Book of Common Prayer
Pledge of Integrity
Psalm 101
1 A psalm of David.
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice.
To You, Adonai, I will sing praises.
2 I will behave wisely in the way of integrity
—when will You come to me?
I walk in my house with integrity in my heart.
3 No base thing will I set before my eyes.
Twisted behavior I hate—it will not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart will depart from me.
I will know nothing evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret
—him I will silence.
Who has haughty eyes and a proud heart
—him I will not tolerate.
6 My eyes are on the trustworthy of the land,
to be in my company.
One walking in a blameless way will serve me.
7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house.
No one who utters lies will endure before my eyes.
8 Each morning I silence all the land’s wicked ones—
to cut off from Adonai’s city every evildoer.
Prayer Against an Accuser
Psalm 109
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
O God of my praise, be not silent.
2 For the wicked and the deceitful
have opened their mouth against me.
They spoke to me with a lying tongue,
3 with hateful words surrounded me,
and fought against me without cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
but I am in prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Set a wicked man over him,
let an accuser[a] stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged,
let him be found guilty,
and may his prayer be as sin.
8 Let his days be few,
let another take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children wander and beg
and may they search in their ruins.
11 Let a creditor seize all he has,
and may strangers plunder his labor.
12 Let no one show him mercy,
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
and his name be blotted out in the next generation.
14 May the guilt of his fathers be remembered before Adonai,
the sin of his mother never blotted out.
15 Let their sins be before Adonai continually,
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he never remembered to show mercy.
But he persecuted a poor and needy man,
crushed in spirit, to put him to death.
17 How he loved cursing—
may it fall on him!
He had no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him!
18 He wore cursing like his robe,
until it filled his belly like water, and his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped around him,
like a belt tied around him always.
20 Let this be Adonai’s reward to my accusers,
and to those who speak evil against me.
21 But You, Adonai my Lord,
deal with me for Your Name’s sake.
Because Your lovingkindness is good, deliver me.
22 For I am afflicted and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow,
shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees totter from fasting,
and my flesh is lean, with no fat.
25 And I have become a taunt to them.
When they see me, they wag their head.
26 Help me, Adonai my God,
Save me through Your lovingkindness.
27 Let them know that it is Your hand—
that You, Adonai, have done it.
28 They may curse, but You bless.
When they arise, they will be ashamed,
but Your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be clothed in disgrace,
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 I will greatly thank Adonai with my mouth,
and in the midst of a throng will I praise Him.
AYIN ע
121 I did what is just and right.
Do not leave me to my oppressors.
122 Guarantee Your servant’s well-being.
Do not let arrogant ones oppress me.
123 My eyes fail, longing for Your salvation
and for Your righteous word.
124 Deal with Your servant as befits Your lovingkindness,
and teach me Your statutes.
125 I am Your servant, give me discernment,
so I may understand Your testimonies.
126 It is time for Adonai to act—
they have violated Your Torah!
127 Therefore I love Your mitzvot
more than gold, more than pure gold.
128 Therefore I esteem all Your precepts as right in every way
—every false way I hate.
PE פ
129 Your testimonies are wonderful.
Therefore my soul obeys them.
130 The unfolding of Your words gives light,
giving understanding to the simple.
131 I opened my mouth wide and panted,
for I longed for Your mitzvot.
132 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is fitting to those who love Your Name.
133 Direct my footsteps in Your word,
and let no iniquity get mastery over me.
134 Redeem me from human oppression,
and I will keep Your precepts.
135 Make Your face shine on Your servant,
and teach me Your decrees.
136 Streams of water run down from my eyes,
because they do not observe Your Torah.
TZADHE צ
137 Righteous are You, Adonai,
and Your judgments are upright.
138 You have commanded righteousness,
Your testimonies, and great faithfulness.
139 My zeal has consumed me,
because my foes forgot Your words.
140 Your word is thoroughly refined,
and Your servant loves it.
141 I am insignificant and despised,
yet I have not forgotten Your precepts.
142 Your justice is righteousness forever,
and Your Torah is truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,
yet Your mitzvot are my delight.
144 Your testimonies are righteous forever
—make me understand, so I may live.
9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of King Elah of Israel, that King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it, 10 and at the end of three years they captured it. So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and placed them in Halah and Habor on the Gozan River, and in the towns of the Medes. 12 For they had not listened to the voice of Adonai their God, but transgressed His covenant—all that Moses the servant of Adonai had commanded—they neither listened nor did it.
Proud Sennacherib Challenges Hezekiah
13 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched against all the fortified towns of Judah and seized them. 14 So King Hezekiah of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish saying, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, whatever you impose on me, I will bear.” So the king of Assyria imposed on King Hezekiah of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. 15 Then Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the House of Adonai as well as in the treasuries of the royal palace. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped off the gold from the doors of the Temple of Adonai and from the doorposts that King Hezekiah of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh[a] from Lachish with a great army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. So they went up and arrived at Jerusalem. Now when they arrived, they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller’s field. 18 When they had called to the king, Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the royal palace, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.
19 So the Rab-shakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: ‘What is this confidence you’ve relied on? 20 You say you have a plan and military force for the battle—they are only words of a lip. Who do you rely on now, so that you have rebelled against me? 21 Behold, you rely on this splintered reed as a staff—Egypt! If a man leans on it, it will go into the palm of his hand and pierce it—thus Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.
22 “But if you say to me: ‘We trust in Adonai our God’—is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, and then said to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
23 “So now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses—if you could put riders of your own on them! 24 So, how can you repulse a single lieutenant—the least of my master’s servants? Yes, you’re relying on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen.
25 “Moreover, have I now come up against this land to destroy it without Adonai’s approval? Adonai said to me: ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”
Concerning Idol Sacrifices
8 Now concerning idol sacrifices, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of idol sacrifices, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. [a] 5 For even if there are so-called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father,[b]
from whom are all things,
and we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah,
through whom are all things,
and we exist through Him.
7 But that knowledge is not in everyone—some, so accustomed to idols up until now, eat food as an idol sacrifice; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food will not bring us before God. We are no worse off if we do not eat and no better off if we do eat. 9 But watch out that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. [c] 10 For suppose someone sees you—who have this knowledge—dining in an idol’s temple. If his conscience is weak, won’t he be emboldened to eat idol sacrifices? 11 For the one who is weak is destroyed by your knowledge—the brother for whom Messiah died. 12 In this way, when you sin against the brothers and sisters and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Messiah. 13 For this reason, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I do not cause my brother to stumble.
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Judging the Fruit
15 “Watch out for false prophets,[a] who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes aren’t gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? 17 Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.