Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and cried
as we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our lyres on willow trees.
3 It was there that those who had captured us demanded that we sing.
Those who guarded us wanted us to entertain them.
They said, “Sing a song from Zion for us!”
4 How could we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget how to play the lyre.
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I don’t remember you,
if I don’t consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 O Yahweh, remember the people of Edom.
Remember what they did the day Jerusalem was captured.
They said, “Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundation.”
8 You destructive people of Babylon,
blessed is the one who pays you back
with the same treatment you gave us.
9 Blessed is the one who grabs your little children
and smashes them against a rock.
Psalm 144
By David.
1 Thank Yahweh, my Tsur,
who trained my hands to fight
and my fingers to do battle,
2 my merciful one, my Metsuda,
my stronghold, and my savior,
my Magen, the one in whom I take refuge,
and the one who brings people under my authority.
3 O Yahweh, what are humans that you should care about them?
What are mere mortals that you should think about them?
4 Humans are like a breath of air.
Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.
5 O Yahweh, bend your heaven low, and come down.
Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Hurl bolts of lightning, and scatter them.
Shoot your arrows, and throw them into confusion.
7 Stretch out your hands from above.
Snatch me, and rescue me from raging waters
and from foreigners’ hands.
8 Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
9 O Elohim, I will sing a new song to you.
I will sing a psalm to you on a ten-stringed harp.
10 You are the one who gives victory to kings.
You are the one who snatches your servant David
away from a deadly sword.
11 Snatch me, and rescue me from foreigners’ hands.
Their mouths speak lies.
Their right hands take false pledges.
12 May our sons be like full-grown, young plants.
May our daughters be like stately columns
that adorn the corners of a palace.
13 May our barns be filled with all kinds of crops.
May our sheep give birth to thousands of lambs,
tens of thousands in our fields.
14 May our cattle have many calves.[a]
May no one break in, and may no one be dragged out.
May there be no cries of distress in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people who have these blessings!
Blessed are the people whose Elohim is Yahweh!
Psalm 104
1 Praise Yahweh my soul!
O Yahweh my Elohim, you are very great.
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe.
You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains.
3 You lay the beams of your home in the water.
You use the clouds for your chariot.
You move on the wings of the wind.
4 You make your angels winds
and your servants flames of fire.
5 You set the earth on its foundations
so that it can never be shaken.
6 You covered the earth with an ocean as though it were a robe.
Water stood above the mountains
7 and fled because of your threat.
Water ran away at the sound of your thunder.
8 The mountains rose and the valleys sank
to the place you appointed for them.
9 Water cannot cross the boundary you set
and cannot come back to cover the earth.
10 You make water gush from springs into valleys.
It flows between the mountains.
11 Every wild animal drinks from them.
Wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds live by the streams.
They sing among the branches.
13 You water the mountains from your home above.
You fill the earth with the fruits of your labors.
14 You make grass grow for cattle
and make vegetables for humans to use
in order to get food from the ground.
15 You make wine to cheer human hearts,
olive oil to make faces shine,
and bread to strengthen human hearts.
16 Yahweh’s trees, the cedars in Lebanon which he planted,
drink their fill.
17 Birds build their nests in them.
Storks make their homes in fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for wild goats.
The rocks are a refuge for badgers.
19 He created the moon, which marks the seasons,
and the sun, which knows when to set.
20 He brings darkness, and it is nighttime,
when all the wild animals in the forest come out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
22 When the sun rises,
they gather and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go to do their work,
to do their tasks until evening.
24 What a large number of things you have made, O Yahweh!
You made them all by wisdom.
The earth is filled with your creatures.
25 The sea is so big and wide with countless creatures,
living things both large and small.
26 Ships sail on it,
and Leviathan,[a] which you made, plays in it.
27 All of them look to you to give them their food at the right time.
28 You give it to them, and they gather it up.
You open your hand, and they are filled with blessings.
29 You hide your face, and they are terrified.
You take away their breath, and they die and return to dust.
30 You send out your Ruach, and they are created.
You renew the face of the earth.
31 May the glory of Yahweh endure forever.
May Yahweh find joy in what he has made.
32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles.
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to Yahweh throughout my life.
I will make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.
34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him.
I will find joy in Yahweh.
35 May sinners vanish from the world.
May there no longer be any wicked people.
Praise Yahweh, my soul!
Hallelujah!
12 This will be the plague Yahweh will use to strike all the people from the nations that have gone to war against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are standing on their feet. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
13 On that day a large-scale panic from Yahweh will spread among them. One person will grab the hand of another, and one will attack the other. 14 Judah will also fight in Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected, a very large amount of gold, silver, and clothes. 15 A similar plague will also affect horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all other animals in those camps.
16 Everyone who is left from all the nations that attacked Jerusalem will come every year to worship the Melek, Yahweh Tsebaoth, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths. 17 If any of the families on the earth won’t go to Jerusalem to worship the Melek, Yahweh Tsebaoth, then rain won’t fall on them. 18 If the people of Egypt won’t go or enter Jerusalem, then rain won’t fall on them. The plague Yahweh uses to strike the nations will affect those who won’t come to celebrate the Festival of Booths. 19 This will be the punishment for Egypt’s sin and for the sin of all the nations that won’t go to celebrate the Festival of Booths.
20 On that day “Holy to Yahweh” will be written on the bells of the horses. And the cooking pots in the house of Yahweh will be like the bowls in front of the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh Tsebaoth. All who come to sacrifice will take some of them and cook in them. On that day there will no longer be any Canaanite[a] in the house of Yahweh Tsebaoth.
Have the Same Attitude as Christ
2 So then, as Christians, do you have any encouragement? Do you have any comfort from love? Do you have any spiritual relationships? Do you have any sympathy and compassion? 2 Then fill me with joy by having the same attitude and the same love, living in harmony, and keeping one purpose in mind. 3 Don’t act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves. 4 Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others. 5 Have the same attitude that Christ Yeshua had.
6 Although he was in the form of God and equal with God,
he did not take advantage of this equality.
7 Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant,
by becoming like other humans,
by having a human appearance.
8 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
death on a cross.
9 This is why God has given him an exceptional honor—
the name honored above all other names—
10 so that at the name of Yeshua everyone in heaven, on earth,
and in the world below will kneel
11 and confess that Yeshua Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
41 When he came closer and saw the city, he began to cry. 42 He said, “If you had only known today what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden, so you cannot see it. 43 The time will come when enemy armies will build a wall to surround you and close you in on every side. 44 They will level you to the ground and kill your people. One stone will not be left on top of another, because you didn’t recognize the time when God came to help you.”
Jesus Throws Out the Moneychangers(A)
45 Yeshua went into the temple courtyard and began to throw out those who were selling things there. 46 He said to them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.”
47 Yeshua taught in the temple courtyard every day. The chief priests, the experts in Moses’ Teachings, and the leaders of the people looked for a way to kill him. 48 But they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were eager to hear him.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.