Book of Common Prayer
Covenant with David’s Seed
Psalm 89
1 A contemplative song of Ethan the Ezrahite.
2 I will sing of the love of Adonai forever.
To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
3 For I said, “Let your lovingkindness be built up forever!
The heavens—let Your faithfulness be made firm there!”
4 “I have made a covenant with My chosen one.
I have sworn to David My servant:
5 ‘Forever I will establish your seed,
and will build your throne from generation to generation.’”[a] Selah
6 The heavens praise Your wonders, Adonai
—Your faithfulness, too—
in the assembly of the kedoshim.
7 For who in the skies can compare to Adonai?
Who is like Adonai among the sons of gods?
8 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all around Him.
9 Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, who is like You, mighty Adonai,
with Your faithfulness all around You?
10 You rule over the swelling of the sea.
When its waves mount up, You still them.
11 You crushed Rahab like a slain one.
You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
12 The heavens are Yours, also Yours the earth
—the world and its fullness—
You have founded them.
13 You created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at Your Name.
14 Your arm is mighty,
Your hand is strong,
exalted is Your right hand.[b]
15 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
16 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout,[c]
They walk in the light of Your presence, Adonai.
17 They rejoice in Your Name all day,
and by Your righteousness they are exalted.
18 For You are the glory of their strength,
and by Your favor our horn is exalted.
19 For our shield belongs to Adonai,
and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
20 Then You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, and said:
“I have bestowed help on a warrior.
I have exalted one chosen from among the people.
21 I have found David My servant.
With My holy oil I have anointed him.
22 With him My hand will be established.
Surely My arm will strengthen him.
23 No enemy will exact tribute from him,
no son of wickedness will oppress him.
24 I will crush his adversaries before him,
and strike down those who hate him.
25 My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,
and by My Name his horn will be exalted.
26 I will also set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
27 He will call to Me: ‘You are my Father,[d]
my God and the rock of my salvation.’
28 I also will set him as firstborn—[e]
the highest of the kings of earth.[f][g]
29 I will maintain My love for him forever,
and My covenant with him will be firm.
30 His seed I will establish forever,
and his throne as the days of heaven.
31 If his sons forsake My Torah,
and do not walk in My judgments,
32 if they violate My decrees,
and do not keep My mitzvot,
33 then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
and their iniquity with flogging.
34 But I will not withdraw My lovingkindness from him,
nor will I betray My faithfulness.
35 I will not violate My covenant,
nor alter what My lips have uttered.
36 Once for all I have sworn by My holiness
—surely I will not lie to David—
37 his descendants will endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before Me,
38 and as the moon, established forever,
and a trustworthy witness in the sky.” Selah
39 But You have cast off and spurned,
You have become furious with Your anointed one.
40 You have renounced the covenant of Your servant.
You have defiled his crown even to the ground.
41 You have broken down all his walls.
You reduced his strongholds to ruin.
42 All who pass by have plundered him.
He has become a taunt to his neighbors.
43 You exalted the right hand of his foes
and made all his enemies rejoice.
44 You turned back the edge of his sword
and have not supported him in battle.
45 You brought his splendor to an end,
and cast his throne down to the ground.
46 You cut short the days of his youth.
You covered him with shame. Selah
47 How long, Adonai, will You hide Yourself?
Forever?
Will Your fury keep burning like fire?
48 Remember how short my life span is!
For what futility have You created all the children of men?
49 What man can live and not see death?
Can he deliver himself from the clutches of Sheol? Selah
50 Where is Your former lovingkindness, my Lord,
which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?[h]
51 Remember, my Lord, the mockery against Your servants
that I bear in my heart from so many peoples.
52 How Your enemies have mocked, Adonai,
how they have mocked
the footsteps of Your Anointed One![i]
53 Blessed be Adonai forever.
Amen and Amen.
Origin of the Samaritans
24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the men of Israel. So they possessed Samaria and settled in its cities. 25 When they first began dwelling there, they did not fear Adonai—so Adonai sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 Then they spoke to the king of Assyria saying, “The nations that you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know the requirement of the God of the land. Therefore He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them because they don’t know the requirement of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded saying, “Send there one of the kohanim whom you have exiled from there. Let them go and live there and teach them the requirement of the God of the land.” 28 So one of the kohanim that had been deported from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Adonai.
29 However, every nation kept making its own gods, and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made—every nation in their cities where they settled. 30 So the people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, the people of Hamath made Ashima, 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared Adonai, while they also appointed for themselves from among themselves priests of the shrines, who officiated for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 They continued to fear Adonai, but worshipped their own gods, after the custom of the nations from which they had been deported.
34 Up to this day, they follow their former customs. Nor do they fear Adonai, or follow the statutes, the ordinances, the Torah or the mitzvot that Adonai commanded the children of Jacob—whom He had renamed Israel. 35 With them Adonai had made a covenant, and charged them saying, “You will not fear other gods, or bow down to them, or serve them, or sacrifice to them, 36 but only Adonai, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm—Him will you fear, and to Him will you bow down and to Him will you sacrifice. 37 The statutes and the ordinances, and the Torah and the mitzvah, which He wrote for you, you will take care to do all the time. You are not to fear other gods. 38 The covenant that I have made with you, you will not forget. Nor will you fear other gods, 39 but Adonai your God will you fear. Then He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
40 Yet they did not listen, but they continued their former practices. 41 So while these nations feared Adonai, they also worshipped their idols. Their children and grandchildren do as their fathers did to this day.
25 Now concerning virgins I have no command from the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think then, because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek a divorce. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people will have trouble in this fleshly life, and I am trying to spare you. 29 But this I say, brothers and sisters—the time is short. From now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though not weeping; and those who rejoice, as though not rejoicing; and those who buy, as though not possessing; 31 and those who use the world, as though not using it to the fullest. For the present form of this world is passing away.
Overcoming Worry with Trust
25 “So I say to you, do not worry about your life—what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your Father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? [a] 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. [b] 30 Now if in this way God clothes the grass—which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow—will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the pagans eagerly pursue all these things; yet your Father in heaven knows that you need all these. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.