Book of Common Prayer
Refuge, Sukkah, Shelter
Psalm 31
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 In You, Adonai, have I taken refuge:
Let me never be put to shame.
In Your righteousness, deliver me.
3 Turn Your ear to me, rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a stronghold for my deliverance.
4 Since You are my rock and my fortress,
You lead me and guide me for Your Name’s sake.
5 Free me from the net they hid for me,
for You are my refuge.
6 Into Your hand I commit my spirit.[a]
You have redeemed me, Adonai, God of truth.
7 I detest those who continue to watch worthless idols,
but I trust in Adonai.
8 I will be glad and rejoice in Your lovingkindness,
for You saw my affliction.
You knew the troubles of my soul.
9 You did not hand me over to the enemy.
You set my feet in a wide-open place.
10 Be gracious to me, Adonai,
for I am in distress.
My eyes waste away with grief,
my soul and my body as well.
11 For my life is consumed in sorrow
and my years in sighing.
My strength fails because of my anguish
and my bones waste away.
12 Because of all my adversaries
I am the contempt of my neighbors
and a dread to my acquaintances.
Seeing me on the street, they flee from me.
13 I am as forgotten as a dead man.
I have become like a broken vessel.
14 For I have heard the whispering of many.
There is terror on every side
as they conspire against me
and plot to take my life.
15 But I have trusted in You, Adonai.
I said: “You are my God.”
16 My times are in Your hands.
Deliver me from the hands of my foes and from those who pursue me.
17 Make Your face shine on Your servant.
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
18 Adonai, let me not be ashamed,
for I have called upon You.
Let the wicked be ashamed—
let them be silent in Sheol.
19 Let the lying lips be mute.
For they speak arrogantly against the righteous,
with pride and contempt.
20 How great is Your goodness,
which You have stored up for those who fear You,
which You have given to those who take refuge in You,
before the children of men.
21 In the shelter of Your presence
You hide them from people’s plots.
You conceal them in a sukkah
from the strife of tongues.
22 Blessed be Adonai,
for He has shown me His wonderful love
in a besieged city.
23 I said in my alarm,
“I have been cut off from Your sight!”
But You heard the sound of my pleas
when I cried out to You.
24 Love Adonai, all His kedoshim!
Adonai preserves all the faithful,
but the proud He pays back in full.
25 Chazak! Let your heart take courage,[b]
all you who wait for Adonai.
Justice for the Oppressed
Psalm 35
1 A psalm of David.
Adonai, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight those who fight me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to my help.
3 Draw out also a spear and battle-axe.
Stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be ashamed and disgraced.
May they be turned back and humiliated
—those who plot evil against me.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Adonai driving them off.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Adonai pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me,
and without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
8 Let ruin come upon him by surprise.
Let the net he hid entangle himself
—into that same pit let him fall.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in Adonai
and delight in His salvation.
10 All my bones will say:
“Adonai, who is like You,
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from one who robs him?”
11 Violent witnesses rise up.
They question me about things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good—
my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth.
I afflicted my soul with fasting,
my prayer kept returning to my heart.
14 I went about mourning as though for my own friend or brother.
I bowed down dressed in black as though for my own mother.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee.
Wretches gathered against me whom I did not know,
tearing at me without ceasing.
16 They mocked profanely, as if at a feast,
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 My Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul from their ravages—
my solitary existence from the lions.
18 I praise You in the great assembly,
acclaiming You among a throng of people.
19 Do not let my deceitful enemies gloat over me without cause,
nor let those who hate me for nothing wink an eye.[a]
20 For they never speak shalom,
but devise deceitful words against the quiet ones in the land.
21 Yes, they open their mouth wide against me, saying:
“Aha! Aha! Our own eyes have seen it!”
22 You have seen it, Adonai—be not silent!
Adonai, be not far from me.
23 Arise, awaken to my defense,
to my cause—my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, Adonai my God,
according to Your justice,
and do not let them gloat over me.
25 Don’t let them say in their heart:
“Aha! Just what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say:
“We swallowed him up!”
26 May they be ashamed and humiliated,
those who rejoice over my misery.
May they who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May they shout for joy and be glad,
those who delight in my righteous cause.
May they always say:
“Exalted be Adonai, who delights in His servant’s shalom.”
28 Then my tongue will declare aloud
Your justice and Your praises all day.
Eating Consecrated Bread
21 Then David got up and left, while Jonathan returned to the town. 2 David went to Nob to Ahimelech the kohen. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?”
3 David said to Ahimelech the kohen, “The king has commissioned me with a matter, and told me: ‘Let no one know anything about the mission on which I am sending you, or with what I have commissioned you.’ So, I have directed the young men to such and such a place. 4 So now, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
5 The kohen answered David saying, “There is no common bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread[a]—so long as the young men have kept themselves from women.”
6 “Of course women have been kept from us, as on previous campaigns,” David answered the kohen. “So the young men’s vessels were holy, though it was an ordinary mission—how much more so will their vessels be holy today!” 7 So the kohen gave him consecrated bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which was taken out from the presence of Adonai in order to replace it with hot bread on the day it was taken away.[b]
8 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before Adonai. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.
9 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there a spear or sword on hand? For I did not take my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
10 The kohen said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah—it’s here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, take it. For there’s nothing else here.”
“There’s nothing like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”
David Pretends Insanity
11 Then David got up and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish, king of Gath. 12 But Achish’s courtiers said to him, “Isn’t this David king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’”
13 David took these words to heart, and he became so afraid of King Achish of Gath 14 that he changed his demeanor before them and acted like a mad man while in their hands—scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard. 15 Then Achish said to his courtiers, “Look, you can see the man is insane. Why did you bring him to me? 16 Do I have a shortage of crazy people that you’ve brought this fellow to go crazy on me? Is this one going to come into my house?”
Paul’s Message in Diaspora Synagogues
13 Setting sail from Paphos, Paul’s company came to Perga in Pamphylia. John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. Entering the synagogue on the Shabbat, they sat down. 15 After the reading of the Torah and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, speak.”
16 So Paul, standing up and motioning with his hand, said, “Men of Israel and God-fearers, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt,[a] and with an outstretched arm He led them out of there. 18 For about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. [b] 19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave their land as an inheritance[c]— 20 all of this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After removing him, He raised up David to be their king. He also testified about him and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do My will.’[d]
23 “From this man’s seed, in keeping with His promise, God brought to Israel a Savior[e]—Yeshua. 24 Before His coming, John had proclaimed an immersion of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his service, he said, ‘What do you suppose me to be? I am not He. But behold, One is coming after me, whose sandal I’m not worthy to untie.’
Crowds Clamor for Yeshua
7 Yeshua withdrew to the sea with His disciples, and a large crowd from the Galilee followed. From Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon, a great number, hearing all He was doing, came to Him. 9 He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t mob Him.
10 For He had healed many, so that all those afflicted fell down before Him in order to touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, would fall down before Him and cry out, “You are Ben-Elohim!” 12 But Yeshua strictly ordered them not to make Him known.
Appointing the Twelve
13 Now He climbs up on the mountain and calls those He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 He appointed twelve (whom He also named emissaries), so that they might be with Him and He might send them to proclaim the Good News, 15 and to have power to drive out demons. 16 And He appointed the Twelve: to Simon He gave the name Peter; 17 to Jacob and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, He gave the name Boanerges, which is Sons of Thunder; 18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Jacob the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot; [a] 19 and Judah from Kriot, who also betrayed Him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.