Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 61
For the choir director; on a stringed instrument; by David.
1 Listen to my cry for help, O Elohim.
Pay attention to my prayer.
2 From the ends of the earth, I call to you
when I begin to lose heart.
Lead me to the rock that is high above me.
3 You have been my Machseh,
a Migdal-Oz against the enemy.
4 I would like to be a guest in your tent forever
and to take refuge under the protection of your wings. Selah
5 O Elohim, you have heard my vows.
You have given me the inheritance
that belongs to those who fear your name.
6 Add days upon days to the life of the king.
May his years endure throughout every generation.
7 May he sit enthroned in the presence of Elohim forever.
May mercy and truth protect him.
8 Then I will make music to praise your name forever,
as I keep my vows day after day.
Psalm 62
For the choir director; according to Jeduthun; a psalm by David.
1 My soul waits calmly for Elohim alone.
My salvation comes from him.
2 He alone is my rock and my savior—my stronghold.
I cannot be severely shaken.
3 How long will all of you attack a person?
How long will you try to murder him,
as though he were a leaning wall or a sagging fence?
4 They plan to force him out of his high position.
They are happy to lie.
They bless with their mouths,
but in their hearts they curse. Selah
5 Wait calmly for Elohim alone, my soul,
because my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my savior—my stronghold.
I cannot be shaken.
7 My salvation and my glory depend on Elohim.
Elohim is the rock of my strength, my Machseh.
8 Trust him at all times, you people.
Pour out your hearts in his presence.
Elohim is our Machseh. Selah
9 Common people are only a whisper in the wind.
Important people are only a delusion.
When all of them are weighed on a scale, they amount to nothing.
They are less than a whisper in the wind.
10 Do not count on extortion to make you rich.
Do not hope to gain anything through robbery.
When riches increase, do not depend on them.
11 Elohim has spoken once.
I have heard it said twice:
“Power belongs to Elohim.
12 Mercy belongs to you, O Adonay.
You reward a person based on what he has done.”
Psalm 68
For the choir director; a psalm by David; a song.
1 Elohim will arise.
His enemies will be scattered.
Those who hate him will flee from him.
2 Blow them away like smoke.
Let wicked people melt in Elohim’s presence like wax next to a fire.
3 But let righteous people rejoice.
Let them celebrate in Elohim’s presence.
Let them overflow with joy.
4 Sing to Elohim; make music to praise his name.
Make a highway for him to ride through the deserts.[a]
Yah is his name.
Celebrate in his presence.
5 The Elohim who is in his holy dwelling place
is the Ab of the fatherless and the defender of widows.
6 Elohim places lonely people in families.
He leads prisoners out of prison into productive lives,
but rebellious people must live in an unproductive land.
7 O Elohim, when you went in front of your people,
when you marched through the desert, Selah
8 the earth quaked and the sky poured
in the presence of the Elohim of Sinai,
in the presence of the Elohim of Israel.
9 You watered the land with plenty of rain, O Elohim.
You refreshed it when your land was exhausted.
10 Your flock settled there.
Out of your goodness, O Elohim,
you provided for oppressed people.
11 Adonay gives instructions.
The women who announce the good news are a large army.
12 They say, “The kings of the armies flee; they run away.
The women who remained at home will divide the goods.
13 Though you stayed among the sheep pens,
you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its feathers with yellow gold.
14 Meanwhile, Shadday was still scattering kings there
like snow falling on Mount Zalmon.”
15 The mountain of Bashan is the mountain of Elohim.
The mountain of Bashan is the mountain with many peaks.
16 Why do you look with envy, you mountains with many peaks,
at the mountain where Elohim has chosen to live?
Certainly, Yahweh will live there forever.
17 The chariots of Elohim are twenty thousand in number,
thousands upon thousands.
Adonay is among them.
The God of Sinai is in his holy place.
18 You went to the highest place.
You took prisoners captive.
You received gifts from people,
even from rebellious people, so that Yah Elohim may live there.
19 Thanks be to Adonay,
who daily carries our burdens for us.
El is our salvation. Selah
20 Our El is the El of victories.
Yahweh Adonay is our escape from death.
21 Certainly, Elohim will crush the heads of his enemies
and destroy even the hair on the heads
of those who continue to be guilty.
22 Adonay said, “I will bring them back from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea
23 so that you, my people, may bathe[b] your feet in blood
and the tongues of your dogs
may lick the blood of your enemies.”
24 Your festival processions, O Elohim, can be seen by everyone.
They are the processions for my Elohim, my Melek, into the holy place.
25 The singers are in front.
The musicians are behind them.
The young women beating tambourines are between them.
26 Thank Elohim, Yahweh, the source of Israel, with the choirs.
27 Benjamin, the youngest, is leading them,
next the leaders of Judah with their noisy crowds,
then the leaders of Zebulun,
then the leaders of Naphtali.
28 Your Elohim has decided you will be strong.
Display your strength, O Elohim,
as you have for us before.
29 Kings will bring you gifts
because of your temple high above Jerusalem.
30 Threaten the beast who is among the cattails,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the nations,
until it humbles itself with pieces of silver.
Scatter the people who find joy in war.[c]
31 Ambassadors will come from Egypt.
Sudan will stretch out its hands to Elohim in prayer.
32 You kingdoms of the world, sing to Elohim.
Make music to praise Adonay. Selah
33 Elohim rides through the ancient heaven, the highest heaven.
Listen! He makes his voice heard, his powerful voice.
34 Acknowledge the power of Elohim.
His majesty is over Israel, and his power is in the skies.
35 Elohim, the El of Israel, is awe-inspiring in his holy place.
He gives strength and power to his people.
Thanks be to Elohim!
17 Then Yahweh spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: 18 “Go, meet King Ahab of Israel, who lives in Samaria. He went to confiscate Naboth’s vineyard. 19 Tell him, ‘This is what Yahweh asks: Have you murdered someone just to confiscate a vineyard?’ Then tell him, ‘This is what Yahweh says: At the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lick up your blood.’”
20 Ahab asked Elijah, “So you’ve found me, my enemy?”
Elijah answered, “I found you. Because you sold yourself to do what Yahweh considers evil. 21 So I am going to bring evil on you. I will destroy your descendants. I will destroy every male[a] in Ahab’s house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. 22 I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because you made me furious. You led Israel to sin.”
23 Then Yahweh also spoke through Elijah about Jezebel: “The dogs will eat Jezebel inside the walls of Jezreel. 24 If anyone from Ahab’s house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.”
25 There was no one else like Ahab. At the urging of his wife, he sold himself to do what Yahweh considered evil. 26 He did many disgusting things as a result of worshiping idols as the Amorites had done. (Yahweh confiscated their land for Israel.)
27 When Ahab heard these things, he tore his clothes in distress and dressed in sackcloth. He fasted, lay in sackcloth, and walked around depressed.
28 Then Yahweh spoke his word to Elijah from Tishbe: 29 “Do you see how Ahab is humbling himself in my presence? Because he’s humbling himself in my presence, I will not let any evil happen to his family while he is alive. I will bring evil on it during his son’s lifetime.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? 21 The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. 22 Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. 24 But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. 28 God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises—what it considers to be nothing—in order to destroy what it considers to be something. 29 As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence. 30 You are partners with Christ Yeshua because of God. Yeshua has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. 31 As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”
A Light Has Risen
12 When Yeshua heard that John had been put in prison, he went back to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This was in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
on the way to the sea,
across the Jordan River,
Galilee, where foreigners live!
16 The people who lived in darkness
have seen a bright light.
A light has risen
for those who live in a land overshadowed by death.”
17 From then on, Yeshua began to tell people, “Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near!”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.