Book of Common Prayer
Betrayal by a Friend
Psalm 55
1 For the music director, on stringed instruments, a contemplative song of David.
2 Give ear, O God, to my prayer
and do not ignore my plea for help.
3 Listen to me and answer me.
I am restless in my complaint and moan—
4 because of the voice of the enemy,
because of the pressure of the wicked.
For they thrust trouble on me,
and in anger bear a grudge against me.
5 My heart shudders within me
and the terrors of death sweep over me.
6 Fear and trembling come upon me
and horror has overwhelmed me.
7 So I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and find rest.
8 Surely I would flee far away.
I would stay in the wilderness. Selah
9 I would hurry to my shelter
from the rushing wind of the storm.”
10 Lord, confuse and confound their speech,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
11 Day and night they make the rounds on her walls.
Iniquity and mischief are within her.
12 Ruins are in her midst.
Oppression and deceit never leave her square.
13 For if it were an enemy taunting me,
I could endure it.
If my foe was exalting himself over me,
I could hide from him.
14 But it is you, a man like me—
my companion and my close friend!
15 Together we enjoyed great fellowship.
We used to walk with the throng in the House of God.
16 Let desolation come upon them,
let them go down alive into Sheol—
for evil is in their dwelling, among them.
17 As for me, I will call on God,
and Adonai will save me.
18 Evening, morning and noon, I complain and moan,
then He hears my voice.
19 He will redeem my soul in shalom from the battle against me.
For many are striving with me.
20 God will hear and humble them
—yes, the One enthroned of old. Selah
Nothing changes—they do not fear God.
21 My companion put forth his hands against those at peace with him,
as he violates his covenant.
22 Smoother than butter was his speech,
yet war was in his heart.
His words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.
23 Cast your burden on Adonai, and He will sustain you.[a]
He will never let the righteous be shaken.
24 But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction.
Bloodthirsty, deceitful men will not live out half their days.
But I—I will trust in You.
Your Right Hand Delivers Me
Psalm 138
1 Of David.
I praise You with all my heart.
In the presence of the mighty I will sing praises to You.
2 I bow down toward Your holy Temple
and praise Your Name for Your love and Your faithfulness.
For You—magnified above all Your Name and Your word.
3 On the day I called, You answered me.
You made me bold with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth will praise You, Adonai,
when they hear Your mouth’s speech.
5 So they will sing of the ways of Adonai,
for great is the glory of Adonai.
6 For though Adonai is exalted,
yet He looks upon the lowly,
but the haughty He knows from afar.
7 Though I walk amid trouble,
You revive me.
You stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and Your right hand delivers me.
8 Adonai will fulfill His purpose for me.
Your lovingkindness, Adonai, endures forever.
Do not abandon the work of Your hands.
How Precious Your Thoughts!
Psalm 139
1 For the music director: a psalm of David.
Adonai, You searched me and know me.
2 Whenever I sit down or stand up, You know it.
You discern my thinking from afar.
3 You observe my journeying and my resting
and You are familiar with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, Adonai, You know all about it.
5 You hemmed me in behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from Your Ruach?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, You are there,
and if I make my bed in Sheol,
look, You are there too.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn
and settle on the other side of the sea,
10 even there Your hand will lead me,
and Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say: “Surely darkness covers me,
night keeps light at a distance from me,”
12 even darkness is not dark for You,
and night is as bright as day—
darkness and light are alike.
13 For You have created my conscience.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise You, for I am awesomely, wonderfully made!
Wonderful are Your works—
and my soul knows that very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me when I was unformed,
and in Your book were written the days that were formed—
when not one of them had come to be.
17 How precious are Your thoughts, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand!
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 If only You would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloody men!
20 For they speak about You with wicked intent.
Your enemies reproach You in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, Adonai?
Do I not loathe those who rise against You?
22 I hate them with total hatred—
I consider them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Examine me, and know my anxious thoughts,
18 “Therefore you are to set these words of Mine in your heart and in your soul. You are to bind them as a sign on your hand, and as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You are to teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You are to write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land Adonai swore to give to your fathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
22 “For if you will diligently keep all this mitzvah that I am commanding you to do—to love Adonai your God, to walk in all His ways and to cling to Him— 23 then Adonai will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours—from the wilderness to the Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea will be your border. 25 No one will be able to stand against you—Adonai your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has promised you.
Parashat Re’eh
Blessing or Curse Set Before You
26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God that I am commanding you today, 28 but the curse, if you do not listen to the mitzvot of Adonai your God, but turn from the way I am commanding you today, to go after other gods you have not known.
5 For every kohen gadol taken from among men is appointed to act on behalf of people in matters relating to God,[a] so that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to empathize with the ignorant and deluded, since he himself also is subject to weakness. 3 For this reason he has to make offerings for sins—just as for the people, so also for himself. [b] 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when he is called by God, as Aaron was.[c]
5 So also Messiah did not glorify Himself to be made Kohen Gadol; rather, it was God who said to Him,
“You are My Son;
today I have become Your Father.”[d]
6 And He says in a different passage,
“You are a kohen forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”[e]
7 In the days of His life on earth,[f] Yeshua offered up both prayers and pleas, with loud crying and tears, to the One able to save Him from death; and He was heard because of His reverence. 8 Though He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. 9 And once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him— 10 called by God Kohen Gadol “according to the order of Melchizedek.”[g]
Yeshua Offers Living Water
4 Now Yeshua knew that the Pharisees heard that He was making and immersing more disciples than John. 2 (Although Yeshua Himself was not immersing, His disciples were.) 3 So He left Judea and went back again to the Galilee.
4 But He needed to pass through Samaria. 5 So He comes to a Samaritan town called Shechem, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. [a] 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. So Yeshua, exhausted from the journey, was sitting by the well. It was midday.[b]
7 A Samaritan woman comes to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Yeshua tells her, 8 for His disciples had gone away to the town to buy food.
9 Then the Samaritan woman tells Him, “How is it that You, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jewish people don’t deal with Samaritans.)
10 Yeshua replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “You don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Then from where do You get this living water? 12 You’re not greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us this well. He drank out of it himself, with his sons and his cattle.”
13 Yeshua replied to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty. The water that I give him will become a fountain of water within him, springing up to eternal life!”
15 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “give me this water, so I won’t get thirsty or have to come all the way here to draw water!”
16 He tells her, “Go call your husband, and then come back here.”
17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Yeshua tells her, “You’ve said it right, ‘I have no husband.’ 18 For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. This you’ve spoken truthfully!”
19 “Sir,” the woman tells Him, “I see that You are a prophet! 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you all say that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Yeshua tells her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming—it is here now—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people as His worshipers. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman tells Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Anointed One.)[c] When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”
26 Yeshua tells her, “I—the One speaking to you—I am.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.