Book of Common Prayer
Adonai lives! Blessed Be My Rock
Psalm 18
1 For the music director: a psalm of David the servant of Adonai. He chanted the words of this song to Adonai on the day Adonai delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
2 He said, I love You, Adonai my strength!
3 Adonai is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.
My God is my rock, in Him I take refuge,
my shield, my horn of salvation, my stronghold.
4 I called upon Adonai, worthy of praise,
and I was rescued from my enemies.
5 Cords of death entangled me.
Torrents of Belial overwhelmed me.
6 Cords of Sheol coiled around me.
Snares of death came before me.
7 In my distress I called on Adonai,
and cried to my God for help.
From His Temple He heard my voice,
my cry before Him came into His ears.
8 Then the earth rocked and quaked.
The foundations of mountains trembled.
They reeled because He was angry.
9 Smoke rose from His nostrils
and consuming fire from His mouth.
Coals blazed from Him.
10 He parted the heavens and came down,
with thick darkness under His feet.
11 He rode upon a cheruv and flew.
He soared on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness His cover,
His sukkah all around Him—
dark waters, thick clouds.
13 Out of the brilliance before Him
passed His thick clouds, hail and fiery coals.
14 Adonai also thundered in the heavens,
and Elyon gave forth His voice, hail and fiery coals.
15 He shot His arrows and scattered them,
hurled lightning bolts and routed them.
16 Then ravines of water appeared.
The foundations of earth were exposed,
at Your rebuke, Adonai,
at a blast of breath from Your nostrils.
17 He reached down from on high
and took hold of me.
He drew me out of mighty waters.
18 He saved me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hated me—
for they were much stronger than me.
19 They came against me in my day of calamity,
but Adonai was my support.
20 He brought me out to a wide-open place.
He rescued me since He delighted in me.
21 Adonai rewarded me for my righteousness.
For the cleanness of my hands He repaid me.
22 For I kept the ways of Adonai,
and did not turn wickedly from my God.
23 For all His judgments are before me.
I do not put His rulings away from me.
24 I also had integrity with Him,
and kept myself from my sin.
25 So Adonai rewarded me for my righteousness,
for the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.
26 With the loyal You deal loyally.
With the blameless You are blameless.
27 With the pure You are pure,
and with the crooked You are shrewd.
28 For You save lowly people,
but haughty eyes You humble.
29 For You light up my lamp.
Adonai my God shines in my darkness.
30 For with You I rush on a troop,
with my God I scale a wall.
31 As for God, His way is perfect.
The word of Adonai is pure.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
32 For who is God, except Adonai?
And who is a Rock, except our God?
33 God girds me with strength
and makes my way straight.
34 He makes my feet like those of deer
and makes me stand on my heights.
35 He trains my hands for battle,
so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
36 You gave me the shield of Your salvation.
Your right hand upholds me,
Your gentleness makes me great.
37 You broaden my steps beneath me,
so my ankles have not slipped.
38 I pursue my enemies and overtake them,
and will not return till they are wiped out.
39 I will crush them till they cannot rise,
till they fall beneath my feet.
40 For You girded me with strength for battle.
You made those who rose up against me bow down before me.
41 You also made my enemies turn their backs to me.
I cut off those who hate me.
42 They cry out, but there is none to save
—even to Adonai, but He did not answer them.
43 Then I beat them as fine as dust before the wind.
I pour them out like mud in the streets.
44 You free me from strifes of the people.
You set me as head of the nations—
people I did not know are serving me.
45 As soon as they hear, they obey me.
Children of foreigners cringe before me.
46 Children of foreigners lose heart
and come trembling from their hideouts.
47 Adonai lives! And blessed be my Rock!
Exalted be God my salvation!
48 God—He gives me vengeance
and subdues peoples under me.
49 He delivers me from my enemies.
Indeed You lift me up above those who rise up against me.
You deliver me from the violent man.
50 Therefore I praise You among the nations,
Adonai, and sing praises to Your Name.[a]
51 Great victories He gives to His king.
He shows loyal love to His anointed—
to David and his seed, forever.
10 Then, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of Bnei-Yisrael, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of Adonai appeared in the cloud. 11 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 12 “I have heard the complaining of Bnei-Yisrael. Speak to them saying, ‘At dusk you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Adonai your God.’”
13 So when evening fell, quails came up and covered the camp. Moreover, in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew was gone, on the surface of the desert was a thin, flake-like frost, as fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When Bnei-Yisrael saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?”[a] For they did not know what it was. Then Moses said to them, “It is the bread that Adonai has given you to eat. 16 This is the word that Adonai has commanded. Every man is to gather according to his needs, an omer[b] per person, according to the number of people per household. Each man is to take it for those who are in his tent.”
17 Bnei-Yisrael did so, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, those who gathered more had nothing left over, and those that gathered less did not lack at all. Every man gathered according to his appetite.
19 Also Moses said to them, “Let no one save any of it until the morning.”
20 However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them preserved it until the morning—but it bred worms and rotted. So Moses was angry with them.
21 So they gathered it morning by morning, each man according to his needs, and as the sun became hot it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each individual. So all the leaders of the community came and informed Moses.
11 Loved ones, I urge you as strangers and sojourners to keep away from the fleshly cravings that war against the soul. 12 Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. Then while they speak against you as evildoers, they may—from noticing your good deeds—glorify God in the day of visitation.
Respect and Order
13 For the Lord’s sake, submit yourselves to every human authority—whether to a king as supreme, 14 or to governors sent by him for the punishment of those who do evil and the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is God’s will, that you silence the ignorance of foolish men by doing good. 16 Live as free people, but not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Rather, live as God’s slaves. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18 Slaves, with all respect submit yourselves to your masters—not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For this finds favor if, for the sake of conscience toward God, someone endures grief from suffering undeservedly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and get a beating, you endure? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this finds favor with God. 21 For you were called to this, because Messiah also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps:
22 “He committed no sin,
nor was any deceit found in His mouth.”[a]
23 When He was abused, He did not return the abuse.[b] While suffering, He made no threats. Instead, He kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously. 24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we, removed from sins, might live for righteousness. “By His wounds you were healed.”[c]
25 For you like sheep were going astray,[d]
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. [a] 13 No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 “I am no longer calling you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. Now I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I selected you so that you would go and produce fruit, and your fruit would remain. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.
17 “These things I command you, so that you may love one another.”
The World Hates God’s Own
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hates you.
20 “Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 “But all these things they will do to you for the sake of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 “He who hates Me also hates My Father. 24 If I had not done works among them that no one else did, they would have no sin. But now they have seen and have hated both Me and My Father. 25 So is fulfilled the word written in their Scripture,[c] ‘They hated Me for no reason.’[d]
26 “When the Helper comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me. 27 And you also testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.