Book of Common Prayer
A Powerful King for the Poor
Psalm 72
1 Of Solomon.
Give the king Your judgments, O God,
and Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge Your people with righteousness,
and Your poor ones with justice.
3 Let the mountains bring shalom to the people,
and the hills righteousness.
4 May he vindicate the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 Let them fear You while the sun endures,
and while the moon lasts, throughout all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the ground.
7 Let the righteous flourish in his days.
Let shalom abound till the moon is no more.
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Let desert dwellers bow before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute,
kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
11 So let all kings bow down before him,
and all nations serve him.
12 For he rescues the needy crying for help,
also the poor and the one with no helper.
13 He will take pity on the poor and needy,
and the souls of the needy he will save.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their soul,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given to him.
May he pray for him continually,
and bless him all day.
16 Let there be abundance of grain in the land.
Let it sway on the top of the hills,
let its fruit be like Lebanon,
and let people of the city flourish like grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name increase before the sun,
and may all nations be blessed by him
and call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Adonai Elohim, God of Israel,
who alone does wonders.
19 Blessed be His glorious Name forever.
May all the earth be filled with His glory!
Amen and Amen!
20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are complete.
YOD י
73 Your hands have made me and formed me.
Give me understanding that I may learn Your mitzvot.
74 Those in awe of You see me and rejoice,
because I put my hope in Your word.
75 I know, Adonai, Your judgments are just.
In faithfulness You have afflicted me.
76 May Your lovingkindness comfort me,
according to Your promise to Your servant.
77 Let Your tender mercies reach me,
Let me live, for Your Torah is my delight.
78 May the proud be put to shame
for wronging me with a lie,
but I will meditate on Your precepts.
79 Let those in awe of You return to me—
those who know Your testimonies.
80 My heart will have integrity in following Your decrees,
so that I would not be ashamed.
KAF כ
81 My soul faints with longing for Your salvation,
but I still hope in Your word.
82 My eyes are worn out longing for Your promise,
saying, “When will You comfort me?”
83 Though I became like a wineskin dried in smoke,
I do not forget Your decrees.
84 How many are the days of Your servant?
When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?
85 The proud have dug pits for me—
that is not in accord with Your Torah!
86 All Your mitzvot are faithful.
They persecute me with a lie—help me!
87 They almost finished me off on earth.
But I—I will not forsake Your precepts.
88 Revive me with Your lovingkindness,
so I may keep Your mouth’s testimony.
LAMED ל
89 Forever, Adonai,
Your word stands firm in the heavens.
90 Your faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
You established the earth, and it stands.
91 Your judgments stand today,
for all things are Your servants.
92 If Your Torah had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget Your precepts.
For with them You have kept me alive.
94 I am Yours, save me!
For I have sought out Your precepts.
95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me.
But I will study Your testimonies.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection,
yet Your commandment is boundless.
30 Moses spoke in the hearing of the whole community of Israel the words of this song, right to the end:
Parashat Haazinu
The Song of Moses
32 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak!
Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching trickle like rain,
my speech distill like dew—
like gentle rain on new grass,
like showers on tender plants.
3 For I will proclaim Adonai’s Name,
ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock—blameless is His work.
Indeed, all His ways are just.
God of faithfulness without iniquity,
righteous and upright is He.
5 Did it corrupt Him? No!
The blemish is His children’s—
a generation crooked and twisted.
6 Is this how you pay back Adonai,
O foolish, unwise people?
Isn’t He your Father who ransomed you?[a]
He made you and established you.
7 “Remember the days of antiquity,
understand the years across generations.[b]
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders and they will say to you.
8 When Elyon gave nations their heritage,
when He separated the sons of man,
He set boundaries for the people
by the number of Bnei-Yisrael.
9 But Adonai’s portion is His people—
Jacob is the share of His inheritance.
10 He found him in the wilderness land,
in the void of a howling waste.
He surrounded him, cared for him,
guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young,
He spreads His wings, catches him,
lifts him up on His pinions.
12 Adonai alone guided him—
there was no foreign god with him.
13 He made him mount the heights of the land.
so he ate the produce of the field.
He suckled him with honey from a rock,
with oil from a flinty boulder.
14 Butter of cattle and milk of a flock,
with fat of lambs,
rams of the Bashan and he-goats,
with fat of the kidneys of wheat,
and blood of grapes you drank.
21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak.
Yet whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I speak in foolishness—I dare, too. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Messiah? I am more so—I speak like I’m out of my mind—in labors much more, in prisons much more, in beatings more brutal, near death often. 24 Five times from the Jewish leaders I received forty lashes minus one. [a] 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent in the open sea. 26 In my many journeys I have been in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers in the sea, dangers among false brothers, 27 in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Besides these other things, there is daily pressure on me of concern for all of Messiah’s communities. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Yeshua, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, 33 and I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.[b]
11 As they were listening to this, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was about to appear at once. 12 Therefore He said, “A certain nobleman went to a faraway land to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 13 And calling ten of his own slaves, he gave them ten minas[a] and said to them, ‘Do business until I come back.’ 14 But his citizens detested him and they sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this fellow to reign over us!’ 15 When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he called for those slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much business they had done. 16 Now the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your one mina has made ten.’ 17 The master said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you were faithful with so little, take charge over ten cities.’ 18 Also, the second slave came, saying, ‘Your mina, Master, made five.’ 19 Then he also said to this one, ‘You are likewise over five cities.’ 20 But another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina. I was keeping it safe in a handkerchief, 21 for I was afraid of you because you are a strict man. You take what you did not make and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, ‘By the words of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked slave! You knew that I am strict, taking what I did not make and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have collected it with interest?’ 24 Then to the bystanders he said, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ 25 But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas!’ 26 ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more shall be given. But from the one who doesn’t have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27 But those hostile to me, who didn’t want me to reign over them, bring them here and execute them before me.’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.