Book of Common Prayer
A Powerful King for the Poor
Psalm 72
1 Of Solomon.
Give the king Your judgments, O God,
and Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge Your people with righteousness,
and Your poor ones with justice.
3 Let the mountains bring shalom to the people,
and the hills righteousness.
4 May he vindicate the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 Let them fear You while the sun endures,
and while the moon lasts, throughout all generations.
6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the ground.
7 Let the righteous flourish in his days.
Let shalom abound till the moon is no more.
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 Let desert dwellers bow before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute,
kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
11 So let all kings bow down before him,
and all nations serve him.
12 For he rescues the needy crying for help,
also the poor and the one with no helper.
13 He will take pity on the poor and needy,
and the souls of the needy he will save.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their soul,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given to him.
May he pray for him continually,
and bless him all day.
16 Let there be abundance of grain in the land.
Let it sway on the top of the hills,
let its fruit be like Lebanon,
and let people of the city flourish like grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name increase before the sun,
and may all nations be blessed by him
and call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Adonai Elohim, God of Israel,
who alone does wonders.
19 Blessed be His glorious Name forever.
May all the earth be filled with His glory!
Amen and Amen!
20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are complete.
YOD י
73 Your hands have made me and formed me.
Give me understanding that I may learn Your mitzvot.
74 Those in awe of You see me and rejoice,
because I put my hope in Your word.
75 I know, Adonai, Your judgments are just.
In faithfulness You have afflicted me.
76 May Your lovingkindness comfort me,
according to Your promise to Your servant.
77 Let Your tender mercies reach me,
Let me live, for Your Torah is my delight.
78 May the proud be put to shame
for wronging me with a lie,
but I will meditate on Your precepts.
79 Let those in awe of You return to me—
those who know Your testimonies.
80 My heart will have integrity in following Your decrees,
so that I would not be ashamed.
KAF כ
81 My soul faints with longing for Your salvation,
but I still hope in Your word.
82 My eyes are worn out longing for Your promise,
saying, “When will You comfort me?”
83 Though I became like a wineskin dried in smoke,
I do not forget Your decrees.
84 How many are the days of Your servant?
When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?
85 The proud have dug pits for me—
that is not in accord with Your Torah!
86 All Your mitzvot are faithful.
They persecute me with a lie—help me!
87 They almost finished me off on earth.
But I—I will not forsake Your precepts.
88 Revive me with Your lovingkindness,
so I may keep Your mouth’s testimony.
LAMED ל
89 Forever, Adonai,
Your word stands firm in the heavens.
90 Your faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
You established the earth, and it stands.
91 Your judgments stand today,
for all things are Your servants.
92 If Your Torah had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget Your precepts.
For with them You have kept me alive.
94 I am Yours, save me!
For I have sought out Your precepts.
95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me.
But I will study Your testimonies.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection,
yet Your commandment is boundless.
Ahab’s Last Stand
22 Three years remained without war between Aram and Israel. 2 Then it came about in the third year that King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel said to his courtiers, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, yet we are still doing nothing to recover it from the hand of the king of Aram?” 4 Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramot-gilead?”
Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” 5 Jehoshaphat said further to the king of Israel, “Please inquire of Adonai for a word first,”
6 So the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and asked them: “Should I march against Ramot-gilead to battle or should I refrain?”
They responded, “Go up, for my Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”
7 But Jehoshaphat said: “Is there no longer a prophet of Adonai here that we may inquire of Him?”
8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Yes, there is still one by whom we may inquire of Adonai—Micaiah son of Imlah—but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, only evil.”
But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so!”
9 So the king of Israel summoned one of his eunuchs and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.”
10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, at a threshing-floor at the entrance of Samaria’s gate. All the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says Adonai: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are consumed!” 12 Then all the prophets were prophesying so, saying, “Go up to Ramot-gilead and triumph! For Adonai will deliver it into the hand of the king!”
13 Meanwhile the messenger that went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets are uniformly declaring favor to the king. So please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As Adonai lives, what Adonai says to me, that will I speak.”
15 Now when he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we march to Ramot-gilead in battle or should we refrain?”
“March and triumph!” he answered, “and Adonai will give it into the hand of the king.”
16 But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to speak to me nothing but the truth in the Name of Adonai?”
17 Then he said,
“I saw all Israel scattered on the hills,
as sheep without a shepherd.[a]
Then Adonai said, ‘These have no master;
let each of them return home in peace.’”
18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy good concerning me, only evil?”
19 Micaiah then continued, “Therefore hear the word of Adonai. I saw Adonai sitting on His throne,[b] with all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. 20 Then Adonai said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One suggested this and another that, 21 until a certain spirit came forward and stood before Adonai and said, ‘I will entice him.’ So Adonai asked him, ‘How?’ 22 And he said: ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit[c] in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said: ‘You shall entice him and shall prevail also—go and do so.’ 23 Now therefore, behold, Adonai has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and Adonai has decreed evil upon you.”
24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah approached Micaiah, struck him on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Ruach Adonai pass from me to speak to you?”
25 Micaiah replied, “Behold, you will see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide.”
26 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and take him back to Amon the city governor and to Joash the king’s son, 27 and say, “Thus says the king: ‘Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”
28 Micaiah then said, “If you ever return safely, then Adonai has not spoken through me.” And he added, “Did you hear, all you people?”
Wisdom that Rests on God’s Power
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery[a] of God. 2 For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah—and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power— 5 so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
6 We do speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature—but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 Rather, we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery—a wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before the ages. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it—for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written,
“Things no eye has seen
and no ear has heard,
that have not entered the heart of mankind—
these things God has prepared
for those who love Him.”[b]
10 But God revealed these things to us through the Ruach.[c] For the Ruach searches all things—even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the things of God except the Ruach Elohim. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God—so we might come to know the things freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak—not in words taught by human wisdom but in words taught by the Ruach, explaining the spiritual to the spiritual.
Raising Up Fishers of Men
18 Now as Yeshua was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, Jacob the son of Zebedee and John his brother. They were in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
23 Yeshua was going throughout all the Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about Him spread throughout all Syria. And they brought to Him all the sick—those tormented by various diseases and afflictions, those plagued by demons, the epileptics, the paralyzed—and He healed them. 25 And large crowds followed Him from the Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.