Book of Common Prayer
א (Alef)
119 How happy are those whose way of life is blameless,
who live by the Torah of Adonai!
2 How happy are those who observe his instruction,
who seek him wholeheartedly!
3 They do nothing wrong
but live by his ways.
4 You laid down your precepts
for us to observe with care.
5 May my ways be steady
in observing your laws.
6 Then I will not be put to shame,
since I will have fixed my sight on all your mitzvot.
7 I thank you with a sincere heart
as I learn your righteous rulings.
8 I will observe your laws;
don’t completely abandon me!
ב (Bet)
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
don’t let me stray from your mitzvot.
11 I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, Adonai!
Teach me your laws.
13 I proclaim with my mouth
all the rulings you have spoken.
14 I rejoice in the way of your instruction
more than in any kind of wealth.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and keep my eyes on your ways.
16 I will find my delight in your regulations.
I will not forget your word.
ג (Gimel)
17 Deal generously with your servant;
then I will live and observe your word.
18 Open my eyes, so that I will see
wonders from your Torah.
19 Though I’m just a wanderer on the earth,
don’t hide your mitzvot from me.
20 I am continually consumed
with longing for your rulings.
21 You rebuke the proud, the cursed,
who stray from your mitzvot.
22 Remove scorn and contempt from me,
because I observe your instruction.
23 Even when princes sit and plot against me,
your servant meditates on your laws.
24 Also your instructions are my delight;
they are my counselors.
12 (0) For the leader. On sh’minit [low-pitched musical instruments?]. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Help, Adonai! For no one godly is left;
the faithful have vanished from humankind.
3 (2) They all tell lies to each other,
flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts.
4 (3) May Adonai cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks so proudly,
5 (4) those who say, “By our tongues, we will prevail;
our lips are with us. Who can master us?”
6 (5) “Because the poor are oppressed,
because the needy are groaning,
I will now rise up,” says Adonai,
“and grant security to those whom they scorn.”
7 (6) The words of Adonai are pure words,
silver in a melting-pot set in the earth,
refined and purified seven times over.
8 (7) You, Adonai, protect us;
guard us forever from this generation —
9 (8) the wicked strut about everywhere
when vileness is held in general esteem.
13 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) How long, Adonai?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
3 (2) How long must I keep asking myself what to do,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long must my enemy dominate me?
4 (3) Look, and answer me, Adonai my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
5 (4) Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”;
and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.
6 (5) But I trust in your grace,
my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
(6) I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me
even more than I need.
14 (0) For the leader. By David:
(1) Fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They deal corruptly, their deeds are vile,
not one does what is right.
2 From heaven Adonai observes humankind
to see if anyone has understanding,
if anyone seeks God.
3 But all turn aside, all alike are corrupt;
no one does what is right,
not a single one.
4 Don’t they ever learn,
all those evildoers,
who eat up my people as if eating bread
and never call on Adonai?
5 There they are, utterly terrified;
for God is with those who are righteous.
6 You may mock the plans of the poor,
but their refuge is Adonai.
7 How I wish Isra’el’s salvation
would come out of Tziyon!
When Adonai restores his people’s fortunes,
Ya‘akov will rejoice, Isra’el will be glad!
22 Moshe led Isra’el onward from the Sea of Suf. They went out into the Shur Desert; but after traveling three days in the desert, they had found no water. 23 They arrived at Marah but couldn’t drink the water there, because it was bitter. This is why they called it Marah [bitterness]. 24 The people grumbled against Moshe and asked, “What are we to drink?” 25 Moshe cried to Adonai; and Adonai showed him a certain piece of wood, which, when he threw it into the water, made the water taste good. There Adonai made laws and rules of life for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you will listen intently to the voice of Adonai your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvot and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians; because I am Adonai your healer.”
(A: v, S: iv) 27 They came to Eilim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and camped there by the water.
16 They traveled on from Eilim, and the whole community of the people of Isra’el arrived at the Seen Desert, between Eilim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving the land of Egypt. 2 There in the desert the whole community of the people of Isra’el grumbled against Moshe and Aharon. 3 The people of Isra’el said to them, “We wish Adonai had used his own hand to kill us off in Egypt! There we used to sit around the pots with the meat boiling, and we had as much food as we wanted. But you have taken us out into this desert to let this whole assembly starve to death!”
4 Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, it will turn out to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 6 Moshe and Aharon said to all the people of Isra’el, “This evening, you will realize that it has been Adonai who brought you out of Egypt; 7 and in the morning, you will see Adonai’s glory. For he has listened to your grumblings against Adonai — what are we that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moshe added, “What I have said will happen when Adonai gives you meat to eat this evening and your fill of bread tomorrow morning. Adonai has listened to your complaints and grumblings against him — what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against Adonai.”
9 Moshe said to Aharon, “Say to the whole community of Isra’el, ‘Come close, into the presence of Adonai, for he has heard your grumblings.’” 10 As Aharon spoke to the whole community of the people of Isra’el, they looked toward the desert; and there before them the glory of Adonai appeared in the cloud;
2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, of all deceit, hypocrisy and envy, and of all the ways there are of speaking against people; 2 and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. 3 For you have tasted that Adonai is good.[a]
4 As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. 6 This is why the Tanakh says,
“Look! I am laying in Tziyon a stone,
a chosen and precious cornerstone;
and whoever rests his trust on it
will certainly not be humiliated.”[b]
7 Now to you who keep trusting, he is precious. But to those who are not trusting,
“The very stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone”;[c]
8 also he is
a stone that will make people stumble,
a rock over which they will trip.[d]
They are stumbling at the Word, disobeying it — as had been planned. 9 But you are a chosen people,[e] the King’s cohanim,[f] a holy nation,[g] a people for God to possess![h] Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.[i]
15 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. 3 Right now, because of the word which I have spoken to you, you are pruned. 4 Stay united with me, as I will with you — for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me.
5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
7 “If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.
9 “Just as my Father has loved me, I too have loved you; so stay in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. 11 I have said this to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.