Book of Common Prayer
31 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) In you, Adonai, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your justice, save me!
3 (2) Turn your ear toward me,
come quickly to my rescue,
be for me a rock of strength,
a fortress to keep me safe.
4 (3) Since you are my rock and fortress,
lead me and guide me for your name’s sake.
5 (4) Free me from the net they have hidden to catch me,
because you are my strength.
6 (5) Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you will redeem me, Adonai, God of truth.
7 (6) I hate those who serve worthless idols;
as for me, I trust in Adonai.
8 (7) I will rejoice and be glad in your grace,
for you see my affliction,
you know how distressed I am.
9 (8) You did not hand me over to the enemy;
you set my feet where I can move freely.
10 (9) Show me favor, Adonai, for I am in trouble.
My eyes grow dim with anger,
my soul and body as well.
11 (10) For my life is worn out with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength gives out under my guilt,
and my bones are wasting away.
12 (11) I am scorned by all my adversaries,
and even more by my neighbors;
even to acquaintances
I am an object of fear —
when they see me in the street,
they turn away from me.
13 (12) Like a dead man, I have passed from their minds;
I have become like a broken pot.
14 (13) All I hear is whispering,
terror is all around me;
they plot together against me,
scheming to take my life.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
17 (16) Make your face shine on your servant;
in your grace, save me.
18 (17) Adonai, don’t let me be put to shame,
for I have called on you;
let the wicked be put to shame,
let them be silenced in Sh’ol.
19 (18) May lying lips be struck dumb,
that speak insolently against the righteous
with such pride and contempt.
20 (19) But oh, how great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you do for those who take refuge in you,
before people’s very eyes!
21 (20) In the shelter of your presence
you hide them from human plots,
you conceal them in your shelter,
safe from contentious tongues.
22 (21) Blessed be Adonai!
For he has shown me his amazing grace
when I was in a city under siege.
23 (22) As for me, in my alarm I said,
“I have been cut off from your sight!”
Nevertheless, you heard my pleas
when I cried out to you.
24 (23) Love Adonai, you faithful of his.
Adonai preserves the loyal,
but the proud he repays in full.
25 (24) Be strong, and fill your hearts with courage,
all of you who hope in Adonai.
35 (0) By David:
(1) Adonai, oppose those who oppose me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Grasp your shield and protective gear,
and rise to my defense.
3 Brandish spear and battle-axe
against my pursuers;
let me hear you say,
“I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to confusion;
may those who are plotting harm for me
be repulsed and put to shame.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Adonai to drive them on.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Adonai to pursue them.
7 For unprovoked, they hid their net over a pit;
unprovoked, they dug it for me.
8 May destruction come over him unawares.
May the net he concealed catch himself;
may he fall into it and be destroyed.
9 Then I will be joyful in Adonai,
I will rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones will say,
“Who is like you?
Who can rescue the weak
from those stronger than they,
the poor and needy
from those who exploit them?”
11 Malicious witnesses come forward,
asking me things about which I know nothing.
12 They repay me evil for good;
it makes me feel desolate as a parent bereaved.
13 But I, when they were ill, wore sackcloth;
I put myself out and fasted;
I can pray that what I prayed for them
might also happen to me.
14 I behaved as I would for my friend or my brother;
I bent down in sorrow as if mourning my mother.
15 But when I stumble, they gather in glee;
they gather against me and strike me unawares;
they tear me apart unceasingly.
16 With ungodly mocking and grimacing,
they grind their teeth at me.
17 Adonai, how much longer will you look on?
Rescue me from their assaults,
save the one life I have from the lions!
18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly,
I will give you praise among huge crowds of people.
19 Don’t let those who are wrongfully my enemies
gloat over me;
and those who hate me unprovoked —
don’t let them smirk at me.
20 For they don’t speak words of peace
but devise ways to deceive
the peaceful of the land.
21 They shout to accuse me, “Aha! Aha!
we saw you with our own eyes!”
22 You saw them, Adonai; don’t stay silent.
Adonai, don’t stay far away from me.
23 Wake up! Get up, my God, my Lord!
Defend me and my cause!
24 Give judgment for me, Adonai, my God,
as your righteousness demands.
Don’t let them gloat over me.
25 Don’t let them say to themselves,
“Aha! We got what we wanted!”
or say, “We swallowed them up!”
26 May those who gloat over my distress
be disgraced and humiliated.
May those who aggrandize themselves at my expense
be covered with shame and confusion.
27 But may those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad!
Let them say always, “How great is Adonai,
who delights in the peace of his servant!”
28 Then my tongue will tell of your righteousness
and praise you all day long.
10 Moshe said to Adonai, “Oh, Adonai, I’m a terrible speaker. I always have been, and I’m no better now, even after you’ve spoken to your servant! My words come slowly, my tongue moves slowly.” 11 Adonai answered him, “Who gives a person a mouth? Who makes a person dumb or deaf, keen-sighted or blind? Isn’t it I, Adonai? 12 Now, therefore, go; and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what to say.”
13 But he replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else — anyone you want!” 14 At this, Adonai’s anger blazed up against Moshe; he said, “Don’t you have a brother, Aharon the Levi? I know that he’s a good speaker. In fact, here he is now, coming out to meet you; and he’ll be happy to see you. 15 You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and his, teaching you both what to do. 16 Thus he will be your spokesman to the people, in effect; for you, he will be a mouth; and for him, you will be like God. 17 Now take this staff in your hand, because you need it to perform the signs.”
(vi) 18 Moshe left, returned to Yitro his father-in-law and said to him, “I beg you to let me go and return to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see if they are still alive.” Yitro said to Moshe, “Go in peace.” 19 Adonai said to Moshe in Midyan, “Go on back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moshe took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started out for Egypt. Moshe took God’s staff in his hand. 21 Adonai said to Moshe, “When you get back to Egypt, make sure that you do before Pharaoh every one of the wonders I have enabled you to do. Nevertheless, I am going to make him hardhearted, and he will refuse to let the people go. 22 Then you are to tell Pharaoh: ‘Adonai says, “Isra’el is my firstborn son. 23 I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me, but you have refused to let him go. Well, then, I will kill your firstborn son!”’”
24 At a lodging-place on the way, Adonai met Moshe and would have killed him, 25 had not Tzipporah taken a flintstone and cut off the foreskin of her son. She threw it at his feet, saying, “What a bloody bridegroom you are for me!” 26 But then, God let Moshe be. She added, “A bloody bridegroom because of the circumcision!”
27 Adonai said to Aharon, “Go into the desert to meet Moshe.” He went, met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Moshe told him everything Adonai had said in sending him, including all the signs he had ordered him to perform. 29 Then Moshe and Aharon went and gathered together all the leaders of the people of Isra’el. 30 Aharon said everything Adonai had told Moshe, who then performed the signs for the people to see. 31 The people believed; when they heard that Adonai had remembered the people of Isra’el and seen how they were oppressed, they bowed their heads and worshipped.
14 Pursue love!
However, keep on eagerly seeking the things of the Spirit; and especially seek to be able to prophesy. 2 For someone speaking in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God, because no one can understand, since he is uttering mysteries in the power of the Spirit. 3 But someone prophesying is speaking to people, edifying, encouraging and comforting them. 4 A person speaking in a tongue does edify himself, but a person prophesying edifies the congregation. 5 I wish you would all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you would all prophesy. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless someone gives an interpretation, so that the congregation can be edified.
6 Brothers, suppose I come to you now speaking in tongues. How can I be of benefit to you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 Even with lifeless musical instruments, such as a flute or a harp, how will anyone recognize the melody if one note can’t be distinguished from another? 8 And if the bugle gives an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 It’s the same with you: how will anyone know what you are saying unless you use your tongue to produce intelligible speech? You will be talking to the air! 10 There are undoubtedly all kinds of sounds in the world, and none is altogether meaningless; 11 but if I don’t know what a person’s sounds mean, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. 12 Likewise with you: since you eagerly seek the things of the Spirit, seek especially what will help in edifying the congregation.
13 Therefore someone who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit does pray, but my mind is unproductive. 15 So, what about it? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 Otherwise, if you are giving thanks with your spirit, how will someone who has not yet received much instruction be able to say, “Amen,” when you have finished giving thanks, since he doesn’t know what you are saying? 17 For undoubtedly you are giving thanks very nicely, but the other person is not being edified. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, 19 but in a congregation meeting I would rather say five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue!
30 After leaving that place, they went on through the Galil. Yeshua didn’t want anyone to know, 31 because he was teaching his talmidim. He told them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men who will put him to death; but after he has been killed, three days later he will rise.” 32 But they didn’t understand what he meant, and they were afraid to ask him.
33 They arrived at K’far-Nachum. When Yeshua was inside the house, he asked them, “What were you discussing as we were traveling?” 34 But they kept quiet; because on the way, they had been arguing with each other about who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, summoned the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.” 36 He took a child and stood him among them. Then he put his arms around him and said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the One who sent me.”
38 Yochanan said to him, “Rabbi, we saw a man expelling demons in your name; and because he wasn’t one of us, we told him to stop.” 39 But Yeshua said, “Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in my name will soon after be able to say something bad about me. 40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Indeed, whoever gives you even a cup of water to drink because you come in the name of the Messiah — yes! I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.