Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 55
For the choir director; on stringed instruments; a maskil by David.
1 Open your ears to my prayer, O Elohim.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me, and answer me.
My thoughts are restless, and I am confused
3 because my enemy shouts at me
and a wicked person persecutes me.
They bring misery crashing down on me,
and they attack me out of anger.
4 My heart is in turmoil.
The terrors of death have seized me.
5 Fear and trembling have overcome me.
Horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “If only I had wings like a dove—
I would fly away and find rest.
7 Indeed, I would run far away.
I would stay in the desert. Selah
8 I would hurry to find shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”
9 Completely confuse their language, O Adonay,
because I see violence and conflict in the city.
10 Day and night they go around on top of the city walls.
Trouble and misery are everywhere.
11 Destruction is everywhere.
Oppression and fraud never leave the streets.[a]
12 If an enemy had insulted me,
then I could bear it.
If someone who hated me had attacked me,
then I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, my equal,
my best friend,
one I knew so well!
14 We used to talk to each other in complete confidence
and walk into Elohim’s house with the festival crowds.
15 Let death suddenly take wicked people!
Let them go into the grave while they are still alive,
because evil lives in their homes as well as in their hearts.
16 But I call on Elohim,
and Yahweh saves me.
17 Morning, noon, and night I complain and groan,
and he listens to my voice.
18 With his peace, he will rescue my soul
from the war waged against me,
because there are many soldiers fighting against me.
19 El will listen.
The one who has sat enthroned from the beginning
will deal with them. Selah
They never change. They never fear Elohim.
20 My best friend has betrayed his friends.
He has broken his solemn promise.
21 His speech is smoother than butter,
but there is war in his heart.
His words are more soothing than oil,
but they are like swords ready to attack.
22 Turn your burdens over to Yahweh,
and he will take care of you.
He will never let the righteous person stumble.
23 But you, O Elohim, will throw wicked people into the deepest pit.
Bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days.
But I will trust you.
Psalm 138
By David.
1 I will give thanks to you with all my heart.
I will make music to praise you in front of the false gods.
2 I will bow toward your holy temple.
I will give thanks to your name because of your mercy and truth.
You have made your name and your promise greater than everything.
3 When I called, you answered me.
You made me bold by strengthening my soul.[a]
4 All the kings of the earth will give thanks to you, O Yahweh,
because they have heard the promises you spoke.
5 They will sing this about the ways of Yahweh:
“Yahweh’s honor is great!”
6 Even though Yahweh is high above, he sees humble people close up,
and he recognizes arrogant people from a distance.
7 Even though I walk into the middle of trouble,
you guard my life against the anger of my enemies.
You stretch out your hand,
and your right hand saves me.
8 Yahweh will do everything for me.
O Yahweh, your mercy endures forever.
Do not let go of what your hands have made.
Psalm 139
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
1 O Yahweh, you have examined me, and you know me.
2 You alone know when I sit down and when I get up.
You read my thoughts from far away.
3 You watch me when I travel and when I rest.
You are familiar with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a single word on my tongue,
you know all about it, Yahweh.
5 You are all around me—in front of me and in back of me.
You lay your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is beyond my grasp.
It is so high I cannot reach it.
7 Where can I go to get away from your Ruach?
Where can I run to get away from you?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in hell, you are there.
9 If I climb upward on the rays of the morning sun
or land on the most distant shore of the sea where the sun sets,
10 even there your hand would guide me
and your right hand would hold on to me.
11 If I say, “Let the darkness hide me
and let the light around me turn into night,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you.
Night is as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You alone created my inner being.
You knitted me together inside my mother.
14 I will give thanks to you
because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made.
Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop.
16 Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book
before one of them had taken place.
17 How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O El!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I try to count them,
there would be more of them than there are grains of sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
19 I wish that you would kill wicked people, O Eloah,
and that bloodthirsty people would leave me alone.
20 They say wicked things about you.
Your enemies misuse your name.
21 Shouldn’t I hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
Shouldn’t I be disgusted with those who attack you?
22 I hate them with all my heart.
They have become my enemies.
23 Examine me, O El, and know my mind.
Test me, and know my thoughts.
18 Take these words of mine to heart and keep them in mind. Write them down, tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. 19 Teach them to your children, and talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 21 Then you and your children will live for a long time in this land that Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors—as long as there’s a sky above the earth.
22 Faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you. Love Yahweh your Elohim, follow all his directions, and be loyal to him. 23 Then Yahweh will force all these people out of your way. Then you will take possession of the land belonging to people taller and stronger than you. 24 I will give you every place on which you set foot. Your borders will be from the desert to Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stop you. As Yahweh your Elohim promised, he will make people terrified of you wherever you go in this land.
Choose the Blessing or the Curse
26 Today I’m giving you the choice of a blessing or a curse. 27 You’ll be blessed if you obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim that I’m giving you today. 28 You’ll be cursed if you disobey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim, if you turn from the way I’m commanding you to live today, and if you worship other gods you never knew.
5 Every chief priest is chosen from humans to represent them in front of God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. 2 The chief priest can be gentle with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, because he also has weaknesses. 3 Because he has weaknesses, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins in the same way that he does for the sins of his people.
4 No one takes this honor for himself. Instead, God calls him as he called Aaron. 5 So Christ did not take the glory of being a chief priest for himself. Instead, the glory was given to him by God, who said,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”
6 In another place in Scripture, God said,
“You are a priest forever,
in the way Melchizedek was a priest.”
7 During his life on earth, Yeshua prayed to God, who could save him from death. He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. 8 Although Yeshua was the Son of God, he learned to be obedient through his sufferings. 9 After he had finished his work, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him. 10 God appointed him chief priest in the way Melchizedek was a priest.
A Samaritan Woman Meets Jesus at a Well
4 Yeshua knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. 2 (Actually, Yeshua was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) 3 So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.
4 Yeshua had to go through Samaria. 5 He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Well was there. Yeshua sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o’clock in the evening.
7 A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 8 (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)
9 The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)
10 Yeshua replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? 12 You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.”
13 Yeshua answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”
15 The woman told Yeshua, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.”
16 Yeshua told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.”
17 The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”
Yeshua told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. 18 You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.”
19 The woman said to Yeshua, “I see that you’re a prophet! 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.”
21 Yeshua told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. 24 God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything.” (Messiah is the one called Christ.)
26 Yeshua told her, “I am he, and I am speaking to you now.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.