Book of Common Prayer
66 (0) For the leader. A song. A psalm:
(1) Shout to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name,
make his praise glorious.
3 Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds!
At your great power, your enemies cringe.
4 All the earth bows down to you,
sings praises to you, sings praises to your name.” (Selah)
5 Come and see what God has done,
his awesome dealings with humankind.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
They passed through the river on foot;
there we rejoiced in him.
7 With his power he rules forever;
his eyes keep watch on the nations.
Let no rebel arise to challenge him. (Selah)
8 Bless our God, you peoples!
Let the sound of his praise be heard!
9 He preserves our lives
and keeps our feet from stumbling.
10 For you, God, have tested us,
refined us as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net
and bound our bodies fast.
12 You made men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water.
But you brought us out
to a place of plenty.
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings,
I will fulfill my vows to you,
14 those my lips pronounced and my mouth spoke
when I was in distress.
15 I will offer you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
along with the sweet smoke of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats. (Selah)
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth,
his praise was on my tongue.
18 Had I cherished evil thoughts,
Adonai would not have listened.
19 But in fact, God did listen;
he paid attention to my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, who did not reject my prayer
or turn his grace away from me.
67 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song:
2 (1) God, be gracious to us, and bless us.
May he make his face shine toward us, (Selah)
3 (2) so that your way may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
4 (3) Let the peoples give thanks to you, God;
let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them.
5 (4) Let the nations be glad and shout for joy,
for you will judge the peoples fairly
and guide the nations on earth. (Selah)
6 (5) Let the peoples give thanks to you, God;
let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them.
7 (6) The earth has yielded its harvest;
may God, our God, bless us.
8 (7) May God continue to bless us,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
19 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
3 (2) Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
4 (3) Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
5 (4) their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he places a tent for the sun,
6 (5) which comes out like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber,
with delight like an athlete to run his race.
7 (6) It rises at one side of the sky,
circles around to the other side,
and nothing escapes its heat.
8 (7) The Torah of Adonai is perfect,
restoring the inner person.
The instruction of Adonai is sure,
making wise the thoughtless.
9 (8) The precepts of Adonai are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The mitzvah of Adonai is pure,
enlightening the eyes.
10 (9) The fear of Adonai is clean,
enduring forever.
The rulings of Adonai are true,
they are righteous altogether,
11 (10) more desirable than gold,
than much fine gold,
also sweeter than honey
or drippings from the honeycomb.
12 (11) Through them your servant is warned;
in obeying them there is great reward.
13 (12) Who can discern unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
14 (13) Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins,
so that they won’t control me.
Then I will be blameless
and free of great offense.
15 (14) May the words of my mouth
and the thoughts of my heart
be acceptable in your presence,
Adonai, my Rock and Redeemer.
46 (0) For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. On ‘alamot [high-pitched musical instruments?]. A song:
2 (1) God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
3 (2) Therefore we are unafraid,
even if the earth gives way,
even if the mountains tumble
into the depths of the sea,
4 (3) even if its waters rage and foam,
and mountains shake at its turbulence. (Selah)
5 (4) There is a river whose streams
gladden the city of God,
the holy habitation of ‘Elyon —
6 (5) God is in the city.
It will not be moved —
when daybreak comes, God will help it.
7 (6) Nations were in turmoil,
kingdoms were moved;
his voice thundered forth,
and the earth melted away.
8 (7) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
9 (8) Come and see the works of Adonai,
the astounding deeds he has done on the earth.
10 (9) To the ends of the earth he makes wars cease —
he breaks the bow, snaps the spear,
burns the shields in the fire.
11 (10) “Desist, and learn that I am God,
supreme over the nations,
supreme over the earth.”
12 (11) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
(iv) 26 Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, 27 “How long am I to put up with this evil community who keep grumbling about me? I have heard the complaints of the people of Isra’el, which they continue to raise against me. 28 Tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, Adonai swears, as surely as you have spoken in my ears, I will do this to you: 29 your carcasses will fall in this desert! Every single one of you who were included in the census over the age of twenty, you who have complained against me, 30 will certainly not enter the land about which I raised my hand to swear that I would have you live in it — except for Kalev the son of Y’funeh and Y’hoshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would be taken as booty — them I will bring in. They will know the land you have rejected. 32 But you, your carcasses will fall in this desert; 33 and your children will wander about in the desert for forty years bearing the consequences of your prostitutions until the desert eats up your carcasses. 34 It will be a year for every day you spent reconnoitering the land that you will bear the consequences of your offenses — forty days, forty years. Then you will know what it means to oppose me! 35 I, Adonai, have spoken.’ I will certainly do this to this whole evil community who have assembled together against me — they will be destroyed in this desert and die there.”
36 The men whom Moshe had sent to reconnoiter the land and who, when they returned, made the entire community complain against him by giving an unfavorable report about the land — 37 those men who gave the unfavorable report about the land died by the plague in the presence of Adonai. 38 Of the men who went to reconnoiter the land, only Y’hoshua the son of Nun and Kalev the son of Y’funeh remained alive.
39 When Moshe told these things to all the people of Isra’el, the people felt great remorse. 40 They arose early the next morning, came up to the top of the mountain and said, “Here we are, and we did sin, but now we’ll go up to the place Adonai promised.” 41 Moshe answered, “Why are you opposing what Adonai said? You won’t succeed! 42 Don’t go up there, because Adonai isn’t with you. If you do, your enemies will defeat you. 43 The ‘Amalekim and the Kena‘anim are there ahead of you, and you will be struck down by the sword. The reason will be that you have turned away from following Adonai, so that Adonai won’t be with you.”
44 But they were presumptuous and went on up toward the high parts of the hill-country, even though the ark for the covenant of Adonai — and Moshe — stayed in the camp. 45 So the ‘Amalekim and the Kena‘anim living in that hill-country descended, struck them down and beat them back all the way to Hormah.
15 But some men came down from Y’hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you undergo b’rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe.” 2 This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha’ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh’eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.
3 After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.
4 On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them. 5 But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”
6 The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter. 7 After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, “Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us; 9 that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust. 10 So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear? 11 No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered — and it’s the same with them.”
12 Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.
49 “I have come to set fire to the earth! And how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have an immersion to undergo — how pressured I feel till it’s over! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace in the Land? Not peace, I tell you, but division! 52 For from now on, a household of five will be divided, three against two, two against three.
53 Father will be divided against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”[a]
54 Then to the crowds Yeshua said, “When you see a cloud-bank rising in the west, at once you say that a rainstorm is coming; 55 and when the wind is from the south, you say there will be a heat wave, and there is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky — how is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.