Book of Common Prayer
Israel from Moses to David
Psalm 78
1 A contemplative song of Asaph.
Listen, my people, to my teaching.
Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a parable.
I will utter perplexing sayings from of old,
3 which we have heard and known,
and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
telling to the next generation the praises of Adonai
and His strength and the wonders He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob
and ordained Torah in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers to teach their children,
6 so that the next generation might know,
even the children yet to be born:
they will arise and tell their children.
7 Then they will put their trust in God,
not forgetting the works of God,
but keeping His mitzvot.
8 So they will not be like their fathers—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not prepare its heart,
whose spirit was not loyal to God.
9 The sons of Ephraim were archers armed with bows,
yet they turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
and refused to walk in His Torah.
11 They forgot His deeds
and His wonders that He had shown them.
12 He did miracles in front of their fathers
in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and led them through,
and He made the water stand like a wall.
14 By day He led them with a cloud
and all night with a light of fire.
15 He split apart rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as abundant as the depths.
16 So He brought streams out of a rock,
and made waters flow down like rivers.[a]
17 Yet they added more sinning against Him,
rebelling against Elyon in the desert.
18 They put God to the test in their heart
by demanding food for their craving.
19 Then they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20 See, He struck the rock,
waters gushed out, streams overflowed.
But can He give bread?
Will He provide meat for His people?”
21 When Adonai heard, He was angry.
A fire was kindled against Jacob,
and fury also rose against Israel.
22 For they did not believe in God
or trust in His salvation.
23 Yet He commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24 and rained down manna upon them to eat,
and gave them grain of heaven.[b]
25 Man did eat the bread of angels.
He sent them abundant provision.
26 He loosed the east wind in the skies,
and by His power He drove the south wind.
27 He rained meat upon them like dust,
and winged fowl like sand of the seas.
28 And He let it fall amidst their camp,
all around their tents.
29 So they ate and were very full—
for He gave them their desire.
30 No longer a stranger from their desire,
while their food was still in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them
and slew the stoutest of them,
and struck down young men of Israel.
32 Despite all this they sinned still more,
and did not trust in His wonders.
33 So He ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34 But when He slew them,
then they sought Him, and turned back,
and desired God eagerly.
35 Then they remembered that God was their Rock
and El Elyon their Redeemer.
36 But they flattered Him with their mouth
and kept lying to Him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
nor were they faithful to His covenant.
38 But He is compassionate,
forgives iniquity and does not destroy.
Yes, many times He restrains His anger,
and does not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they are but flesh,
a passing breath that never returns.
40 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness,
and grieved Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they tested God,
and pained the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember His hand—
the day He redeemed them from the foe,
43 when He displayed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the plain of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood,
so they could not drink from their streams.
45 He sent on them flies to devour them,
and frogs to devastate them,
46 and gave their crops to the grasshopper,
and their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
and their sycamore trees with frost,
48 and gave over their cattle to the hail,
and their flocks to fiery bolts.
49 He sent on them the fury of His anger
—wrath and indignation and trouble—
a band of evil angels.
50 He cleared a path for His anger.
He spared not their soul from death,
but gave their life over to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But He brought His people out like sheep,
and led them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them to safety, so they did not fear,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 Then He brought them to His holy territory,
to the mountain His right hand had gotten.
55 He drove out nations before them,
and allotted them an inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56 Yet they tested and rebelled against El Elyon,
and did not keep His decrees.
57 Like their fathers they turned and were treacherous.
They turned aside like a faulty bow.
58 For they provoked Him
with their high places,
so they aroused His jealousy
with their graven images.
59 God heard and was furious,
and He greatly detested Israel.
60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He pitched among men.
61 He gave up His strength into captivity,
and His glory into the adversary’s hand.
62 He gave His people over to the sword,
when He was angry at His inheritance.
63 Fire consumed their young men,
and their virgins had no wedding songs.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
as a warrior shaking off wine.
66 He beat back His foes,
putting them to lasting scorn.
67 Then He detested Joseph’s tent
and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead He chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved.
69 He built His Sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth that He established forever.
70 He also chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds,
71 from following nursing ewes.
He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people,
and Israel His inheritance.
72 So He shepherded them with the integrity of His heart,
and led them with His skillful hands.
21 When the man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to Adonai and to fulfill his vow offering, 22 Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “When the child is weaned, I will bring him, so he may appear before Adonai and stay there forever.”
23 So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Stay until you have weaned him—only may Adonai establish His word.” So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour and a jar of wine, and brought him to the House of Adonai in Shiloh, while the child was still young.
25 After they slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. 26 “It’s me, my lord!” she said. “As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman that stood by you here, praying to Adonai. 27 For this boy I prayed, and Adonai has granted me my petition that I asked of Him. 28 So I in turn dedicate him to Adonai—as long as he lives he is dedicated to Adonai.” Then he bowed in worship there before Adonai.
Hannah’s Prayer of Exultation
2 Then Hannah prayed and said,[a]
“My heart exults in Adonai,
my horn is lifted high in Adonai.
I smile wide over my enemies,
for I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 There is none holy as Adonai,
for there is none besides You,
nor is there any rock like our God.
3 Boast no more so proudly—
insolence comes out of your mouth.
For Adonai is the all-knowing God,
and by Him deeds are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the stumbling are girded with strength.
5 Those full hire themselves for bread,
but those starving hunger no more.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
but she with many sons languishes.
6 Adonai causes death and makes alive,
He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 Adonai makes poor and makes rich,
He brings low and also lifts up.
8 He raises the helpless from the dust.
He lifts the needy from the dunghill,
to make them sit with nobles,
granting them a seat of honor.
For the earth’s pillars are Adonai’s,
and He has set the world on them.
9 He guards the steps of His godly ones,
but the wicked are silenced in darkness.
For one does not prevail by might.
10 Those who oppose Adonai will be shattered.
He thunders against them in heaven.
He judges the ends of the earth.
He gives strength to His king,
exalting the horn of His anointed one.”[b]
Eli’s Sons Sin Against Adonai
11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the boy served Adonai before Eli the kohen.
15 In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (the number of names all together was about a hundred and twenty) and said, 16 “Brothers,[a] the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Ruach ha-Kodesh foretold by the mouth of David, concerning Judah—who became a guide to those who seized Yeshua. 17 For he was counted among us and received his share of this office.” 18 (Now this man Judah bought a field with the reward of his wickedness. Falling headfirst, he burst open in the middle and his intestines splattered out. 19 And it became known to all those living in Jerusalem, so in their own language that field was called Akeldama[b]—that is, ‘Field of Blood.’) 20 For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
‘Let his dwelling place become desolate,
and let there be no one living in it’[c]
and ‘Let another take his position.’[d]
21 “Therefore one of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Yeshua went in and out among us— 22 beginning with His immersion by John until the day He was taken up from us—must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
23 So they nominated two—Joseph, called Barsabbas (also called Justus), and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show us which of these two You have chosen 25 to take the position in this office as emissary, from which Judah turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was added to the eleven emissaries.
19 The Torah scholars and the ruling kohanim tried to grab Him that very hour, because they realized that He spoke this parable against them—but they feared the people.
Silencing the Opposition
20 Now they watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to trap Him in His words so they could hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 And they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You tell it straight and You teach it straight. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God according to the truth. 22 Is it permitted for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 But carefully considering their treachery, Yeshua said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius.[a] Whose image and inscription does it have?”
And they said, “Caesar’s.”
25 Then He said to them, “Well then, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they could not trap Him in His words in the presence of the people. Astonished by His answer, they kept silent.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.