Book of Common Prayer
Joy Comes in the Morning
Psalm 30
1 A psalm, a song for the dedication of the Temple, of David.
2 I will exalt You, Adonai,
for You have lifted me up,
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
3 Adonai my God, I cried to You for help,
and You healed me.
4 Adonai, You brought my soul up from Sheol.
You kept me alive, so I would not go down to the Pit.
5 Sing praise to Adonai, His faithful ones,
and praise His holy name.
6 For His anger lasts for only a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may stay for the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
7 When I felt secure, I said:
“I will never be shaken.”
8 Adonai, in Your favor
You made my mountain stand strong.
When You hid Your face,
I was terrified.
9 To You, Adonai, I called,
and to my Lord I made my plea:
10 “What gain is there in my blood,
in my going down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
11 Hear, Adonai, and be gracious to me.
Adonai, be my help.”
12 You turned my mourning into dancing.
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
13 So my glory will sing to You and not be silent.
Adonai my God, I will praise You forever.
Confess, Return and Learn
Psalm 32
1 Of David, a contemplative song.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned.
2 Blessed is the one whose guilt Adonai does not count,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.[a]
3 When I kept silent,
my bones became brittle
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.
My strength was drained as in the droughts of summer.
Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not hide my iniquity. I said:
“I confess my transgressions to Adonai,”
and You forgave the guilt of my sin.[b]
Selah
6 So let everyone who is godly pray to You
in a time when You may be found.
When great floodwaters rise,
they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place—
You will protect me from distress.
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
I will give counsel—My eye is on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding,
and must be held in with bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.”
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but lovingkindness surrounds the one who trusts in Adonai.
11 Be glad in Adonai and rejoice,
you righteous, and shout for joy,
all who are upright in heart.
My Soul Thirsts for God
Psalm 42
1 For the music director, a contemplative song of the sons of Korah.
2 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for You, O God.
3 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and appear before God?
4 My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all day: “Where is your God?”
5 These things I remember as I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng,
walking with them to the House of God, with a voice of joy and praise,
a multitude keeping a festival.
6 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why are you murmuring within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,
for the salvation of His presence.
7 My God, my soul is downcast within me!
Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan
and from the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mitzar.
8 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls.
All Your waves and breakers have swept over me.
9 By day Adonai commands His love,
and at night His song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
10 I will say to God my Rock:
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go about mourning, under the oppression of the enemy?”
11 As with a crushing in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
by saying to me all day, “Where is your God?”
12 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why are you murmuring within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,
the salvation of my countenance and my God.
Send Forth Your Light
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, O God,
and champion
my cause against an ungodly nation.
From a deceitful and unjust man, deliver me!
2 For You are my God, my stronghold.
Why have You spurned me?
Why do I go about gloomy because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send forth Your light and Your truth—
let them guide me.
Let them bring me to Your holy mountain
and to Your dwelling places.
4 Then I will come to the altar of God,
to the God of my exceeding joy,
and praise You upon the harp
—O God, my God.
5 Why are You downcast, O my soul?
Why are you murmuring within me?
Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,
the salvation of my countenance.
Eliphaz Keeps Pointing at Sin
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded saying:
2 “Can a man be useful to God?
Can even a wise man benefit Him?
3 What pleasure is it to Shaddai if you are righteous?
Or what gain if your ways are blameless?
4 Is it because of your reverence that He corrects you
and He brings judgment against you?
21 “Reconcile now with Him and have shalom—
in this way prosperity will come to you.
22 Accept instruction from His mouth
and store up His words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored;
if you remove iniquity far from your tent
24 and throw your gold in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir to the rocks in the wadis,
25 then Shaddai will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 Surely then Shaddai will be your delight
and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to Him and He will hear you,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28 What you decide will be done,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When people are brought low, and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
then He will save the downcast.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered by the cleanness of your hands.”
Job’s Argument with God
23 Then Job answered:
2 “Even today my complaint is rebellious;
His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find Him;
if only I could go to His dwelling.
4 I would lay out my case before Him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know with what words He would answer me,
and understand what He would say to me.
6 Would He oppose me with great power?
No, He would only pay attention to me.
7 There the upright can reason with Him,
and there I would forever be delivered from my Judge.
26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who are God-fearers, it is to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers—not recognizing Him or the sayings of the Prophets that are read every Shabbat—fulfilled these words by condemning Him. 28 Though they found no charge worthy of a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that had been written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. 30 But God raised Him from the dead! 31 For many days He appeared to those who had come up from the Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 “And we proclaim to you Good News—the promise to the fathers has arrived! 33 For God has fulfilled this promise to the children—to us—by raising up Yeshua, as it is also written in the second psalm:
‘You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.’[a]
34 “But since He raised Him up from the dead, never to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure mercies of David.’ [b] 35 Therefore He also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit Your Holy One to see decay.’ [c] 36 For after David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he went to sleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay. 37 But the One whom God raised up did not see decay.
38 “Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this One is proclaimed to you the removal of sins, including all those from which you could not be set right by the Torah of Moses. 39 Through this One everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous.
40 “Be careful, then, so that what is said in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41 ‘Look, you scoffers,
be amazed and vanish away.
For I am doing a work in your days—
a work you will never believe,
even if someone tells it to you in detail.’[d]”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them the next Shabbat. 43 When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.
The Faithful Hear the Shepherd’s Voice
10 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 “When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Yeshua told them this parable, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
7 So Yeshua said again, “Amen, amen I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate![a] If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved. He will come and go and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly!
11 “I am the Good Shepherd.[b] The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 The hired worker is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. Then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. 13 The man is only a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
14 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, 15 just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not from this fold; those also I must lead, and they will listen to My voice. So there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.