Book of Common Prayer
66 (0) For the leader. A song. A psalm:
(1) Shout to God, all the earth!
2 Sing the glory of his name,
make his praise glorious.
3 Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds!
At your great power, your enemies cringe.
4 All the earth bows down to you,
sings praises to you, sings praises to your name.” (Selah)
5 Come and see what God has done,
his awesome dealings with humankind.
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
They passed through the river on foot;
there we rejoiced in him.
7 With his power he rules forever;
his eyes keep watch on the nations.
Let no rebel arise to challenge him. (Selah)
8 Bless our God, you peoples!
Let the sound of his praise be heard!
9 He preserves our lives
and keeps our feet from stumbling.
10 For you, God, have tested us,
refined us as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net
and bound our bodies fast.
12 You made men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water.
But you brought us out
to a place of plenty.
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings,
I will fulfill my vows to you,
14 those my lips pronounced and my mouth spoke
when I was in distress.
15 I will offer you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
along with the sweet smoke of rams;
I will offer bulls and goats. (Selah)
16 Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him with my mouth,
his praise was on my tongue.
18 Had I cherished evil thoughts,
Adonai would not have listened.
19 But in fact, God did listen;
he paid attention to my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, who did not reject my prayer
or turn his grace away from me.
67 (0) For the leader. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song:
2 (1) God, be gracious to us, and bless us.
May he make his face shine toward us, (Selah)
3 (2) so that your way may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
4 (3) Let the peoples give thanks to you, God;
let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them.
5 (4) Let the nations be glad and shout for joy,
for you will judge the peoples fairly
and guide the nations on earth. (Selah)
6 (5) Let the peoples give thanks to you, God;
let the peoples give thanks to you, all of them.
7 (6) The earth has yielded its harvest;
may God, our God, bless us.
8 (7) May God continue to bless us,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
19 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) The heavens declare the glory of God,
the dome of the sky speaks the work of his hands.
3 (2) Every day it utters speech,
every night it reveals knowledge.
4 (3) Without speech, without a word,
without their voices being heard,
5 (4) their line goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he places a tent for the sun,
6 (5) which comes out like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber,
with delight like an athlete to run his race.
7 (6) It rises at one side of the sky,
circles around to the other side,
and nothing escapes its heat.
8 (7) The Torah of Adonai is perfect,
restoring the inner person.
The instruction of Adonai is sure,
making wise the thoughtless.
9 (8) The precepts of Adonai are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The mitzvah of Adonai is pure,
enlightening the eyes.
10 (9) The fear of Adonai is clean,
enduring forever.
The rulings of Adonai are true,
they are righteous altogether,
11 (10) more desirable than gold,
than much fine gold,
also sweeter than honey
or drippings from the honeycomb.
12 (11) Through them your servant is warned;
in obeying them there is great reward.
13 (12) Who can discern unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from hidden faults.
14 (13) Also keep your servant from presumptuous sins,
so that they won’t control me.
Then I will be blameless
and free of great offense.
15 (14) May the words of my mouth
and the thoughts of my heart
be acceptable in your presence,
Adonai, my Rock and Redeemer.
46 (0) For the leader. By the descendants of Korach. On ‘alamot [high-pitched musical instruments?]. A song:
2 (1) God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
3 (2) Therefore we are unafraid,
even if the earth gives way,
even if the mountains tumble
into the depths of the sea,
4 (3) even if its waters rage and foam,
and mountains shake at its turbulence. (Selah)
5 (4) There is a river whose streams
gladden the city of God,
the holy habitation of ‘Elyon —
6 (5) God is in the city.
It will not be moved —
when daybreak comes, God will help it.
7 (6) Nations were in turmoil,
kingdoms were moved;
his voice thundered forth,
and the earth melted away.
8 (7) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
9 (8) Come and see the works of Adonai,
the astounding deeds he has done on the earth.
10 (9) To the ends of the earth he makes wars cease —
he breaks the bow, snaps the spear,
burns the shields in the fire.
11 (10) “Desist, and learn that I am God,
supreme over the nations,
supreme over the earth.”
12 (11) Adonai-Tzva’ot is with us,
our fortress, the God of Ya‘akov. (Selah)
14 There we found brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went on toward Rome.
15 The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha’ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. 16 And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha’ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.
17 After three days Sha’ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. 18 They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence. 19 But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor — not that I had any charge to make against my own people. 20 This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra’el that I have this chain around me.”
21 They said to him, “We have not received any letters about you from Y’hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it.”
23 So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua.
16 Speaking to the talmidim, Yeshua said: “There was a wealthy man who employed a general manager. Charges were brought to him that his manager was squandering his resources. 2 So he summoned him and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in your accounts, for you can no longer be manager.’
3 “‘What am I to do?’ said the manager to himself. ‘My boss is firing me, I’m not strong enough to dig ditches, and I’m ashamed to go begging. 4 Aha! I know what I’ll do — something that will make people welcome me into their homes after I’ve lost my job here!’
5 “So, after making appointments with each of his employer’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my boss?’ 6 ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back,’ he told him. ‘Now, quickly! Sit down and write one for four hundred!’ 7 To the next he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your note back and write one for eight hundred.’
8 “And the employer of this dishonest manager applauded him for acting so shrewdly! For the worldly have more sekhel than those who have received the light — in dealing with their own kind of people!
9 “Now what I say to you is this: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it gives out, you may be welcomed into the eternal home. 10 Someone who is trustworthy in a small matter is also trustworthy in large ones, and someone who is dishonest in a small matter is also dishonest in large ones. 11 So if you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who is going to trust you with the real thing? 12 And if you haven’t been trustworthy with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what ought to belong to you? 13 No servant can be slave to two masters, for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.