Book of Common Prayer
Justice of the Kingdom
Psalm 146
1 Halleluyah! Praise Adonai, O my soul!
2 I will praise Adonai all my life.
I will praise my God yet again.
3 Do not put your trust in princes—
in man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 His breath departs,
he returns to his dust.
In that very day his plans perish.
5 Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in Adonai his God,
6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps truth forever,
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives bread to the hungry.
Adonai sets the prisoners free.
8 Adonai opens the eyes of the blind.[a]
Adonai raises up those who are bowed down.
Adonai loves the righteous.
9 Adonai protects outsiders,
upholds the fatherless and the widow,
but thwarts the way of the wicked.
10 Adonai will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.
Halleluyah!
He Builds Up Jerusalem
Psalm 147
1 Halleluyah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God.
How pleasant and fitting is praise.
2 Adonai builds up Jerusalem.
He gathers together the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars.
He gives them all their names.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power—
His understanding is infinite!
6 Adonai upholds the humble.
He brings the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to Adonai with thanksgiving.
Sing praises to our God on the harp.
8 He covers the sky with clouds.
He provides rain for the earth.
He makes grass sprout on the hills.
9 He gives food to the cattle
and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delights not in the horse’s strength,
nor takes pleasure in a man’s legs.
11 Adonai delights in those who revere Him,
in those who trust in His lovingkindness.
12 Exalt Adonai, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He strengthens the bars of your gates.
He blesses your children within you.
14 He puts shalom within your borders.
He satisfies you with the finest wheat.
15 He sends earth His command—
His word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool.
He scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down His hail like pebbles—
who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends forth His word and melts them.
He makes His wind blow and waters flow.
19 He declares His word to Jacob,
His decrees and His rulings to Israel.
20 He has not done so with any other nation.
They have not known His judgments.
Halleluyah!
The Beginning of Wisdom
Psalm 111
1 Halleluyah! I praise Adonai with all my heart
in the company and congregation of the upright.
2 Great are the works of Adonai—
searched out by all who delight in them.
3 Glorious and majestic is His work,
and His righteousness endures forever.
4 He made His wonders memorable.
Adonai is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He gives food to those who fear Him.
He remembers His covenant forever.
6 He shows His people His powerful deeds,
giving them the heritage of the nations.
7 The works of His hands are truth and justice.
All His precepts are trustworthy—
8 they are upheld forever and ever,
made in truth and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to His people.
He has ordained His covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is His Name.
10 The fear of Adonai is the beginning of wisdom.
All who follow His precepts have good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
Blessed is the Righteous Man
Psalm 112
1 Halleluyah! Happy is the man who fears Adonai,
who delights greatly in His mitzvot.
2 His offspring will be mighty in the land.
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright.
Gracious, compassionate and just is he.
5 Good comes to a man who is gracious and lends.
He will order his affairs with fairness.
6 Surely he will never be shaken.
The righteous are remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news—
his heart is steadfast, trusting in Adonai.
8 His heart is secure, he will not fear—
until he gazes on his foes.
9 He gives freely to the poor.
His righteousness endures forever.
His horn is lifted high in honor.
10 The wicked will see it and be indignant.
He will gnash with his teeth and waste away.
The desire of the wicked will perish.
From the Rising of the Sun
Psalm 113
1 Halleluyah! Praise, O servants of Adonai,
praise the Name of Adonai.
2 Blessed be the Name of Adonai
from now and forever.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down
the Name of Adonai is to be praised.
4 Adonai is high above all nations,
His glory is above the heavens.
5 Who is like Adonai our God,
enthroned on high,
6 who brings Himself down to look
upon heaven and upon earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust,
lifts up the needy out of the dunghill,
8 to seat him with princes,
with the princes of His people.
9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a joyful mother of children.
Halleluyah!
David’s Unauthorized Census
24 Now the anger of Adonai again flared up against Israel, so He incited David against them saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, so that I may know the sum of the people.”
10 But David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David prayed to Adonai, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done! But now, Adonai, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Adonai came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying: 12 “Go and speak to David, thus says Adonai: ‘Three things I am proposing to you—choose one of them and I will bring it upon you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, saying to him, “Shall seven years of famine come on you in your land? Or will you flee from your adversary for three months while he is pursuing you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should return to Him who sent me.”
14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in a great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Adonai, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.” 15 So Adonai sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, so that 70,000 men of the people died from Dan to Beersheba. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Adonai relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of Adonai was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel that was striking down the people, he spoke to Adonai saying, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong! But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
18 On that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up, set up an altar to Adonai on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up according to the word of Gad, as Adonai had commanded. 20 Now when Araunah looked down and saw the king and his courtiers crossing over toward him, Araunah went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to Adonai, so that the plague may be held back from the people.”
22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good in his eyes. Look here, the oxen for the burnt offering, as well as the threshing sledges and the ox yokes for the wood. 23 All this Araunah gives to the king.” Araunah said further to the king, “May Adonai your God accept you.”
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you at a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Adonai my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. 25 Then David built there an altar to Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Adonai was moved by prayer of entreaty for the land, and restrained the plague from Israel.
23 Now before faith came, we were being guarded under Torah—bound together until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the Torah became our guardian to lead us to Messiah, so that we might be made right based on trusting. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For you are all sons of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua. 27 For all of you who were immersed in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. 29 And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed—heirs according to the promise.
Living as Heirs
4 Now I am saying, so long as the heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, even though he is the owner of everything. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were subservient to the basic principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent out His Son, born of a woman and born under law— 5 to free those under law, so we might receive adoption as sons. 6 Now because you are sons, God sent the Ruach of His Son into our hearts, who cries out, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son—and if a son, also an heir through God.
The Light of the World
12 Yeshua spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows Me will no longer walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 Then the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself, so Your testimony is not valid.”
14 Yeshua answered them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid. For I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh, but I do not judge anyone. 16 Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because it is not I alone but I with the Father who sent Me. 17 Even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two men is true. [a] 18 I am one witness for Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness for Me.”
19 Then they said to Him, “Where is your Father?”
Yeshua answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would also know My Father.” 20 He spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the Temple, but no one arrested Him because His hour had not yet come.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.