Book of Common Prayer
69 (0) For the leader. Set to “Lilies.” By David:
2 (1) Save me, God!
For the water threatens my life.
3 (2) I am sinking down in the mud,
and there is no foothold;
I have come into deep water;
the flood is sweeping over me.
4 (3) I am exhausted from crying,
my throat is dry and sore,
my eyes are worn out
with looking for my God.
5 (4) Those who hate me for no reason
outnumber the hairs on my head.
My persecutors are powerful,
my enemies accuse me falsely.
Am I expected to return
things I didn’t steal?
6 (5) God, you know how foolish I am;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
7 (6) Let those who put their hope in you,
Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot,
not be put to shame through me;
let those who are seeking you,
God of Isra’el,
not be disgraced through me.
8 (7) For your sake I suffer insults,
shame covers my face.
9 (8) I am estranged from my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s children,
10 (9) because zeal for your house is eating me up,
and on me are falling the insults
of those insulting you.
11 (10) I weep bitterly, and I fast,
but that too occasions insults.
12 (11) I clothe myself with sackcloth
and become an object of scorn,
13 (12) the gossip of those sitting by the town gate,
the theme of drunkards’ songs.
14 (13) As for me, Adonai, let my prayer to you
come at an acceptable time;
In your great grace, God, answer me
with the truth of your salvation.
15 (14) Rescue me from the mud!
Don’t let me sink!
Let me be rescued from those who hate me
and from the deep water.
16 (15) Don’t let the floodwaters overwhelm me,
don’t let the deep swallow me up,
don’t let the pit close its mouth over me.
17 (16) Answer me, Adonai, for your grace is good;
in your great mercy, turn to me.
18 (17) Don’t hide your face from your servant,
for I am in trouble; answer me quickly.
19 (18) Come near to me, and redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies.
20 (19) You know how I am insulted,
shamed and disgraced;
before you stand all my foes.
21 (20) Insults have broken my heart
to the point that I could die.
I hoped that someone would show compassion,
but nobody did;
and that there would be comforters,
but I found none.
22 (21) They put poison in my food;
in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
23 (22) Let their dining table
before them become a snare;
when they are at peace,
let it become a trap;
24 (23) let their eyes be darkened,
so that they can’t see,
and let their bodies
always be stumbling.
25 (24) Pour out your fury on them,
let your fierce anger overtake them.
26 (25) Let the place where they live be desolate,
with no one to live in their tents,
27 (26) for persecuting someone you had already stricken,
for adding to the pain of those you wounded.
28 (27) Add guilt to their guilt,
don’t let them enter your righteousness.
29 (28) Erase them from the book of life,
let them not be written with the righteous.
30 (29) Meanwhile, I am afflicted and hurting;
God, let your saving power raise me up.
31 (30) I will praise God’s name with a song
and extol him with thanksgiving.
32 (31) This will please Adonai more than a bull,
with its horns and hoofs.
33 (32) The afflicted will see it and rejoice;
you seeking after God, let your heart revive.
34 (33) For Adonai pays attention to the needy
and doesn’t scorn his captive people.
35 (34) Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them.
36 (35) For God will save Tziyon,
he will build the cities of Y’hudah.
[His people] will settle there and possess it.
37 (36) The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will live there.
Book III: Psalms 73–89
73 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) How good God is to Isra’el,
to those who are pure in heart!
2 But as for me, I lost my balance,
my feet nearly slipped,
3 when I grew envious of the arrogant
and saw how the wicked prosper.
4 For when their death comes, it is painless;
and meanwhile, their bodies are healthy;
5 they don’t have ordinary people’s troubles,
they aren’t plagued like others.
6 So for them, pride is a necklace;
and violence clothes them like a robe.
7 Their eyes peep out through folds of fat;
evil thoughts overflow from their hearts.
8 They scoff and speak with malice,
they loftily utter threats.
9 They set their mouths against heaven;
their tongues swagger through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here
and [thoughtlessly] suck up that whole cup of water.
11 Then they ask, “How does God know?
Does the Most High really have knowledge?”
12 Yes, this is what the wicked are like;
those free of misfortune keep increasing their wealth.
13 It’s all for nothing that I’ve kept my heart clean
and washed my hands, staying free of guilt;
14 for all day long I am plagued;
my punishment comes every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will talk like them,”
I would have betrayed a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
I found it too hard for me —
17 until I went into the sanctuaries of God
and grasped what their destiny would be.
18 Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope
and make them fall to their ruin.
19 How suddenly they are destroyed,
swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakens;
Adonai, when you rouse yourself,
you will despise their phantoms.
21 When I had a sour attitude
and felt stung by pained emotions,
22 I was too stupid to understand;
I was like a brute beast with you.
23 Nevertheless, I am always with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice;
and afterwards, you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?
And with you, I lack nothing on earth.
26 My mind and body may fail; but God
is the rock for my mind and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who adulterously leave you.
28 But for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made Adonai Elohim my refuge,
so that I can tell of all your works.
27 Blessed be Adonai, the God of our ancestors, who has put such a thing as this in the heart of the king, to restore the beauty of the house of Adonai in Yerushalayim, 28 and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s most powerful officials.
So I took courage, since the hand of Adonai my God was on me, and I gathered together out of Isra’el key men to go up with me.
21 Then, there at the Ahava River, I proclaimed a fast; so that we could humble ourselves before our God and ask a safe journey of him for ourselves, our little ones and all our possessions. 22 For I would have been ashamed to ask the king for a detachment of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies along the road, since we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is on all who seek him, for good; but his power and fury is against all who abandon him.” 23 So we fasted and asked our God for this, and he answered our prayer.
24 Then I separated twelve of the chief cohanim, along with Sherevyah, Hashavyah and ten of their kinsmen. 25 I weighed out to them the silver, the gold and the utensils for the house of our God contributed by the king, his counselors, his princes and all Isra’el present there. 26 I weighed out and handed over to them twenty-one-and-a-half tons of silver, three-and-a-third tons of silver articles, three-and-a-third tons of gold, 27 twenty gold bowls weighing twenty-one pounds, and two vessels of fine burnished bronze as precious as gold. 28 Then I told them, “You are consecrated to Adonai, the articles are holy, and the silver and gold are a voluntary offering for Adonai the God of your ancestors. 29 Guard them carefully, until you weigh them before the chief cohanim and L’vi’im and the leaders of the fathers’ clans in Yerushalayim, in the rooms of the house of Adonai.” 30 So the cohanim and L’vi’im received the consignment of silver and gold and the articles to bring to Yerushalayim, to the house of our God.
31 On the twelfth day of the first month, we left the Ahava River to go to Yerushalayim. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and surprise attacks along the road. 32 In time, we arrived at Yerushalayim, where we rested for three days. 33 On the fourth day, the silver, gold and articles were weighed in the house of our God and handed over to M’remot the son of Uriyah the cohen; with him was El‘azar the son of Pinchas; and with them were Yozavad the son of Yeshua and No‘adyah the son of Binui, who were L’vi’im. 34 The entire consignment was numbered and weighed, and at the same time the total weight was recorded.
35 The exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Isra’el — twelve young bulls for all Isra’el, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering; all this was a burnt offering for Adonai.
36 They also delivered the king’s orders to the king’s viceroys and governors beyond the [Euphrates] River; and these gave their support to the people and to the house of God.
15 Then I saw another sign in heaven, a great and wonderful one — seven angels with the seven plagues that are the final ones; because with them, God’s fury is finished. 2 I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those defeating the beast, its image and the number of its name were standing by the sea of glass, holding harps which God had given them. 3 They were singing the song of Moshe, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and wonderful are the things you have done,
Adonai, God of heaven’s armies![a]
Just and true are your ways,
king of the nations!
4 Adonai, who will not fear and glorify your name?
because you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you,
for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary (that is, the Tent of Witness in heaven) was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean bright linen and had gold belts around their chests. 7 One of the four living beings gave to the seven angels seven gold bowls filled with the fury of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 Then the sanctuary was filled with smoke from God’s Sh’khinah, that is, from his power; and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels had accomplished their purpose.
13 On hearing about this, Yeshua left in a boat to be by himself in the wilderness. But the people learned of it and followed him from the towns by land. 14 So when he came ashore, he saw a huge crowd; and, filled with compassion for them, he healed those of them who were sick.
15 As evening approached, the talmidim came to him and said, “This is a remote place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the villages.” 16 But Yeshua replied, “They don’t need to go away. Give them something to eat, yourselves!” 17 “All we have with us,” they said, “is five loaves of bread and two fish.” 18 He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 After instructing the crowds to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate as much as they wanted, and they took up twelve baskets full of the pieces left over. 21 Those eating numbered about five thousand men, plus women and children.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.