Book of Common Prayer
Inheritance of the Kedoshim
Psalm 37
1 Of David.
Do not fret because of evildoers,
nor be envious of them who do wrong.
2 For like the grass they soon wither
and fade like a green herb.
3 Trust in Adonai and do good.
Dwell in the land, feed on faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in Adonai,
and He will give you the requests of your heart.
5 Commit your way to Adonai.
Trust in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring out your vindication as light,
and your cause will shine as noonday.
7 Be still before Adonai and wait patiently for Him.
Do not fret over one prospering in his way,
over one carrying out wicked schemes.
8 Put away anger and turn from wrath.
Do not fret—it only leads to doing evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those who wait for Adonai—
they will inherit the land.
10 Yet a little while,
and the wicked will be no more.
Yes, you will look at his place,
but he will not be there.
11 But the meek will inherit the land,
and delight in abundant shalom.
12 The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him—
for He sees his day is coming.
14 The wicked have unsheathed their sword and have bent their bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose conduct is upright.
15 Their sword will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16 Better a little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
while Adonai upholds the righteous.
18 Adonai knows the days of the blameless—
their inheritance endures forever.
19 They will not be ashamed in an evil time
and in days of famine they will be satisfied.
20 For the wicked will perish,
and the enemies of Adonai will be like the beauty of the fields—
they will vanish—vanish like smoke.
21 The wicked borrows and does not repay,
but the righteous is a gracious giver.
22 For His blessed ones inherit the land.
But those He curses will be cut off.
23 From Adonai a man’s steps are made firm,
when He delights in his way.
24 Though he stumble,
he will not fall headlong,
for Adonai is holding his hand.
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous one forsaken,
nor his children begging for bread.
26 All day long he is gracious and lends.
So his offspring will be a blessing.
27 Turn from evil and do good,
so you may live forever.
28 For Adonai loves justice
and does not abandon His godly ones.
They will be preserved forever,
but the seed of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom
and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The Torah of his God is in his heart.
His steps do not slip.
32 The wicked lies in wait for the righteous,
seeking to slay him.
33 But Adonai will not leave him in his hand,
or let him be condemned when judged.
34 Wait for Adonai and keep His way,
and He will exalt you to inherit the land.
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man
flourishing like a leafy tree in native soil.
36 But once he passed by, he was no more.
Though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Notice the man of integrity and watch the upright—
for the man of shalom has a future.
38 But transgressors will be destroyed altogether.
The future of the wicked will be cut off.
39 Yet the salvation of the righteous is from Adonai.
He is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 Adonai helps them and delivers them.
He rescues them from the wicked and saves them—
because they take refuge in Him.
Decline of Solomon
11 Now King Solomon loved so many foreign women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom Adonai had said to the children of Israel: “You shall not associate with them nor they associate with you, for surely they would turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon clung to them for love. 3 So he had 700 wives as princesses and 300 concubines—and his women led his heart astray. 4 For it came about, as Solomon grew old, that his wives led his heart away after other gods, so that his heart was no longer wholly devoted to Adonai his God, unlike the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Adonai and did not fully follow after Adonai, unlike his father David.
7 At that time Solomon also built a high place for Chemosh, the detested thing of Moab, on the mountain near Jerusalem, as well as for Molech the detested thing of the children of Ammon. 8 Thus he did for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.
9 So Adonai became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Adonai, the God of Israel—who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had commanded him about this, that he should not go after other gods, yet he did not keep what Adonai had commanded. 11 So Adonai said to Solomon: “Since you have done this and did not keep My covenant and My statutes that I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it away from the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear away the whole kingdom, but will give one tribe to your son for My servant David ‘s sake, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
Gentle Wisdom from Above
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct let him show his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.[a]
Resist Pride and Evil
4 Where do quarrels and conflicts among you come from? Don’t they come from this, namely your passions that battle within your body parts? 2 You crave and have not. You murder and you envy, yet you cannot get it. You fight and you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives so you may spend it on your passions. 4 You adulteresses![b] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that in vain the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit which He made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives greater grace. Therefore it says,
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”[c]
7 Therefore submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! [d] 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of Adonai, and He shall lift you up. [e] 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the Torah and judges the Torah. But if you judge the Torah, you are not a doer of the Torah, but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge[f]—the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judges your neighbor?
12 Then answering again, Pilate said to them, “So what do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?”
13 They shouted back, “Execute Him!”
14 Pilate responded, “Why? What evil has He done?”
But they shouted all the more, “Execute Him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Bar-Abba for them. And after he had Yeshua scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers took Him away, into the palace, the governor’s mansion called the Praetorium. And they call together the cohort[a] of soldiers. 17 They dress Him up in purple. After braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on Him. 18 And they began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 Over and over, they kept hitting Him on the head with a staff and spitting on Him; and kneeling down, they worshiped Him. 20 When they finished mocking Him, they stripped the purple off Him and put His own clothes back on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.
Crucified as King of the Jews
21 Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming in from the countryside. The soldiers force this passerby to carry Yeshua’s cross-beam.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.