Book of Common Prayer
20 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) May Adonai answer you in times of distress,
may the name of the God of Ya‘akov protect you.
3 (2) May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Tziyon.
4 (3) May he be reminded by all your grain offerings
and accept the fat of your burnt offerings. (Selah)
5 (4) May he grant you your heart’s desire
and bring all your plans to success.
6 (5) Then we will shout for joy at your victory
and fly our flags in the name of our God.
May Adonai fulfill all your requests.
7 (6) Now I know that Adonai
gives victory to his anointed one —
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.
8 (7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we praise the name of Adonai our God.
9 (8) They will crumple and fall,
but we will arise and stand erect.
10 (9) Give victory, Adonai!
Let the King answer us the day we call.
21 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Adonai, the king finds joy in your strength;
what great joy he displays in your victory!
3 (2) You give him his heart’s desire;
you don’t refuse the prayer from his lips. (Selah)
4 (3) For you come to meet him with the best blessings,
you place a crown of fine gold on his head.
5 (4) He asks you for life; you give it to him,
years and years forever and ever.
6 (5) Your victory brings him great glory;
you confer on him splendor and honor.
7 (6) For you bestow on him everlasting blessings,
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
8 (7) For the king puts his trust in Adonai,
in the grace of ‘Elyon; he will not be moved.
9 (8) Your hand will find all your enemies;
your right hand will overtake those who hate you.
10 (9) At your appearing,
you will make them like a fiery furnace.
Adonai will swallow them up in his anger;
fire will consume them.
11 (10) You will destroy from the earth their descendants,
rid humankind of their posterity;
12 (11) for they intended evil against you;
but despite their scheme, they won’t succeed.
13 (12) For you will make them turn their back
by aiming your bow at their faces.
14 (13) Arise, Adonai, in your strength;
and we will sing and praise your power.
23 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures,
he leads me by quiet water,
3 he restores my inner person.
He guides me in right paths
for the sake of his own name.
4 Even if I pass through death-dark ravines,
I will fear no disaster; for you are with me;
your rod and staff reassure me.
5 You prepare a table for me,
even as my enemies watch;
you anoint my head with oil
from an overflowing cup.
6 Goodness and grace will pursue me
every day of my life;
and I will live in the house of Adonai
for years and years to come.
27 (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assailed me
to devour my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
they stumbled and fell.
3 If an army encamps against me,
my heart will not fear;
if war breaks out against me,
even then I will keep trusting.
4 Just one thing have I asked of Adonai;
only this will I seek:
to live in the house of Adonai
all the days of my life,
to see the beauty of Adonai
and visit in his temple.
5 For he will conceal me in his shelter
on the day of trouble,
he will hide me in the folds of his tent,
he will set me high on a rock.
6 Then my head will be lifted up
above my surrounding foes,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, sing praises to Adonai.
7 Listen, Adonai, to my voice when I cry;
show favor to me; and answer me.
8 “My heart said of you, ‘Seek my face.’”
Your face, Adonai, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
don’t turn your servant away in anger.
You are my help; don’t abandon me;
don’t leave me, God my savior.
10 Even though my father and mother have left me,
Adonai will care for me.
11 Teach me your way, Adonai;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies —
12 don’t give me up to the whims of my foes;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
also those who are breathing violence.
13 If I hadn’t believed that I would see
Adonai’s goodness in the land of the living, . . .
14 Put your hope in Adonai, be strong,
and let your heart take courage!
Yes, put your hope in Adonai!
25 Adonai, you are my God.
I exalt you, I praise your name.
For you have accomplished marvels,
[fulfilled] ancient plans faithfully and truly.
2 For you have made a city a heap of stones,
turned a fortified city into rubble,
made the foreigners’ fortress
a city that will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore mighty peoples glorify you,
the city of ruthless nations fears you.
4 For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in distress,
shelter from the storm,
shade from the heat —
for the blast from the ruthless
was like a storm that could destroy a wall.
5 Like desert heat, you subdue
the foreigners’ uproar;
like heat subdued by a cloud’s shadow,
the song of the ruthless dies away.
6 On this mountain Adonai-Tzva’ot
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food and superb wines,
delicious, rich food and superb, elegant wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and he will remove from all the earth
the disgrace his people suffer.
For Adonai has spoken.
9 On that day they will say,
“See! This is our God!
We waited for him to save us.
This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him.
We are full of joy, so glad he saved us!”
9 I, Yochanan, am a brother of yours and a fellow-sharer in the suffering, kingship and perseverance that come from being united with Yeshua. I had been exiled to the island called Patmos for having proclaimed the message of God and borne witness to Yeshua. 10 I came to be, in the Spirit, on the Day of the Lord; and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write down what you see on a scroll, and send it to the seven Messianic communities — Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea!” 12 I turned around to see who was speaking to me; and when I had turned, I saw seven gold menorahs; 13 and among the menorahs was someone like a Son of Man, wearing a robe down to his feet and a gold band around his chest.[a] 14 His head and hair were as white as snow-white wool, his eyes like a fiery flame, 15 his feet like burnished brass refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of rushing waters.[b] 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp double-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17 When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand upon me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, 18 the Living One. I was dead, but look! — I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys to Death and Sh’ol. 19 So write down what you see, both what is now, and what will happen afterwards. 20 Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and of the seven gold menorahs: the seven stars are the angels of the seven Messianic communities, and the seven menorahs are the seven Messianic communities.
53 Then they all left, each one to his own home.
8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. 4 Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” 6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. 7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.