Book of Common Prayer
Pledge of Integrity
Psalm 101
1 A psalm of David.
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice.
To You, Adonai, I will sing praises.
2 I will behave wisely in the way of integrity
—when will You come to me?
I walk in my house with integrity in my heart.
3 No base thing will I set before my eyes.
Twisted behavior I hate—it will not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart will depart from me.
I will know nothing evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret
—him I will silence.
Who has haughty eyes and a proud heart
—him I will not tolerate.
6 My eyes are on the trustworthy of the land,
to be in my company.
One walking in a blameless way will serve me.
7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house.
No one who utters lies will endure before my eyes.
8 Each morning I silence all the land’s wicked ones—
to cut off from Adonai’s city every evildoer.
Prayer Against an Accuser
Psalm 109
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
O God of my praise, be not silent.
2 For the wicked and the deceitful
have opened their mouth against me.
They spoke to me with a lying tongue,
3 with hateful words surrounded me,
and fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
but I am in prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
let an accuser[a] stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged,
let him be found guilty,
and may his prayer be as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
let another take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children wander and beg
and may they search in their ruins.
11 Let a creditor seize all he has,
and may strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let no one show him mercy,
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
and his name be blotted out in the next generation.
14 May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before Adonai,
the sin of his mother never blotted out.
15 Let their sins be before Adonai continually,
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he never remembered to show mercy.
But he persecuted a poor and needy man,
crushed in spirit, to put him to death.
17 How he loved cursing—
may it fall on him!
He had no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him!
18 He wore cursing like his robe,
until it filled his belly like water, and his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped around him,
like a belt tied around him always.
20 Let this be Adonai’s reward to my accusers,
and to those who speak evil against me.
21 But You, Adonai my Lord,
deal with me for Your Name’s sake.
Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me.
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow,
shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees totter from fasting,
and my flesh is lean, with no fat.
25 And I have become a taunt to them.
When they see me, they wag their head.
26 Help me, Adonai my God,
Save me through Your lovingkindness.
27 Let them know that it is Your hand—
that You, Adonai, have done it.
28 They may curse, but You bless.
When they arise, they will be ashamed,
but Your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be clothed in disgrace,
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 I will greatly thank Adonai with my mouth,
and in the midst of a throng will I praise Him.
AYIN ע
121 I did what is just and right.
Do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Guarantee Your servant’s well-being.
Do not let arrogant ones oppress me.
123 My eyes fail, longing for Your salvation
and for Your righteous word.
124 Deal with Your servant as befits Your lovingkindness,
and teach me Your statutes.
125 I am Your servant, give me discernment,
so I may understand Your testimonies.
126 It is time for Adonai to act—
they have violated Your Torah!
127 Therefore I love Your mitzvot
more than gold, more than pure gold.
128 Therefore I esteem all Your precepts as right in every way
—every false way I hate.
PE פ
129 Your testimonies are wonderful.
Therefore my soul obeys them.
130 The unfolding of Your words gives light,
giving understanding to the simple.
131 I opened my mouth wide and panted,
for I longed for Your mitzvot.
132 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is fitting to those who love Your Name.
133 Direct my footsteps in Your word,
and let no iniquity get mastery over me.
134 Redeem me from human oppression,
and I will keep Your precepts.
135 Make Your face shine on Your servant,
and teach me Your decrees.
136 Streams of water run down from my eyes,
because they do not observe Your Torah.
TZADHE צ
137 Righteous are You, Adonai,
and Your judgments are upright.
138 You have commanded righteousness,
Your testimonies, and great faithfulness.
139 My zeal has consumed me,
because my foes forgot Your words.
140 Your word is thoroughly refined,
and Your servant loves it.
141 I am insignificant and despised,
yet I have not forgotten Your precepts.
142 Your justice is righteousness forever,
and Your Torah is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
yet Your mitzvot are my delight.
144 Your testimonies are righteous forever
—make me understand, so I may live.
Despicable Sacrifices
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. So if I am Father, where is My honor? If I am Master, where is My reverence?”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“you, kohanim who despise My Name!”
But you say, “How did we despise Your Name?”
7 “By offering defiled bread on My altar.” But you say, “How did we defile You?” When you say, “The table of Adonai is despicable.”
8 “When you bring a blind one as sacrifice, is it not wrong? Or when you bring a lame or sick one, is it not wrong? Offer them now to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Or will he acknowledge you favorably?” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
9 “So now, implore God’s favor! Then, will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He accept any of it from you?” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
10 “If just one of you would shut the doors, and not light My altar uselessly! I have no delight in you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. “Nor will I accept any offering from your hand.
11 “For from sunrise to its setting[a] My Name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to My Name with a pure grain offering, for My Name will be great among the nations,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
12 But you are profaning it when you say, “The table of Adonai is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food—despicable!” 13 You also say, “It’s so tedious!”
“And you sniff at it,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. “So you bring plunder, the lame and the sick. Then you bring them as the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” says Adonai.
14 “Moreover, cursed is a deceiver who has in his flock a male, but makes a vow and sacrifices something blemished to my Lord. For I am a great King,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “and My Name shall be revered among the nations.”
Gentle Wisdom from Above
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct let him show his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.[a]
Resist Pride and Evil
4 Where do quarrels and conflicts among you come from? Don’t they come from this, namely your passions that battle within your body parts? 2 You crave and have not. You murder and you envy, yet you cannot get it. You fight and you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives so you may spend it on your passions. 4 You adulteresses![b] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that in vain the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which He made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives greater grace. Therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”[c]
7 Therefore submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! [d] 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of Adonai, and He shall lift you up. [e] 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the Torah and judges the Torah. But if you judge the Torah, you are not a doer of the Torah, but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge[f]—the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judges your neighbor?
On the Move through Samaria
11 Now while going up to Jerusalem, Yeshua was passing between Samaria and the Galilee. 12 As He entered a certain village, ten men with tzara’at came toward Him. They stood some distance away [a] 13 and raised their voices, saying, “Yeshua, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the kohanim.”[b] And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back, glorifying God with a loud voice. 16 And he fell at Yeshua’s feet, facedown, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Yeshua answered and said, “Weren’t ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Weren’t any found who came back to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then Yeshua said to the man, “Stand up and go! Your faith has made you well.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.