Book of Common Prayer
Prayer for Mercy
Psalm 6
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Adonai, do not rebuke me in Your anger!
Do not discipline me in Your wrath.
3 Be gracious to me, Adonai, for I am weak.
Heal me, Adonai—for my bones are shuddering with fear,
4 as is my soul—
and You, Adonai—how long?
5 Turn toward me, Adonai, deliver my soul!
Save me—because of Your mercy.
6 For there is no memory of You in death,
in Sheol who will praise You?
7 I am worn out with my groaning.
Every night I make my bed swim,
drenching my pillow with my tears.
8 My eyes are weakened with grief—
they age because of my enemies.
9 Away from me, all you evildoers!
For Adonai heard the sound of my weeping.
10 Adonai has heard my cry for mercy.
Adonai accepts my prayer:
11 “May all my enemies be ashamed, and stricken with terror.
May they turn back in sudden disgrace.”
Silence the Flattering Lips
Psalm 12
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
3 Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
4 May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
5 They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”
6 “Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
7 The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
purified seven times.
8 You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
9 The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.
He Will Not Abandon His People
Psalm 94
1 God of vengeance, Adonai,
God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth!
Pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3 How long will the wicked, Adonai,
how long will the wicked gloat?
4 They gush out, they speak arrogance—
all the evildoers keep boasting.
5 They crush Your people, Adonai,
and afflict Your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the outsider,
and murder the fatherless.
7 So they say: “Adonai does not see—
the God of Jacob pays no attention.”
8 Pay attention, stupid among the people!
Fools, when will you comprehend?
9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
10 He who chastens nations, will He not rebuke—
One who teaches humanity knowledge?
11 Adonai knows human thoughts—
they are but a breath.
12 Blessed is the one You discipline, Adonai,
and teach him from Your Torah,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble
—until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For Adonai will not forsake His people.
He will never abandon His inheritance.[a]
15 For rightness will be restored to justice,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 Unless Adonai had been my help,
my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
18 If I say: “My foot has slipped,”
Your mercy, Adonai, will hold me up.
19 When my troubling thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations comfort my soul.
20 Can a throne of corruption be aligned
with You—planning distress by decree?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn innocent blood.[b]
22 But Adonai has been my fortress
and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their wickedness,
and will annihilate them in their evil.
Adonai our God will annihilate them.
17 Zion spreads out her hands—
there is no one to comfort her.
Adonai has decreed against Jacob.
Those surrounding him have become his foes;
Jerusalem has become
niddah in their eyes.
18 “Adonai is righteous,
for I have rebelled against His word.
Hear now, all peoples—
look at my suffering!
My maidens and my young men
have gone into captivity.
19 I called to my lovers—
they deceived me!
My kohanim and my elders
perished in the city
when they sought food
to keep themselves alive.
20 Look, Adonai, for I am in distress!
My stomach churns,
my heart pounds within me,
for I have been very rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves,
in the house it is like death.
21 They have heard me groaning.
There is no one to comfort me.
All my enemies heard of my distress,
They rejoice that You have done it.
May You bring about the day that You proclaimed,
so they may become like me!
22 Let all their evil come before You.
Deal with them as you dealt with me,
because of all my transgressions.
For my groans are many
and my heart is faint!”
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our trouble that happened in Asia.[a] We were under great pressure—so far beyond our strength that we despaired even of living. 9 In fact, we had within ourselves the death sentence—so that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. 10 He who rescued us from so great a danger of death will continue to rescue us—we have set our hope on Him that He will rescue us again. 11 You also are helping by your prayer for us, so that from many people thanks may be given on our behalf for the gracious gift given us through the help of many.
12 For our reason for boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world, and most especially toward you, with simplicity and godly sincerity—not by human wisdom but by the grace of God. 13 For we write nothing to you other than what you can read and understand—and I hope you will understand in full 14 just as you understood us in part, so that we are your reason for boasting just as you also are ours in the Day of our Lord Yeshua.
Paul’s Change of Plans
15 Because of this confidence, I was planning to come to you first, so that you might have a second benefit— 16 to pass by you on my way to Macedonia and again from Macedonia to come back to you, and to be helped by you on my journey to Judea. 17 So when I was planning to do this, I didn’t do so lightly, did I? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh—so it might be with me “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 But as God is faithful, our message to you is not both “Yes” and “No.” [b] 19 For Ben-Elohim—Yeshua the Messiah, who was proclaimed among you by us, by myself and Silvanus[c] and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No.” Rather, in Him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For in Him all the promises of God are “Yes.” Therefore also through Him is the “Amen” by us, to the glory of God. [d] 21 Now it is God who establishes us with you in Messiah. He anointed us, 22 set His seal on us, and gave us the Ruach in our hearts as a pledge.
A Question for a Question
27 Again they come to Jerusalem. While Yeshua was walking in the Temple, the ruling kohanim, Torah scholars, and elders come up to Him. 28 And they start saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 Yeshua said to them, “I will put one question to you. Answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 The immersion of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me!”
31 They began to dialogue among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From men’. . .?” They were afraid of the crowd, for all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So answering Yeshua, they say, “We don’t know.”
And Yeshua tells them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.