Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN ז
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
on which You have made me hope.
50 My comfort in my affliction is this:
Your word has kept me alive.
51 The arrogant have viciously ridiculed me,
yet I did not turn away from Your Torah.
52 I remember Your judgments from of old,
Adonai, and comfort myself.
53 Burning indignation grips me,
because of the wicked who forsake Your Torah.
54 Your decrees have become my songs
in the house where I dwell.
55 In the night I remember Your Name, Adonai,
and keep watching over Your Torah.
56 This is my own:
that I keep Your precepts.
CHET ח
57 Adonai is my portion.
I promised to guard Your words.
58 I have entreated Your favor with all my heart.
Be gracious to me according to Your word.
59 I have considered my ways
and turned my feet back to Your testimonies.
60 I hasten and do not delay
to obey Your mitzvot.
61 The ropes of the wicked are coiled around me,
but I did not forget Your Torah.
62 At midnight I rise to praise You,
because of Your righteous rulings.
63 I am a companion of all who fear You,
of those who observe Your precepts.
64 The earth is full of Your lovingkindness.
Adonai—teach me Your decrees.
TET ט
65 You do good to Your servant,
Adonai, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good sense and knowledge,
for I trusted in Your mitzvot.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good and keep doing good—
teach me Your decrees.
69 Though the proud smeared a lie on me,
with all my heart I keep Your precepts.
70 Their minds are insensible,
but Your Torah is my delight.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,
so that I may learn Your decrees.
72 The Torah from Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Rich and Poor Alike
Psalm 49
1 For the music director: a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Hear this, all you peoples.
Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
3 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
4 My mouth speaks wisdom,
My heart’s meditation is understanding.
5 I will turn my ear to a proverb.
I will utter my riddle on the harp:
6 Why should I fear in evil days?
when the iniquity of my deceivers surrounds me?
7 Or those trusting in their wealth,
boasting about their great riches?
8 No man can redeem his brother,
or give to God a ransom for him.
9 For the redemption of a soul is costly—
so, one should stop trying forever.
10 Will he live forever—
and never see the Pit?
11 Surely he must see, even wise men die.
The fool and the brutish will alike perish,
leaving their wealth to others.[a]
12 Their inward thought is:
Their houses are eternal,
their dwellings for generation after generation.
They name their lands after themselves.
13 But the pompous man will not endure—
he is like the beasts that perish.
14 Such is the way of the self-confident,
and their followers who approve their sayings. Selah
15 Like sheep they are destined for Sheol.
Death will be their shepherd
and the upright will rule over them in the morning.
Their image will decay in Sheol—
far from its lofty place.
16 But God redeems my soul from the power of Sheol—
for He receives me. Selah
17 Do not be afraid when a man gets rich,
when his house’s splendor increases.
18 For when he dies he takes nothing away.
His splendor will not follow him down.
19 Though during his life he congratulates himself,
and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
20 He will still join his fathers’ company,
who will never see the light.
21 A pompous man, without understanding—
he is like the beasts that perish.
A Fool Denies God
Psalm 53
1 For the music director: on Mahalath, a contemplative song of David.
2 The fool says in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, commit vile injustice.
There is no one who does good.
3 God looks down from the heavens
on the children of men,
to see if anyone understands,
who seeks after God.
4 All have turned aside—
together they have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good—
no, not even one!
5 Will the evildoers never learn?
They consume My people as they would eat bread,
and never call upon God.
6 There they are in great dread—
where there is nothing to fear.
For God has scattered the bones of those besieging you.
You have put them to shame,
for God has rejected them.
7 Who will give salvation for Israel out of Zion?
When God restores His captive people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!
Darius Endorses Rebuilding
6 King Darius then issued an order and a search was made in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
“Memorandum:
3 “In the first year of Cyrus the king, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the House of God at Jerusalem.
“Let the House be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be laid. Its height is to be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits 4 with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. Let the expense be paid from the king’s house. 5 Also let the gold and silver vessels of the House of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought to the Temple in Jerusalem; you shall deposit them in the House of God.
6 “Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues, officials of Trans-Euphrates, all of you stay away from there. 7 Leave the work of this House of God alone! Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this House of God in its place.
8 “Moreover, I hereby issue a decree as to what you are to do for these elders of the Jews to rebuild this House of God. The complete costs are to be paid to these men from the royal treasury, from the tribute from Trans-Euphrates so that they are not hindered.
9 “Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams or lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven or wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the kohanim in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without neglect, 10 so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
11 “Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and impaled on it, and because of this, his house be made a pile of refuse. 12 May God, who makes His name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts his hand to cause such change to destroy this House of God in Jerusalem. I Darius have issued a decree; let it be carried out with diligence.”
Completion and Dedication of the Temple
13 Then Tattenai the governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently carried it out, just as King Darius had sent. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued building and prospering through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and according to the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 15 The Temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16 Then the sons of Israel—the kohanim, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the House of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this House of God they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 male lambs, and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 They appointed the kohanim in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions over the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
19 The exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, 20 for every one of the kohanim and the Levites had purified themselves and all of them were ceremonially pure. They slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, and for their fellow kohanim and for themselves. 21 So those of Bnei-Yisrael who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to seek Adonai the God of Israel. 22 They celebrated the Feast of Matzot with joy for seven days, because Adonai had given them joy and had changed the heart of the king of Assyria toward them so as to strengthen their hands in the work on the House of God, the God of Israel.
A Scroll with Seven Seals
5 And I saw in the right hand of the One seated upon the throne a scroll, written on both the front and the back, sealed with seven seals. [a] 2 I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. 4 I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
5 Then one of the elders tells me, “Stop weeping! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,[b] the Root of David,[c] has triumphed—He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Worshiping the Lamb
6 And in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as having been slain—having seven horns and seven eyes,[d] which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. 8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense—which are the prayers of the kedoshim.
9 And they are singing a new song,[e] saying,
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals.
For You were slain,
and by Your blood
You redeemed for God
those from every tribe and tongue
and people and nation.[f]
10 You have made them for our God
a kingdom and kohanim,
and they shall reign upon the earth.”
10 Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 And He replied to them, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given and he will have plenty. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 For this reason I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see,
and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand.
14 “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will keep on hearing
but will never understand;
you will keep looking,
but will never see.
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts.
Then they would turn back,
and I would heal them.’[a]
16 “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 Amen, I tell you, many a prophet and tzaddik longed to see what you are seeing and did not see, and to hear what you are hearing and did not hear.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.