Book of Common Prayer
Scorn and Disgrace, Gall and Vinegar
Psalm 69
1 For the music director, on “Lilies,” of David.
2 Save me, O God,
for the waters
have reached my soul.
3 I have sunk in deep mud,
and there is no footing,
I have come into deep waters,
and a flood sweeps over me.
4 I am worn out by my crying,
my throat is parched,
my eyes fail, waiting for my God.
5 Those who hate me without a cause[a] outnumber the hairs of my head.
Powerful are my enemies who would destroy me with lies.
What I did not steal, must I restore?
6 O God, You know my folly,
nor are my trespasses hidden from You.
7 May those who hope in You
not be ashamed because of me,
my Lord, Adonai-Tzva’ot.
May those who seek You
not be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel.
8 For I have endured scorn for Your sake.
Disgrace has covered my face.
9 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother’s children.
10 For zeal for Your House consumed me—
the insults of those who insulted You have fallen on me.[b]
11 When I wept and fasted—
that became a reproach to me.
12 When I put on sackcloth,
I became a joke to them.
13 Those who sit at the gate chatter about me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
14 But as for me, my prayer to You, Adonai, is for a time of favor.
O God, in Your great love, answer me with the truth of Your salvation.
15 Deliver me from the mire—
do not let me sink.
Deliver me from those who hate me,
out of the deep waters.
16 Do not let floodwaters sweep over me,
nor the deep swallow me up,
nor the Pit shut its mouth over me.
17 Answer me, Adonai, for good is Your mercy.
With Your great compassion, turn to me.
18 Hide not Your face from Your servant.
For I am in distress—answer me quickly.
19 Draw near to my soul and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my foes.
20 You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace.
All my adversaries are before You.
21 Scorn has broken my heart, so I am sick.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but found none.
22 They put gall in my food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.[c]
23 Let their table before them be a snare,
and what should have been for their well-being,
let it be a trap.
24 Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see
and their backs be bent forever.[d]
25 Pour out Your indignation on them.
Let Your fierce anger overtake them.
26 Let their encampment be deserted.
Let none dwell in their tents.
27 For they persecute the one You have smitten,
so they tell of the pain
of those You have wounded.
28 Add guilt to their guilt—
may they not come into Your righteousness.
29 May they be wiped out of the book of life
and not be recorded with the righteous.[e]
30 But I—I am afflicted and in pain.
Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
31 I will praise God’s Name with a song,
and magnify Him with praise.
32 It will please Adonai better than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
33 The humble will see it and be glad.
You who seek God, let your hearts revive.
34 For Adonai hears the needy
and does not despise His captive people.
35 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything moving in them.
36 For God will save Zion,
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then they will dwell there and possess it.
37 The children of His servants will inherit it
and those who love His Name will dwell there.
God Is the Strength of My Heart
Psalm 73
1 A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped.
My steps nearly slid out from under me.
3 For I envied the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains at their death,
their body is healthy.
5 They have none of humanity’s trouble,
nor are they plagued like others.
6 Therefore, they put on pride as a necklace,
and violence wraps around them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge out from fatness.
The imaginations of their hearts run wild.
8 They scoff and wickedly plan evil.
From on high they threaten.
9 They set their mouth against heaven.
Their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore His people return here,
while they drink their fill.
11 So they say: “How does God know?
And does Elyon have knowledge?”
12 Behold, such are the wicked—
always at ease and amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day I have been stricken,
my chastisement comes every morning.
15 If I had said: “I will speak thus,”
surely I would have betrayed a generation of Your children.
16 But when I tried to make sense of this,
it was troubling in my eyes—
17 until I entered the Sanctuary of God,
and perceived their end.
18 Surely You put them in slippery places.
You hurled them down to destruction.
19 How suddenly they became a ruin—
terminated, consumed by terrors.
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
thus when You arise, my Lord,
You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
and I was pierced in my heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before You.
23 Yet I am continually with You.
You hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward You will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
On earth there is none I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those far from You will perish.
You put an end to all who like a harlot are unfaithful to You.
28 But for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made my Lord Adonai my refuge.
So I will tell of all Your works.
27 Blessed be Adonai, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the heart of the king to beautify the House of Adonai in Jerusalem in this way 28 and who has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and all the king’s mighty princes. I gained strength, as the hand of Adonai my God was upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from Him a straight way for us, our little ones, and all of our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and cavalry to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had spoken to the king saying, “The gracious hand of our God is upon everyone who seeks Him, but His great anger is against everyone who forsakes Him.” 23 So we fasted and sought our God about this, and He responded to our plea.
24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading kohanim—Sherebiah, Hashabiah and with them ten of their brothers— 25 and I weighed out for them the silver, the gold and the utensils, the contribution to the House of our God that the king, his counselors, his officials and all Israel who were present had offered. 26 Specifically, I weighed into their hand 650 talents of silver, silver utensils worth 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, 27 20 golden bowels valued at 1000 darics, and two exquisite vessels of gleaming bronze, as precious as gold.
28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to Adonai and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Adonai, the God of your fathers. 29 Guard them carefully until you weigh them before the leading kohanim and the Levites and the leading patriarchs of Israel in Jerusalem, in the storerooms of the House of Adonai.” 30 So the kohanim and the Levites received the silver, the gold and the vessels by weight to bring them to Jerusalem to the House of our God.
31 Then we set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the way. 32 So we came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days. 33 On the fourth day the silver, the gold, and the utensils were weighed out in the House of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the kohen. Eleazar the son of Phinehas was with him, and so were the Levites Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34 Everything was accounted for by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.
35 Then the exiles returning from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs and as a sin offering 12 male goats. All of this was a burnt offering to Adonai. 36 Then they delivered the decrees of the king to the king’s Persian governors and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who then gave help to the people and the House of God.
Song of Moses to the Lamb
15 Then I saw another great and wonderful sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven plagues—the last ones, for with them God’s wrath is finished. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had overcome the beast and his image[a] and the number of his name standing by the sea of glass, holding the harps of God. 3 And they are singing the song of Moses[b] the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and wonderful are Your deeds,
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot![c]
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the nations![d]
4 Who shall not fear and glorify Your name, O Lord?
For You alone are Holy.
All the nations shall come and worship before You,[e]
for Your righteous acts have been revealed!”
5 After these things I looked, and the Temple of the Tent of Witness in heaven was opened. 6 Out of the Temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, dressed in pure bright linen and wearing wide gold sashes around their chests.
7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power.[f] No one was able to enter the Temple until the seven angels’ seven plagues were finished.
Feeding Hungry Followers
13 Now when Yeshua heard this, He went away from there privately by boat to an isolated place. But when the crowds heard, they followed Him on foot from the towns. 14 As Yeshua came ashore, He saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. 15 When it became evening, the disciples came to Him, saying, “This place is isolated, and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16 But Yeshua said to them, “They don’t need to leave—you give them something to eat.”
17 “We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish,” they said to Him.
18 “Bring them here to Me,” He said.
19 Ordering the crowd to recline on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish; and looking up to heaven, He offered the bracha. After breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces left over. 21 Now those eating were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.