Book of Common Prayer
MEM מ
97 O how I love Your Torah!
It is my meditation all day.
98 Your mitzvot make me wiser than my enemies
—for they are mine forever.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I have gained more understanding than all my elders,
for I have kept Your precepts.
101 I kept my feet from every evil way,
in order to follow Your word.
102 I do not turn away from Your rulings,
for You Yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet is Your word to my taste—
yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 From Your precepts I get discernment,
therefore I hate every false way.
NUN נ
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.[a]
106 I have sworn and confirmed
to observe Your righteous rulings.
107 I am severely afflicted.
Keep me alive, Adonai, according to Your word.
108 Please accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, Adonai,
and teach me Your rulings.
109 My soul is continually in danger,
yet I have not forgotten Your Torah.
110 The wicked have set a snare for me,
yet I did not stray from Your precepts.
111 Your testimonies I have as a heritage
forever, for they are my heart’s joy.
112 I turned my heart to do Your decrees,
forever, to the very end.
SAMECH ס
113 I hate double-minded ones,
but Your Torah I love.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield
—in Your word I hope.
115 Away from me, evildoers,
so I may keep the mitzvot of my God!
116 Sustain me according to Your word, so I may live,
and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
117 Support me and I will be saved,
and study Your decrees continually.
118 You despise all who wander from Your decrees,
for their deceitfulness is in vain.
119 All the wicked of the earth You remove like dross.
Therefore I love Your testimonies.
120 My flesh shudders for fear of You,
and I am in awe of Your judgments.
Hear O Israel
Psalm 81
1 For the music director, on the Gittite lyre, of Asaph.
2 Sing for joy to God our strength,
shout to the God of Jacob!
3 Lift up a song and sound a tambourine,
a sweet lyre with a harp.
4 Blow the shofar at the New Moon,
at the full moon for the day of our festival.
5 For it is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
6 He set it up as a testimony in Joseph,
when He went throughout the land of Egypt,
I heard a language I did not understand.
7 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden,
his hands were set free from the basket.
8 You called out in trouble, and I rescued you.
I answered you from the hiding place of thunder.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
9 Hear, My people, I will admonish you—
if you would listen to Me, O Israel!
10 Let there be no foreign god among you,
and you shall not worship any alien god.
11 I am Adonai your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
12 But My people did not listen to My voice.
Israel was not willing to be Mine.
13 So I gave them over
to the stubbornness of their heart,
to walk in their own counsels.
14 Oh that My people would listen to Me,
that Israel would walk in My ways!
15 I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their foes.
16 Those who hate Adonai would cringe before Him—
their time of doom would be forever.
17 But you would be fed with the finest wheat,
with honey out of a rock would I satisfy you.”
A Rebuke for Unjust Judges
Psalm 82
1 A psalm of Asaph.
God takes His stand in the assembly of God.
He judges among the ‘gods’:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the poor and fatherless.
Be just to the afflicted and destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and needy.
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know nothing;
they understand nothing—
they walk about in darkness.
All of earth’s foundations are shaken.
6 I said: ‘You are ‘gods’,
and you are all sons of Elyon,[a]
7 yet you will die like men,
and will fall like any of the princes.’”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth!
For You possess all the nations.
Floating Ax Head
6 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place where we are living in your presence is too cramped for us. 2 So please, let’s go to the Jordan and pick from there each one a beam, and make ourselves a place there to live.”
“Go,” he answered.
3 Then one of them said, “Will you please come with your servants?”
“I will go,” he answered. 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting down a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, “Ah, my master! It was borrowed.”
6 Then the man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it there, and made the ax head float. 7 Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
Fiery Armies of Heaven
8 Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel. He consulted with his officers, saying, “In such and such a place will be my camp.”
9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful not to pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.” 10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God told him and warned him about, and so he was on his guard there—more than once or twice.
11 His heart upset over this matter, the king of Aram summoned his officers and said to them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the king of Israel’s side?”
12 But one of his officers said, “No, my lord the king. Rather, Elisha the prophet who is in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the very words that you speak in your bedroom!”
13 So he said, “Go, see where he is, so I may send and seize him.”
Then it was reported to him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 So he sent horses, chariots and a great army there. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.
15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was surrounding the city. So his attendant said to him, “Alas, my master! What are we going to do?”
16 “Fear not,” he replied, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “Adonai, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then Adonai opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Adonai and said, “Please strike this people with blinding light.” So He struck them with blinding light according to the word of Elisha. 19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the road, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek.” So he led them to Samaria. 20 Upon their arrival in Samaria, Elisha said, “Adonai, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So Adonai opened their eyes, and they could see—behold, they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Shall I surely strike them down, Avi?”
22 “Don’t strike them down,” he replied. “Would you strike down those whom you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set before them bread and water that they may eat and drink and go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them. After they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went back to their master. Ever since, the marauding bands of Aram stopped invading the land of Israel.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to mix together[a] with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters, for then you would have to exit the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to mix together with anyone who is being called a brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy or an idolater or a slanderer or a drunkard or a swindler—not even to eat with such a fellow. 12 For what business do I have judging outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Put away the wicked fellow from among yourselves.[b]
Settle Disputes Within the Community
6 Does any one of you, when he has a matter against his neighbor, dare to go to court before the unrighteous and not before the kedoshim? 2 Don’t you know that the kedoshim will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to judge trivial matters? 3 Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more the matters of this life! 4 So if you have courts for matters of this life, why do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the community? 5 I say this to put you to shame! Isn’t there even one wise man among you who will be able to settle disputes between his brethren? 6 Instead, a brother goes to court against a brother—and before unbelievers at that!
7 Therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you have lawsuits among yourselves. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 But you yourselves do wrong and cheat—and against your brothers and sisters at that!
Overcoming Evil with Good
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ [a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evildoer. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other. 40 And the one wanting to sue you and to take your shirt, let him also have your coat. 41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor[b] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than anyone else? Even the pagans do that, don’t they? 48 Therefore be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.