Book of Common Prayer
Torah Is a Tree of Wisdom
Psalm 1
1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked,
nor stood in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seat of scoffers.
2 But his delight is in the Torah of Adonai,
and on His Torah he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a planted tree over streams of water,
producing its fruit during its season.
Its leaf never droops—
but in all he does, he succeeds.
4 The wicked are not so.
For they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand during the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For Adonai knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Coronation of Messianic King
Psalm 2
1 Why are the nations in an uproar,
and the peoples mutter vanity?
2 The kings of earth set themselves up[a]
and rulers conspire together[b] against Adonai
and against His Anointed One[c]:
3 “Let’s rip their chains apart,
and throw their ropes off us!”
4 He who sits in heaven laughs!
Adonai mocks them.
5 So He will speak to them in His anger,
and terrify them in His fury:
6 “I have set up My king
upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
7 I will declare the decree of Adonai.
He said to me: “You are My Son—
today I have become Your Father.[d]
8 Ask Me,
and I will give the nations as Your inheritance,
and the far reaches of the earth as Your possession.
9 You shall break the nations with an iron scepter.[e]
You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s jar.”[f]
10 So now, O kings, be wise,
take warning, O judges of the earth!
11 Serve Adonai with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He become angry,
and you perish along your way—
since His wrath may flare up suddenly.
Happy is everyone taking refuge in Him!
Magen David
Psalm 3
1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
2 Adonai, how many are my foes!
Many are rising up against me!
3 Many are saying to my soul:
“There is no deliverance for him in God.”
Selah
4 But You, Adonai, are a shield around me,
my glory and the lifter of my head.
5 I cry out to Adonai with my voice,
and He answers me from His holy mountain.
Selah
6 I lie down and sleep.
I awake—for Adonai sustains me.
7 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people all around
who have taken their stand against me.
8 Arise, Adonai! Deliver me, my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek.
You shatter the teeth of the wicked.
9 Deliverance belongs to Adonai.[g]
Let Your blessing be on Your people.
Selah
Prayer for Sleep in Shalom
Psalm 4
1 For the music director, on stringed instruments, a psalm of David.
2 Answer me when I call,
God of my righteousness!
You set me free when I am in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
3 O sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into my shame?
How long will you love worthlessness and pursue falsehood? Selah
4 But know that Adonai has set apart the godly for His own.
Adonai will hear when I call to Him.
5 Tremble, but do not sin![h]
Search your heart while on your bed, and be silent. Selah
6 Offer righteous sacrifices
and put your trust in Adonai.
7 Many are asking, “Who will show us some good?”
May the light of Your face shine upon us, Adonai!
8 You have put joy in my heart—
more joy than when their grain and new wine overflow.
9 I will lie down and sleep in shalom.
For You alone, Adonai, make me live securely.
Adonai Magen
Psalm 7
1 A passionate song of David, which he sang to Adonai concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
2 Adonai my God, in You I have taken refuge.
Save me from each of my persecutors, and deliver me.
3 Otherwise he will rip me apart like a lion,
with no one to rescue me.
4 Adonai my God, if I have done this—
if there is guilt on my hands,
5 if I have paid back evil to anyone at peace with me,
or unjustly attacked my adversary,
6 then let the enemy chase me,
overtake me, and trample me into the ground,
leaving my honor in the dirt! Selah
7 Arise, Adonai, in Your anger,
arise against the fury of my enemies!
Awake for me!
You decreed justice.
8 Let an assembly of peoples gather around You
and return on high, above them.
9 Adonai judges the peoples.
Vindicate me, Adonai,
according to my righteousness and integrity in me.
10 Please, end the evil of the wicked
and sustain the righteous.
A just God examines hearts and minds.
11 My shield is God—
Savior of the upright in heart.
12 God is a righteous judge,
a God who is indignant every day.
13 If He does not relent,
He will sharpen His sword.
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
14 He prepares His own deadly weapons.
He makes His fiery arrows.
15 Look! The one pregnant with trouble conceives mischief
and brings forth deceit.[a]
16 He digs a pit, scrapes it out,
and then falls into the hole he has made.
17 His mischief will turn on his own head.
His violence will boomerang on his crown.
18 I will praise Adonai for His justice.
I sing praise to the Name of Adonai Elyon!
None Upright Among Mankind
7 Woe is me! For I am like gatherings of produce in summer,
like gleanings of a vineyard.
There is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that I crave.
2 The pious have perished from the land,
there is none upright among mankind.
All of them lie in wait for blood.
A man hunts his brother with a net.
3 Both hands are diligent at doing evil.
The official and the judge ask for a bribe.
The distinguished man utters a desire of his soul.
Thus they weave it together.
4 The best of them is like a prickly bush,
the most upright like a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen—of your visitation—is coming.
Then their confusion will occur.
5 Do not trust in a friend.
Do not trust in a close companion.
Guard the openings of your mouth
from her who lies on your breast.
6 For son treats father with contempt;
daughter rises up against mother;
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law:
a man’s enemies are the people of his own house.[a]
Zion’s Vindication
7 But I—I will watch for Adonai.
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
Defense Before King Agrippa
26 Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “Concerning all I am accused of by the Judean leaders, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that it is before you that I am about to make my defense today— 3 since you are especially knowledgeable about all Jewish customs and issues. Therefore I beg you to listen patiently to me.
4 “Now all the Jewish people have known my manner of life ever since my youth, starting from the beginning in my own nation and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known about me for a long time—if they were willing to testify—that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.
6 “Yet now I stand here being judged for the hope in the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 It is the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jewish people, O King! 8 Why is it judged incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
9 “In fact, I myself thought it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Yeshua ha-Natzrati. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the kedoshim in prisons by the authority I received from the ruling kohanim, but I cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. 11 I tried to cause them to blaspheme by punishing them often in the synagogues. In furious rage against them, I persecuted them even in foreign cities.
12 “While journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the ruling kohanim, 13 at midday, O King, I saw on the road a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. 14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against goads!’
15 “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“And the Lord said, ‘I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up, and stand on your feet.[a] For I have appeared to you for this purpose—to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen as well as to the things I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will rescue you[b] from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light[c] and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me.’
19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Rather, I kept declaring—first to those in Damascus, and then Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also the Gentiles—that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with that repentance.
21 “For this reason some Judeans seized me in the Temple and tried to put me to death. 22 Since I have had God’s help, to this day I have stood here testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to happen— 23 that the Messiah was to suffer and that, being first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light both to our people and to the nations.[d]”
Not Welcome in the Gerasenes
26 They sailed over to the country of the Gerasenes, which is on the opposite side of the Galilee. 27 A demon-plagued man from the town met Yeshua as He was coming out onto the land. The man hadn’t worn any clothing for a long time and was living not in a house but in the tombs.
28 Seeing Yeshua, he cried out and fell down before Yeshua, and with a loud voice said, “What’s between You and me, Yeshua, Ben El Elyon? I’m begging You, do not torment me!” 29 For Yeshua commanded the defiling spirit to come out of the man. For many times it had seized him so that, even though he was restrained and bound with chains and shackles, he would break the chains and be driven by the demons into the desert.
30 Yeshua questioned him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he said, for many demons had entered him. 31 They kept begging Him not to command them to depart into the abyss. [a] 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding on the mountain. The demons urged Yeshua to let them enter these pigs, and He gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs. The herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and was drowned. 34 But when the herdsmen saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and countryside.
35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Yeshua and found the man from whom the demons had gone—clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Yeshua. And they were frightened. 36 Now those who had seen it reported how the demon-plagued man had been restored. 37 And all the people from the region surrounding the Gerasenes asked Yeshua to go away from them because they were overcome by great fear. So He got into a boat and returned.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with Yeshua. But Yeshua sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and describe all that God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town all that Yeshua had done for him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.