Book of Common Prayer
78 (Maskil of Asaph.) Give ear, O my people, to my torah; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a mashal; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, and Avoteinu have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their banim, recounting to the dor acharon the tehillot Hashem, and His power, and His nifla’ot (wonderful works) that He hath done.
5 For He established edut in Ya’akov, set torah in Yisroel, which He commanded Avoteinu, that they should make them known to their banim;
6 So that the dor acharon might know them, even the banim which should be born; who should arise and recount them to their banim;
7 That they might put their confidence in Elohim, and not forget the ma’allei El (works of G-d), but keep His mitzvot;
8 And might not be as their Avot, a dor sorer u’moreh (stubborn and rebellious generation); a generation that set not its lev aright, and whose ruach was not faithful to G-d.
9 The Bnei Ephrayim, being armed, and shooting keshet (the bows), turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the Brit Elohim, and refused to walk in His torah;
11 And forgot His works, and His nifla’ot (wonders) that He had shown them.
12 Peleh (marvellous things) did He in the sight of their avot, in Eretz Mitzrayim, in the sadeh (area) of Tzoan.
13 He divided the yam, and caused them to pass through; and He made the mayim to stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime also He led them with an anan, and all the lailah with an ohr of eish.
15 He split the rocks in the midbar, and gave them drink as out of the great tehomot.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused mayim to run down like rivers.
17 And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking Elyon in the wilderness.
18 And they tested G-d by their lev by demanding ochel for their lust.
19 And they spoke against Elohim; they said, Can G-d spread a shulchan in the midbar?
20 Behold, He struck the Tzur, that the mayim gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give lechem also? Can He provide meat for His people?
21 Therefore Hashem heard this, and was in wrath; so an eish was kindled against Ya’akov, and anger also came up against Yisroel;
22 Because they believed not in Elohim, and trusted not in His Yeshuah (salvation);
23 Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the daletei Shomayim (doors of heaven),
24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the bread of Shomayim [see Yn 6:31 OJBC].
25 Ish did eat the bread of angels; He sent them lechem to the full.
26 He caused an east wind to blow from Shomayim; and by His oz He brought in the south wind.
27 He rained meat also upon them like aphar, and winged fowls like the chol (sand) of the sea;
28 And He let it fall in the midst of their machaneh, all around their mishkenot (habitations).
29 So they did eat, and were well filled; for He gave them their own ta’avah (evil desire).
30 They were not estranged from their ta’avah. But while their food was yet in their mouths,
31 The Af Elohim (wrath of G-d) came upon them, and slaughtered the stoutest of them, and cut down the bochurim of Yisroel.
32 For all this they sinned still, and believed not in His nifla’ot (wondrous works).
33 Therefore their yamim did He consume in hevel (futility, vanity) and their shanim in terror.
34 When He slaughtered them, then they sought Him; and they returned and inquired diligently after G-d.
35 And they remembered that Elohim was their Tzur, and the El Elyon their Go’el (Redeemer).
36 Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their leshon.
37 For their lev was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His Brit.
38 But He, being full of compassion, made kapporah for their avon and destroyed them not; and He many times turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.
39 For He remembered that they were but basar; a ruach (wind) that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40 How oft did they provoke Him in the midbar, and grieve Him in the desert!
41 Again and again they turned back and tested G-d, and imposed limits on Kadosh Yisroel.
42 They remembered not His Yad (Hand, Power), nor the yom (day) when He redeemed them from the enemy.
43 How He had wrought His otot in Mitzrayim, and His mofetim in the area of Tzoan.
44 And had turned their rivers into dahm; and their streams, that they could not drink.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and tzfarde’a (frogs), which destroyed them.
46 He gave also their crop unto the grasshopper, and their produce unto the arbeh (locust).
47 He destroyed their gefen with barad (hail), and their fig trees with frost.
48 He gave up their cattle also to the barad (hail), and their livestock herds to hot thunderbolts.
49 He cast upon them His charon af, evrah (wrath), and za’am (indignation), and tzarah, by sending malachim ra’im among them.
50 He made a way for His anger; He spared not their nefesh from mavet (death), but gave their beasts over to the dever (plague);
51 And struck all the bechor in Mitzrayim; the reshit (first fruit) of their strength in the ohalim of Cham;
52 But made His own people to go forth like tzon, and guided them in the midbar like an eder (flock).
53 And He led them in safety, so that they had no terror; but the yam overwhelmed their oyevim.
54 And He brought them to His gevul kadosh (His holy border), even to this Har, which His Yamin had purchased.
55 He cast out the Goyim also before them, and divided by measure a nachalah for them, and made the Shivtei Yisroel to dwell in their ohalim.
56 Yet they tested and provoked Elohim Elyon, and were not shomer over His edot;
57 But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their avot; they turned like a treacherous keshet.
58 For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their pesilim.
59 When Elohim heard this, He was in wrath, and greatly abhorred Yisroel;
60 So that He forsook the Mishkan of Shiloh, the Ohel which He placed among adam (men);
61 And delivered His oz (strength) into captivity, and His tiferet into the hand of the enemy.
62 He gave His people over also unto the cherev; and was in wrath with His nachalah.
63 The eish consumed their bochurim; and their betulot had no wedding celebration.
64 Their kohanim fell by the cherev; and their almanot made no lamentation.
65 Then Adonoi awaked as one from sleep, and like a gibbor that shouteth from yayin.
66 And He struck down His enemies behind; He put them to cherpat olam (perpetual reproach).
67 Moreover He rejected the Ohel Yosef, and chose not the Shevet Ephrayim;
68 But chose the Shevet Yehudah, Har Tziyon which He loved.
69 And He built His Mikdash like heavenly heights, like Eretz which He hath established l’olam.
70 He chose Dovid also His Eved, and took him from the mikhle’ot tzon (sheepfolds);
71 From following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Ya’akov His people, and Yisroel His nachalah.
72 So he shepherded them according to the tohm (integrity, guilelessness) of his lev; and led them by the skillfulness of his hands.
45 Then Yosef could not control himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause kol ish to go out from me. And there stood no ish with him, while Yosef made himself known unto his achim.
2 And he wept aloud; and the Mitzrayim and the Bais Pharaoh heard.
3 And Yosef said unto his achim (brethren), I am Yosef; doth Avi yet live? And his achim could not answer him; for they were shocked with dismay at his presence.
4 And Yosef said unto his achim, Come near to me, now. And they came near. And he said, I am Yosef achichem (your brother), whom ye sold into Mitzrayim.
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me here; for Elohim did send me before you to save life.
6 For these two years hath the ra’av (famine) been in the land; and yet there are chamesh shanim (five years), in the which there shall neither be plowing nor harvest.
7 And Elohim sent me before you to save you a she’erit (remnant) in the earth, and to save life for you by a peletah gedolah (great deliverance, escape).
8 So now it was not you that sent me here, but HaElohim; and He hath made me as an Av to Pharaoh, and adon of all his Bais, and Moshel throughout kol Eretz Mitzrayim.
9 Haste ye, and go up to Avi, and say unto him, Thus saith thy ben, Yosef, Elohim hath made me as adon kol Mitzrayim; come down unto me, tarry not;
10 And thou shalt dwell in Eretz Goshen, and thou shalt be karov (near) unto me, thou, and thy banim, and thy bnei banecha, and thy tzon, and thy bakar, and all that thou hast [see Yn 14:3 OJBC]:
11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are chamesh shanim of ra’av (famine); lest thou, and thy bais, and all that thou hast, come to destitution.
12 And, hinei, your eyes see, and the eyes of achi Binyamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
13 And ye shall tell Avi of kol kevod b’Mitzrayim, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down Avi here.
14 And he fell upon the neck of Binyamin achiv, and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck.
15 Moreover he kissed all his achim, and wept upon them; and after that his achim talked with him.
32 But I would have you free from atzvat lev (heartache). The ben Adam without isha cares for the things of Hashem, how he may please Hashem.
33 But the one having taken an isha cares for the things of the Olam Hazeh, how he may please his isha,
34 And he has been divided (1:13). Both the isha free of a ba’al or the betulah cares for the things of Hashem, that she may be tehorah spiritually and physically. But the isha with a ba’al cares for the things of the Olam Hazeh, how she may please her ba’al.
35 Now, this I say for your own benefit, not that I may throw a noose on your deror (“freedom” VAYIKRA 25:10), but I speak with respect to what is decent, seemly, and sits well with Hashem, without distraction [in avodas kodesh]. [TEHILLIM 86:11]
36 However, if anyone thnks he does not have proper hitnahagut (conduct) toward the betulah of his eirusin (betrothal, engagement), and if he thinks his basherte (destined mate) is getting along in years, and thus it has to be, what he desires, let him do; there is no chet, let them enter bibrit hanissuim (in convenant of marriage).
37 But he who in his lev has settled the decision, not having the need [of conjugal intimacy], but having mastery concerning his own desire, and thus he in his lev has decided, not to enter bibrit hanissuim with his betulah (virgin), he does well.
38 So then both the one entering bibrit hanissuim with his betulah does well, and the one not entering bebrit hanissuim with his arusah (betrothed) will do better (7:34).
39 An isha has been bound (bibrit hanissuim, in covenant of marriage) for so long a time as her ba’al lives, but if her ba’al should sleep the sleep of the mesim, she is free to enter bibrit hanissuim with the ba’al she desires, but only in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu.
40 However, happy is she, and even more so, if she remains as she is; and I think in this bit of wisdom I am offering that I have the Ruach Hakodesh.
6 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach came out from there and comes into his shtetl and his talmidim follow him.
2 And Shabbos having come, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach began to say shiurim in the shul, and many, listening, were amazed, saying, From where [did] this one get lernen (Torah learning), and what [is] the chochmah (wisdom) that has been given to this one? And what gevurot (mighty deeds) are being done by his hands?
3 Is not this one the Naggar (Carpenter), Ben Miryam? The brother of Yaakov*, Yosef, Yehuda and Shimon? And, are not his achayot here with us? And they were taking offense at Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.
4 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was saying to them, A navi is not without his kavod, except in his own shtetl and among his own mishpochah and in his own bais.
5 And he was not able there to do many nissim (miracles), except on a few cholim (sick people) he laid (his) hands and administered refuah (healing) to them.
6 And he wondered on account of their lack of emunah. And he was going around the shtetlach in a circuit, saying shiurim.
7 And Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach summons the Shneym Asar, and he began to send them out two by two, and he was giving to them samchut [over] the ruchot hatumah. [DEVARIM 17:6]
8 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach gave directives to them that they should take nothing on [the] derech except a mere walking stick, not lechem, not a schnorrer’s sack, nor a money belt;
9 But instead, to wear sandals, and not to take an extra kaftan.
10 And he was saying to them, Wherever you enter into a bais, stay there until you leave that area.
11 And whatever place does not give you the kabbalat panim (welcome), and does not listen to you, then, as you are leaving there, let it be NIER CHATZNO, shake off the dust of your feet, for an edut to them.
12 And having gone out, they preached that Bnei Adam should make teshuva.
13 And many shedim they were casting out, and they were anointing with shemen many cholim, and they were administering refuah to them.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International