Book of Common Prayer
צ (Tzadeh)
137 You are righteous, Adonai;
and your rulings are upright.
138 You have commanded your instructions
in righteousness and great faithfulness.
139 My zeal is destroying me,
because my foes have forgotten your words.
140 Your word is refined to complete purity,
and your servant loves it.
141 I may be small and despised,
but I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is eternal righteousness,
and your Torah is truth.
143 Trouble and distress have overtaken me,
but your mitzvot are my delight.
144 Your instruction is righteous forever;
give me understanding, and I will live.
ק (Kuf)
145 Wholeheartedly I am calling on you;
answer me, Adonai; I will keep your laws.
146 I am calling on you; save me;
and I will observe your instruction.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your word.
148 My eyes are open before the night watches,
so that I can meditate on your promise.
149 In your grace, hear my voice;
Adonai, in keeping with your justice, revive me.
150 The pursuers of carnality are getting close;
they are distancing themselves from your Torah.
151 You are close by, Adonai;
and all your mitzvot are truth.
152 Long ago I learned from your instruction
that you established it forever.
ר (Resh)
153 Look at my distress, and rescue me,
for I do not forget your Torah.
154 Plead my cause, and redeem me;
in keeping with your promise, revive me.
155 Salvation is far away from the wicked,
because they don’t seek your laws.
156 Great is your compassion, Adonai;
in keeping with your rulings, revive me.
157 Although my persecutors and foes are many,
I have not turned away from your instruction.
158 I look at traitors with disgust,
because they don’t keep your word.
159 See how I love your precepts, Adonai;
in keeping with your grace, revive me.
160 The main thing about your word is that it’s true;
and all your just rulings last forever.
23 Then Iyov answered:
2 “Today too my complaint is bitter;
my hand is weighed down because of my groaning.
3 I wish I knew where I could find him;
then I would go to where he is.
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know his answering words
and grasp what he would tell me.
6 Would he browbeat me with his great power?
No, he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him;
thus I might be forever acquitted by my judge.
8 “If I head east, he isn’t there;
if I head west, I don’t detect him,
9 if I turn north, I don’t spot him;
in the south he is veiled, and I still don’t see him.
10 Yet he knows the way I take;
when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.
11 My feet have stayed in his footsteps;
I keep to his way without turning aside.
12 I don’t withdraw from his lips’ command;
I treasure his words more than my daily food.
43 The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil, Yeshua found Philip and said, “Follow me!” 44 Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived. 45 Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets — it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!” 46 Natan’el answered him, “Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?” “Come and see,” Philip said to him. 47 Yeshua saw Natan’el coming toward him and remarked about him, “Here’s a true son of Isra’el — nothing false in him!” 48 Natan’el said to him, “How do you know me?” Yeshua answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Natan’el said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra’el!” 50 Yeshua answered him, “you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!” 51 Then he said to him, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down[a] on the Son of Man!”
139 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai, you have probed me, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand up,
you discern my inclinations from afar,
3 you scrutinize my daily activities.
You are so familiar with all my ways
4 that before I speak even a word, Adonai,
you know all about it already.
5 You have hemmed me in both behind and in front
and laid your hand on me.
6 Such wonderful knowledge is beyond me,
far too high for me to reach.
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there.
9 If I fly away with the wings of the dawn
and land beyond the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Let darkness surround me,
let the light around me be night,”
12 even darkness like this
is not too dark for you;
rather, night is as clear as day,
darkness and light are the same.
13 For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
17 God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
18 If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.
19 God, if only you would kill off the wicked!
Men of blood, get away from me!
20 They invoke your name for their crafty schemes;
yes, your enemies misuse it.
21 Adonai, how I hate those who hate you!
I feel such disgust with those who defy you!
22 I hate them with unlimited hatred!
They have become my enemies too.
23 Examine me, God, and know my heart;
test me, and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is in me any hurtful way,
and lead me along the eternal way.
20 Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek-speaking Jews. 21 They approached Philip, the one from Beit-Tzaidah in the Galil, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Yeshua.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Yeshua. 23 Yeshua gave them this answer: “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. 25 He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life! 26 If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.