Book of Common Prayer
50 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) The Mighty One, God, Adonai, is speaking,
summoning the world from east to west.
2 Out of Tziyon, the perfection of beauty,
God is shining forth.
3 Our God is coming and not staying silent.
With a fire devouring ahead of him
and a great storm raging around him,
4 he calls to the heavens above and to earth,
in order to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my faithful,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. (Selah)
7 “Listen, my people, I am speaking:
Isra’el, I am testifying against you,
I, God, your God.
8 I am not rebuking you for your sacrifices;
your burnt offerings are always before me.
9 I have no need for a bull from your farm
or for male goats from your pens;
10 for all forest creatures are mine already,
as are the animals on a thousand hills;
11 I know all the birds in the mountains;
whatever moves in the fields is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
for the world is mine, and everything in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,
pay your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me when you are in trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right do you have to proclaim my laws
or take my covenant on your lips,
17 when you so hate to receive instruction
and fling my words behind you?
18 When you see a thief, you join up with him,
you throw in your lot with adulterers,
19 you give your mouth free rein for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit;
20 you sit and speak against your kinsman,
you slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you do such things, should I stay silent?
You may have thought I was just like you;
but I will rebuke and indict you to your face.
22 Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to save you.
23 “Whoever offers thanksgiving
as his sacrifice honors me;
and to him who goes the right way
I will show the salvation of God.”
59 (0) For the leader. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” By David; a mikhtam, when Sha’ul sent men to keep watch on David’s house in order to kill him:
2 (1) My God, rescue me from my enemies!
Lift me up, out of reach of my foes!
3 (2) Rescue me from evildoers,
save me from bloodthirsty men.
4 (3) For there they are, lying in wait to kill me.
Openly they gather themselves against me,
and not because I committed a crime
or sinned, Adonai.
5 (4) For no fault of mine, they run and prepare.
Awaken to help me, and see!
6 (5) You, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot,
God of Isra’el,
arouse yourself to punish all the nations;
spare none of those wicked traitors. (Selah)
7 (6) They return at nightfall, snarling like dogs
as they go around the city.
8 (7) Look what pours out of their mouth,
what swords are on their lips,
[as they say to themselves,]
“No one is listening, anyway.”
9 (8) But you, Adonai, laugh at them,
you mock all the nations.
10 (9) My Strength, I will watch for you,
for God is my fortress.
11 (10) God, who gives me grace, will come to me;
God will let me gaze in triumph at my foes.
12 (11) Don’t kill them, or my people will forget;
instead, by your power, make them wander to and fro;
but bring them down, Adonai our Shield,
13 (12) for the sins their mouths make with each word from their lips.
Let them be trapped by their pride
for the curses and falsehoods they utter.
14 (13) Finish them off in wrath,
finish them off, put an end to them,
and let them know to the ends of the earth
that God is Ruler in Ya‘akov. (Selah)
15 (14) They return at nightfall, snarling like dogs
as they go around the city.
16 (15) They roam about, looking for food,
prowling all night if they don’t get their fill.
17 (16) But as for me, I will sing of your strength;
in the morning I will sing aloud of your grace.
For you are my fortress,
a refuge when I am in trouble.
18 (17) My Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for God is my fortress, God, who gives me grace.
60 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lily of Testimony.” A mikhtam of David for teaching about 2 when he fought with Aram-Naharayim and with Aram-Tzovah, and Yo’av returned and killed 12,000 from Edom in the Salt Valley:
3 (1) God, you rejected us; you crushed us;
you were angry; but now revive us.
4 (2) You made the land shake, split it apart;
now repair the rifts, for it is collapsing.
5 (3) You made your people suffer hard times,
had us drink a wine that made us stagger.
6 (4) To those who fear you because of the truth
you gave a banner to rally around, (Selah)
7 (5) so that those you love could be rescued;
so save with your right hand, and answer us!
8 (6) God in his holiness spoke,
and I took joy [in his promise]:
“I will divide Sh’khem
and determine the shares in the Sukkot Valley.
9 (7) Gil‘ad is mine and M’nasheh mine,
Efrayim my helmet, Y’hudah my scepter.
10 (8) Mo’av is my washpot; on Edom I throw my shoe;
P’leshet, be crushed because of me!”
11 (9) Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
12 (10) God, have you rejected us?
You don’t go out with our armies, God.
13 (11) Help us against our enemy,
for human help is worthless.
14 (12) With God’s help we will fight valiantly,
for he will trample our enemies.
33 Rejoice in Adonai, you righteous!
Praise is well-suited to the upright.
2 Give thanks to Adonai with the lyre,
sing praises to him with a ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing to him a new song,
make music at your best among shouts of joy.
4 For the word of Adonai is true,
and all his work is trustworthy.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the grace of Adonai.
6 By the word of Adonai the heavens were made,
and their whole host by a breath from his mouth.
7 He collects the sea waters together in a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Adonai!
Let all living in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and there it was;
he commanded, and there it stood.
10 Adonai brings to nothing the plans of nations,
he foils the plans of the peoples.
11 But the counsel of Adonai stands forever,
his heart’s plans are for all generations.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is Adonai,
the people he chose as his heritage!
13 Adonai looks out from heaven;
he sees every human being;
14 from the place where he lives
he watches everyone living on earth,
15 he who fashioned the hearts of them all
and understands all they do.
16 A king is not saved by the size of his army,
a strong man not delivered by his great strength.
17 To rely on a horse for safety is vain,
nor does its great power assure escape.
18 But Adonai’s eyes watch over those who fear him,
over those who wait for his grace
19 to rescue them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We are waiting for Adonai;
he is our help and shield.
21 For in him our hearts rejoice,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 May your mercy, Adonai, be over us,
because we put our hope in you.
7 Next there was a battle in heaven — Mikha’el and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But it was not strong enough to win, so that there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown out, that ancient serpent, also known as the Devil and Satan [the Adversary], the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
“Now have come God’s victory, power and kingship,
and the authority of his Messiah;
because the Accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them day and night before God,
has been thrown out!
11 “They defeated him because of the Lamb’s blood
and because of the message of their witness.
Even when facing death
they did not cling to life.
12 “Therefore, rejoice, heaven and you who live there!
But woe to you, land and sea,
for the Adversary has come down to you,
and he is very angry, because he knows that his time is short!”
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where she is taken care of for a season and two seasons and half a season,[a] away from the serpent’s presence. 15 The serpent spewed water like a river out of its mouth after the woman, in order to sweep her away in the flood; 16 but the land came to her rescue — it opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth. 17 The dragon was infuriated over the woman and went off to fight the rest of her children, those who obey God’s commands and bear witness to Yeshua.
53 As Yeshua left that place, the Torah-teachers and the P’rushim began to oppose him bitterly and to provoke him to express his views on all sorts of subjects, 54 laying traps to catch him in something he might say.
12 Meanwhile, as a crowd in the tens of thousands gathered so closely as to trample each other down, Yeshua began to say to his talmidim first, “Guard yourselves from the hametz of the P’rushim, by which I mean their hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered, or hidden that will not become known. 3 What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.
4 “My friends, I tell you: don’t fear those who kill the body but then have nothing more they can do. 5 I will show you whom to fear: fear him who after killing you has authority to throw you into Gei-Hinnom! Yes, I tell you, this is the one to fear! 6 Aren’t sparrows sold for next to nothing, five for two assarions? And not one of them has been forgotten by God. 7 Why, every hair on your head has been counted! Don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.
8 “Moreover, I tell you, whoever acknowledges me in the presence of others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. 9 But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before God’s angels. 10 Also, everyone who says something against the Son of Man will have it forgiven him; but whoever has blasphemed the Ruach HaKodesh will not be forgiven.
11 “When they bring you before the synagogues and the ruling powers and the authorities, don’t worry about how you will defend yourself or what you will say; 12 because when the time comes, the Ruach HaKodesh will teach you what you need to say.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.