Book of Common Prayer
A Burden Too Heavy for Me
Psalm 38
1 A psalm of David, for a memorial.
2 Adonai, do not rebuke me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.
3 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me
and Your hand has pressed down on me.
4 There is no health in my flesh because of Your indignation.
There is no wholeness in my bones because of my sin.
5 For my iniquities are on my head—
like a burden too heavy for me.
6 My wounds are foul and festering
because of my foolishness.
7 I am bent over, bowed down greatly.
All day I walk about in mourning.
8 For my heart is filled with burning pain,
and there is no health in my body.
9 I am numb and utterly crushed.
I groan because of anguish in my heart.
10 My Lord, all my longing is before You,
and my sighing is not hidden from You.
11 My heart pounds, my strength fails me.
The light of my eyes—also, not with me.
12 My friends and my companions stay away from my wound,
and my kinsmen stand far off.
13 They who seek my life set traps.
Those who seek my hurt threaten destruction, uttering lies all day.
14 But I, like someone deaf, hear nothing,
like a mute, not opening his mouth.
15 Yes, I am like one who cannot hear,
whose mouth has no arguments.
16 But I wait for You, Adonai—
You will answer, O Lord my God.
17 For I said: “Don’t let them gloat over me
or exalt themselves over me, when my foot slips.”
18 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is before me constantly.
19 So I confess my guilt.
I am troubled because of my sin.
20 My lively enemies are numerous.
Many hate me wrongfully.
21 Those who repay evil for good oppose me
because I pursue what is good.
22 Do not forsake me, Adonai.
O my God, be not far from me.
23 Hurry to my aid, my Lord, my salvation.
DALET ד
25 My soul clings to the dust.
Revive me according to Your word!
26 I told of my ways and You answered me.
Teach me Your statutes.
27 Help me discern the way of Your precepts,
so I may meditate on Your wonders.
28 My soul weeps with grief.
Make me stand firm with Your word.
29 Turn me away from the deceitful way,
and be gracious to me with Your Torah.
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness.
I have set my heart on Your judgments.
31 I cling to Your testimonies.
Adonai, do not put me to shame!
32 I run the course of Your mitzvot,
for You open wide my heart.
HEY ה
33 Teach me the way of Your decrees, Adonai,
and I will follow them to the end.
34 Give me understanding,
that I may keep Your Torah
and observe it with all my heart.
35 Help me walk in the path of Your mitzvot—
for I delight in it.
36 Turn my heart to Your testimonies
and not to dishonest gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from gazing at vanity
but revive me in Your ways.
38 Fulfill Your word to Your servant,
which leads to reverence for You.
39 Make the disgrace I dread pass away,
for Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts.
Revive me by Your righteousness.
VAV ו
41 May Your lovingkindnesses come to me, Adonai—
Your salvation according to Your word—
42 so I may answer the one taunting me,
for I trust in Your word.
43 Never snatch out of my mouth a word of truth,
for I hope in Your judgments.
44 So I may always keep Your Torah,
forever and ever,
45 and walk about in freedom.
For I have sought Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies
before kings, and never be ashamed.
47 I delight in Your mitzvot,
which I love.
48 I reach out my hands for Your mitzvot,
which I love,
and meditate on Your decrees.
Judah’s Encounter with Adonai
6 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw Adonai sitting on a throne, high and lifted up,[a] and the train of His robe filled the Temple. 2 Seraphim were standing above Him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 One called out to another, and said:
“Holy, holy, holy, is Adonai-Tzva’ot!
The whole earth is full of His glory.”[b]
4 Then the posts of the door trembled at the voice of those who called, and the House was filled with smoke. [c] 5 Then I said:
“Oy to me! For I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I am dwelling among a people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips.
Your iniquity is taken away, and your sins atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying:
“Whom should I send, and who will go for Us?”
So I said, “Hineni. Send me.”
9 Then He said:
“Go! Tell this people:
‘Hear without understanding,
and see without perceiving.’[d]
10 Make the heart of this people fat,
their ears heavy, and their eyes blind.
Else they would see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart,
and return, and be healed.”[e]
11 Then I said, “Adonai, how long?”
He answered,
“Until cities are laid waste
and without inhabitant,
houses are without people,
and the land is utterly desolate.
12 Adonai will drive people far away.
The desertion of the land will be vast.
13 Though a tenth still be in it,
it will again be burned.
As a terebinth tree or as an oak
whose stump remains when cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump.”
Greetings
1 Paul, Silvanus,[a] and Timothy,
To the community of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah:
2 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah!
Troubles From an Eternal Perspective
3 We ought to always thank God for you, brothers and sisters, as is appropriate, because your faithfulness grows wonderfully, and the love of each one of you for one another continually increases. 4 Therefore, we ourselves boast of you among the communities of God—about your perseverance and faithfulness through all the persecutions and troubles that you endure. 5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
(6 For after all, it is right in the sight of God to pay back trouble to those who trouble you, 7 and relief to you who suffer trouble along with us. At the revelation of the Lord Yeshua from heaven with His mighty angels 8 in flaming fire,[b] He will command judgment on those who do not know God and do not heed the Good News of our Lord Yeshua. [c] 9 They will pay the price of eternal ruin, away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power[d]— 10 on that Day when He comes to be glorified among His kedoshim and marveled at by all who have believed,[e] because our testimony to you was believed.)
11 With this in mind, we pray for you constantly, that our God may consider you worthy of the calling and fulfill with power every good desire and work of faith, 12 so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
53 Then everyone went to his own house.
Mercy for a Sinful Woman
8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn, He came again into the Temple. All the people were coming to Him, and He sat down and began to teach them.
3 The Torah scholars and Pharisees bring in a woman who had been caught in adultery. After putting her in the middle, 4 they say to Yeshua, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?” 6 Now they were saying this to trap Him, so that they would have grounds to accuse Him.
But Yeshua knelt down and started writing in the dirt with His finger. 7 When they kept asking Him, He stood up and said, “The sinless one among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then He knelt down again and continued writing on the ground.
9 Now when they heard, they began to leave, one by one, the oldest ones first, until Yeshua was left alone with the woman in the middle. 10 Straightening up, Yeshua said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Yeshua said. “Go, and sin no more.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.