Book of Common Prayer
83 (0) A song. A psalm of Asaf:
2 (1) God, don’t remain silent!
Don’t stay quiet, God, or still;
3 (2) because here are your enemies, causing an uproar;
those who hate you are raising their heads,
4 (3) craftily conspiring against your people,
consulting together against those you treasure.
5 (4) They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Isra’el be remembered no more!”
6 (5) With one mind they plot their schemes;
the covenant they have made is against you —
7 (6) the tents of Edom and the Yishma‘elim,
Mo’av and the Hagrim,
8 (7) G’val, ‘Amon and ‘Amalek,
P’leshet with those living in Tzor; (Selah)
9 (8) Ashur too is allied with them,
to reinforce the descendants of Lot.
10 (9) Do to them as you did to Midyan,
to Sisra and Yavin at Vadi Kishon —
11 (10) they were destroyed at ‘Ein-Dor
and became manure for the ground.
12 (11) Make their leaders like ‘Orev and Ze’ev,
all their princes like Zevach and Tzalmuna,
13 (12) who said, “Let’s take possession
of God’s meadows for ourselves.”
14 (13) My God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff driven by the wind.
15 (14) Like fire burning up the forest,
like a flame that sets the mountains ablaze,
16 (15) drive them away with your storm,
terrify them with your tempest.
17 (16) Fill their faces with shame,
so that they will seek your name, Adonai.
18 (17) Let them be ashamed and fearful forever;
yes, let them perish in disgrace.
19 (18) Let them know that you alone,
whose name is Adonai,
are the Most High over all the earth.
146 Halleluyah!
Praise Adonai, my soul!
2 I will praise Adonai as long as I live.
I will sing praise to my God all my life.
3 Don’t put your trust in princes
or in mortals, who cannot help.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to dust;
on that very day all their plans are gone.
5 Happy is he whose help is Ya‘akov’s God,
whose hope is in Adonai his God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them;
he keeps faith forever.
7 He secures justice for the oppressed,
he gives food to the hungry.
Adonai sets prisoners free,
8 Adonai opens the eyes of the blind,
Adonai lifts up those who are bent over.
Adonai loves the righteous.
9 Adonai watches over strangers,
he sustains the fatherless and widows;
but the way of the wicked he twists.
10 Adonai will reign forever,
your God, Tziyon, through all generations.
Halleluyah!
147 Halleluyah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God!
How sweet, how fitting to praise him!
2 Adonai is rebuilding Yerushalayim,
gathering the dispersed of Isra’el.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines how many stars there are
and calls them all by name.
5 Our Lord is great, his power is vast,
his wisdom beyond all telling.
6 Adonai sustains the humble
but brings the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing to Adonai with thanks,
sing praises on the lyre to our God.
8 He veils the sky with clouds;
he provides the earth with rain;
he makes grass grow on the hills;
9 he gives food to the animals,
even to the young ravens when they cry.
10 He takes no delight in the strength of a horse,
no pleasure in a runner’s speed.
11 Adonai takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who wait for his grace.
12 Glorify Adonai, Yerushalayim!
Praise your God, Tziyon!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates,
he blesses your children within you,
14 he brings peace within your borders,
he gives you your fill of the finest wheat.
15 He sends his word out over the earth,
his command runs swiftly.
16 Thus he gives snow like wool,
scatters hoarfrost like ashes,
17 sends crystals of ice like crumbs of bread —
who can withstand such cold?
18 Then he sends his word out and melts them;
he makes the winds blow, and the water flows.
19 He reveals his words to Ya‘akov,
his laws and rulings to Isra’el.
20 He has not done this for other nations;
they do not know his rulings.
Halleluyah!
85 (0) For the leader. A psalm of the sons of Korach:
2 (1) Adonai, you have shown favor to your land;
you have restored the fortunes of Ya‘akov,
3 (2) taken away the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sin, (Selah)
4 (3) withdrawn all your wrath,
turned from your fierce anger.
5 (4) Restore us, God of our salvation,
renounce your displeasure with us.
6 (5) Are you to stay angry with us forever?
Will your fury last through all generations?
7 (6) Won’t you revive us again,
so your people can rejoice in you?
8 (7) Show us your grace, Adonai;
grant us your salvation.
9 (8) I am listening. What will God, Adonai, say?
For he will speak peace to his people,
to his holy ones —
but only if they don’t relapse into folly.
10 (9) His salvation is near for those who fear him,
so that glory will be in our land.
11 (10) Grace and truth have met together;
justice and peace have kissed each other.
12 (11) Truth springs up from the earth,
and justice looks down from heaven.
13 (12) Adonai will also grant prosperity;
our land will yield its harvest.
14 (13) Justice will walk before him
and make his footsteps a path.
86 (0) A prayer of David:
(1) Listen, Adonai, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant,
who puts his trust in you
because you are my God.
3 Take pity on me, Adonai,
for I cry to you all day.
4 Fill your servant’s heart with joy,
for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.
5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving,
full of grace toward all who call on you.
6 Listen, Adonai, to my prayer;
pay attention to my pleading cry.
7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you,
for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, Adonai;
no deeds compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and bow before you, Adonai;
they will honor your name.
10 For you are great, and you do wonders;
you alone are God.
11 Adonai, teach me your way,
so that I can live by your truth;
make me single-hearted,
so that I can fear your name.
12 I will thank you, Adonai my God,
with my whole heart;
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For your grace toward me is so great!
You have rescued me from the lowest part of Sh’ol.
14 God, arrogant men are rising against me,
a gang of brutes is seeking my life,
and to you they pay no attention.
15 But you, Adonai,
are a merciful, compassionate God,
slow to anger
and rich in grace and truth.
16 Turn to me, and show me your favor;
strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl’s son.
17 Give me a sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me
will see it and be ashamed,
because you, Adonai,
have helped and comforted me.
7 So the king and Haman went to Queen Ester’s banquet; 2 and the king again said to Ester at the wine banquet, “Whatever your request, Queen Ester, you will be granted it; whatever you want, up to half the kingdom, it will be done.” 3 Ester the queen answered, “If I have won your favor, king, and if it pleases the king, then what I ask be given me is my own life and the lives of my people. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, exterminated. If we had only been sold as men- and women-slaves, I would have remained quiet; since then [our] trouble would not have been worth the damage it would have caused the king [to alter the situation].” 5 King Achashverosh asked Ester the queen, “Who is he? Where is the man who dared to do such a thing?” 6 Ester said, “A ruthless enemy — it’s this wicked Haman!” Haman stood aghast, terrified before the king and queen. 7 In a rage, the king got up from the wine banquet and went out to the palace garden. But Haman remained, pleading with Ester the queen to spare his life; for he could see that the king had decided to do him in. 8 Haman had just fallen on the couch where Ester was, when the king returned from the palace garden to the wine banquet. He shouted, “Is he even going to rape the queen here in the palace, before my very eyes?” The moment these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Harvonah, one of the king’s attendants, said, “Look! The gallows seventy-five feet high that Haman made for Mordekhai, who spoke only good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordekhai. Then the king’s anger subsided.
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Sha’ul. 12 For instance, handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were brought to sick people; they would recover from their ailments; and the evil spirits would leave them.
13 Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, “I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha’ul is proclaiming!” 14 One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this; 15 and the evil spirit answered them. It said, “Yeshua I know. And Sha’ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding.
17 When all this became known to the residents of Ephesus, fear fell on all of them, Jews and Greeks alike; and the name of the Lord Yeshua came to be held in high regard. 18 Many of those who had earlier made professions of faith now came and admitted publicly their evil deeds; 19 and a considerable number of those who had engaged in occult practices threw their scrolls in a pile and burned them in public. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, it came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 Thus the message about the Lord continued in a powerful way to grow in influence.
14 Yeshua returned to the Galil in the power of the Spirit, and reports about him spread throughout the countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone respected him.
16 Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual. He stood up to read, 17 and he was given the scroll of the prophet Yesha‘yahu. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of Adonai is upon me;
therefore he has anointed me
to announce Good News to the poor;
he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned
and renewed sight for the blind,
to release those who have been crushed,
19 to proclaim a year of the favor of Adonai.”[a]
20 After closing the scroll and returning it to the shammash, he sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 He started to speak to them: “Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!” 22 Everyone was speaking well of him and marvelling that such appealing words were coming from his mouth. They were even asking, “Can this be Yosef’s son?”
23 Then Yeshua said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me this proverb — ‘“Doctor, cure yourself!” We’ve heard about all the things that have been going on over in K’far-Nachum; now do them here in your home town!’ 24 Yes!” he said, “I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 It’s true, I’m telling you — when Eliyahu was in Isra’el, and the sky was sealed off for three-and-a-half years, so that all the Land suffered a severe famine, there were many widows; 26 but Eliyahu was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Tzarfat in the land of Tzidon. 27 Also there were many people with tzara‘at in Isra’el during the time of the prophet Elisha; but not one of them was healed, only Na‘aman the Syrian.”
28 On hearing this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of town and dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which their town was built, intending to throw him off. 30 But he walked right through the middle of the crowd and went away.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.