Book of Common Prayer
78 (Maskil of Asaph.) Give ear, O my people, to my torah; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a mashal; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, and Avoteinu have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their banim, recounting to the dor acharon the tehillot Hashem, and His power, and His nifla’ot (wonderful works) that He hath done.
5 For He established edut in Ya’akov, set torah in Yisroel, which He commanded Avoteinu, that they should make them known to their banim;
6 So that the dor acharon might know them, even the banim which should be born; who should arise and recount them to their banim;
7 That they might put their confidence in Elohim, and not forget the ma’allei El (works of G-d), but keep His mitzvot;
8 And might not be as their Avot, a dor sorer u’moreh (stubborn and rebellious generation); a generation that set not its lev aright, and whose ruach was not faithful to G-d.
9 The Bnei Ephrayim, being armed, and shooting keshet (the bows), turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the Brit Elohim, and refused to walk in His torah;
11 And forgot His works, and His nifla’ot (wonders) that He had shown them.
12 Peleh (marvellous things) did He in the sight of their avot, in Eretz Mitzrayim, in the sadeh (area) of Tzoan.
13 He divided the yam, and caused them to pass through; and He made the mayim to stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime also He led them with an anan, and all the lailah with an ohr of eish.
15 He split the rocks in the midbar, and gave them drink as out of the great tehomot.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused mayim to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking Elyon in the wilderness.
18 And they tested G-d by their lev by demanding ochel for their lust.
19 And they spoke against Elohim; they said, Can G-d spread a shulchan in the midbar?
20 Behold, He struck the Tzur, that the mayim gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give lechem also? Can He provide meat for His people?
21 Therefore Hashem heard this, and was in wrath; so an eish was kindled against Ya’akov, and anger also came up against Yisroel;
22 Because they believed not in Elohim, and trusted not in His Yeshuah (salvation);
23 Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the daletei Shomayim (doors of heaven),
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the bread of Shomayim [see Yn 6:31 OJBC].
25 Ish did eat the bread of angels; He sent them lechem to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow from Shomayim; and by His oz He brought in the south wind.
27 He rained meat also upon them like aphar, and winged fowls like the chol (sand) of the sea;
28 And He let it fall in the midst of their machaneh, all around their mishkenot (habitations).
29 So they did eat, and were well filled; for He gave them their own ta’avah (evil desire).
30 They were not estranged from their ta’avah. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31 The Af Elohim (wrath of G-d) came upon them, and slaughtered the stoutest of them, and cut down the bochurim of Yisroel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not in His nifla’ot (wondrous works).
33 Therefore their yamim did He consume in hevel (futility, vanity) and their shanim in terror.
34 When He slaughtered them, then they sought Him; and they returned and inquired diligently after G-d.
35 And they remembered that Elohim was their Tzur, and the El Elyon their Go’el (Redeemer).
36 Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their leshon.
37 For their lev was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His Brit.
38 But He, being full of compassion, made kapporah for their avon and destroyed them not; and He many times turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they were but basar; a ruach (wind) that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke Him in the midbar, and grieve Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they turned back and tested G-d, and imposed limits on Kadosh Yisroel.
42 They remembered not His Yad (Hand, Power), nor the yom (day) when He redeemed them from the enemy.
43 How He had wrought His otot in Mitzrayim, and His mofetim in the area of Tzoan.
44 And had turned their rivers into dahm; and their streams, that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and tzfarde’a (frogs), which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crop unto the grasshopper, and their produce unto the arbeh (locust).
47 He destroyed their gefen with barad (hail), and their fig trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the barad (hail), and their livestock herds to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them His charon af, evrah (wrath), and za’am (indignation), and tzarah, by sending malachim ra’im among them.
50 He made a way for His anger; He spared not their nefesh from mavet (death), but gave their beasts over to the dever (plague);
51 And struck all the bechor in Mitzrayim; the reshit (first fruit) of their strength in the ohalim of Cham;
52 But made His own people to go forth like tzon, and guided them in the midbar like an eder (flock).
53 And He led them in safety, so that they had no terror; but the yam overwhelmed their oyevim.
54 And He brought them to His gevul kadosh (His holy border), even to this Har, which His Yamin had purchased.
55 He cast out the Goyim also before them, and divided by measure a nachalah for them, and made the Shivtei Yisroel to dwell in their ohalim.
56 Yet they tested and provoked Elohim Elyon, and were not shomer over His edot;
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their avot; they turned like a treacherous keshet.
58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their pesilim.
59 When Elohim heard this, He was in wrath, and greatly abhorred Yisroel;
60 So that He forsook the Mishkan of Shiloh, the Ohel which He placed among adam (men);
61 And delivered His oz (strength) into captivity, and His tiferet into the hand of the enemy.
62 He gave His people over also unto the cherev; and was in wrath with His nachalah.
63 The eish consumed their bochurim; and their betulot had no wedding celebration.
64 Their kohanim fell by the cherev; and their almanot made no lamentation.
65 Then Adonoi awaked as one from sleep, and like a gibbor that shouteth from yayin.
66 And He struck down His enemies behind; He put them to cherpat olam (perpetual reproach).
67 Moreover He rejected the Ohel Yosef, and chose not the Shevet Ephrayim;
68 But chose the Shevet Yehudah, Har Tziyon which He loved.
69 And He built His Mikdash like heavenly heights, like Eretz which He hath established l’olam.
70 He chose Dovid also His Eved, and took him from the mikhle’ot tzon (sheepfolds);
71 From following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Ya’akov His people, and Yisroel His nachalah.
72 So he shepherded them according to the tohm (integrity, guilelessness) of his lev; and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.
18 Then went HaMelech Dovid in, and sat before Hashem, and he said, Who am I, Adonoi Hashem? And what is my Bais, that Thou hast brought me this far?
19 And as if this were a small thing in Thy sight, Adonoi Hashem, Thou hast spoken also the future of Bais Avdecha. And is this fitting for haAdam [such as me], Adonoi Hashem?
20 And what can Dovid say more unto Thee? For Thou, Adonoi Hashem, knowest Avdecha.
21 For the sake of Thy word, and according to Thine own lev, hast Thou done all this gedullah (great thing), and made it known to Avdecha.
22 Wherefore Thou art great, Adonoi Hashem; for there is none like Thee, neither is there any Elohim but Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
23 And what Goy echad in ha’aretz is like Thy people, even like Yisroel, whom Elohim went to redeem for an Am for Himself, and to make Him a Shem, and to do for Thee hagedullah (the great thing) and nora’ot, for Thy land, before Thy people, which Thou redeemedst to Thee from Mitzrayim, from the Goyim and their g-ds?
24 For Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Yisroel to be an Am unto Thee ad olam; and Thou, Hashem, art become their Elohim.
25 And now, Hashem Elohim, the davar (word, promise) that Thou hast spoken concerning Avdecha, and concerning his Bais, establish it ad olam, and do just as Thou hast said.
26 And let Thy Shem be magnified ad olam, saying, Hashem Tzivos is Elohim over Yisroel; and let the Bais of Avdecha Dovid be established before Thee.
27 For Thou, Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel, hast revealed to ozen Avdecha, saying, I will build thee a Bais; therefore hath Avdecha found in his lev to pray this tefillah unto Thee.
28 And now, Adonoi Hashem Atah hu HaElohim, and Thy devarim are emes, and Thou hast promised hatovah hazot unto Avdecha;
29 Therefore now let it please Thee to bless the Bais Avdecha, that it may continue l’olam before Thee; for Thou, Adonoi Hashem, hast spoken it; and with Thy brocha let the Bais Avdecha be blessed l’olam.
12 And when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the [disobedient] Yehudim rose up with one accord keneged (against, in opposition to) Rav Sha’ul, and they took him to court,
13 Saying, "This one persuades anashim to worship Hashem in a manner against the Torah."
14 Rav Sha’ul was about to open his mouth when Gallio spoke to the Yehudim, "If this matter concerned some wrong or heinous crime, O Yehudim, I might reasonably put up with you;
15 "But if it is kashes (questions) about a dvar and shemot (names) and your Torah, you will see to it for yourselves. I do not intend to be a shofet (judge) of these things."
16 And he had them ejected from the courtroom.
17 They seized Sosthenes, the Rosh HaKnesset, and were beating him in full view of the Kes HaMishpat (Judgment Seat), and none of these things created a concern for Gallio.
18 But Rav Sha’ul still remained a number of yamim and then took leave of the Achim b’Moshiach, and was sailing away to Syria; and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he cut his hair, for he had taken a neder (vow). [BAMIDBAR 6:2,5,18]
19 Then they arrived in Ephesus, and Rav Sha’ul left them there, but he joined the minyan in the shul and debated with the Yehudim.
20 And when they were asking Rav Sha’ul to stay for a longer time, he did not give his consent.
21 But taking leave of them, he said, “I will return again im yirtzeh Hashem (G-d willing).” Then Rav Sha’ul set sail from Ephesus.
22 And having come down to Caesarea and having gone up and greeted the [Yerushalayim] Kehillah of Moshiach, then Rav Sha’ul went down to Antioch.
23 And having spent some time, he embarked, passing through the area of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the Moshiach’s talmidim.
24 Now a certain man, a Yehudi, arrived in Ephesus, Apollos by name, hailing from Alexandria, a lamdan (a Torah scholar with prodigious knowledge), being tief (deep and profound, erudite, keen) in the Kitvei HaKodesh.
25 This one had been taught the Derech Hashem and was on fire in the Ruach Hakodesh and saying shiurim and drashot accurate and true to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. But Rav Apollos was acquainted only with the tevilah of teshuva of Yochanan [see Lk 3:16].
26 And this rabbi began to speak with ometz lev (boldness) in the shul. And having heard him, Priscilla and Aquila took him and more accurately instructed him in the Derech Hashem.
27 When Rav Apollos desired to go to Achaia, the Achim b’Moshiach encouraged him and wrote iggrot to Moshiach’s talmidim there to welcome him. When Rav Apollos arrived, he greatly helped the ones who through the Chen v’Chesed Hashem had come to emunah.
28 For Rav Apollos was publicly and powerfully refuting the [unbelieving] Yehudim, showing through the Kitvei HaKodesh that Yehoshua is the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.
22 And they come to Beit-Tzaidah. And they bring to him an ivver (blind man), and entreated him to touch him.
23 And having grasped the hand of the ivver, he took him outside the shtetl; and, having put spittle on his eyes, [and] having laid hands upon him, he was questioning him, Do you see anything?
24 And after looking up, the ivver was saying, I see bnei Adam‖they look like trees walking!
25 Then again Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach placed his hands upon his eyes; and the man looked intently and was restored, and was seeing everything clearly.
26 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach sent the man to his bais, saying, Do not even enter the shtetl.
27 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach went out along with his talmidim, to the shtetlach of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he was questioning his talmidim, saying to them, Who do Bnei Adam say that I am?
28 And the talmidim spoke to him, saying, Yochanan of the tevilah of teshuva; and others say, Eliyahu HaNavi; but others, One of the neviim. [MALACHI 4:5]
29 And he continued questioning them, But who do you say that I am? In reply, Kefa says to him, You are the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.
30 And he warned them to tell no one about him.
31 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach began to teach them that it is necessary [for] the Ben HaAdam [Moshiach, DANIEL 7:13-14] to suffer many things and to be rejected by the Zekenim and the Rashei Hakohanim (the Chief Priests) and the Sofrim (Scribes) [YESHAYAH 53:3], and to be killed and after his histalkus (passing) after Shlosha Yamim (Three Days) to undergo the Techiyas HaMoshiach.
32 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was speaking about the matter plainly. And Shimon Kefa took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But having turned around and having looked at his talmidim, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach rebuked Kefa, and says, Get behind me, Hasatan; for you are not putting your machshavot (thoughts) on the interests of Hashem but on that of Bnei Adam. [cf Mk 7:9]
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International