Book of Common Prayer
Even My Close Friend
Psalm 41
1 For the music director: a psalm of David.
2 Blessed is the one who considers the wretched—
Adonai will deliver him in the evil day.
3 Adonai will protect him and keep him alive.
He will be made blessed in the land.
You will not give him over to the desire of his foes.
4 Adonai will strengthen him on his sickbed.
May You restore him completely from his bed.
5 I said: “Adonai, have mercy on me.
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
6 My enemies speak evil about me:
“When will he die and his name perish?”
7 And if someone of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely.
He stores up evil in his heart,
then he goes out and chatters.
8 All who hate me whisper together about me
They imagine the worst about me:
9 “Something evil was poured into him—
he will not get up again from the place where he lies.”
10 Even my own close friend,
whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
has lifted up his heel against me.[a]
11 But You, Adonai, have mercy on me,
and raise me up, so I may repay them.
12 By this I know that You delight in me:
that my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
13 You uphold me in my integrity
and set me before Your face forever.
14 Blessed be Adonai, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and amen!
Treacherous Tongue!
Psalm 52
1 For the music director: a contemplative song of David, 2 when Doeg the Edomite came and reported to Saul telling him, “David went to Ahimelech’s house.”
3 Why do you brag about evil, mighty man?
God’s lovingkindness is every day.
4 Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, working deceit.
5 You love evil instead of good,
lying rather than speaking right. Selah
6 You love only devouring words—
treacherous tongue!
7 God will pull you down forever,
and snatch you, rip you out of your tent,
and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
8 Then the righteous will see and fear,
and laugh at him:
9 “Here is the man who did not make God his stronghold.
Instead he trusted in his great riches—
and was strong in his evil desire.”
10 But I—I am like an olive tree flourishing in the House of God.
I trust in God’s lovingkindness forever and ever.
11 I will praise You forever for what You have done.
I will hope in Your Name, for it is good,
in the presence of Your kedoshim.
Arise, O God of Our Fathers
Psalm 44
1 For the music director, a psalm of the sons of Korah, a contemplative song.
2 We have heard with our ears, O God
—our fathers have told us—
of a work You did in their days, in days of old.
3 With Your hand You displaced nations, but You planted them.
You afflicted peoples, and You drove them out.
4 For it was not by their own sword that they took possession of the land,
nor did their own arm save them.
But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face—
for You favored them.
5 You are my King, O God—
command victories for Jacob!
6 Through You we push back our foes.
Through Your Name we trample those rising up against us.
7 For I do not trust in my bow,
nor can my sword save me.
8 For You saved us from our oppressors
and put to shame those who hated us.
9 In God we make our boast all day
and Your Name we praise forever. Selah
10 Yet You have spurned and humiliated us,
and no longer go out with our armies.
11 You make us retreat before the enemy.
Those who hate us have plundered us.
12 You gave us to be devoured like sheep[a]
and have scattered us among the nations.
13 You are selling Your people cheaply—
not even getting a great price for them.
14 You made us a taunt for our neighbors,
a scorn and ridicule for those around us.
15 You have made us a byword among the nations,
head-wagging among the peoples.
16 All day my disgrace is before me,
and my face is covered with shame—
17 because of the sound of taunting and reviling
from the face of a vengeful enemy.
18 All this came upon us, though we did not forget You,
nor were we false to Your covenant.
19 Our heart did not turn back,
nor did our steps stray from Your path.
20 Yet You crushed us in a place of jackals,
covered us with the shadow of death.
21 If we had forgotten the Name of our God
or stretched our hands to a foreign god,
22 would God not have discovered it?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
23 But for Your sake we are slain all day.
We are counted as sheep for slaughter.[b]
24 Awake! Why do you sleep, my Lord?
Wake up! Do not cast us off forever.
25 Why do You hide Your face
and forget our misery and oppression?
26 For our soul sinks down to the dust.
Our belly cleaves to the earth.
27 Arise, be our help,
and redeem us
for Your mercy’s sake.
Among the Myrtle Trees
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shevat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Adonai came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying: 8 “In the night I saw, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse was standing among the myrtle trees that were in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel and white horses.[a]
9 Then I asked, ‘What are these, my lord?’
Now the angel speaking with me said to me, ‘I will show you what these are.’
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, ‘These are the ones Adonai has sent to walk back and forth throughout the earth.’
11 They answered the angel of Adonai who stood among the myrtle trees saying, ‘We have walked throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth sits quietly and is still.’
12 Then the angel of Adonai answered and said, ‘Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will You withhold compassion on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah with whom You have been angry for 70 years?’ 13 Adonai answered the angel who was speaking to me with pleasant, comforting words.
14 Then the angel speaking to me said, ‘Cry out saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “I am exceedingly zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion 15 and I am infuriated with the haughty nations. I was a little angry with them, but they furthered their own calamity.”
16 “Therefore,” thus says Adonai, “I will return to Jerusalem with compassion. My House will be built there,” declares Adonai-Tzva’ot “and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.” 17 Again cry out, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “My cities will again overflow with prosperity and Adonai will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.’”[b]
4 John,
To Messiah’s seven communities in Asia:[a]
Grace to you and shalom from Him who is and who was and who is to come, as well as from the seven spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Messiah Yeshua, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood 6 and made us a kingdom, kohanim to His God and Father—to Him be glory and power forever! Amen!
7 “Look, He is coming with the clouds,[b]
and every eye shall see Him,
even those who pierced Him.
And all the tribes of the earth
shall mourn because of Him.[c]
Yes, amen!”
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,”[d] says Adonai Elohim, “Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!”
9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Yeshua, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Yeshua. 10 I was in the Ruach on the Day of the Lord,[e] and I heard behind me a loud voice like that of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write what you see in a scroll,[f] and send it to Messiah’s seven communities—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Vision of the Glorious Son of Man
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden menorot. [g] 13 In the midst of the menorot, I saw One like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe down to His feet, with a golden belt wrapped around His chest. [h] 14 His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. [i] 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace,[j] and His voice was like the roar of rushing waters. [k] 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came forth a sharp, two-edged sword.[l] His face was like the sun shining at full strength.[m]
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.[n] But He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, [o] 18 and the One who lives. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever! Moreover, I hold the keys of death and Sheol. [p] 19 Therefore write down what you have seen, what is, and what will happen after these things. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden menorot—the seven stars are the angels of Messiah’s seven communities, and the seven menorahs are the seven communities.”
43 “Now when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places looking for rest and doesn’t find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back home where I came from.’ And when it comes, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. And that man’s last condition becomes worse than the first. So also will it be for this evil generation.”
Embrace and Refrain
46 While Yeshua was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and brothers were standing outside, trying to speak to Him. 47 Someone said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, trying to speak to You.”[a]
48 But to the one telling Him this, Yeshua responded, “Who is My mother? And who are My brothers?” 49 Stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.