Book of Common Prayer
ZAYIN ז
49 Remember the word to Your servant,
on which You have made me hope.
50 My comfort in my affliction is this:
Your word has kept me alive.
51 The arrogant have viciously ridiculed me,
yet I did not turn away from Your Torah.
52 I remember Your judgments from of old,
Adonai, and comfort myself.
53 Burning indignation grips me,
because of the wicked who forsake Your Torah.
54 Your decrees have become my songs
in the house where I dwell.
55 In the night I remember Your Name, Adonai,
and keep watching over Your Torah.
56 This is my own:
that I keep Your precepts.
CHET ח
57 Adonai is my portion.
I promised to guard Your words.
58 I have entreated Your favor with all my heart.
Be gracious to me according to Your word.
59 I have considered my ways
and turned my feet back to Your testimonies.
60 I hasten and do not delay
to obey Your mitzvot.
61 The ropes of the wicked are coiled around me,
but I did not forget Your Torah.
62 At midnight I rise to praise You,
because of Your righteous rulings.
63 I am a companion of all who fear You,
of those who observe Your precepts.
64 The earth is full of Your lovingkindness.
Adonai—teach me Your decrees.
TET ט
65 You do good to Your servant,
Adonai, according to Your word.
66 Teach me good sense and knowledge,
for I trusted in Your mitzvot.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep Your word.
68 You are good and keep doing good—
teach me Your decrees.
69 Though the proud smeared a lie on me,
with all my heart I keep Your precepts.
70 Their minds are insensible,
but Your Torah is my delight.
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted,
so that I may learn Your decrees.
72 The Torah from Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Rich and Poor Alike
Psalm 49
1 For the music director: a psalm of the sons of Korah.
2 Hear this, all you peoples.
Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
3 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
4 My mouth speaks wisdom,
My heart’s meditation is understanding.
5 I will turn my ear to a proverb.
I will utter my riddle on the harp:
6 Why should I fear in evil days?
when the iniquity of my deceivers surrounds me?
7 Or those trusting in their wealth,
boasting about their great riches?
8 No man can redeem his brother,
or give to God a ransom for him.
9 For the redemption of a soul is costly—
so, one should stop trying forever.
10 Will he live forever—
and never see the Pit?
11 Surely he must see, even wise men die.
The fool and the brutish will alike perish,
leaving their wealth to others.[a]
12 Their inward thought is:
Their houses are eternal,
their dwellings for generation after generation.
They name their lands after themselves.
13 But the pompous man will not endure—
he is like the beasts that perish.
14 Such is the way of the self-confident,
and their followers who approve their sayings. Selah
15 Like sheep they are destined for Sheol.
Death will be their shepherd
and the upright will rule over them in the morning.
Their image will decay in Sheol—
far from its lofty place.
16 But God redeems my soul from the power of Sheol—
for He receives me. Selah
17 Do not be afraid when a man gets rich,
when his house’s splendor increases.
18 For when he dies he takes nothing away.
His splendor will not follow him down.
19 Though during his life he congratulates himself,
and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
20 He will still join his fathers’ company,
who will never see the light.
21 A pompous man, without understanding—
he is like the beasts that perish.
A Fool Denies God
Psalm 53
1 For the music director: on Mahalath, a contemplative song of David.
2 The fool says in his heart:
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, commit vile injustice.
There is no one who does good.
3 God looks down from the heavens
on the children of men,
to see if anyone understands,
who seeks after God.
4 All have turned aside—
together they have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good—
no, not even one!
5 Will the evildoers never learn?
They consume My people as they would eat bread,
and never call upon God.
6 There they are in great dread—
where there is nothing to fear.
For God has scattered the bones of those besieging you.
You have put them to shame,
for God has rejected them.
7 Who will give salvation for Israel out of Zion?
When God restores His captive people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!
Beware of False Prophets
13 “Whatever I command you, you must take care to do—you are not to add to it or take away from it.[a]
2 “Suppose a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises up among you and gives you a sign or wonder, 3 and the sign or wonder he spoke to you comes true, while saying, ‘Let’s follow other gods’—that you have not known, and—‘Let’s serve them!’ [b] 4 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams—for Adonai your God is testing you, to find out whether you love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 Adonai your God you will follow and Him you will fear. His mitzvot you will keep, to His voice you will listen, Him you will serve and to Him you will cling. 6 That prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death! For he has spoken falsehood against Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to entice you from the way Adonai your God commanded you to walk. So you will purge the evil from your midst.[c]
7 “Suppose your brother—your mother’s son—or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your best friend of your own soul misleads you secretly, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’—that you and your fathers have not known, 8 from among the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other. 9 You are not to give in or listen to him, your eye is not to pity him, and you are not to spare or conceal him. 10 Instead, you will surely put him to death. Your hand should be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 11 You are to stone him with stones to death because he tried to entice you away from Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
Godly Sorrow and Joy
2 Make room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one, ruined no one, took advantage of no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts—to die together and to live together with you. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I have been filled with encouragement. I overflow with joy in all our troubles.
5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our body had no rest. But we were hard pressed on every side—conflicts outside, fears within. 6 But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us with the arrival of Titus; 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the encouragement with which he was encouraged by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, and your deep concern for me—so that I rejoiced still more.
8 For even if I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that my letter grieved you, but just for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to the point of repentance. For you were grieved according to God’s will, so that you might in no way suffer loss from us. 10 For the grief that God wills brings a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret. But the world’s grief brings death. 11 For see what this very thing—this grieving that God wills—has brought you! What diligence, what defense, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what rendering of justice! In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, I wrote not for the sake of the wrongdoer or for the sake of the one who was wronged, but to make known to you your diligence for us in the sight of God. 13 For this reason we have been encouraged.
Besides our own encouragement, we rejoiced even more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14 For if I have boasted some to him about you, I was not put to shame. But as we spoke all things truthfully to you, so also our boasting to Titus has proved to be the truth. 15 His feelings toward you overflow when he remembers everyone’s obedience—how you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.
20 Now when Yeshua was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be seen. 21 Nor will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘There!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 Then Yeshua said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go and chase after them. 24 For just as the lightning flashes from one part of the sky and lights up another part, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer much and be rejected by this generation. 26 As it was in the days of Noah,[a] so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was just the same in the days of Lot.[b] They were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. 29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Things will be the same on the day when the Son of Man is made fully known. 31 In that day, the one who is on the roof, and his possessions in the house, must not go down to take them away. In the same way, the one who is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! [c] 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
34 “I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken along and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken and the other left.” (36 )[d]
37 “Where, Lord?” they replied.
And He said to them, “Where there is a corpse, there also will the vultures be gathered.”[e]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.