Book of Common Prayer
Learn Torah Letter by Letter
Psalm 119
ALEPH א
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Torah of Adonai.
2 Happy are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with a whole heart,
3 who also do no injustice, but walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts
be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways were steadfast
to observe Your decrees!
6 Then I would not be ashamed,
when I consider all Your mitzvot.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart
as I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will observe Your statutes.
Never abandon me utterly!
BET ב
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought You
—let me not stray from Your mitzvot.
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
so I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Adonai.
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I rehearse
all the rulings of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies
above all wealth.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
and regard Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your decrees.
I will never forget Your word.
GIMEL ג
17 Do good to Your servant
that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, so I may behold
wonders from Your Torah.
19 I am a temporary dweller on earth—
do not hide Your mitzvot from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,
who wander from Your mitzvot.
22 Take scorn and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your decrees.
24 For Your testimonies are my delight—
they are also my counselors.
Silence the Flattering Lips
Psalm 12
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
3 Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
4 May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
5 They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”
6 “Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
7 The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
purified seven times.
8 You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
9 The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.
Trust in His Chesed
Psalm 13
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 How long, Adonai? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
3 How long must I have cares in my soul
and daily sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
4 Look at me and answer, Adonai my God.
Light up my eyes, or I will sleep in death.
5 Or else my enemy will say: “I have overcome him!”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
6 But I trust in Your lovingkindness,
my heart rejoices in Your salvation.
I will sing to Adonai,
because He has been good to me.
There Is No God?
Psalm 14
1 For the music director, of David.
The fool said in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt; their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.[a]
2 Adonai looked down from heaven on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They all turned aside, became corrupt.
There is no one who does good
—not even one.
4 “Will evildoers never understand—
those who consume My people as they eat bread—
and never call on Adonai?”
5 There they are, in great dread.
For God is with the righteous generation.
6 You would frustrate the plan of the lowly.
Surely Adonai is his refuge!
7 O may He give Israel’s salvation out of Zion!
When Adonai restores His captive people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad!
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
3 Then Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marriage, taking Pharaoh’s daughter, and bringing her to the city of David, until he finished building his own house, the House of Adonai, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no House built for the Name of Adonai until those days. 3 Now Solomon loved Adonai, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he kept sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. 4 So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Upon this very altar Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings.
5 At Gibeon Adonai appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said: “Ask for what should I give you?”[a]
6 Solomon said: “You have shown my father Your servant David great lovingkindness, as he walked before You in truth, righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You. Indeed, You have kept this great lovingkindness for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. 7 So now, Adonai my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. I am but a youth. I don’t know how to go out or come in. 8 Your servant is amid Your people, whom You have chosen—a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant a mind of understanding to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil—for who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 Now it was pleasing in the eyes of Adonai that Solomon requested this thing. 11 So God said to him: “Because you asked for this thing—and have not asked for yourself long life, nor asked for yourself riches, nor asked for the life of your enemies, but asked for yourself understanding to discern justice— 12 behold, I have done according to your words. I have given you a wise and discerning mind, so that there has been none like you before you, nor shall anyone like you arise after you. 13 Moreover I have also given you what you did not request—both riches and honor—so that no one among the kings will be like you all your days. 14 Furthermore, if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
15 Then Solomon awoke and took note of the dream. So he went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he made a feast for all his courtiers.
9 Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was already dangerous because the Fast[a] had already gone by, Paul kept warning them, 10 telling them, “Men, I can see that the voyage is about to end in disaster and great loss—not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives!”
11 But the centurion was persuaded more by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was said by Paul. 12 And because the harbor was unsuitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to set out to sea from there—if somehow they might reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing northeast and southeast, and spend the winter there.
Storm and Shipwreck
13 When the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they raised the anchor and started coasting along the shore by Crete. 14 But before long, a hurricane-force wind called “the Northeaster” swept down from the island. 15 When the ship was caught and could not face into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 As we ran under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the dinghy. 17 When the crew had hoisted it up, they made use of ropes to undergird the ship. Then fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis,[b] they let down the anchor and so were driven along. 18 But as we were violently battered by the storm, the next day they began throwing cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw out the ship’s gear with their own hands. 20 With neither sun nor stars appearing for many days, and no small storm pressing on us, all hope of our survival was vanishing.
21 As they had long been without food, Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, to avoid this disaster and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you—but only of the ship. 23 For this very night, there came to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. 24 He said, ‘Do not fear, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and indeed, God has granted you all who are sailing with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I trust God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”
Anointed for Burial
14 Now it was two days before Passover and the Feast of Matzah. The ruling kohanim and Torah scholars were searching for a way to grab Yeshua by stealth and kill Him. 2 “But not during the festival,” they were saying, “so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
3 And while Yeshua was in Bethany at the house of Simon ha-Metzora, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive oil of pure nard. Breaking open the jar, she poured it over His head. 4 But some got angry and said among themselves, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? 5 It could have been sold for over three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor!” And they kept scolding her.
6 But Yeshua said, “Leave her alone. Why do you cause trouble for her? She’s done Me a mitzvah. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want; but you won’t always have Me. 8 She did what she could—she came beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Amen, I tell you, wherever the Good News is proclaimed in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
10 Then Judah from Kriot, one of the Twelve, went out to the ruling kohanim to betray Yeshua to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard this and promised to give him money. And Judah began looking for a chance to hand Him over.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.