Book of Common Prayer
145 [Koph.] I have called with the whole heart, Answer me, O Jehovah, Thy statutes I keep,
146 I have called Thee, save Thou me, And I do keep Thy testimonies.
147 I have gone forward in the dawn, and I cry, For Thy word I have hoped.
148 Mine eyes have gone before the watches, To meditate in Thy saying.
149 My voice hear, according to Thy kindness, Jehovah, according to Thy judgment quicken me.
150 Near have been my wicked pursuers, From Thy law they have been far off.
151 Near [art] Thou, O Jehovah, And all Thy commands [are] truth.
152 Of old I have known Thy testimonies, That to the age Thou hast founded them!
153 [Resh.] See my affliction, and deliver Thou me, For Thy law I have not forgotten.
154 Plead my plea, and redeem me, According to Thy saying quicken me.
155 Far from the wicked [is] salvation, For Thy statutes they have not sought.
156 Thy mercies [are] many, O Jehovah, According to Thy judgments quicken me.
157 Many [are] my pursuers, and adversaries, From Thy testimonies I have not turned aside.
158 I have seen treacherous ones, And grieve myself, Because Thy saying they have not kept.
159 See, for thy precepts I have loved, Jehovah, According to Thy kindness quicken me.
160 The sum of Thy word [is] truth, And to the age [is] every judgment of Thy righteousness!
161 [Shin.] Princes have pursued me without cause, And because of Thy words was my heart afraid.
162 I do rejoice concerning Thy saying, As one finding abundant spoil.
163 Falsehood I have hated, yea I abominate [it], Thy law I have loved.
164 Seven [times] in a day I have praised Thee, Because of the judgments of Thy righteousness.
165 Abundant peace have those loving Thy law, And they have no stumbling-block.
166 I have waited for Thy salvation, O Jehovah, And Thy commands I have done.
167 Kept hath my soul Thy testimonies, And I do love them exceedingly.
168 I have kept Thy precepts and Thy testimonies, For all my ways are before Thee!
169 [Taw.] My loud cry cometh near before Thee, O Jehovah; According to Thy word cause me to understand.
170 My supplication cometh in before Thee, According to Thy saying deliver Thou me.
171 My lips do utter praise, For Thou dost teach me Thy statutes.
172 My tongue doth sing of Thy saying, For all Thy commands [are] righteous.
173 Thy hand is for a help to me, For Thy commands I have chosen.
174 I have longed for Thy salvation, O Jehovah, And Thy law [is] my delight.
175 My soul liveth, and it doth praise Thee, And Thy judgments do help me.
176 I wandered as a lost sheep, seek Thy servant, For Thy precepts I have not forgotten!
128 A Song of the Ascents. O the happiness of every one fearing Jehovah, Who is walking in His ways.
2 The labour of thy hands thou surely eatest, Happy [art] thou, and good [is] to thee.
3 Thy wife [is] as a fruitful vine in the sides of thy house, Thy sons as olive plants around thy table.
4 Lo, surely thus is the man blessed who is fearing Jehovah.
5 Jehovah doth bless thee out of Zion, Look, then, on the good of Jerusalem, All the days of thy life,
6 And see the sons of thy sons! Peace on Israel!
129 A Song of the Ascents. Often they distressed me from my youth, Pray, let Israel say:
2 Often they distressed me from my youth, Yet they have not prevailed over me.
3 Over my back have ploughers ploughed, They have made long their furrows.
4 Jehovah [is] righteous, He hath cut asunder cords of the wicked.
5 Confounded and turn backward do all hating Zion.
6 They are as grass of the roofs, That before it was drawn out withereth,
7 That hath not filled the hand of a reaper, And the bosom of a binder of sheaves.
8 And the passers by have not said, `The blessing of Jehovah [is] on you, We blessed you in the Name of Jehovah!'
130 A Song of the Ascents. From depths I have called Thee, Jehovah.
2 Lord, hearken to my voice, Thine ears are attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If iniquities Thou dost observe, O Lord, who doth stand?
4 But with Thee [is] forgiveness, that Thou mayest be feared.
5 I hoped [for] Jehovah -- hoped hath my soul, And for His word I have waited.
6 My soul [is] for the Lord, More than those watching for morning, Watching for morning!
7 Israel doth wait on Jehovah, For with Jehovah [is] kindness, And abundant with Him [is] redemption.
8 And He doth redeem Israel from all his iniquities!
41 and it cometh to pass in the morning, that Balak taketh Balaam, and causeth him to go up the high places of Baal, and he seeth from thence the extremity of the people.
23 And Balaam saith unto Balak, `Build for me in this [place] seven altars, and make ready for me in this [place] seven bullocks and seven rams.'
2 And Balak doth as Balaam hath spoken, and Balak -- Balaam also -- offereth a bullock and a ram on the altar,
3 and Balaam saith to Balak, `Station thyself by thy burnt-offering and I go on, it may be Jehovah doth come to meet me, and the thing which He sheweth me -- I have declared to thee;' and he goeth [to] a high place.
4 And God cometh unto Balaam, and he saith unto Him, `The seven altars I have arranged, and I offer a bullock and a ram on the altar;'
5 and Jehovah putteth a word in the mouth of Balaam, and saith, `Turn back unto Balak, and thus thou dost speak.'
6 And he turneth back unto him, and lo, he is standing by his burnt-offering, he and all the princes of Moab.
7 And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `From Aram he doth lead me -- Balak king of Moab; From mountains of the east: Come -- curse for me Jacob, And come -- be indignant [with] Israel.
8 What -- do I pierce? -- God hath not pierced! And what -- am I indignant? -- Jehovah hath not been indignant!
9 For from the top of rocks I see it, And from heights I behold it; Lo a people! alone it doth tabernacle, And among nations doth not reckon itself.
10 Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of upright ones, And let my last end be like his!'
11 And Balak saith unto Balaam, `What hast thou done to me? to pierce mine enemies I have taken thee -- and lo, thou hast certainly blessed;'
12 and he answereth and saith, `That which Jehovah doth put in my mouth -- it do I not take heed to speak?'
13 That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,
14 for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;
15 for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.
16 And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good,
17 and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,
18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,
19 for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.
20 And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.
21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,
22 for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,
23 and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members.
24 A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.
33 `Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.
34 `And when the season of the fruits came nigh, he sent his servants unto the husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it,
35 and the husbandmen having taken his servants, one they scourged, and one they killed, and one they stoned.
36 `Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them in the same manner.
37 `And at last he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son;
38 and the husbandmen having seen the son, said among themselves, This is the heir, come, we may kill him, and may possess his inheritance;
39 and having taken him, they cast [him] out of the vineyard, and killed him;
40 whenever therefore the lord of the vineyard may come, what will he do to these husbandmen?'
41 They say to him, `Evil men -- he will evilly destroy them, and the vineyard will give out to other husbandmen, who will give back to him the fruits in their seasons.'
42 Jesus saith to them, `Did ye never read in the Writings, A stone that the builders disallowed, it became head of a corner; from the Lord hath this come to pass, and it is wonderful in our eyes.
43 `Because of this I say to you, that the reign of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruit;
44 and he who is falling on this stone shall be broken, and on whomsoever it may fall it will crush him to pieces.'
45 And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard his similes, knew that of them he speaketh,
46 and seeking to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, seeing they were holding him as a prophet.