Book of Common Prayer

Book III: Psalms 73–89

5 Then all the tribes of Isra’el came to David in Hevron and said, “Here, we are your own flesh and bone. ² In the past, when Sha’ul was king over us, it was you who led Isra’el’s military campaigns; and Adonai said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Isra’el, and you will be chief over Isra’el.’” ³ So all the leaders of Isra’el came to the king in Hevron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hevron in the presence of Adonai. Then they anointed David king over Isra’el. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began his rule, and he ruled forty years. ⁵ In Hevron he ruled over Y’hudah seven years and six months; then in Yerushalayim he ruled thirty-three years over all Isra’el and Y’hudah.

⁶ The king and his men went to Yerushalayim to attack the Y’vusi, the inhabitants of that region. They taunted David, “You won’t get in here! Even the blind and the lame could fend you off!” — in other words, they were thinking, “David will never get in here.” ⁷ Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Tziyon, also known [now] as the City of David. ⁸ What David said on that day was, “In order to attack the Y’vusi, you have to climb up [from the spring outside the city] through the water tunnel. Then you can do away with those [so-called] ‘lame and blind’” (whom David despises — hence the expression, “The ‘blind and lame’ keep him from entering the house”).

⁹ David lived in the stronghold and called it the City of David. Then David built up the city around it, starting at the Millo [earth rampart] and working inward. ¹⁰ David grew greater and greater, because Adonai the God of Armies was with him. ¹¹ Hiram king of Tzor sent envoys to David with cedar logs, and with them were carpenters and stonemasons; and they built David a palace. ¹² David then knew that Adonai had set him up as king over Isra’el and increased his royal power for the sake of his people.

17 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Sha’ul and Sila came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue. ² According to his usual practice, Sha’ul went in; and on three Shabbats he gave them drashes from the Tanakh, ³ explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that “this Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” ⁴ Some of the Jews were persuaded and threw in their lot with Sha’ul and Sila, as did a great many of the Greek men who were “God-fearers,” and not a few of the leading women.

⁵ But the unbelieving Jews grew jealous; so they got together some vicious men from the riffraff hanging around in the market square, collected a crowd and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason’s house, hoping to bring Sha’ul and Sila out to the mob. ⁶ But when they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities and shouted, “These men who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too! ⁷ And Jason has let them stay in his home! All of them are defying the decrees of the Emperor; because they assert that there is another king, Yeshua!” ⁸ Their words threw the crowd and the authorities into a turmoil, ⁹ so that only after Jason and the others had posted bond did they let them go. ¹⁰ But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha’ul and Sila off to Berea.

As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue. ¹¹ Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul was saying were true. ¹² Many of them came to trust, as did a number of prominent Greek women and not a few Greek men.

¹³ But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha’ul in Berea as well, they went there too to make trouble and agitate the crowds. ¹⁴ The brothers sent Sha’ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind. ¹⁵ Sha’ul’s escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.

²⁴ Next, Yeshua left that district and went off to the vicinity of Tzor and Tzidon. There he found a house to stay in and wanted to remain unrecognized, but keeping hidden proved impossible. ²⁵ Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her came to him and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, by birth a Syro-phoenician, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” ²⁸ She answered him, “That is true, sir; but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s leftovers.” ²⁹ Then he said to her, “For such an answer you may go on home; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went back home and found the child lying on the couch, the demon gone.

³¹ Then he left the district of Tzor and went through Tzidon to Lake Kinneret and on to the region of the Ten Towns. ³² They brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and asked Yeshua to lay his hand on him. ³³ Taking him off alone, away from the crowd, Yeshua put his fingers into the man’s ears, spat, and touched his tongue; ³⁴ then, looking up to heaven, he gave a deep groan and said to him, “Hippatach!” (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ His ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly. ³⁶ Yeshua ordered the people to tell no one; but the more he insisted, the more zealously they spread the news. ³⁷ People were overcome with amazement. “Everything he does, he does well!” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”