Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and cried
as we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our lyres on willow trees.
3 It was there that those who had captured us demanded that we sing.
Those who guarded us wanted us to entertain them.
They said, “Sing a song from Zion for us!”
4 How could we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget how to play the lyre.
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 O Yahweh, remember the people of Edom.
Remember what they did the day Jerusalem was captured.
They said, “Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundation.”
8 You destructive people of Babylon,
blessed is the one who pays you back
with the same treatment you gave us.
9 Blessed is the one who grabs your little children
and smashes them against a rock.
Psalm 144
By David.
1 Thank Yahweh, my Tsur,
who trained my hands to fight
and my fingers to do battle,
2 my merciful one, my Metsuda,
my stronghold, and my savior,
my Magen, the one in whom I take refuge,
and the one who brings people under my authority.
3 O Yahweh, what are humans that you should care about them?
What are mere mortals that you should think about them?
4 Humans are like a breath of air.
Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bend your heaven low, and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Hurl bolts of lightning, and scatter them.
Shoot your arrows, and throw them into confusion.
7 Stretch out your hands from above.
Snatch me, and rescue me from raging waters
and from foreigners’ hands.
8 Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
9 O Elohim, I will sing a new song to you.
I will sing a psalm to you on a ten-stringed harp.
10 You are the one who gives victory to kings.
You are the one who snatches your servant David
away from a deadly sword.
11 Snatch me, and rescue me from foreigners’ hands.
Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
12 May our sons be like full-grown, young plants.
May our daughters be like stately columns
that adorn the corners of a palace.
13 May our barns be filled with all kinds of crops.
May our sheep give birth to thousands of lambs,
tens of thousands in our fields.
14 May our cattle have many calves.[a]
May no one break in, and may no one be dragged out.
May there be no cries of distress in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people who have these blessings!
Blessed are the people whose Elohim is Yahweh!
Psalm 104
1 Praise Yahweh my soul!
O Yahweh my Elohim, you are very great.
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe.
You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains.
3 You lay the beams of your home in the water.
You use the clouds for your chariot.
You move on the wings of the wind.
4 You make your angels winds
and your servants flames of fire.
5 You set the earth on its foundations
so that it can never be shaken.
6 You covered the earth with an ocean as though it were a robe.
Water stood above the mountains
7 and fled because of your threat.
Water ran away at the sound of your thunder.
8 The mountains rose and the valleys sank
to the place you appointed for them.
9 Water cannot cross the boundary you set
and cannot come back to cover the earth.
10 You make water gush from springs into valleys.
It flows between the mountains.
11 Every wild animal drinks from them.
Wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds live by the streams.
They sing among the branches.
13 You water the mountains from your home above.
You fill the earth with the fruits of your labors.
14 You make grass grow for cattle
and make vegetables for humans to use
in order to get food from the ground.
15 You make wine to cheer human hearts,
olive oil to make faces shine,
and bread to strengthen human hearts.
16 Yahweh’s trees, the cedars in Lebanon which he planted,
drink their fill.
17 Birds build their nests in them.
Storks make their homes in fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for wild goats.
The rocks are a refuge for badgers.
19 He created the moon, which marks the seasons,
and the sun, which knows when to set.
20 He brings darkness, and it is nighttime,
when all the wild animals in the forest come out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun rises,
they gather and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go to do their work,
to do their tasks until evening.
24 What a large number of things you have made, O Yahweh!
You made them all by wisdom.
The earth is filled with your creatures.
25 The sea is so big and wide with countless creatures,
living things both large and small.
26 Ships sail on it,
and Leviathan,[a] which you made, plays in it.
27 All of them look to you to give them their food at the right time.
28 You give it to them, and they gather it up.
You open your hand, and they are filled with blessings.
29 You hide your face, and they are terrified.
You take away their breath, and they die and return to dust.
30 You send out your Ruach, and they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.
May Yahweh find joy in what he has made.
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles.
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life.
I will make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
I will find joy in Yahweh.
35 May sinners vanish from the world.
May there no longer be any wicked people.
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
Hallelujah!
Wisdom as Creator
22 “Yahweh already possessed me long ago,
when his way began,
before any of his works.
23 I was appointed from everlasting
from the first,
before the earth began.
24 I was born
before there were oceans,
before there were springs filled with water.
25 I was born
before the mountains were settled in their places
and before the hills,
26 when he had not yet made land or fields
or the first dust of the world.
27 “When he set up the heavens, I was there.
When he traced the horizon on the surface of the ocean,
28 when he established the skies above,
when he determined the currents in the ocean,
29 when he set a limit for the sea
so the waters would not overstep his command,
when he traced the foundations of the earth,
30 I was beside him as a master craftsman.[a]
I made him happy day after day,
I rejoiced in front of him all the time,
31 found joy in his inhabited world,
and delighted in the human race.
Wisdom as Lifegiver
32 “Now, sons, listen to me.
Blessed are those who follow my ways.
33 Listen to discipline, and become wise.
Do not leave my ways.
34 Blessed is the person who listens to me,
watches at my door day after day,
and waits by my doorposts.
35 Whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from Yahweh.
36 Whoever sins against me harms himself.
All those who hate me love death.”
Greeting
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Yeshua by God’s will—a will that contains Christ Yeshua’s promise of life.
2 To Timothy, my dear child.
Good will,[a] mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Yeshua our Lord!
3 I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day when I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did. 4 I remember your tears and want to see you so that I can be filled with happiness. 5 I’m reminded of how sincere your faith is. That faith first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m convinced that it also lives in you.
Paul’s Advice for Timothy
6 You received a gift from God when I placed my hands on you to ordain you. Now I’m reminding you to fan that gift into flames. 7 God didn’t give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and good judgment. 8 So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord or be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the Good News. 9 God saved us and called us to be holy, not because of what we had done, but because of his own plan and kindness.[b] Before the world began, God planned that Christ Yeshua would show us God’s kindness. 10 Now with the coming of our Savior Christ Yeshua, he has revealed it. Christ has destroyed death, and through the Good News he has brought eternal life into full view. 11 I was appointed to be a messenger of this Good News, and a teacher.
12 For this reason I suffer as I do. However, I’m not ashamed. I know whom I trust. I’m convinced that he is able to protect what he had entrusted to me until that day.
13 With faith and love for Christ Yeshua, consider what you heard me say to be the pattern of accurate teachings. 14 With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, protect the Good News that has been entrusted to you.
Some Greeks Ask to See Jesus
20 Some Greeks were among those who came to worship during the Passover festival. 21 They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, “Sir, we would like to meet Yeshua.” 22 Philip told Andrew, and they told Yeshua.
23 Yeshua replied to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn’t produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain. 25 Those who love their lives will destroy them, and those who hate their lives in this world will guard them for everlasting life. 26 Those who serve me must follow me. My servants will be with me wherever I will be. If people serve me, the Father will honor them.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.