Book of Common Prayer
BOOK ONE
(Psalms 1–41)
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the person who does not
follow the advice of wicked people,
take the path of sinners,
or join the company of mockers.
2 Rather, he delights in the teachings of Yahweh
and reflects on his teachings day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside streams—
a tree that produces fruit in season
and whose leaves do not wither.
He succeeds in everything he does.[a]
4 Wicked people are not like that.
Instead, they are like husks that the wind blows away.
5 That is why wicked people will not be able to stand in the judgment
and sinners will not be able to stand where righteous people gather.
6 Yahweh knows the way of righteous people,
but the way of wicked people will end.
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations gather together?
Why do their people devise useless plots?
2 Kings take their stands.
Rulers make plans together
against Yahweh and against his Mashiach[b] by saying,
3 “Let’s break apart their chains
and shake off their ropes.”
4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs.
Adonay makes fun of them.
5 Then he speaks to them in his anger.
In his burning anger he terrifies them by saying,
6 “I have installed my own king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will announce Yahweh’s decree.
He said to me:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.
8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance
and the ends of the earth as your own possession.
9 You will break them with an iron scepter.
You will smash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Now, you kings, act wisely.
Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, or he will become angry
and you will die on your way
because his anger will burst into flames.
Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 3
A psalm by David when he fled from his son Absalom.
1 O Yahweh, look how my enemies have increased!
Many are attacking me.
2 Many are saying about me,
“Even with Elohim on his side,
he won’t be victorious.” Selah
3 But you, O Yahweh, are a Magen that surrounds me.
You are my glory.
You hold my head high.
4 I call aloud to Yahweh,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
5 I lie down and sleep.
I wake up again because Yahweh continues to support me.
6 I am not afraid of the tens of thousands
who have taken positions against me on all sides.
7 Arise, O Yahweh!
Save me, O my Elohim!
You have slapped all my enemies in the face.
You have smashed the teeth of wicked people.
8 Victory belongs to Yahweh!
May your blessing rest on your people. Selah
Psalm 4
For the choir director; with stringed instruments; a psalm by David.
1 Answer me when I call, O Elohim of my righteousness.
You have freed me from my troubles.
Have pity on me, and hear my prayer!
2 You important people,
how long are you going to insult my honor?
How long are you going to love what is empty
and seek what is a lie? Selah
3 Know that Yahweh singles out godly people for himself.
Yahweh hears me when I call to him.
4 Tremble and do not sin.
Think about this on your bed and remain quiet. Selah
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
by trusting Yahweh.
6 Many are saying, “Who can show us anything good?”
Let the light of your presence shine on us, O Yahweh.
7 You put more joy in my heart
than when their grain and new wine increase.
8 I fall asleep in peace the moment I lie down
because you alone, O Yahweh, enable me to live securely.
Psalm 7
A shiggaion[a] by David; he sang it to Yahweh about the slanderous words of Cush, a descendant of Benjamin.
1 O Yahweh my Elohim, I have taken refuge in you.
Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me.
2 Like a lion they will tear me to pieces
and drag me off with no one to rescue me.
3 O Yahweh my Elohim,
if I have done this—
if my hands are stained with injustice,
4 if I have paid back my friend with evil
or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me—[b]
5 then let the enemy chase me and catch me.
Let him trample my life into the ground.
Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Arise in anger, O Yahweh.
Stand up against the fury of my attackers.
Wake up, my God.[c]
You have already pronounced judgment.
7 Let an assembly of people gather around you.
Take your seat high above them.
8 Yahweh judges the people of the world.
Judge me, O Yahweh,
according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity.
9 Let the evil within wicked people come to an end,
but make the righteous person secure,
O righteous Elohim who examines thoughts and emotions.
10 My Magen is Elohim above,
who saves those whose motives are decent.
11 Elohim is a fair Shophet,
an El who is angered by injustice every day.
12 If a person does not change, Elohim sharpens his sword.
By bending his bow, he makes it ready to shoot.
13 He prepares his deadly weapons
and turns them into flaming arrows.
14 See how that person conceives evil,
is pregnant with harm,
and gives birth to lies.
15 He digs a pit and shovels it out.
Then he falls into the hole that he made for others.
16 His mischief lands back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of him.
17 I will give thanks to Yahweh for his righteousness.
I will make music to praise the name of Yahweh Elyon.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when Yahweh Elohim made earth and heaven.
5 Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because Yahweh Elohim hadn’t sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land. 6 Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground.
7 Then Yahweh Elohim formed the man from the dust of the earth[a] and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.
8 Yahweh Elohim planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That’s where he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Yahweh Elohim made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden.
10 A river flowed from Eden to water the garden. Outside the garden it divided into four rivers. 11 The name of the first river is Pishon. This is the one that winds throughout Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure. Bdellium[b] and onyx are also found there.) 13 The name of the second river is Gihon. This is the one that winds throughout Sudan. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one that flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then Yahweh Elohim took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it. 16 Yahweh Elohim commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 17 But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
18 Then Yahweh Elohim said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”
19 Yahweh Elohim had formed all the wild animals and all the birds out of the ground. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each creature became its name. 20 So the man named all the domestic animals, all the birds, and all the wild animals.
But the man found no helper who was right for him. 21 So Yahweh Elohim caused him to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, Yahweh Elohim took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 Then Yahweh Elohim formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She will be named woman
because she was taken from man.”
24 That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they weren’t ashamed of it.
God Has Spoken to Us Through His Son
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. 2 In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe. 3 His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words. After he had cleansed people from their sins, he received the highest position, the one next to the Father in heaven.
God’s Son Is Superior to the Angels
4 The Son has become greater than the angels since he has been given a name that is superior to theirs. 5 God never said to any of his angels,
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”
And God never said to any of his angels,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son.”
6 When God was about to send his firstborn Son into the world, he said,
“All of God’s angels must worship him.”
7 God said about the angels,
“He makes his messengers winds.
He makes his servants flames of fire.”
8 But God said about his Son,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
9 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why God, your God,
anointed you, rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.”
10 God also said,
“Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth.
With your own hands you made the heavens.
11 They will come to an end, but you will live forever.
They will all wear out like clothes.
12 They will be taken off like a coat.
You will change them like clothes.
But you remain the same, and your life will never end.
13 But God never said to any of the angels,
“Sit in the highest position in heaven
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
14 What are all the angels? They are spirits sent to serve those who are going to receive salvation.
The Word Becomes Human
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was already with God in the beginning.
3 Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.
4 He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.
5 The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.[a]
6 God sent a man named John to be his messenger. 7 John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. 8 John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.
9 The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. 12 However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. 13 These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire to have a child. They were born from God.
14 The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness[b] and truth.
15 (John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’”)
16 Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is. 17 Laws were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Yeshua Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.