Book of Common Prayer
Scorn and Disgrace, Gall and Vinegar
Psalm 69
1 For the music director, on “Lilies,” of David.
2 Save me, O God,
for the waters
have reached my soul.
3 I have sunk in deep mud,
and there is no footing,
I have come into deep waters,
and a flood sweeps over me.
4 I am worn out by my crying,
my throat is parched,
my eyes fail, waiting for my God.
5 Those who hate me without a cause[a] outnumber the hairs of my head.
Powerful are my enemies who would destroy me with lies.
What I did not steal, must I restore?
6 O God, You know my folly,
nor are my trespasses hidden from You.
7 May those who hope in You
not be ashamed because of me,
my Lord, Adonai-Tzva’ot.
May those who seek You
not be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel.
8 For I have endured scorn for Your sake.
Disgrace has covered my face.
9 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s children.
10 For zeal for Your House consumed me—
the insults of those who insulted You have fallen on me.[b]
11 When I wept and fasted—
that became a reproach to me.
12 When I put on sackcloth,
I became a joke to them.
13 Those who sit at the gate chatter about me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
14 But as for me, my prayer to You, Adonai, is for a time of favor.
O God, in Your great love, answer me with the truth of Your salvation.
15 Deliver me from the mire—
do not let me sink.
Deliver me from those who hate me,
out of the deep waters.
16 Do not let floodwaters sweep over me,
nor the deep swallow me up,
nor the Pit shut its mouth over me.
17 Answer me, Adonai, for good is Your mercy.
With Your great compassion, turn to me.
18 Hide not Your face from Your servant.
For I am in distress—answer me quickly.
19 Draw near to my soul and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my foes.
20 You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace.
All my adversaries are before You.
21 Scorn has broken my heart, so I am sick.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but found none.
22 They put gall in my food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.[c]
23 Let their table before them be a snare,
and what should have been for their well-being,
let it be a trap.
24 Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see
and their backs be bent forever.[d]
25 Pour out Your indignation on them.
Let Your fierce anger overtake them.
26 Let their encampment be deserted.
Let none dwell in their tents.
27 For they persecute the one You have smitten,
so they tell of the pain
of those You have wounded.
28 Add guilt to their guilt—
may they not come into Your righteousness.
29 May they be wiped out of the book of life
and not be recorded with the righteous.[e]
30 But I—I am afflicted and in pain.
Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
31 I will praise God’s Name with a song,
and magnify Him with praise.
32 It will please Adonai better than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
33 The humble will see it and be glad.
You who seek God, let your hearts revive.
34 For Adonai hears the needy
and does not despise His captive people.
35 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything moving in them.
36 For God will save Zion,
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then they will dwell there and possess it.
37 The children of His servants will inherit it
and those who love His Name will dwell there.
God Is the Strength of My Heart
Psalm 73
1 A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped.
My steps nearly slid out from under me.
3 For I envied the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains at their death,
their body is healthy.
5 They have none of humanity’s trouble,
nor are they plagued like others.
6 Therefore, they put on pride as a necklace,
and violence wraps around them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge out from fatness.
The imaginations of their hearts run wild.
8 They scoff and wickedly plan evil.
From on high they threaten.
9 They set their mouth against heaven.
Their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore His people return here,
while they drink their fill.
11 So they say: “How does God know?
And does Elyon have knowledge?”
12 Behold, such are the wicked—
always at ease and amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day I have been stricken,
my chastisement comes every morning.
15 If I had said: “I will speak thus,”
surely I would have betrayed a generation of Your children.
16 But when I tried to make sense of this,
it was troubling in my eyes—
17 until I entered the Sanctuary of God,
and perceived their end.
18 Surely You put them in slippery places.
You hurled them down to destruction.
19 How suddenly they became a ruin—
terminated, consumed by terrors.
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
thus when You arise, my Lord,
You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
and I was pierced in my heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before You.
23 Yet I am continually with You.
You hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward You will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
On earth there is none I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those far from You will perish.
You put an end to all who like a harlot are unfaithful to You.
28 But for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made my Lord Adonai my refuge.
So I will tell of all Your works.
Foreigners Keeping Shabbat
56 Thus says Adonai:
“Preserve justice,
do righteousness.
For My salvation is about to come,
and My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the one who does this,
the son of man who takes hold of it,
who keeps from profaning Shabbat,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
3 Do not let a son of a foreigner who has joined himself to Adonai[a] say,
‘Adonai will surely exclude me from His people.”
Nor let the eunuch say,
‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’”
4 For thus says Adonai,
“To the eunuchs who keep My Shabbatot,
who choose what pleases Me,
and hold fast My covenant:
5 I will give to them in My House and within My walls
a memorial and a name[b]
better than sons and daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.
6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai, to minister to Him,
and to love the Name of Adonai,
and to be His servants—
all who keep from profaning Shabbat,
and hold fast to My covenant—
7 these I will bring to My holy mountain,
and let them rejoice in My House of Prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on My altar.
For My House will be called
a House of Prayer for all nations.”[c]
8 Adonai Elohim,
who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
“I will gather still others to him,
to those already gathered.”
16 But I say, walk by the Ruach, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Ruach, but the Ruach sets its desire against the flesh—for these are in opposition to one another, so that you cannot do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Ruach, you are not under law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are clear: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, 20 idolatry, witchcraft, hostility, strife, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, just as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit God’s kingdom. 22 But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control—against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Messiah[a] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
A Glimpse of His Glory
2 After six days, Yeshua takes with Him Peter and Jacob and John, and brings them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became radiant and brilliantly white, whiter than any launderer on earth could bleach them. 4 Then Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Yeshua.
5 Peter responds to Yeshua, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s make three sukkot—one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 (He didn’t know what to say, for they were terrified.)
7 Then a cloud came, overshadowing them;[a] and out of the cloud came a voice, “This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” [b] 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Yeshua.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Yeshua ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose up from the dead. 10 They kept this word to themselves, discussing among themselves what it is to rise up from the dead. 11 And they questioned Him, saying, “Why do the Torah scholars say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Now He told them, “Indeed Elijah comes first;[c] he restores all things. And how is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be treated with contempt? [d] 13 I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him.”[e]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.