Book of Common Prayer
My Help and My Deliverer
Psalm 70
1 For the music director, of David, for a memorial.
2 O God, come quickly to deliver me,
Adonai, to help me.
3 May they be put to shame and disgrace
who seek my life.
May they be turned back in humiliation
who delight in my hurt.
4 May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be turned away because of their shame.
5 But may all who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You.
May those who love Your salvation
always say, “Let God be magnified.”
6 But I am poor and needy—
God, come quickly to me.
You are my help and my deliverer—
Adonai, do not delay.
My Hope When I Am Gray
Psalm 71
1 In You, Adonai, have I taken refuge.
Let me never be ashamed.
2 Deliver me and rescue me in Your justice.
Turn Your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a sheltering rock where I may always go.
Give the command to save me—
for You are my rock and my fortress.
4 My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the grasp of an evil, ruthless man.
5 For You are my hope, Adonai my Lord—
my trust from my youth.
6 From my birth I have leaned on You.
You took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise is always about You.
7 I am like an ominous sign to many,
but You are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with Your praise
and with Your glory all day.
9 Do not cast me away in the time of old age.
When my strength fails, do not forsake me.
10 For my enemies speak against me.
Those who watch for my soul conspire together,
11 saying: “God has forsaken him—
Pursue and take him, for no one will deliver.”
12 O God, be not far from me!
My God, come quickly to help me.
13 Let the accusers of my soul
be disgraced and destroyed.
Let those who seek to harm me
be covered with scorn and confusion.
14 But I—I will hope continually
and will praise You more and more.
15 My mouth will recount Your justice and Your salvation all day,
though I do not know the sum of them.
16 I come because of the mighty deeds of Adonai my Lord.
I will remember Your righteousness—Yours alone.
17 God, You taught me from my youth,
and I still keep declaring Your wonders.
18 So even until I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
till I tell of Your strong arm to the next generation,
Your might to all who are to come.
19 For Your righteousness, O God,
reaches to high heaven.
You have done great things—O God,
who is like You?
20 You made me see many troubles and evils
—You will revive me again—
from the depths of the earth
You will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness,
and comfort me once again.
22 So I will praise You with the harp for your truth, O my God.
I will sing praises to You with the lyre O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy
—when I sing praises to You—
and my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 Also my tongue will tell of Your righteousness all day.
For those who seek my hurt have been put to shame and confusion.
Intercession for Restoration of Zion
Psalm 74
1 A contemplative song of Asaph.
Why have You cast us off forever, O God?
Why does Your anger smolder against the flock of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased of old,
redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance,
and Mount Zion, where You dwelt.
3 Lift Your steps toward the perpetual ruins—
an enemy has done all evil to the Sanctuary!
4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place.
They have set up their standards as signs.
5 It seemed like bringing up axes
into a thicket of trees—
6 and now all its carved work
they smash with hatchet and hammers!
7 They set Your Sanctuary on fire,
burning it to the ground.
They defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.
8 They said in their hearts: “Let us crush them totally!”
They burned down all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs.
No longer is there any prophet—
and no one among us knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary mock?
Will the enemy revile Your Name forever?
11 Why do You hold back Your hand, Your right hand?
Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them!
12 Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the land.
13 You split the sea with Your power.
You smashed the monsters’ heads in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan,
giving him as food to the desert dwellers.
15 You opened up spring and brook.
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is Yours, the night also is Yours.
You provided moon and sun.
17 You set all the borders of earth.
You made summer and winter.
18 Remember how the enemy mocked, Adonai,
and how foolish people despised Your Name.
19 Do not deliver Your turtledove’s soul to the wild beast.
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted ones forever.
20 Look upon the covenant—for haunts of violence
fill the dark places of earth.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in shame.
But let the poor and needy praise Your Name.
22 Rise up O God, and defend Your cause.
Remember how the fool mocks You all day.
23 Do not forget the noise of Your foes,
the uproar of those rising up against You,
ascending continually.
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah marched to Ramot-gilead. 30 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you, put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle.
31 Now the king of Aram had commanded his 32 chariot commanders saying, “Do no single combat with anyone, small or great—except the king of Israel.” 32 So when the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel!” and they turned aside to do combat with him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 When the captains of the chariots realized that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.
34 But a man drew his bow aimlessly and struck the king of Israel between the lower armor and the breastplate. Then he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I’m wounded.” 35 The battle raged that day, and the king remained propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. But he died at evening—and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 36 As the sun was setting, a shout went throughout the army, saying, “Each man to his town, and each man to his land!”
37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 Then they washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria where the harlots washed and the dogs licked up his blood—just as was the word of Adonai that He had spoken.
39 Now the rest of Ahab’s deeds and all he did, including the ivory palace he built and all the cities he fortified, are they not written in Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
Jehoshaphat of Judah
41 Now Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king, and he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
43 He walked in all the ways of his father Asa, not straying from them, but doing what was right in Adonai’s eyes. 44 However, they did not take away the high places, and the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.
45 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.
14 Now a natural man does not accept the things of the Ruach Elohim, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is discerned by no one. For
16 “who has known the mind of Adonai,
that he will instruct Him?”[a]
But we have the mind of Messiah.
Building Together on God’s Foundation
3 And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as Spirit-filled but as worldly[b]—as infants in Messiah. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. Indeed, even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, aren’t you worldly and walking in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere humans[c]?
5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to trust—and to each as the Lord gave. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters work as one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each consider carefully how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid[d]—which is Yeshua the Messiah. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work—what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss—he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
Drash on the Mountain
5 Now when Yeshua saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. And after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall be shown mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.