Book of Common Prayer
Written About Me in the Scroll
Psalm 40
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 I waited patiently for Adonai.
He bent down to me and heard my cry.
3 He brought me up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
Then He set my feet on a rock.
He made my steps firm.
4 He put a new song in my mouth—
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and trust in Adonai.
5 Blessed is the one
who put his confidence in Adonai,
who has not turned to the arrogant,
nor to those who fall into falsehood.
6 Many things You have done, Adonai my God
—Your plans for us are wonderful—
there is none to be compared to You!
If I were to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to count!
7 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire
—my ears You have opened—
burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
8 Then I said: “Here I am, I have come—
in the scroll of a book it is written about me.
9 I delight to do Your will, O my God.
Yes, Your Torah is within my being.”
10 I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, I am not shutting my lips—
Adonai, You know!
11 I did not hide Your righteousness within my heart.
Rather I declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I did not conceal Your lovingkindness
and Your truth from the great assembly.
12 Adonai, do not withhold Your compassions from me.
Let Your mercy and Your truth always protect me.
13 For evils beyond number surround me,
my sins have overtaken me
—I cannot see—
they are more than the hairs of my head
—and my heart fails me.
14 Adonai, please deliver me!
Adonai, come quickly to help me!
15 Let those who seek my life to sweep it away
be put to shame and humiliated.
Let those who wish me evil
be turned back in disgrace.
16 Let those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled over their own shame.
17 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You.
Let those who love Your salvation
continually say: “Adonai be magnified!”
18 But I—I am poor and needy—
yet my Lord is mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer—
O my God, do not delay!
Surely God is My Helper
Psalm 54
1 For the music director, on stringed instruments, a contemplative song of David, 2 when the Ziphites came and said to Saul: “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
3 O God, save me by Your Name,
vindicate me by Your might.
4 O God, hear my prayer,
listen to the words of my mouth.
5 For strangers have risen up against me.
Violent men seek after my soul.
They do not set God before them. Selah
6 Surely God is my helper.
My Lord is the supporter of my soul.
7 Let evil return to my foes.
Silence them with Your truth!
8 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to You.
I will praise Your name, Adonai, for it is good.
9 For He has delivered me from all trouble,
and my eye has gazed upon my enemies.
Create in Me a Clean Heart
Psalm 51
1 For the music director: a psalm of David, 2 when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he went to Bathsheba.
3 Be gracious to me, O God,
according to Your mercy.
According to Your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
4 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I know my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me.
6 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in Your sight,
so that You are just when You speak,
and blameless when You judge.
7 Behold, I was born in iniquity and in sin
when my mother conceived me.
8 Surely You desire truth in the inner being.
Make me know wisdom inwardly.
9 Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 Let me hear joy and gladness,
so the bones You crushed may rejoice.
11 Hide Your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
12 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
13 Do not cast me from Your presence—
take not Your Ruach ha-Kodesh from me.
14 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
15 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways
and sinners will return to You.
16 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God—
God of my salvation.
Then my tongue will sing for joy of Your righteousness.
17 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare Your praise.
18 For You would not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it,
nor be pleased by burnt offerings.
19 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God,
You will not despise.
20 In Your favor do good to Zion.
Build up the walls of Jerusalem.
21 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Favor with the King
2 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very frightened, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 The king asked me, “What is your request?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it seems good to the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried that I may rebuild it.”
6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” Since it pleased the king to send me, I set a time for him.
7 I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates that will enable me to pass through until I arrive in Judah, 8 as well as a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest so he will give me lumber to make beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the Temple, for the wall of the city and for the residence I will occupy.”
The king granted me the requests because the good hand of my God was upon me.
9 Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and I gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officials and cavalry with me.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite officials heard all this, they were very displeased that a man had come to seek the welfare of Bnei-Yisrael.
Inspecting the Walls
11 I came to Jerusalem, and after I was there for three days, 12 I got up during the night along with a few men. But I did not tell anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me except the animal I was riding. 13 By night I went out by the Valley Gate toward Jackal Spring and the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and returned to the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, but as yet I had not told the Jews, the kohanim, the nobles, the officials or the rest of the workers.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates have been burnt. Come! Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
18 Then I told them how the good hand of my God was on me and the words that the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let us begin building!” So they prepared themselves for this good work.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I responded to them saying, “The God of heaven will bring us success. We His servants will arise and build. But you have no part, right, or historical claim in Jerusalem.”
12 I saw when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as black as sackcloth made
of goat’s hair, and the full moon became like blood. 13 The stars of heaven fell to the earth like a fig tree drops unripe figs when
shaken by a great wind. 14 The heaven ripped apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from their places.
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the military commanders and the rich and the mighty and everyone—slave and free—hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. [a] 16 And they tell the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us[b] from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come,[c] and who is able to stand?”
144,000 Marked with a Seal
7 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth[d] so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,[e] having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were permitted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do no harm to the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”[f]
4 Now I heard the number of those marked with the seal:
144,000 from every tribe of Bnei-Yisrael—
Yeshua Tells More Parables
24 He presented to them another parable, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 Now when the stalk sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 So the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ 28 But he replied, ‘An enemy did this.’ Now the slaves say to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and gather them up?’ 29 But he says, ‘No, for while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds and tie them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.