Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 5
For the choir director; for flutes; a psalm by David.
1 Open your ears to my words, O Yahweh.
Consider my innermost thoughts.
2 Pay attention to my cry for help, my Melek and my Elohim,
because I pray only to you.
3 In the morning, O Yahweh, hear my voice.
In the morning I lay my needs in front of you,
and I wait.
4 You are not an El who takes pleasure in wickedness.
Evil will never be your guest.
5 Those who brag cannot stand in your sight.
You hate all troublemakers.
6 You destroy those who tell lies.
Yahweh is disgusted with bloodthirsty and deceitful people.
7 But I will enter your house because of your great mercy.
Out of reverence for you, I will bow toward your holy temple.
8 O Yahweh, lead me in your righteousness because of those who spy on me.
Make your way in front of me smooth.
9 Nothing in their mouths is truthful.
Destruction comes from their hearts.
Their throats are open graves.
They flatter with their tongues.
10 Condemn them, O Elohim.
Let their own schemes be their downfall.
Throw them out for their many crimes
because they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice.
Let them sing with joy forever.
Protect them, and let those who love your name triumph in you.
12 You bless righteous people, O Yahweh.
Like a large shield, you surround them with your favor.
Psalm 6
For the choir director; with stringed instruments, on the sheminith;[a] a psalm by David.
1 O Yahweh, do not punish me in your anger
or discipline me in your rage.
2 Have pity on me, O Yahweh, because I am weak.
Heal me, O Yahweh, because my bones shake with terror.
3 My soul has been deeply shaken with terror.
But you, O Yahweh, how long . . . ?
4 Come back, O Yahweh.
Rescue me.
Save me because of your mercy!
5 In death, no one remembers you.
In the grave, who praises you?
6 I am worn out from my groaning.
My eyes flood my bed every night.
I soak my couch with tears.
7 My eyes blur from grief.
They fail because of my enemies.
8 Get away from me, all you troublemakers,
because Yahweh has heard the sound of my crying.
9 Yahweh has heard my plea for mercy.
Yahweh accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be put to shame and deeply shaken with terror.
In a moment they will retreat and be put to shame.
Psalm 10
1 Why are you so distant, Yahweh?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked person arrogantly pursues oppressed people.
He will be caught in the schemes that he planned.
3 The wicked person boasts about his selfish desires.
He blesses robbers, but he curses Yahweh.
4 He turns up his nose and says, “Yahweh doesn’t care.”
His every thought concludes, “There is no Elohim.”
5 He always seems to succeed.
Your judgments are beyond his understanding.
He spits at all his opponents.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing can shake me.
I’ll never face any trouble.”
7 His mouth is full of cursing, deception, and oppression.
Trouble and wrongdoing are on the tip of his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush in the villages.
From his hiding places he kills innocent people.
His eyes are on the lookout for victims.
9 He lies in his hiding place like a lion in his den.
He hides there to catch oppressed people.
He catches oppressed people when he draws them into his net.
10 His victims are crushed.
They collapse,
and they fall under the weight of his power.
11 He says to himself,
“El has forgotten.
He has hidden his face.
He will never see it!”
12 Arise, O Yahweh!
Lift your hand, O El.
Do not forget oppressed people!
13 Why does the wicked person despise Elohim?
Why does he say to himself, “Elohim doesn’t care”?
14 You have seen it; yes, you have taken note of trouble and grief
and placed them under your control.
The victim entrusts himself to you.
You alone have been the helper of orphans.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil person.
Punish his wickedness until you find no more.
16 Yahweh is Melek forever and ever.
The nations have vanished from his land.
17 You have heard the desire of oppressed people, O Yahweh.
You encourage them.
You pay close attention to them
18 in order to provide justice for orphans and oppressed people
so that no mere mortal will terrify them again.
Psalm 11
For the choir director; by David.
1 I have taken refuge in Yahweh.
How can you say to me:
“Flee to your mountain like a bird?
2 Wicked people bend their bows.
They set their arrows against the strings
to shoot in the dark at people whose motives are decent.
3 When the foundations of life are undermined,
what can a righteous person do?”
4 Yahweh is in his holy temple.
Yahweh’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes see.
They examine Adam’s descendants.
5 Yahweh tests righteous people,
but he hates wicked people and the ones who love violence.
6 He rains down fire and burning sulfur upon wicked people.
He makes them drink from a cup filled with scorching wind.
7 Yahweh is righteous.
He loves a righteous way of life.
Decent people will see his face.
The Lord Will Punish Israel for Its Immoral Behavior
3 Listen to this message which I, Yahweh, have spoken against you Israelites, against your whole family that I brought out of Egypt.
2 Out of all the families on earth, I have known no one else but you.
That is why I am going to punish you for all your sins.
3 Do two people ever walk together without meeting first?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest if it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in its den unless it has caught something?
5 Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there’s no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has caught something?
6 If a ram’s horn sounds an alarm in a city, won’t the people be alarmed?
If there is a disaster in a city, hasn’t Yahweh done it?
7 Certainly, Adonay Yahweh doesn’t do anything
unless he first reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared. Who isn’t afraid?
Adonay Yahweh has spoken. Who can keep from prophesying?
9 Announce in the palaces of Ashdod and in the palaces of Egypt,
“Gather together on the mountains of Samaria.
See the widespread confusion and oppression in Samaria.”
10 Those who collect profits in their palaces
through violent and destructive acts
don’t know how to do what is right, declares Yahweh.
11 This is what Adonay Yahweh says:
An enemy will surround your land,
strip you of your defenses,
and loot your palaces.
12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these qualities, although you already know about them and are well-grounded in the truth that you now have. 13 As long as I’m still alive, I think it’s right to refresh your memory. 14 I know that I will die soon. Our Lord Yeshua Christ has made that clear to me. 15 So I will make every effort to see that you remember these things after I die.
Pay Attention to God’s Words
16 When we apostles told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Yeshua Christ, we didn’t base our message on clever myths that we made up. Rather, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. 17 For example, we were eyewitnesses when he received honor and glory from God the Father and when the voice of our majestic God spoke these words to him: “This is my Son, whom I love and in whom I delight.” 18 We heard that voice speak to him from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 So we regard the words of the prophets as confirmed beyond all doubt. You’re doing well by paying attention to their words. Continue to pay attention as you would to a light that shines in a dark place as you wait for day to come and the morning star to rise in your hearts. 20 First, you must understand this: No prophecy in Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation. 21 No prophecy ever originated from humans. Instead, it was given by the Holy Spirit as humans spoke under God’s direction.
Jesus Throws Out the Moneychangers(A)
12 Yeshua went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. 13 He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”
14 Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them.
15 When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were irritated. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Yeshua replied, “Yes, I do. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise’?”
17 He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree(B)
18 In the morning, as Yeshua returned to the city, he became hungry. 19 When he saw a fig tree by the road, he went up to the tree and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to the tree, “May fruit never grow on you again!” At once the fig tree dried up.
20 The disciples were surprised to see this. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”
21 Yeshua answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to the fig tree. You could also say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 Have faith that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.