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.
24 Thus says Adonai,
your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb:
“I am Adonai, Maker of all things,
stretching out the heavens alone,
spreading the earth abroad by Myself,
25 causing the omens of boasters to fail,
making fools of diviners,
turning wise men backward
and making their knowledge foolish,
26 while confirming the word of His servant,
fulfilling the counsel of His messengers,
saying of Jerusalem, “She will be lived in”
and of the cities of Judah, “They will be built,
and I will raise up their ruins,”
27 while saying to the deep, “Be dry,
I will dry up your rivers,”
28 while saying of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd,
and he shall fulfill all My purpose”
while saying to Jerusalem, “You will be built”
and to the Temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”
Cyrus the Anointed
45 Thus says Adonai to His anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him,
to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
so that gates may not be shut.
2 I will go before you
and make crooked places straight.
I will shatter bronze doors
and cut through iron bars.
3 I will give you treasures of darkness
and hidden riches of secret places,
so you may know that I am Adonai,
the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of Jacob My servant,
and Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by name,
I have given you a title of honor,
though you have not known Me.
5 I am Adonai—there is no other.
Besides Me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not known Me,
6 so they may know,
from the rising to the setting of the sun,
that there is no one besides Me.
I am Adonai—there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness.
I make shalom and create calamity.
I, Adonai, do all these things.
Walk in the Light
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly loved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Messiah also loved us[a] and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a fragrant aroma. 3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed—don’t even let these be mentioned among you, as is proper for kedoshim. 4 Obscene, coarse, and stupid talk are also out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 Know for certain that no immoral, indecent, or greedy person—who is really an idol worshipper at heart—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s judgment comes on the children of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. 8 For once you were darkness, but now in union with the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them— 12 for it is disgraceful even to mention the things that are done by them in secret. 13 Yet everything exposed by the light is being made visible, 14 for everything made visible is light. This is why it says,
“Wake up, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Messiah will shine on you.”[b]
Storytelling Opens Hearts
4 Again Yeshua began to teach by the sea. A large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 He began teaching them many things by parables, and in His teaching, He said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to spread some seed. 4 It happened that as he sowed, some fell beside the road; and the birds came and ate it up.
5 “Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it didn’t have much soil. It sprang up immediately, because the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 “Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 “And others fell into the good soil and were producing fruit, springing up and increasing. They yielded a crop, producing thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Yeshua was alone, those around Him with the Twelve started asking Him about the parables. 11 And He told them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those who are outside, everything is in parables,[a] so that
12 ‘Seeing, they may se and not perceive,
and hearing, they may hear and not understand,
so they may not turn back and be forgiven.’”[b]
13 He said to them, “Don’t you grasp this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones beside the road where the word is sown. Whenever they hear, satan comes quickly and takes away the word that has been sown in them.
16 “These are the ones sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves but last only a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.
18 “And others are the ones sown among the thorns. They have heard the word; 19 but the worries of the world, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 “And those are the ones sown on the good soil. They hear the word and accept it and produce fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.