Book of Common Prayer
Refuge, Sukkah, Shelter
Psalm 31
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 In You, Adonai, have I taken refuge:
Let me never be put to shame.
In Your righteousness, deliver me.
3 Turn Your ear to me, rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a stronghold for my deliverance.
4 Since You are my rock and my fortress,
You lead me and guide me for Your Name’s sake.
5 Free me from the net they hid for me,
for You are my refuge.
6 Into Your hand I commit my spirit.[a]
You have redeemed me, Adonai, God of truth.
7 I detest those who continue to watch worthless idols,
but I trust in Adonai.
8 I will be glad and rejoice in Your lovingkindness,
for You saw my affliction.
You knew the troubles of my soul.
9 You did not hand me over to the enemy.
You set my feet in a wide-open place.
10 Be gracious to me, Adonai,
for I am in distress.
My eyes waste away with grief,
my soul and my body as well.
11 For my life is consumed in sorrow
and my years in sighing.
My strength fails because of my anguish
and my bones waste away.
12 Because of all my adversaries
I am the contempt of my neighbors
and a dread to my acquaintances.
Seeing me on the street, they flee from me.
13 I am as forgotten as a dead man.
I have become like a broken vessel.
14 For I have heard the whispering of many.
There is terror on every side
as they conspire against me
and plot to take my life.
15 But I have trusted in You, Adonai.
I said: “You are my God.”
16 My times are in Your hands.
Deliver me from the hands of my foes and from those who pursue me.
17 Make Your face shine on Your servant.
Save me in Your lovingkindness.
18 Adonai, let me not be ashamed,
for I have called upon You.
Let the wicked be ashamed—
let them be silent in Sheol.
19 Let the lying lips be mute.
For they speak arrogantly against the righteous,
with pride and contempt.
20 How great is Your goodness,
which You have stored up for those who fear You,
which You have given to those who take refuge in You,
before the children of men.
21 In the shelter of Your presence
You hide them from people’s plots.
You conceal them in a sukkah
from the strife of tongues.
22 Blessed be Adonai,
for He has shown me His wonderful love
in a besieged city.
23 I said in my alarm,
“I have been cut off from Your sight!”
But You heard the sound of my pleas
when I cried out to You.
24 Love Adonai, all His kedoshim!
Adonai preserves all the faithful,
but the proud He pays back in full.
25 Chazak! Let your heart take courage,[b]
all you who wait for Adonai.
Justice for the Oppressed
Psalm 35
1 A psalm of David.
Adonai, oppose those who oppose me.
Fight those who fight me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to my help.
3 Draw out also a spear and battle-axe.
Stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”
4 May those who seek my life
be ashamed and disgraced.
May they be turned back and humiliated
—those who plot evil against me.
5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of Adonai driving them off.
6 May their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of Adonai pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me,
and without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
8 Let ruin come upon him by surprise.
Let the net he hid entangle himself
—into that same pit let him fall.
9 Then my soul will rejoice in Adonai
and delight in His salvation.
10 All my bones will say:
“Adonai, who is like You,
rescuing the poor from one too strong for him,
the poor and needy from one who robs him?”
11 Violent witnesses rise up.
They question me about things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good—
my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick,
my clothing was sackcloth.
I afflicted my soul with fasting,
my prayer kept returning to my heart.
14 I went about mourning as though for my own friend or brother.
I bowed down dressed in black as though for my own mother.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee.
Wretches gathered against me whom I did not know,
tearing at me without ceasing.
16 They mocked profanely, as if at a feast,
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
17 My Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul from their ravages—
my solitary existence from the lions.
18 I praise You in the great assembly,
acclaiming You among a throng of people.
19 Do not let my deceitful enemies gloat over me without cause,
nor let those who hate me for nothing wink an eye.[a]
20 For they never speak shalom,
but devise deceitful words against the quiet ones in the land.
21 Yes, they open their mouth wide against me, saying:
“Aha! Aha! Our own eyes have seen it!”
22 You have seen it, Adonai—be not silent!
Adonai, be not far from me.
23 Arise, awaken to my defense,
to my cause—my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, Adonai my God,
according to Your justice,
and do not let them gloat over me.
25 Don’t let them say in their heart:
“Aha! Just what we wanted!”
Don’t let them say:
“We swallowed him up!”
26 May they be ashamed and humiliated,
those who rejoice over my misery.
May they who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
27 May they shout for joy and be glad,
those who delight in my righteous cause.
May they always say:
“Exalted be Adonai, who delights in His servant’s shalom.”
28 Then my tongue will declare aloud
Your justice and Your praises all day.
18 For thus says Adonai—
He is God who fashioned the heavens,
who formed the earth and made it,
He established it
and did not create it desolate
but formed it to be inhabited—
“I am Adonai—there is no other!”
19 “I have not spoken in secret,
in a place of a land of darkness.
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in desolation.’
I, Adonai, speak righteousness,
declaring uprightly.”
No Other God and Savior
20 “Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together, fugitives of the nations!
Those who carry their wooden idols have no knowledge,
praying to a god who cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case,
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who foretold this from ancient time?
Who has declared it of old?
Is it not I, Adonai?
There is no other God beside Me
—a righteous God and a Savior—
there is none besides Me![a]
22 Turn to Me, and be saved,
all the ends of the earth.
For I am God—there is no other.
23 By Myself I have sworn—
the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness,
and is irrevocable:
that to Me every knee will bow,
every tongue will swear.[b]
24 They will say of Me,
‘Only in Adonai is righteousness and strength.’
All who have raged against Him
will come to Him and be put to shame.
25 In Adonai all the seed of Israel
will be justified and give praise.”
Orderly Relationships: Parents
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [a] 2 “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “so that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.” [b] 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.[c]
Orderly Relationships: Workplace
5 Slaves, obey your human masters, with respect and reverence, with sincerity of heart, as you would the Messiah— 6 not just under your master’s eye as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Messiah doing God’s will from the soul. 7 Serve with a positive attitude, as to the Lord and not to men— 8 knowing that whatever good each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Stop using threats, knowing that the Master—of them and of you, too—is in heaven,[d] and there is no favoritism with Him.
Power Over Nature
35 Now on that same day in the evening, He says to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side.” 36 After leaving the crowd, they take Him along in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him.
37 A great windstorm arises, and the waves were rushing into the boat. The boat was beginning to fill up. 38 But Yeshua was in the back of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They wake Him up and say to Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?”
39 So He woke up and rebuked the wind. And He said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind stopped, and it became totally calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Even now you have no faith?”
41 They were struck with awe and said to one another, “Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.