Book of Common Prayer
102 (0) Prayer of a sufferer overcome by weakness and pouring out his complaint before Adonai:
2 (1) Adonai, hear my prayer!
Let my cry for help reach you!
3 (2) Don’t hide your face from me
when I am in such distress!
Turn your ear toward me;
when I call, be quick to reply!
4 (3) For my days are vanishing like smoke,
my bones are burning like a furnace.
5 (4) I am stricken and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food.
6 (5) Because of my loud groaning,
I am just skin and bones.
7 (6) I am like a great owl in the desert,
I’ve become like an owl in the ruins.
8 (7) I lie awake and become
like a bird alone on the roof.
9 (8) My enemies taunt me all day long;
mad with rage, they make my name a curse.
10 (9) For I have been eating ashes like bread
and mingling tears with my drink
11 (10) because of your furious anger,
since you picked me up just to toss me aside.
12 (11) My days decline like an evening shadow;
I am drying up like grass.
13 (12) But you, Adonai, are enthroned forever;
your renown will endure through all generations.
14 (13) You will arise and take pity on Tziyon,
for the time has come to have mercy on her;
the time determined has come.
15 (14) For your servants love her very stones;
they take pity even on her dust.
16 (15) The nations will fear the name of Adonai
and all the kings on earth your glory,
17 (16) when Adonai has rebuilt Tziyon,
and shows himself in his glory,
18 (17) when he has heeded the plea of the poor
and not despised their prayer.
19 (18) May this be put on record for a future generation;
may a people yet to be created praise Adonai.
20 (19) For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven Adonai surveys the earth
21 (20) to listen to the sighing of the prisoner,
to set free those who are sentenced to death,
22 (21) to proclaim the name of Adonai in Tziyon
and his praise in Yerushalayim
23 (22) when peoples and kingdoms have been gathered together
to serve Adonai.
24 (23) He has broken my strength in midcourse,
he has cut short my days.
25 (24) I plead, “God, your years last through all generations;
so don’t take me away when my life is half over!
26 (25) In the beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth;
heaven is the work of your hands.
27 (26) They will vanish, but you will remain;
like clothing, they will all grow old;
yes, you will change them like clothing,
and they will pass away.
28 (27) But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.
29 (28) The children of your servants will live securely
and their descendants be established in your presence.”
Book V: Psalms 107–150
107 Give thanks to Adonai; for he is good,
for his grace continues forever.
2 Let those redeemed by Adonai say it,
those he redeemed from the power of the foe.
3 He gathered them from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the sea.
4 They wandered in the desert, on paths through the wastes,
without finding any inhabited city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
their life was ebbing away.
6 In their trouble they cried to Adonai,
and he rescued them from their distress.
7 He led them by a direct path
to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to Adonai for his grace,
for his wonders bestowed on humanity!
9 For he has satisfied the hungry,
filled the starving with good.
10 Some lived in darkness, in death-dark gloom,
bound in misery and iron chains,
11 because they defied God’s word,
scorned the counsel of the Most High.
12 So he humbled their hearts by hard labor;
when they stumbled, no one came to their aid.
13 In their trouble they cried to Adonai,
and he rescued them from their distress.
14 He led them from darkness, from death-dark gloom,
shattering their chains.
15 Let them give thanks to Adonai for his grace,
for his wonders bestowed on humanity!
16 For he shattered bronze doors
and cut through iron bars.
17 There were foolish people who suffered affliction
because of their crimes and sins;
18 they couldn’t stand to eat anything;
they were near the gates of death.
19 In their trouble they cried to Adonai,
and he rescued them from their distress;
20 he sent his word and healed them,
he delivered them from destruction.
21 Let them give thanks to Adonai for his grace,
for his wonders bestowed on humanity!
22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and proclaim his great deeds with songs of joy.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
plying their trade on the great ocean,
24 saw the works of Adonai,
his wonders in the deep.
25 For at his word the storm-wind arose,
lifting up towering waves.
26 The sailors were raised up to the sky,
then plunged into the depths.
At the danger, their courage failed them,
27 they reeled and staggered like drunk men,
and all their skill was swallowed up.
28 In their trouble they cried to Adonai,
and he rescued them from their distress.
29 He silenced the storm and stilled its waves,
30 and they rejoiced as the sea grew calm.
Then he brought them safely
to their desired port.
31 Let them give thanks to Adonai for his grace,
for his wonders bestowed on humanity!
32 Let them extol him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the leaders’ council.
19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gitti, “You too? Why are you going with us? Go back, and stay with your king, since you are both a foreigner and in exile from your own place. 20 You arrived only yesterday; should I ask you to wander around with us? There’s no telling where I may go. Return, and take your kinsmen back with you. Grace and truth be with you.” 21 But Ittai answered the king, “As Adonai lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, your servant will be there too.” 22 “Go, move along,” said David to Ittai; and Ittai the Gitti moved on, accompanied by all his men and the little ones with him.
23 The whole country wept and wailed as all the people left. When the king crossed Vadi Kidron, all the people crossed, too, heading toward the desert road. 24 Tzadok also came, accompanied by all the L’vi’im bearing the ark for the covenant of God. They set the ark of God down, but Evyatar went up until all the people had finished leaving the city. 25 The king said to Tzadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in Adonai’s sight, he will bring me back and show me both it and the place where it is kept. 26 But if he says, ‘I am displeased with you,’ then — here I am; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” 27 The king then said to Tzadok the cohen, “Do you see? Return to the city in peace, your two sons with you — Achima‘atz your own son and Y’honatan the son of Evyatar. 28 I will wait on the desert plains until a message with new information comes from you.” 29 So Tzadok and Evyatar carried the ark of God back to Yerushalayim and stayed there.
30 David continued up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up, head covered and barefoot; and all the people with him had their heads covered and wept as they went up. 31 One of them told David, “Achitofel is among the conspirators with Avshalom.” David said, “Adonai, please! Turn Achitofel’s advice into foolishness!”
32 When David reached the top of the ascent, where it was customary to worship God, Hushai the Arki came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head. 33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will become a burden to me. 34 But if you go back to the city and tell Avshalom, ‘King, I will be your servant; just as I was your father’s servant in the past, so I will now be your servant’ — then you will be able to frustrate Achitofel’s advice for me. 35 You have Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim there with you. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, you tell to Tzadok and Evyatar the cohanim. 36 Their two sons, Achima‘atz the son of Tzadok and Y’honatan the son of Evyatar, are there with them; through them send me everything you hear.” 37 So Hushai David’s friend came into the city when Avshalom was about to enter Yerushalayim.
37 As Sha’ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “Is it all right if I say something to you?” The commander said, “You know Greek! 38 Say, aren’t you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?” 39 Sha’ul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people.”
40 Having received permission, Sha’ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew:
22 “Brothers and fathers! Listen to me as I make my defense before you now!” 2 When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they settled down more; so he continued: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli’el in every detail of the Torah of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted to death the followers of this Way, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. 5 The cohen hagadol and the whole Sanhedrin can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Dammesek, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city too and bring them back to Yerushalayim for punishment.
6 “As I was traveling and approaching Dammesek, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me! 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?’ 8 I answered, ‘Sir, who are you?’ ‘I am Yeshua from Natzeret,’ he said to me, ‘and you are persecuting me!’ 9 Those who were with me did see the light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10 I said ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, and go into Dammesek, and there you will be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.’ 11 I had been blinded by the brightness of the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Dammesek.
12 “A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the Torah who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there, 13 came to me, stood by me and said, ‘Brother Sha’ul, see again!’ And at that very moment, I recovered my sight and saw him. 14 He said, ‘The God of our fathers[a] determined in advance that you should know his will, see the Tzaddik and hear his voice; 15 because you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16 So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, immerse yourself and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.’
46 They came to Yericho; and as Yeshua was leaving Yericho with his talmidim and a great crowd, a blind beggar, Bar-Timai (son of Timai), was sitting by the side of the road. 47 When he heard that it was Yeshua from Natzeret, he started shouting, “Yeshua! Son of David! Have pity on me!” 48 Many people scolded him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David! Have pity on me!” 49 Yeshua stopped and said, “Call him over!” They called to the blind man, “Courage! Get up! He’s calling for you!” 50 Throwing down his blanket, he jumped up and came over to Yeshua. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” asked Yeshua. The blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me be able to see again.” 52 Yeshua said to him, “Go! Your trust has healed you.” Instantly he received his sight and followed him on the road.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.