Goyim. 8 It is we, therefore, who should support such people; so that we may share in their work for the truth.
9 I wrote something to the congregation; but Diotrephes, who likes to be the macher among them, doesn’t recognize our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up everything he is doing, including his spiteful and groundless gossip about us. And as if that weren’t enough for him, he refuses to recognize the brothers’ authority either; moreover, he stops those who want to do so and tries to drive them out of the congregation!
11 Dear friend, don’t imitate the bad, but the good. Those who do what is good are from God; those who do what is bad are not from God.
12 Everyone speaks well of Demetrius, and so does the truth itself. We vouch for him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write you, but I don’t want to write with pen and ink; 14 however, I am hoping to see you very soon, and we will speak face to face.
Shalom to you. Your friends send you their greetings. Greet each of our friends by name.
27 Later Yeshua went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi sitting in his tax-collection booth; and he said to him, “Follow me!” 28 He got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Levi gave a banquet at his house in Yeshua’s honor, and there was a large group of tax-collectors and others at the table with them. 30 The P’rushim and their Torah-teachers protested indignantly against his talmidim, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?” 31 It was Yeshua who answered them: “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but rather to call sinners to turn to God from their sins.”
33 Next they said to him, “Yochanan’s talmidim are always fasting and davvening, and likewise the talmidim of the P’rushim; but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Yeshua said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them? 35 The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; and when that time comes, they will fast.” 36 Then he gave them an illustration: “No one tears a piece from a new coat and puts it on an old one; if he does, not only will the new one continue to rip, but the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 Also, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins too will be ruined. 38 On the contrary, new wine must be put into freshly prepared wineskins. 39 Besides that, after drinking old wine, people don’t want new; because they say, ‘The old is good enough.’”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.