Book of Common Prayer
Learn Torah Letter by Letter
Psalm 119
ALEPH א
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Torah of Adonai.
2 Happy are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with a whole heart,
3 who also do no injustice, but walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts
be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways were steadfast
to observe Your decrees!
6 Then I would not be ashamed,
when I consider all Your mitzvot.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart
as I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will observe Your statutes.
Never abandon me utterly!
BET ב
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought You
—let me not stray from Your mitzvot.
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
so I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Adonai.
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I rehearse
all the rulings of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies
above all wealth.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
and regard Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your decrees.
I will never forget Your word.
GIMEL ג
17 Do good to Your servant
that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, so I may behold
wonders from Your Torah.
19 I am a temporary dweller on earth—
do not hide Your mitzvot from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,
who wander from Your mitzvot.
22 Take scorn and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your decrees.
24 For Your testimonies are my delight—
they are also my counselors.
Silence the Flattering Lips
Psalm 12
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
3 Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
4 May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
5 They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”
6 “Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
7 The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
purified seven times.
8 You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
9 The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.
Trust in His Chesed
Psalm 13
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 How long, Adonai? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
3 How long must I have cares in my soul
and daily sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
4 Look at me and answer, Adonai my God.
Light up my eyes, or I will sleep in death.
5 Or else my enemy will say: “I have overcome him!”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
6 But I trust in Your lovingkindness,
my heart rejoices in Your salvation.
I will sing to Adonai,
because He has been good to me.
There Is No God?
Psalm 14
1 For the music director, of David.
The fool said in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt; their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.[a]
2 Adonai looked down from heaven on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They all turned aside, became corrupt.
There is no one who does good
—not even one.
4 “Will evildoers never understand—
those who consume My people as they eat bread—
and never call on Adonai?”
5 There they are, in great dread.
For God is with the righteous generation.
6 You would frustrate the plan of the lowly.
Surely Adonai is his refuge!
7 O may He give Israel’s salvation out of Zion!
When Adonai restores His captive people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad!
2 The word which Isaiah, son of Amoz saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
Torah From Jerusalem
2 It will come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of Adonai’s House
will stand firm as head of the mountains
and will be exalted above the hills.
So all nations will flow to it.
3 Then many peoples will go and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Adonai,
to the House of the God of Jacob!
Then He will teach us His ways,
and we will walk in His paths.”
For Torah will go forth from Zion[a]
and the word of Adonai from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and decide for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
nor will they learn war any more.
5 Come house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of Adonai.
6 For You have forsaken Your people,
the house of Jacob.
For they are filled with soothsayers from the east,
and they have clapped hands with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land also is full of silver and gold,
nor is there any limit to their treasures.
Their land also is full of horses,
nor is there any limit to their chariots.
8 Their land also is full of idols.
They worship the work of their hands,
what their own fingers have made.
9 So humanity bows down
as each one lowers himself.
Pardon them not!
10 Enter into the rock
and hide in the dust,
for fear of Adonai,
and the glory of His majesty.
Lofty Ones Brought Low
11 The man of haughty eyes is humbled,
the lofty ones brought low,
for Adonai alone will be exalted in that day.
13 For this reason, we also thank God constantly that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is—the word of God, which does its work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s communities in Messiah Yeshua that are in Judea—for you suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen as they did from the Judean leaders, 15 who killed both the Lord Yeshua and the prophets and drove us out.[a] They are not pleasing to God and hostile to all people, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved. As a result, they constantly fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last.
Longing to Visit and Reassure
17 But brothers and sisters, after we were orphaned by separation from you for a short time (in person, not in heart), we were all the more eager in our great longing to see you face to face. 18 For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—but satan thwarted us. 19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting[b] before our Lord Yeshua at His coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy!
19 The Torah scholars and the ruling kohanim tried to grab Him that very hour, because they realized that He spoke this parable against them—but they feared the people.
Silencing the Opposition
20 Now they watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to trap Him in His words so they could hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 And they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You tell it straight and You teach it straight. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God according to the truth. 22 Is it permitted for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 But carefully considering their treachery, Yeshua said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius.[a] Whose image and inscription does it have?”
And they said, “Caesar’s.”
25 Then He said to them, “Well then, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they could not trap Him in His words in the presence of the people. Astonished by His answer, they kept silent.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.