Book of Common Prayer
Learn Torah Letter by Letter
Psalm 119
ALEPH א
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the Torah of Adonai.
2 Happy are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with a whole heart,
3 who also do no injustice, but walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded that Your precepts
be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways were steadfast
to observe Your decrees!
6 Then I would not be ashamed,
when I consider all Your mitzvot.
7 I will praise You with an upright heart
as I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 I will observe Your statutes.
Never abandon me utterly!
BET ב
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought You
—let me not stray from Your mitzvot.
11 I have treasured Your word in my heart,
so I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, Adonai.
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I rehearse
all the rulings of Your mouth.
14 I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies
above all wealth.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
and regard Your ways.
16 I will delight in Your decrees.
I will never forget Your word.
GIMEL ג
17 Do good to Your servant
that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, so I may behold
wonders from Your Torah.
19 I am a temporary dweller on earth—
do not hide Your mitzvot from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,
who wander from Your mitzvot.
22 Take scorn and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your decrees.
24 For Your testimonies are my delight—
they are also my counselors.
Silence the Flattering Lips
Psalm 12
1 For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
2 Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
3 Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
4 May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
5 They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”
6 “Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
7 The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
purified seven times.
8 You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
9 The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.
Trust in His Chesed
Psalm 13
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 How long, Adonai? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
3 How long must I have cares in my soul
and daily sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
4 Look at me and answer, Adonai my God.
Light up my eyes, or I will sleep in death.
5 Or else my enemy will say: “I have overcome him!”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
6 But I trust in Your lovingkindness,
my heart rejoices in Your salvation.
I will sing to Adonai,
because He has been good to me.
There Is No God?
Psalm 14
1 For the music director, of David.
The fool said in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt; their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.[a]
2 Adonai looked down from heaven on the children of men,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They all turned aside, became corrupt.
There is no one who does good
—not even one.
4 “Will evildoers never understand—
those who consume My people as they eat bread—
and never call on Adonai?”
5 There they are, in great dread.
For God is with the righteous generation.
6 You would frustrate the plan of the lowly.
Surely Adonai is his refuge!
7 O may He give Israel’s salvation out of Zion!
When Adonai restores His captive people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad!
Economic Entanglements
6 My son, if you have become a cosigner for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge with a stranger,
2 if you are trapped by your own words,
ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and free yourself,
since you fell into your neighbor’s hand:
Go, humble yourself, plead with your neighbor!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Escape like a gazelle from the hunter’s hand,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Laziness and Perversity
6 Go to the ant, you slacker—
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler.
8 Yet it prepares its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 and your poverty comes like a bandit
and your need like an armed man.
12 A scoundrel, a wicked man,
is one who goes around with a perverse mouth,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet, pointing his fingers,
14 who continually plots evil
with deceit in his heart stirring up strife.
15 Therefore his disaster will come suddenly
—in an instant he will be broken, with no remedy.
16 Six things Adonai hates,
yes, seven are abominations to Him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet that run to evil,
19 a false witness who spouts lies,
and one who stirs up strife among brothers.
5 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the one born of Him.
Love God—Live God’s Word
2 We know that we love God’s children by this—when we love God and obey His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God—that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And the victory that has overcome the world is this—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim?
Believe God’s Own Testimony of Yeshua
6 Messiah Yeshua is the One who came by water and blood—not by water only, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify— 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one. [a] 9 If we accept men’s testimony, God’s testimony is greater—for this it is the testimony that God has given about His Son. 10 The one who trusts in Ben-Elohim has the testimony in himself; the one who does not trust in God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. 11 And the testimony is this—that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have Ben-Elohim does not have life.
16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call to one other, saying,
17 ‘We played the flute for you,
but you did not dance.
We wailed,
but you did not mourn.’
18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”[a]
20 Then Yeshua began to denounce the towns where most of His miracles had happened, because they did not turn from their sins. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,[b] they would have turned long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will go down to Sheol! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I tell you that it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.