Book of Common Prayer
18 (0) For the leader. By David the servant of Adonai, who addressed the words of this song to Adonai on the day when Adonai delivered him from the power of all his enemies, including from the power of Sha’ul. 2 He said:
(1) “I love you, Adonai, my strength!
3 (2) “Adonai is my Rock, my fortress and deliverer,
my God, my Rock, in whom I find shelter,
my shield, the power that saves me,
my stronghold.
4 (3) I call on Adonai, who is worthy of praise;
and I am saved from my enemies.
5 (4) “For the cords of death surrounded me,
the floods of B’liya‘al terrified me,
6 (5) the ropes of Sh’ol were wrapped around me,
the snares of death lay there before me.
7 (6) In my distress I called to Adonai;
I cried out to my God.
Out of his temple he heard my voice;
my cry reached his ears.
8 (7) “Then the earth quaked and shook,
the foundations of the mountains trembled.
They were shaken because he was angry.
9 (8) Smoke arose in his nostrils;
out of his mouth came devouring fire;
sparks blazed forth from him.
10 (9) He lowered heaven and came down
with thick darkness under his feet.
11 (10) He rode on a keruv; he flew,
swooping down on the wings of the wind.
12 (11) He made darkness his hiding-place,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
13 (12) From the brightness before him,
there broke through his thick clouds
hailstones and fiery coals.
14 (13) “Adonai also thundered in heaven,
Ha‘Elyon sounded his voice —
hailstones and fiery coals.
15 (14) He sent out arrows and scattered them,
shot out lightning and routed them.
16 (15) The channels of water appeared,
the foundations of the world were exposed
at your rebuke, Adonai,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
17 (16) “He sent from on high, he took me
and pulled me out of deep water;
18 (17) he rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hated me,
for they were stronger than I.
19 (18) They came against me on my day of disaster,
but Adonai was my support.
20 (19) He brought me out to an open place;
he rescued me, because he took pleasure in me.
21 (20) Adonai rewarded me for my uprightness,
he repaid me because my hands were clean.
22 (21) “For I have kept the ways of Adonai,
I have not done evil by leaving my God;
23 (22) for all his rulings were before me,
I did not distance his regulations from me.
24 (23) I was pure-hearted with him
and kept myself from my sin.
25 (24) “Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness,
according to the purity of my hands in his view.
26 (25) With the merciful, you are merciful;
with a man who is sincere, you are sincere;
27 (26) with the pure, you are pure;
but with the crooked you are cunning.
28 (27) People afflicted, you save;
but haughty eyes, you humble.
29 (28) “For you, Adonai, light my lamp;
Adonai, my God, lights up my darkness.
30 (29) With you I can run through a whole troop of men,
with my God I can leap a wall.
31 (30) “As for God, his way is perfect,
the word of Adonai has been tested by fire;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
32 (31) “For who is God but Adonai?
Who is a Rock but our God?
33 (32) “It is God who girds me with strength;
he makes my way go straight.
34 (33) He makes me swift, sure-footed as a deer,
and enables me to stand on my high places.
35 (34) He trains my hands for war
until my arms can bend a bow of bronze;
36 (35) “You give me your shield, which is salvation,
your right hand holds me up,
your humility makes me great.
37 (36) You lengthen the steps I can take,
yet my ankles do not turn.
38 (37) “I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
without turning back until they were destroyed.
39 (38) I crushed them, so that they can’t get up;
they have fallen under my feet.
40 (39) “For you braced me with strength for the battle
and bent down my adversaries beneath me.
41 (40) You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed those who hated me.
42 (41) “They cried out, but there was no one to help,
even to Adonai, but he didn’t answer.
43 (42) I pulverized them like dust in the wind,
threw them out like mud in the streets.
44 (43) “You also freed me from the quarrels of my people.
You made me head of the nations;
a people I did not know now serve me —
45 (44) the moment they hear of me, they obey me,
foreigners come cringing to me.
46 (45) Foreigners lose heart
as they come trembling from their fortresses.
47 (46) “Adonai is alive! Blessed is my Rock!
Exalted be the God of my salvation,
48 (47) the God who avenges me
and subdues peoples under me.
49 (48) He delivers me from my enemies.
You lift me high above my enemies,
you rescue me from violent men.
50 (49) “So I give thanks to you, Adonai, among the nations;
I sing praises to your name.
51 (50) Great salvation he gives to his king;
he displays grace to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.”
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; (A: vi, S: v) 11 and Adonai said to Moshe, 12 “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Isra’el. Say to them: ‘At dusk you will be eating meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will realize that I am Adonai your God.’”
13 That evening, quails came up and covered the camp; while in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Isra’el saw it, they asked each other, “Man hu? [What is it?]” because they didn’t know what it was. Moshe answered them, “It is the bread which Adonai has given you to eat. 16 Here is what Adonai has ordered: each man is to gather according to his appetite — each is to take an ‘omer [two quarts] per person for everyone in his tent.” 17 The people of Isra’el did this. Some gathered more, some less; 18 but when they put it in an ‘omer-measure, whoever had gathered much had no excess; and whoever had gathered little had no shortage; nevertheless each person had gathered according to his appetite.
19 Moshe told them, “No one is to leave any of it till morning.” 20 But they didn’t pay attention to Moshe, and some kept the leftovers until morning. It bred worms and rotted, which made Moshe angry at them. 21 So they gathered it morning after morning, each person according to his appetite; but as the sun grew hot, it melted.
22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two ‘omers per person; and all the community leaders came and reported to Moshe.
11 Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents[a] not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you; 12 but to live such good lives among the pagans that even though they now speak against you as evil-doers, they will, as a result of seeing your good actions, give glory to God on the Day of his coming. 13 For the sake of the Lord, submit yourselves to every human authority — whether to the emperor as being supreme, 14 or to governors as being sent by him to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that your doing good should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Submit as people who are free, but not letting your freedom serve as an excuse for evil; rather, submit as God’s slaves. 17 Be respectful to all — keep loving the brotherhood, fearing God and honoring the emperor.
18 Household servants, submit yourselves to your masters, showing them full respect — and not only those who are kind and considerate, but also those who are harsh. 19 For it is a grace when someone, because he is mindful of God, bears up under the pain of undeserved punishment. 20 For what credit is there in bearing up under a beating you deserve for doing something wrong? But if you bear up under punishment, even though you have done what is right, God looks on it with favor. 21 Indeed, this is what you were called to; because the Messiah too suffered, on your behalf, leaving an example so that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
nor was any deceit found on his lips.”[b]
23 When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins[c] in his body on the stake,[d] so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness — by his wounds you were healed.[e] 25 For you used to be like sheep gone astray, but now you have turned to[f] the Shepherd, who watches over you.
12 “This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is about; but 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, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in my name he may give you. 17 This is what I command you: keep loving each other!
18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world — on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world — therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too. 21 But they will do all this to you on my account, because they don’t know the One who sent me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin; but now, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done in their presence works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now, they have seen them and have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this has happened in order to fulfill the words in their Torah which read, ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’[a]
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send you from the Father — the Spirit of Truth, who keeps going out from the Father — he will testify on my behalf. 27 And you testify too, because you have been with me from the outset.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.