Book of Common Prayer
78 (Maskil of Asaph.) Give ear, O my people, to my torah; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a mashal; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, and Avoteinu have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their banim, recounting to the dor acharon the tehillot Hashem, and His power, and His nifla’ot (wonderful works) that He hath done.
5 For He established edut in Ya’akov, set torah in Yisroel, which He commanded Avoteinu, that they should make them known to their banim;
6 So that the dor acharon might know them, even the banim which should be born; who should arise and recount them to their banim;
7 That they might put their confidence in Elohim, and not forget the ma’allei El (works of G-d), but keep His mitzvot;
8 And might not be as their Avot, a dor sorer u’moreh (stubborn and rebellious generation); a generation that set not its lev aright, and whose ruach was not faithful to G-d.
9 The Bnei Ephrayim, being armed, and shooting keshet (the bows), turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the Brit Elohim, and refused to walk in His torah;
11 And forgot His works, and His nifla’ot (wonders) that He had shown them.
12 Peleh (marvellous things) did He in the sight of their avot, in Eretz Mitzrayim, in the sadeh (area) of Tzoan.
13 He divided the yam, and caused them to pass through; and He made the mayim to stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime also He led them with an anan, and all the lailah with an ohr of eish.
15 He split the rocks in the midbar, and gave them drink as out of the great tehomot.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused mayim to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking Elyon in the wilderness.
18 And they tested G-d by their lev by demanding ochel for their lust.
19 And they spoke against Elohim; they said, Can G-d spread a shulchan in the midbar?
20 Behold, He struck the Tzur, that the mayim gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give lechem also? Can He provide meat for His people?
21 Therefore Hashem heard this, and was in wrath; so an eish was kindled against Ya’akov, and anger also came up against Yisroel;
22 Because they believed not in Elohim, and trusted not in His Yeshuah (salvation);
23 Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the daletei Shomayim (doors of heaven),
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the bread of Shomayim [see Yn 6:31 OJBC].
25 Ish did eat the bread of angels; He sent them lechem to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow from Shomayim; and by His oz He brought in the south wind.
27 He rained meat also upon them like aphar, and winged fowls like the chol (sand) of the sea;
28 And He let it fall in the midst of their machaneh, all around their mishkenot (habitations).
29 So they did eat, and were well filled; for He gave them their own ta’avah (evil desire).
30 They were not estranged from their ta’avah. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31 The Af Elohim (wrath of G-d) came upon them, and slaughtered the stoutest of them, and cut down the bochurim of Yisroel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not in His nifla’ot (wondrous works).
33 Therefore their yamim did He consume in hevel (futility, vanity) and their shanim in terror.
34 When He slaughtered them, then they sought Him; and they returned and inquired diligently after G-d.
35 And they remembered that Elohim was their Tzur, and the El Elyon their Go’el (Redeemer).
36 Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their leshon.
37 For their lev was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His Brit.
38 But He, being full of compassion, made kapporah for their avon and destroyed them not; and He many times turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they were but basar; a ruach (wind) that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke Him in the midbar, and grieve Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they turned back and tested G-d, and imposed limits on Kadosh Yisroel.
42 They remembered not His Yad (Hand, Power), nor the yom (day) when He redeemed them from the enemy.
43 How He had wrought His otot in Mitzrayim, and His mofetim in the area of Tzoan.
44 And had turned their rivers into dahm; and their streams, that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and tzfarde’a (frogs), which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crop unto the grasshopper, and their produce unto the arbeh (locust).
47 He destroyed their gefen with barad (hail), and their fig trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the barad (hail), and their livestock herds to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them His charon af, evrah (wrath), and za’am (indignation), and tzarah, by sending malachim ra’im among them.
50 He made a way for His anger; He spared not their nefesh from mavet (death), but gave their beasts over to the dever (plague);
51 And struck all the bechor in Mitzrayim; the reshit (first fruit) of their strength in the ohalim of Cham;
52 But made His own people to go forth like tzon, and guided them in the midbar like an eder (flock).
53 And He led them in safety, so that they had no terror; but the yam overwhelmed their oyevim.
54 And He brought them to His gevul kadosh (His holy border), even to this Har, which His Yamin had purchased.
55 He cast out the Goyim also before them, and divided by measure a nachalah for them, and made the Shivtei Yisroel to dwell in their ohalim.
56 Yet they tested and provoked Elohim Elyon, and were not shomer over His edot;
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their avot; they turned like a treacherous keshet.
58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their pesilim.
59 When Elohim heard this, He was in wrath, and greatly abhorred Yisroel;
60 So that He forsook the Mishkan of Shiloh, the Ohel which He placed among adam (men);
61 And delivered His oz (strength) into captivity, and His tiferet into the hand of the enemy.
62 He gave His people over also unto the cherev; and was in wrath with His nachalah.
63 The eish consumed their bochurim; and their betulot had no wedding celebration.
64 Their kohanim fell by the cherev; and their almanot made no lamentation.
65 Then Adonoi awaked as one from sleep, and like a gibbor that shouteth from yayin.
66 And He struck down His enemies behind; He put them to cherpat olam (perpetual reproach).
67 Moreover He rejected the Ohel Yosef, and chose not the Shevet Ephrayim;
68 But chose the Shevet Yehudah, Har Tziyon which He loved.
69 And He built His Mikdash like heavenly heights, like Eretz which He hath established l’olam.
70 He chose Dovid also His Eved, and took him from the mikhle’ot tzon (sheepfolds);
71 From following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Ya’akov His people, and Yisroel His nachalah.
72 So he shepherded them according to the tohm (integrity, guilelessness) of his lev; and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.
26 Ye shall not make for you elilim or pesel or set up matzevah, neither shall ye set up even maskit (carved stone) in your land, lehishtachavot (to bow down) unto it: for I am Hashem Eloheichem.
[BECHUKKOTAI]
2 Ye shall be shomer over My Shabbatot, and reverence My Mikdash: I am Hashem.
3 If ye walk in My chukkot, and be shomer over My mitzvot, and do them;
4 Then I will give you geshem in due season, and HaAretz shall yield her increase, and the etz hasadeh shall yield his pri.
5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your lechem to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 And I will give shalom in HaAretz, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid the savage beast out of HaAretz, neither shall the cherev pass through your land.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the cherev.
8 And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the cherev.
9 For I will look upon you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and confirm My Brit (Covenant) with you.
10 And ye shall be eating the old harvest when you move out the yashan because of the chadash.
11 And I set My Mishkan among you: and My Nefesh shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be Elohim to you, and ye shall be My people.
13 I am Hashem Eloheichem, which brought you forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim, that ye should not be their avadim; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk head held high.
14 But if ye will not pay heed unto Me, and will not do all these mitzvot,
15 And if ye shall despise My chukkot, or if your nefesh abhor My mishpatim, so that ye will not do all My mitzvot, but that ye violate My Brit (Covenant),
16 I also will do this unto you: I will even visit upon you terror, wasting disease, and the burning fever, that shall consume the eyes, and drain the nefesh: and ye shall sow your zera in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set My Face against you, and ye shall be struck down before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none rodef (pursue, persecute) you.
18 And if ye will not yet for all this pay heed unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your chattot.
19 And I will break the ga’on (pride) of your stubbornness; and I will make your skies as barzel, and your soil as bronze;
20 And your ko’ach shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the etz HaAretz yield their pri.
2 I urge, therefore, of first importance, davening, techinnah (supplication), tefillah (prayer), bakkashot (petitions), and hodayah (thanksgiving) be made on behalf of kol Bnei Adam (all mankind),
2 On behalf of malchei eretz (kings) and on behalf of all the ones in authority, that we may lead a life of chayyei menuchah (life of rest) in all chasidus (piety) and yirat Shomayim (reverence).
3 This is good and acceptable before Hashem Moshieynu,
4 Who wants kol Bnei Adam to have Yeshu’at Eloheynu (the Salvation of our G-d) and to come to da’as HaEmes (knowledge of the truth).
5 For Adonoi echad hu (there is one G-d) and there is also metavekh echad (one melitz, IYOV 33:23, YESHAYAH 43:27; cf. DEVARIM 5:5,22-31), one between Hashem and kol Bnei Adam, the man Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua,
6 The one who gave his nefesh [YESHAYAH 53:10-12] as a kofer (ransom), on behalf of all. The edut (testimony) of this was given at the right time.
18 You, therefore, listen to the mashal of the sower.
19 When anyone hears the Dvar HaMalchut and does not have binah, HaRah (the Evil one) comes and seizes that which was sown in his lev (heart). This is the zera (seed) sown along the path.
20 And the zera sown upon the rocky places is the person listening to the Dvar Hashem and immediately with simcha receives it.
21 Yet he has no root in himself but is short-lived, and when ES TZARAH comes or persecution on account of the Dvar Hashem, immediately he ceases being a maamin Meshichi (Messianic believer) and becomes meshummad (apostate), falling away and giving up the [true Orthodox Jewish] faith. [YIRMEYAH 30:7]
22 And the [zera] sown among the thorns is the one hearing the dvar (word), and the rogez HaOlam Hazeh (the anxiety of this age, DEVARIM 28:65) and the mirmah (deceit) of riches, choke the Dvar Hashem and it becomes unfruitful. [YESHAYAH 53:9]
23 And the zera sown upon the adamah tovah (the good ground), this is the one who hears the Dvar Hashem and, understanding [it], indeed bears pri and, one produces a hundred, the other sixty, the other thirty.
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