Book of Common Prayer
Prayer in Affliction
Psalm 102
1 A prayer of the afflicted one, when he is faint and pours out his lament before Adonai:
2 Adonai, hear my prayer,
let my cry come to You.
3 Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress.
Turn Your ear to me—in the day I call,
answer me quickly.
4 For my days vanished like smoke,
and my bones were burned like coals.
5 My heart is stricken and withered like grass,
so that I even forget to eat my bread.
6 Because of the sound of my groaning,
my bones cling to my flesh.
7 I am like a pelican of the desert,
like an owl of the waste places.
8 I lie awake, like a lonely bird on a roof.
9 My enemies taunt me all day.
My deriders use my name to curse.
10 For I have eaten ashes like bread,
and mixed my drink with tears—
11 because of Your indignation and wrath,
for You have picked me up and tossed me aside.
12 My days are like a lengthening shadow,
and I wither away like grass.
13 But You, Adonai, sit enthroned forever.
Your renown is from generation to generation.
14 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her,
for the appointed time has come,
15 for her stones are dear to Your servants,
and they cherish her dust.
16 So the nations will fear Adonai’s Name
and all the kings of the earth Your glory.
17 For Adonai has rebuilt Zion.
He has appeared in His glory.
18 He has turned to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.
19 Let it be written for a generation to come,
that a people to be created may praise Adonai.
20 For He looks down from His holy height,
from heaven Adonai gazes on the earth,
21 to hear the groaning of the prisoner,
to set free those condemned to death,
22 to declare the Name of Adonai in Zion
and His praise in Jerusalem,
23 when the peoples and the kingdoms
assemble to worship Adonai.
24 He brought down my strength in midcourse.
He shortened my days.
25 I say, “My God,
do not take me up in the middle of my days.
Your years endure through all generations!
26 Long ago You founded the earth,
the heavens are the work of Your hands.
27 They will perish, but You will remain.
All of them will wear out like a garment.
Like clothing You change them, so they change.
28 But You are the same,
and Your years will never end.
29 The children of Your servants will live.
Their descendants will be established before You.”
His Chesed and His Wonders
Psalm 107
1 Praise Adonai, for He is good,
for His lovingkindness endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of Adonai say so—
whom He redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 whom He gathered out of the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the sea.
4 Some wandered in a desert, a wasteland.
They found no way to an inhabited city.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
their souls ebbed away.
6 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
7 Then He led them by a straight way
to go to a city where they could live.
8 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy
and His wonders for the children of men,
9 for He satisfies the thirsty soul
and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Some sat in darkness and deep gloom,
prisoners in misery and iron chains,
11 for they had defied God’s words,
and spurned the counsel of Elyon.
12 So He humbled their heart with trouble.
They stumbled, and no one was helping.
13 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
14 He brought them out of darkness
and deep gloom, breaking their chains.
15 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders for the children of men,
16 for He shattered bronze gates,
and broke into pieces iron bars.
17 Some became fools because of their rebellious ways,
and were afflicted due to their iniquities.
18 Their soul abhorred all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
19 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He delivered them out of their troubles.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
and rescued them from their pits.
21 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders for the children of men.
22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of His works with joyful singing.
23 Some go out to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters.
24 They saw the works of Adonai,
and His wonders in the deep.
25 For He spoke and raised a stormy wind,
lifting up towering waves.
26 They mounted up to the sky
and plunged down to the depths.
In their peril their souls melted away.
27 They reeled and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill was bewildered.
28 So they cried out to Adonai in their distress,
and He brought them out of their troubles.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper—
the waves were hushed.[a]
30 They were glad when it became calm,
and He led them to their desired haven.
31 Let them praise Adonai for His mercy,
and His wonders to the children of men.
32 Let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people,
and praise Him at the assembly of elders.
17 As for you, My flock”—thus says Adonai Elohim—“behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. [a] 18 Was it too little for you that you were feeding in the good pasture? Must you trample down the rest of your pastures with your feet? You were drinking clear water. Must you muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Yet My sheep must eat what you have trampled with your feet and drink what you have muddied with your feet!”
20 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohim to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you thrust with your side and with shoulder and gore all the weak with your horns, until you have scattered them all over, 22 I will save My flock. They will no longer be prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 So I will set up One Shepherd over them, My servant David—He will tend them, He will feed them Himself and be their shepherd. [b] 24 I, Adonai, will be their God, and My servant David will be Prince among them. I, Adonai, have spoken.
25 “I will make a covenant of shalom with them. I will remove the evil beasts from the land, so they may dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. 26 I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will cause the rain to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. 27 The tree of the field will yield its fruit. The ground will yield its produce. They will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Adonai, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be prey to the nations. The beast of the earth will not devour them. They will live in security. No one will make them afraid. 29 I will make their agriculture renowned. They will no longer be consumed with hunger in the land. They will no longer bear the scorn of the nations. 30 They will know that I, Adonai their God, am with them. They, the house of Israel, are My people.” It is a declaration of Adonai. 31 “So you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are human, and I am your God.” It is a declaration of Adonai Elohim.
Yeshua, Mediator of a Better Covenant
8 Now here is the main point being said. We do have such a Kohen Gadol, who has taken His seat at the right hand[a] of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. 2 He is a priestly attendant of the Holies and the true Tent—which Adonai set up, not man. 3 For every kohen gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary for this One also to have something to offer. [b] 4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a kohen at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Torah. 5 They offer service in a replica[c] and foreshadower of the heavenlies—one that is just as Moses was instructed by God when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For He says, “See that you make everything according to the design that was shown to you on the mountain.” [d] 6 But now Yeshua has obtained a more excellent ministry, insofar as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.
7 For if that first one had been faultless, there would not have been discourse seeking a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says,
“Behold, days are coming,
says Adonai,
when I will inaugurate a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not remain in My covenant,
and I did not care for them, says Adonai.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel
after those days, says Adonai.
I will put My Torah into their mind,
and upon their hearts I will write it.
And I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.[e]
11 And no more will they teach,
each one his fellow citizen
and each one his brother, saying,
‘Know Adonai,’
because all will know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and their sins I will remember no more.”[f]
13 In saying “new,” He has treated the first as old; but what is being made old and aging is close to vanishing.
At Home with Miriam and Martha
38 Now while they were traveling, Yeshua entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 She had a sister called Miriam, who was seated at the Master’s feet, listening to His teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving; so she approached Yeshua and said, “Master, doesn’t it concern you that my sister has left me to serve alone? Then tell her to help me!”
41 But answering her, the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and bothered about many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary. For Miriam has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”[a]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.