Book of Common Prayer
145 I have called out with all my heart. Answer me, O Yahweh.
I want to obey your laws.
146 I have called out.
Save me, so that I can obey your written instructions.
147 I got up before dawn, and I cried out for help.
My hope is based on your word.
148 My eyes are wide-open throughout the nighttime hours
to reflect on your word.
149 In keeping with your mercy, hear my voice.
O Yahweh, give me a new life guided by your regulations.
150 Those who carry out plots against me are near,
yet they are far away from your teachings.
151 You are near, O Yahweh,
and all your commandments are reliable.
152 Long ago I learned from your written instructions
that you made them to last forever.
153 Look at my misery, and rescue me,
because I have never forgotten your teachings.
154 Plead my case for me, and save me.
Give me a new life as you promised.
155 Wicked people are far from being saved,
because they have not searched for your laws.
156 Your acts of compassion are many in number, O Yahweh.
Give me a new life guided by your regulations.
157 I have many persecutors and opponents,
yet I have not turned away from your written instructions.
158 I have seen traitors,
and I am filled with disgust.
They have not accepted your promise.
159 See how I have loved your guiding principles!
O Yahweh, in keeping with your mercy, give me a new life.
160 There is nothing but truth in your word,
and all of your righteous regulations endure forever.
161 Influential people have persecuted me for no reason,
but it is only your words that fill my heart with terror.
162 I find joy in your promise
like someone who finds a priceless treasure.
163 I hate lying; I am disgusted with it.
I love your teachings.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous regulations.
165 There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings.
Nothing can make those people stumble.
166 I have waited with hope for you to save me, O Yahweh.
I have carried out your commandments.
167 I have obeyed your written instructions.
I have loved them very much.
168 I have followed your guiding principles and your written instructions,
because my whole life is in front of you.
169 Let my cry for help come into your presence, O Yahweh.
Help me understand as you promised.
170 Let my plea for mercy come into your presence.
Rescue me as you promised.
171 Let my lips pour out praise
because you teach me your laws.
172 Let my tongue sing about your promise
because all your commandments are fair.
173 Let your hand help me
because I have chosen to follow your guiding principles.
174 I have longed for you to save me, O Yahweh,
and your teachings make me happy.
175 Let my soul have new life so that it can praise you.
Let your regulations help me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost lamb.
Search for me,
because I have never forgotten your commandments.
Psalm 128
A song for going up to worship.
1 Blessed are all who fear Yahweh
and live his way.
2 You will certainly eat what your own hands have provided.
Blessings to you!
May things go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine inside your home.
Your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 This is how Yahweh will bless the person who fears him.
5 May Yahweh bless you from Zion
so that you may see Jerusalem prospering
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children.
Let there be peace in Israel!
Psalm 129
A song for going up to worship.
1 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me . . .”
(Israel should repeat this.)
2 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me,
but they have never overpowered me.
3 They have plowed my back like farmers plow fields.
They made long slashes like furrows.”
4 Yahweh is righteous.
He has cut me loose
from the ropes that wicked people tied around me.
5 Put to shame all those who hate Zion.
Force them to retreat.
6 Make them be like grass on a roof,
like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.
7 It will never fill the barns of those who harvest
or the arms of those who gather bundles.
8 Those who pass by will never say to them,
“May you be blessed by Yahweh”
or “We bless you in the name of Yahweh.”
Psalm 130
A song for going up to worship.
1 O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
2 O Adonay, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
3 O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
5 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for Adonay
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
because with Yahweh there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
8 He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
14 So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to talk to the prophet Huldah. She was the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas. Shallum was in charge of the royal wardrobe. Huldah was living in the Second Part of Jerusalem.
15 She told them, “This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 ‘This is what Yahweh says: I’m going to bring disaster on this place and on the people living here according to everything written in the book that the king of Judah has read. 17 I will do this because they have abandoned me and sacrificed to other gods in order to make me furious. Therefore, my burning anger directed at this place will never be extinguished.’”
18 Huldah added, “But tell Judah’s king who sent you to me to ask Yahweh a question, ‘This is what Yahweh Elohim of Israel says about the words you heard: 19 You had a change of heart and humbled yourself in front of Yahweh when you heard my words against this place and those who live here. I had said that those who live here will be destroyed and cursed. You also tore your clothes in distress and cried in front of me. So I will listen to you, declares Yahweh. 20 That is why I’m going to bring you to your ancestors. I’m going to bring you to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see any of the disaster I’m going to bring on this place.’”
So they reported this to the king.
King Josiah’s Religious Reforms(A)
23 Then the king sent for all the respected leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to join him. 2 The king, everyone in Judah, everyone living in Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people (young and old) went to Yahweh’s temple. Josiah read everything written in the Book of the Promise[a] found in Yahweh’s temple so that they could hear it. 3 The king stood beside the pillar and made a promise to Yahweh that he would follow Yahweh and obey his commands, instructions, and laws with all his heart and soul. He confirmed the terms of the promise written in this book. And all the people joined in the promise.
23 After all, I passed on to you what I had received from the Lord.
On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Yeshua took bread 24 and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 25 When supper was over, he did the same with the cup. He said, “This cup is the new promise[a] made with my blood. Every time you drink from it, do it to remember me.” 26 Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the Lord’s cup in an improper way will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. 28 With this in mind, individuals must determine whether what they are doing is proper when they eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 Anyone who eats and drinks is eating and drinking a judgment against himself when he doesn’t recognize the Lord’s body.
30 This is the reason why many of you are weak and sick and quite a number of you have died. 31 If we were judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. 32 But when the Lord judges us, he disciplines us so that we won’t be condemned along with the rest of the world.
33 Therefore, brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, wait for each other. 34 Whoever is hungry should eat at home so that you don’t have a gathering that brings judgment on you.
I will give directions concerning the other matters when I come.
Jesus Chooses Matthew to Be a Disciple(A)
9 When Yeshua was leaving that place, he saw a man sitting in a tax office. The man’s name was Matthew. Yeshua said to him, “Follow me!” So Matthew got up and followed him.
10 Later Yeshua was having dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Yeshua and his disciples. 11 The Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 When Yeshua heard that, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; those who are sick do. 13 Learn what this means: ‘I want mercy, not sacrifices.’ I’ve come to call sinners, not people who think they have God’s approval.”
Jesus Is Questioned about Fasting(B)
14 Then John’s disciples came to Yeshua. They said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often but your disciples never do?”
15 Yeshua replied, “Can wedding guests be sad while the groom is still with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.
16 “No one patches an old coat with a new piece of cloth that will shrink. When the patch shrinks, it will rip away from the coat, and the tear will become worse. 17 Nor do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, people pour new wine into fresh skins, and both are saved.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.