Book of Common Prayer
Today, Hear His Voice
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing for joy to Adonai.
Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving.
Let us shout joyfully to Him with songs.
3 For Adonai is a great God
and a great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the depths of the earth,
the mountain peaks are His also.
5 The sea is His—He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before Adonai our Maker.[a]
7 For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
the flock of His hand.
Today, if you hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers tested Me,
they challenged Me, even though they had seen My work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation.
So I said: ‘It is a people whose heart goes astray,
who do not know My ways.’
11 Therefore I swore in My anger,
‘They shall never enter into My rest.’”
Suffering Servant
Psalm 22
1 For the music director, on “The Doe of the Dawn,” a psalm of David.
2 My God, my God,
why have You forsaken me?
Distant from my salvation
are the words of my groaning.[a]
3 O my God, I cried out by day, but You did not answer,
by night, but there was no rest for me.
4 Yet You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
5 In You our fathers put their trust.
They trusted, and You delivered them.
6 They cried to you and were delivered.
In You they trusted, and were not disappointed.
7 Am I a worm, and not a man?
Am I a scorn of men, despised by people?
8 All who see me mock me.
They curl their lips, shaking their heads:
9 “Rely on Adonai! Let Him deliver him!
Let Him rescue him—since he delights in Him!”[b]
10 Yet You brought me out of the womb,
made me secure at my mother’s breasts.
11 From the womb I was cast on You—
from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
12 Be not far from me!
For trouble is near—
there is no one to help.
13 Many bulls have surrounded me.
Strong bulls of Bashan encircled me.
14 They open wide their mouths against me,
like a tearing, roaring lion.
15 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are disjointed.
My heart is like wax—
melting within my innards.
16 My strength is dried up like a clay pot,
my tongue clings to my jaws.
You lay me in the dust of death.
17 For dogs have surrounded me.
A band of evildoers has closed in on me.
They pierced[c] my hands and my feet.
18 I can count all my bones.
They stare, they gape at me.
19 They divide my clothes among them,
and cast lots for my garment.[d]
20 But You, Adonai, be not far off!
O my strength! Come quickly to my aid!
21 Deliver my soul from the sword—
my only one from the power of the dog.
22 Save me from the lion’s mouth.
From the horns of the wild oxen rescue me.
23 I will declare Your Name to my brothers.
I will praise You amid the congregation.[e]
24 You who fear Adonai, praise Him!
All Jacob’s descendants, glorify Him!
Revere Him, all you seed of Israel.
25 For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the lowly one.
Nor has He hidden His face from him,
but when he cried to Him, He heard.
26 From You is my praise in the great assembly.
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear Him.
27 Let the poor eat and be satisfied.
Let them who seek after Him praise Adonai.
May your hearts live forever!
28 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Adonai.
All the families of the nations will bow down before You.
29 For the kingdom belongs to Adonai,
and He rules over the nations.
30 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship.
Everyone who goes down to the dust will kneel before Him—
even the one who could not keep his own soul alive.
31 His posterity will serve him, telling
the next generation about my Lord.
32 They will come and declare His righteousness
to a people yet to be born—
because He has done it!
Evening Petition for Protection
Psalm 141
1 A psalm of David.
Adonai, I call to You—come quickly to me!
Hear my voice when I call to You.
2 May my prayer be set before You like incense.
May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard, Adonai, over my mouth.
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Let not my heart turn to any evil thing,
to practice deeds of wickedness
with men that work iniquity,
nor let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me—it is kindness.
Let him correct me—it is oil on my head
—my head will not refuse it.
Yet still my prayer is against their wickedness.
6 Their judges are thrown down from a cliff.
Then they will hear my words, since they are sweet.
7 As when one plows and breaks open the earth,
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8 For my eyes are toward You, God my Lord.
In You I have taken refuge—do not expose my soul.
9 Keep me from the jaws of the trap they have laid for me,
and from the snares of the evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.
Hide Not Your Face from Me
Psalm 143
1 A psalm of David.
Hear my prayer, Adonai,
give ear to my petitions.
In Your faithfulness and Your righteousness,
answer me!
2 Do not bring Your servant into judgment,
for in Your eyes no one living is righteous.
3 For an enemy pursues my soul.
He crushes my life down to the ground.
He makes me dwell in darkness, like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me.
My heart is shocked within me.
5 I remember the days of old.
I meditate on all You have done.
I ponder the work of Your hands.
6 I spread forth my hands to You.
My soul longs for You as a parched land. Selah
7 Answer me speedily, Adonai—my spirit fails.
Hide not Your face from me,
lest I become like those who go down into the Pit.
8 Make me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
for in You I trust.
Show me the way I should go,
for to You I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, Adonai.
I hide myself in You.
10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.
Let Your good Ruach lead me on level ground.
11 For Your Name’s sake, Adonai, revive me.
In Your justice bring my soul out of trouble.
12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies
and destroy all who harass my soul,
for I am Your servant.
13 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh and say to him: This is what Adonai the God of the Hebrews says: ‘Let My people go, so they may serve Me. 14 For this time I will send all My plagues to your heart, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. 15 Surely by now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 However, I have let you stand for this reason: to show you My power, and that My Name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth. 17 Yet still you exalt yourself over My people, by not letting them go. 18 Behold, tomorrow at about this time, I will cause it to rain a very severe hailstorm, the likes of which has not occurred in Egypt since the day it was founded until now. 19 Send word, shelter your cattle and all that you have in the field. For every person and animal found in the field and not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, they will die.’”
20 Whoever feared the word of Adonai among the servants of Pharaoh had his own servants and cattle flee into the houses, 21 but whoever disregarded the word of Adonai left his servants and cattle in the field.
22 Then Adonai said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail in all the land of Egypt, on people, animals and every plant of the field, throughout all the land.”
23 So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and Adonai sent thunder and hail. Fire came down on the earth, as Adonai rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 The hail fell very severely, with fire flashing up amidst the hail, the likes of which had not occurred in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 The hail struck down everything that was in the fields, both men and animals, all throughout the land of Egypt. It also struck every plant of the field and broke down every tree. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where Bnei-Yisrael were, was there no hail.
27 So Pharaoh sent, called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Adonai is righteous, while I and my people are wicked. 28 Pray to Adonai—there has been enough of God’s thunders and hail! I will let you go. You don’t have to stay any longer.”
29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to Adonai. The thunder will cease and there will be no more hail—so you may know that the earth is Adonai’s. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear Adonai Elohim.”
31 (The flax and the barley were destroyed, because the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. 32 But the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)
33 Moses went out of the city, away from Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to Adonai. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the earth. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail and the thunder had ceased, he increased his sin and hardened his heart, both he and his servants. 35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not let Bnei-Yisrael go—just as Adonai had said by Moses’ hand.
Treasures in Jars of Clay
4 For this reason, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 Instead, we renounced the hidden shameful ways—not walking in deception or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by the open proclamation of the truth. 3 And even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so they might not see the light of the Good News of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Messiah Yeshua as Lord—and ourselves as your slaves for Yeshua’s sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah.[b]
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay,[c] so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves. 8 We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; 9 persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body. 11 For we who live are always being handed over to death for Yeshua’s sake, so that the life of Yeshua may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Death and Resurrection Revealed
32 They were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Yeshua was going ahead of them. And they were amazed, while those who followed were fearful. Again Yeshua took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him.
33 He said, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars. They will condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles. [a] 34 They will mock Him and spit on Him, scourge Him and kill Him. Yet after three days, He will rise again!”
35 Then Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee, come up to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.”
36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
37 They said to Him, “Let us sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”
38 But Yeshua answered them, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink, or endure the immersion I must endure?”
39 They said to Him, “We are able.”
And Yeshua said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will endure the immersion I must endure. 40 But to sit on My right or left is not Mine to grant—it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
41 Now when the ten heard, they started to get angry with Jacob and John. 42 And calling them over, Yeshua said to them, “You know those recognized as rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones play the tyrant over them. 43 Yet it is not this way among you. But whoever wants to be great among you shall be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.