Book of Common Prayer
KOF ק
145 I cried out with all my heart,
“Answer me, Adonai!
I will keep Your decrees.”
146 I cried out to You, “Save me,
and I will keep Your testimonies.”
147 I am up before dawn, crying for help—
I put my hope in Your word.
148 My eyes are up before every night watch,
as I meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice with Your lovingkindness.
Revive me, Adonai, with Your judgments.
150 Pursuers of wicked schemes draw near—
they are far from Your Torah.
151 You are near, Adonai,
and all Your mitzvot are truth.
152 Long ago I learned from Your testimonies
that You founded them firmly forever.
RESH ר
153 See my affliction and rescue me,
for I do not forget Your Torah.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me.
Restore my life through Your word.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek after Your decrees.
156 Great are Your mercies, Adonai.
Restore my life with Your judgments.
157 Many are my persecutors and my foes.
Yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.
158 I see the treacherous and loathe them,
because they do not keep Your word.
159 See how I loved Your precepts.
Restore my life, Adonai, with Your lovingkindness.
160 Truth is the essence of Your word,
and all Your righteous rulings are eternal.
SHIN ש
161 Princes persecute me for no reason,
but my heart is in awe of Your words.
162 I rejoice in Your word,
as one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,
but Your Torah I love.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
because of Your righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have they who love Your Torah,
and nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I hope for Your salvation, Adonai,
and do Your mitzvot.
167 My soul has observed Your testimonies
and I love them exceedingly.
168 I observe Your precepts and Your laws,
for all my ways are before You.
TAV ת
169 Let my cry come to You, Adonai.
Grant me understanding by Your word.
170 Let my supplication come before You.
Deliver me, according to Your promise.
171 My lips utter praise,
for You teach me Your statutes.
172 My tongue sings of Your word,
for all Your mitzvot are righteous.
173 Let Your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen Your precepts.
174 I long for Your deliverance, Adonai,
and Your Torah is my delight.
175 Let my soul live and praise You,
and may Your rulings help me.
176 I have strayed like a lost sheep—seek Your servant.
For I did not forget Your mitzvot.
Blessing on Those Who Fear God
Psalm 128
1 A Song of Ascents.
Happy is everyone in awe of Adonai,
who walks in His ways,
2 for you will eat the labor of your hands.
You will be blessed
and it will be good for you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.
Your children will be like olive saplings around your table.
4 Behold, thus will the man be blessed
who fears Adonai.
5 May Adonai bless you out of Zion,
and may you see Jerusalem in prosperity
all the days of your life,
6 and may you live to see your children’s children.
Shalom be upon Israel!
Haters Won’t Prevail
Psalm 129
1 A Song of Ascents.
“How many times they have been hostile to me,
even from my youth”—let Israel now say—
2 “How greatly they have been
hostile to me, even from my youth.
Yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 Plowmen plowed on my back—
they made their furrows long!”
4 Adonai is righteous—
He has cut the ropes of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be driven back in disgrace.
6 Let them be like grass on the roofs,
which withers before it springs up—
7 with it a reaper cannot fill his hand,
nor can a binder of sheaves fill his lap.
8 So the passersby may never say:
“The blessing of Adonai be upon you—
we bless you in the Name of Adonai.”
Forgiveness and Full Redemption
Psalm 130
1 A Song of Ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to You, Adonai!
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive to the sound of my supplications.
3 If You, Adonai, kept a record of iniquities—
my Lord, who could stand?
4 For with You there is forgiveness,
so You may be revered.
5 I wait for Adonai, my soul waits,
and in His word I hope.
6 My soul waits for my Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning,
watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, wait for Adonai.
For with Adonai there is lovingkindness,
and with Him is full redemption,
8 and He will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
19 Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and bring the king news that Adonai has vindicated him against the hand of his enemies.”
20 But Joab said to him, “You are not to be the bearer of news today. You may do it another day, but today you shall bear no news—for the king’s son is dead.”
21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go tell the king what you have seen.” So the Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.
22 But Ahimaaz son of Zadok once again said to Joab, “Whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.”
“Why should you run, my son,” Joab said, “since you would have no news worth telling?”
23 “Whatever may come of it, I want to run!”
So he said to him, “Run!” Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and so passed the Cushite.
Escorted to Caesarea
23 Calling two of his centurions, he said, “At the third hour of the night,[a] prepare two hundred soldiers, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, to proceed as far as Caesarea. 24 Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, so that he might be brought safely to Felix the governor.”
25 He wrote a letter to this effect:
26 “Claudius Lysias,
To the Most Excellent Governor Felix:
Greetings!
27 This man was seized by the Judean leaders and was about to be killed by them, when I came on the scene with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 Desiring to know the charge of which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that he was accused concerning issues of their law, but charged with nothing worthy of death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you immediately, also ordering his accusers to state before you what they have against him.”
31 So the soldiers, in keeping with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 On the next day, they returned to headquarters, leaving the horsemen to go on with him. 33 When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul before him. 34 Upon reading the letter, the governor asked what province he was from. When he learned that Paul was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers have arrived also.” Then he gave orders for Paul to be guarded in Herod’s Praetorium.
A Test of Loyalty
13 Then they send some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Yeshua in order to trap Him with a word. 14 They come and say to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are honest, and what others think doesn’t concern You. You don’t look at men’s appearance, but teach the way of God according to the truth. Is it permitted to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?”
But Yeshua saw through their hypocrisy and said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius so I may see it.”
16 They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they said to Him.
17 Then Yeshua said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were completely amazed at Him.
The Challenge of the Sadducees
18 Then Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came and began questioning Yeshua, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, then his brother should take the widow and father children for his brother.’ [a] 20 There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and, when he died, left no offspring. 21 And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring, and the third likewise. 22 Now the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died, too. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise up, whose wife will she be? For all seven had married her.”
24 Yeshua said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you’ve gone astray, because you don’t understand the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when they rise up from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 But concerning the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the burning bush? How God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? [b] 27 He’s not the God of the dead, but of the living. You have gone far astray!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.