Book of Common Prayer
Lead Me to the Rock
Psalm 61
1 For the music director, on string instrument, of David.
2 Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.
3 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
4 For You have been a refuge for me,
a tower of strength before the enemy.
5 Let me dwell in Your tent forever.
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
6 For You have heard my vows, O God.
You have given the inheritance of those who fear Your Name.
7 May You add days to the king’s days.
May his years span many generations.
8 May he be enthroned before God forever.
Appoint mercy and truth to protect him.
9 So I will sing praise to Your Name forever,
to fulfill my vows day after day.
My Rock and My Salvation
Psalm 62
1 For the music director, on Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
2 My soul, wait in stillness, only for God—
from Him comes my salvation.
3 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress—I will never be moved.
4 How long will all of you assault a man,
to crush him, like a leaning wall,
a fence to be torn down?
5 They only plot to topple him from his rank.
Delighting in falsehood, they bless with their mouth,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
6 My soul, wait in stillness, only for God—
for from Him comes my expectation.
7 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my strong tower—I will not be moved.
8 On God, my salvation and my glory is the rock of my strength.
My refuge is in God.
9 Trust in Him at all times, you people.
Pour out your heart in His presence.
God is our refuge. Selah
10 Sons of Adam are a vapor,
sons of man are an illusion.
In balanced scales they go up—
altogether they are less than a breath.
11 Do not trust in extortion,
and do not put vain hope in plunder.
Though these things increase riches,
do not set your heart on them.
12 Once God has spoken,
twice I have heard this:
might belongs to God.
13 Also Yours, O Lord, is lovingkindness.
For You reward a man for his work.[a]
Triumphal Procession up to the Temple
Psalm 68
1 For the music director, a psalm of David, a song.
2 Let God arise!
Let His enemies be scattered!
Let those who hate Him flee before Him.
3 As smoke is blown away,
may You blow them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
may the wicked perish before God.
4 But let the righteous be glad.
Let them exult before God.
Let them rejoice with gladness.
5 Sing to God, sing praises to His Name.
Prepare the road for Him who rides through the deserts,
whose Name is Adonai—
and rejoice before Him.
6 A father of orphans, defender of widows,
is God in His holy dwelling.
7 God settles the lonely in a home.
He leads prisoners out to prosperity.
But the rebellious live in a parched land.
8 O God, when You went out before Your people,
when You marched through the desert—Selah—
9 the earth shook, the heavens rained
at the presence of God—the One of Sinai—
at the presence of God, God of Israel.
10 You poured down abundant rain, O God.
You sustained Your weary inheritance.
11 Your community settled in it.
In Your goodness, O God, You provided for the poor.
12 The Lord gives the word—
a great company of women proclaims the good news.
13 “Kings of armies, flee, flee!”
She who stays at home divides the spoil.
14 When you lie among the campfires,
wings of a dove were covered with silver
and her feathers with shimmering gold.
15 When Shaddai scattered kings there,
it was snowing on Zalmon.
16 Mount Bashan is a mountain of God.
Mount Bashan is a mountain of peaks.
17 Why do you gaze with envy, you mountain peaks,
at the mountain God desired for His dwelling?
Yes, Adonai will dwell there forever!
18 The chariots of God are thousands and thousands
—my Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness.
19 You went up on high.
You led captivity captive.
You received gifts from humanity,[a]
even from the rebellious—
so that God might dwell there.
20 Blessed be my Lord!
Day by day He bears our burdens—
the God of our salvation! Selah
21 God is for us—a God of deliverance.
Adonai my Lord has escapes from death.
22 Surely God crushes the head of His foes,
the hairy scalp of one walking in his guilt.
23 My Lord said:
“I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea.
24 So your foot may wade in blood,
and your dogs’ tongue may have their share of your enemies’ blood.”
25 They have seen Your processions, O God—
the processions of my God, my King, into the Sanctuary:
26 The singers go before, the musicians last,
between maidens beating tambourines.
27 “Bless God in the congregations—
Adonai, from the fountain of Israel.”
28 There Benjamin, the youngest, is leading them,
there the throng of Judah’s princes,
there the princes of Zebulun,
there the princes of Naphtali.
29 Your God commanded your strength.
Strengthen, O God,
You who have acted for us.
30 From Your Temple above Jerusalem,
kings bring You tribute.
31 Rebuke the beast of the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves,
peoples trampling down pieces of silver.
He has scattered the peoples who delight in war!
32 Nobles come from Egypt.
Cush runs to stretch her hands to God.
33 Sing to God, kingdoms of the earth,
sing praises to the Lord—Selah—
34 to Him who rides upon the ancient heavens of heavens.
Look, He utters His voice, a mighty voice!
35 Ascribe strength to God—
His majesty is over Israel
and His strength is in the skies.
36 O God, You are awesome from Your holy places.
The God of Israel gives strength and power to the people.
Blessed be God!
Joseph Meets His Brothers
42 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, so Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” 2 Then he said, “Look! I’ve heard that there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some grain for us there so that we’ll live and not die.”
3 So Joseph’s brothers went down, ten of them, to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob did not send, for he said, “An accident might happen to him.”
5 The sons of Israel went to buy grain among the others who were coming, because the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Now Joseph was the ruler over the land. He was the provider of grain for all the people of the earth. 7 Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he made himself unrecognizable to them. Then he spoke harshly and said to them, “Where have you come from?”
“From the land of Canaan,” they said, “to buy grain as food.”
8 Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them. He said to them, “You’re spies! You’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”
10 “No, my lord!” they said to him. “Your servants came to buy grain as food. 11 All of us—we are sons of one man. We’re honest. Your servants have never been spies.”
12 “Not so,” he said to them. “Rather, you’ve come to see the undefended places in the land.”
13 But they said, “We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Look, the youngest is with our father today and the other one is no more.”
14 Joseph said to them, “It’s just like I told you when I said, ‘You’re spies.’ 15 By this you’ll be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you’ll not leave from here until your youngest brother comes here! 16 Send one from among yourselves to get your brother, while you remain confined, in order to test your words, to see whether the truth is with you. If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you’re definitely spies!”
17 So he put them together in custody for three days.
Removing the “Hametz” from Your House
5 It is actually reported that among you there is sexual immorality, and such immorality as is not even among the pagans—that someone has his father’s wife. 2 And you are puffed up! Shouldn’t you have mourned instead, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you? 3 For even though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit—I have already passed judgment on the one who has done this thing, as though I were present. 4 When you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Yeshua, I am with you in spirit. With the power of our Lord Yeshua, 5 you are to turn such a fellow over to satan for the destruction of his fleshly nature,[a] so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Yeshua.
6 Your boasting is no good. Don’t you know that a little hametz leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old hametz,[b] so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz,[c] the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.
[a] 19 and Judah from Kriot, who also betrayed Him.
Binding the Strong Man
20 Then He comes into a house, and again a crowd gathers so they couldn’t even eat. 21 When His family heard about this, they went out to take hold of Him; for they were saying, “He’s out of His mind!”
22 The Torah scholars who came down from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons He drives out demons.”
23 He called them and began speaking to them in parables: “How can satan drive out satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but his end has come.
27 “But no one can enter a strong man’s house to ransack his property, unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he will thoroughly plunder his house. 28 Amen, I tell you, all things will be forgiven the sons of men, the sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever slanders[b] the Ruach ha-Kodesh never has release, but is guilty of an eternal sin!” 30 For they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
A Spiritual Family Begins
31 Then His mother and brothers come. Standing outside, they sent word to Him, summoning Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they tell Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” 33 Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.