Book of Common Prayer
Exalted Above All Gods
Psalm 97
1 Adonai reigns, let the earth rejoice,
let the many islands be glad.
2 Clouds and darkness are all around Him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
3 Fire goes before Him
and burns up His adversaries on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world—
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax
at the presence of Adonai,
at the presence of the Lord of all earth.
6 The heavens declare His righteousness,
and all the peoples have seen His glory.
7 Let all who serve graven images be ashamed—who boast in idols.
Bow down before Him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of Your judgments, Adonai.
9 For You, Adonai, are Elyon above all the earth.
You are exalted far above all gods.
10 You who love Adonai, hate evil!
He watches over the souls of His godly ones.
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous
and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in Adonai, you righteous ones,
and praise His holy Name.
Worship at His Holy Hill
Psalm 99
1 Adonai reigns, let the peoples tremble.
He is enthroned upon the cheruvim—let the earth shake!
2 Adonai is great in Zion
and He is exalted above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great
and awesome Name: holy is He.
4 The might of a king loves justice.
You have established fairness.
You executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt Adonai our God
and worship at His footstool: holy is He.
6 Moses and Aaron were among His kohanim—
also Samuel among those calling on His Name.
They called on Adonai and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.
They kept His testimonies, and the decree that He gave them.
8 Adonai our God, You answered them.
A forgiving God You were to them, though You avenged their misdeeds.
9 Exalt Adonai our God,
and worship at His holy hill,
for holy is Adonai our God.
Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving
Psalm 100
1 A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout joyfully to Adonai, all the earth!
2 Serve Adonai with gladness.
Come before His presence with joyful singing.
3 Know that Adonai, He is God.
It is He who has made us, and we are His.
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise!
Praise Him, bless His Name.
5 For Adonai is good.
His lovingkindness endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.
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.
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.[c]
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.’”
Destroyed For Lack of Knowledge
4 Hear the word of Adonai, Bnei-Yisrael!
For Adonai has a dispute with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth,
no covenant loyalty,
and no knowledge of God in the land.
2 Curse, deceive, murder,
steal, commit adultery!
They practice violence,
and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn,
and everyone dwelling in it will languish
along with the beasts of the field and the flying creatures of the sky—
even the fish of the sea will be removed.
4 Yet let no one dispute
and let no one argue.
Your people are like a kohen
who makes quarrels.
5 So you will stumble by day.
Also a prophet will stumble with you by night,
when I destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Since you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you from being My kohen.
Since you forgot the Torah of your God,
just so I will forget your children.
7 The more they multiplied,
the more they sinned against Me.
I will change their glory into disgrace.
8 They feed on the sin of My people
and relish their iniquity.
9 But it will be like people, like kohen.
So I will punish them for their ways,
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They have eaten but will not be satisfied.
They have fornicated but will not increase.
For they stopped giving heed to Adonai.
Going to Jerusalem Despite Warnings
21 After tearing ourselves away from them and setting sail, we set a straight course to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 2 Finding a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3 When we came in sight of Cyprus, passing it by on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre—for there the ship was to unload the cargo. 4 We looked up the disciples and stayed there seven days. They kept telling Paul through the Ruach not to set foot in Jerusalem.
5 When our days there were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. After kneeling down on the shore and praying, 6 we said farewell to one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.
7 When we had finished the trip from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for one day. 8 On the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea. We entered the home of Philip, the proclaimer of Good News, who was one of the seven, and we stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
10 While we stayed there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet, and said, “The Ruach ha-Kodesh says this: ‘In this way shall the Jewish people in Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
12 When we heard these things, both we and the local people urged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul responded, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord Yeshua!”
14 Since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, saying only, “May the Lord’s will be done.”
Yeshua Heals and News Spreads
12 Now while Yeshua was in one of the towns, a man covered with tzara’at appeared. And when he saw Yeshua, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Master, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be cleansed!” Immediately, the tzara’at left him. 14 Yeshua ordered him to tell no one, but commanded him, “Go and show yourself to the kohen.[a] Then bring an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
15 But the news about Yeshua was spreading all the more, and many crowds were coming together to hear and to be healed of their diseases. 16 Yet He would often slip away into the wilderness and pray.
Crowds Gather from the Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem
17 Now on one of those days, Yeshua was teaching. Pharisees and Torah scholars were sitting there, who had come from every village of the Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem. And Adonai’s power to heal was in Him. 18 And behold, men were carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher, trying to bring him in and place him before Yeshua. 19 But when they found no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his stretcher through the tiles, right in the middle before Yeshua. 20 When He saw their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.”
21 Then the Torah scholars and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this fellow speaking blasphemies? Who can pardon sins but God alone?”
22 Yeshua, knowing their thoughts, replied to them, “Why are you raising questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins. . . .” He said to the paralyzed one, “I tell you, get up and take your cot, and go home!”
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26 Astonishment took hold of them, and they glorified God and all were filled with awe, saying, “We’ve seen incredible things today!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.