Book of Common Prayer
37 (0) By David:
(1) Don’t be upset by evildoers
or envious of those who do wrong,
2 for soon they will wither like grass
and fade like the green in the fields.
3 Trust in Adonai, and do good;
settle in the land, and feed on faithfulness.
4 Then you will delight yourself in Adonai,
and he will give you your heart’s desire.
5 Commit your way to Adonai;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will make your vindication shine forth like light,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before Adonai;
wait patiently till he comes.
Don’t be upset by those whose way
succeeds because of their wicked plans.
8 Stop being angry, put aside rage,
and don’t be upset — it leads to evil.
9 For evildoers will be cut off,
but those hoping in Adonai will inherit the land.
10 Soon the wicked will be no more;
you will look for his place, and he won’t be there.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
12 The wicked plots against the righteous
and grinds his teeth at him;
13 but Adonai laughs at the wicked,
knowing his day will come.
14 The wicked have unsheathed their swords,
they have strung their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slaughter those whose way is upright.
15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16 Better the little that the righteous has
than the wealth of all the wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken,
but Adonai upholds the righteous.
18 Adonai knows what the wholehearted suffer,
but their inheritance lasts forever.
19 They will not be distressed when times are hard;
when famine comes, they will have plenty.
20 For the wicked will perish;
Adonai’s enemies will be like sheep fat,
ending up as smoke, finished.
21 The wicked borrows and doesn’t repay,
but the righteous is generous and gives.
22 For those blessed by [Adonai] will inherit the land,
but those cursed by him will be cut off.
23 Adonai directs a person’s steps,
and he delights in his way.
24 He may stumble, but he won’t fall headlong,
for Adonai holds him by the hand.
25 I have been young; now I am old;
yet not once have I seen the righteous abandoned
or his descendants begging for bread.
26 All day long he is generous and lends,
and his descendants are blessed.
27 If you turn from evil and do good,
you will live safely forever.
28 For Adonai loves justice
and will not abandon his faithful;
they are preserved forever.
But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.
29 The righteous will inherit the land
and live in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous articulates wisdom,
his tongue speaks justice.
31 The Torah of his God is in his heart;
his footsteps do not falter.
32 The wicked keeps his eye on the righteous,
seeking a chance to kill him.
33 But Adonai will not leave him in his power
or let him be condemned when judged.
34 Put your hope in Adonai, keep to his way,
and he will raise you up to inherit the land.
When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked man wielding great power,
flourishing like a shade tree in its native soil.
36 But I passed by again, and he was no longer there;
I looked for him, but he could not be found.
37 Observe the pure person, consider the upright;
for the peaceful person will have posterity.
38 But transgressors will all be destroyed;
the posterity of the wicked will be cut off.
39 Adonai is the one who saves the righteous;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 Adonai helps them and rescues them,
rescues them from the wicked and saves them;
because they take refuge in him.
13 Dani’el was brought into the king’s presence. The king said to Dani’el, “Are you Dani’el, one of the exiles from Y’hudah whom the king my father brought out of Y’hudah? 14 I’ve heard about you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that you have been found to have light, discernment and extraordinary wisdom. 15 Now the sages, the exorcists, were brought in to me so that they could read this inscription and tell me what it means, but they couldn’t interpret it for me. 16 However, I’ve heard that you can give interpretations and solve knotty problems. Now if you can read the inscription and tell me what it means, you will be dressed in royal purple, wear a gold chain around your neck and be one of the three men ruling the kingdom.”
17 Dani’el answered the king, “Keep your gifts, and give your rewards to someone else. However, I will read the inscription to the king and tell him what it means. 18 Your majesty, the Most High God gave N’vukhadnetzar your father the kingdom, as well as greatness, glory and majesty. 19 Because of the greatness he gave him, all the peoples, nations and languages trembled with fear before him. Anyone he wanted to, he put to death; anyone he wanted to, he kept alive; anyone he wanted to, he advanced; and anyone he wanted to, he humbled. 20 But when he grew proud and his spirit became hard, he began treating people arrogantly, so he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken away from him. 21 He was driven from human society, his heart was made like that of an animal, he lived with the wild donkeys, he was fed with grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with dew from the sky; until he learned that the Most High God rules in the human kingdom and sets up over it whomever he pleases. 22 But, Belshatzar, you, his son, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. 23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven by having them bring you the vessels from his house; and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them; then you offered praise to your gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone, which can’t see, hear or know anything. Meanwhile, God, who holds your very breath in his hands, and to whom belongs everything you do, you have not glorified. 24 This is why he sent the hand to write this inscription; 25 and the inscription says, ‘M’ne! M’ne! T’kel ufarsin.’ [a] 26 This is what it means: ‘M’ne!’ — God has counted up your kingdom and brought it to an end. 27 ‘T’kel’ — you are weighed on the balance-scale and come up short. 28 ‘P’res’ — your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
29 Then Belshatzar gave the order; and they clothed Dani’el in royal purple, put a gold chain around his neck and proclaimed of him that he was to be one of the three men ruling the kingdom.
30 That very night Belshatzar, the king of the Kasdim, was killed.
13 I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God.
14 This is the confidence we have in his presence: if we ask anything that accords with his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — then we know that we have what we have asked from him.
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask; and God will give him life for those whose sinning does not lead to death. There is sin that does lead to death; I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that everyone who has God as his Father does not go on sinning; on the contrary, the Son born of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment, so that we may know who is genuine; moreover, we are united with the One who is genuine, united with his Son Yeshua the Messiah. He is the genuine God and eternal life.
21 Children, guard yourselves against false gods!
5 One day, as Yeshua was standing on the shore of Lake Kinneret, with the people pressing in around him in order to hear the word of God, 2 he noticed two boats pulled up on the beach, left there by the fishermen, who were cleaning their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Shim‘on, and asked him to put out a little way from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Shim‘on, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Shim‘on answered, “We’ve worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and haven’t caught a thing! But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” 6 They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear. 7 So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both boats to the point of sinking. 8 When he saw this, Shim‘on Kefa fell at Yeshua’s knees and said, “Get away from me, sir, because I’m a sinner!” 9 For astonishment had seized him and everyone with him at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and likewise both Ya‘akov and Yochanan, Shim‘on’s partners. “Don’t be frightened,” Yeshua said to Shim‘on, “from now on you will be catching men — alive!” 11 And as soon as they had beached their boats, they left everything behind and followed him.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.