Book of Common Prayer
80 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” A testimony. A psalm of Asaf:
2 (1) Shepherd of Isra’el, listen!
You who lead Yosef like a flock,
you whose throne is on the k’ruvim,
shine out!
3 (2) Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M’nasheh,
rouse your power; and come to save us.
4 (3) God, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
5 (4) Adonai, God of armies, how long
will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
6 (5) You have fed them tears as their bread
and made them drink tears in abundance.
7 (6) You make our neighbors fight over us,
and our enemies mock us.
8 (7) God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
9 (8) You brought a vine out of Egypt,
you expelled the nations and planted it,
10 (9) you cleared a space for it;
then it took root firmly and filled the land.
11 (10) The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
12 (11) It put out branches as far as the sea
and shoots to the [Euphrates] River.
13 (12) Why did you break down [the vineyard’s] wall,
so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?
14 (13) The boar from the forest tears it apart;
wild creatures from the fields feed on it.
15 (14) God of armies, please come back!
Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine!
16 (15) Protect what your right hand planted,
the son you made strong for yourself.
17 (16) It is burned by fire, it is cut down;
they perish at your frown of rebuke.
18 (17) Help the man at your right hand,
the son of man you made strong for yourself.
19 (18) Then we won’t turn away from you —
if you revive us, we will call on your name.
20 (19) Adonai, God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
77 (0) For the leader. For Y’dutun. A psalm of Asaf:
2 (1) I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God; and he hears me.
3 (2) On the day of my distress I am seeking Adonai;
my hands are lifted up;
my tears flow all night without ceasing;
my heart refuses comfort.
4 (3) When remembering God, I moan;
when I ponder, my spirit fails. (Selah)
5 (4) You hold my eyelids [and keep me from sleeping];
I am too troubled to speak.
6 (5) I think about the days of old,
the years of long ago;
7 (6) in the night I remember my song,
I commune with myself, my spirit inquires:
8 (7) “Will Adonai reject forever?
will he never show his favor again?
9 (8) Has his grace permanently disappeared?
Is his word to all generations done away?
10 (9) Has God forgotten to be compassionate?
Has he in anger withheld his mercy?” (Selah)
11 (10) Then I add, “That’s my weakness —
[supposing] the Most High’s right hand could change.”
12 (11) So I will remind myself of Yah’s doings;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
13 (12) I will meditate on your work
and think about what you have done.
14 (13) God, your way is in holiness.
What god is as great as God?
15 (14) You are the God who does wonders,
you revealed your strength to the peoples.
16 (15) With your arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Ya‘akov and Yosef. (Selah)
17 (16) The water saw you, God;
the water saw you and writhed in anguish,
agitated to its depths.
18 (17) The clouds poured water, the skies thundered,
and your arrows flashed here and there.
19 (18) The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind,
the lightning flashes lit up the world,
the earth trembled and shook.
20 (19) Your way went through the sea,
your path through the turbulent waters;
but your footsteps could not be traced.
21 (20) You led your people like a flock
under the care of Moshe and Aharon.
79 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) God, the pagans have entered your heritage.
They have defiled your holy temple
and turned Yerushalayim into rubble.
2 They have given the corpses of your servants
as food for the birds in the air,
yes, the flesh of those faithful to you
for the wild animals of the earth.
3 All around Yerushalayim
they have shed their blood like water,
and no one is left to bury them.
4 We suffer the taunts of our neighbors,
we are mocked and scorned by those around us.
5 How long, Adonai?
Will you be angry forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,
on the kingdoms that don’t call out your name;
7 for they have devoured Ya‘akov
and left his home a waste.
8 Don’t count past iniquities against us,
but let your compassion come quickly to meet us,
for we have been brought very low.
9 Help us, God of our salvation,
for the sake of the glory of your name.
Deliver us, forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Let the vengeance taken on your servants’ shed blood
be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groaning of the captives come before you;
by your great strength save those condemned to death.
12 Repay our neighbors sevenfold where they can feel it
for the insults they inflicted on you, Adonai.
13 Then we, your people and the flock in your pasture,
will give you thanks forever.
From generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise.
7 This word came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2 “Stand at the gate of the house of Adonai and proclaim this word: ‘Listen to the word of Adonai, all you from Y’hudah who enter these gates to worship Adonai! 3 Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “Improve your ways and actions, and I will let you stay in this place. 4 Don’t rely on that deceitful slogan, ‘The temple of Adonai, the temple of Adonai — these [buildings] are the temple of Adonai.’ 5 No, but if you really improve your ways and actions; if you really administer justice between people; 6 if you stop oppressing foreigners, orphans and widows; if you stop shedding innocent blood in this place; and if you stop following other gods, to your own harm; 7 then I will let you stay in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors forever and ever. 8 Look! You are relying on deceitful words that can’t do you any good. 9 First you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba‘al and go after other gods that you haven’t known. 10 Then you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, ‘We are saved’ — so that you can go on doing these abominations! 11 Do you regard this house, which bears my name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for myself what’s going on,” says Adonai. 12 “Go to the place in Shiloh that used to be mine, that used to bear my name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Isra’el. 13 I spoke to you again and again, but you wouldn’t listen. I called you, but you wouldn’t answer. Now,” says Adonai, “because you have done all these things, 14 I will do to the house that bears my name, on which you rely, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, what I did to Shiloh; 15 and I will drive you out of my presence, just as I drove out all your kinsmen, all the descendants of Efrayim.”’
4 Then what should we say Avraham, our forefather, obtained by his own efforts? 2 For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God! 3 For what does the Tanakh say? “Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”[a] 4 Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him. 5 However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.
6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered over;
8 Blessed is the man whose sin Adonai
will not reckon against his account.”[b]
9 Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham’s trust was credited to his account as righteousness; 10 but what state was he in when it was so credited — circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision! 11 In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him, 12 and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised.
14 Not until the festival was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked. 16 So Yeshua gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own. 18 A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him. 19 Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?” 20 “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who’s out to kill you?” 21 Yeshua answered them, “I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed. 22 Moshe gave you b’rit-milah — not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs — and you do a boy’s b’rit-milah on Shabbat. 23 If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat? 24 Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”
25 Some of the Yerushalayim people said, “Isn’t this the man they’re out to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don’t say anything to him. It couldn’t be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he’s the Messiah? 27 Surely not — we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 Whereupon Yeshua, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, “Indeed you do know me! And you know where I’m from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don’t know! 29 I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!”
30 At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come. 31 However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”
32 The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. 33 Yeshua said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me. 34 You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews? 36 And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.