Book of Common Prayer
א (Alef)
119 How happy are those whose way of life is blameless,
who live by the Torah of Adonai!
2 How happy are those who observe his instruction,
who seek him wholeheartedly!
3 They do nothing wrong
but live by his ways.
4 You laid down your precepts
for us to observe with care.
5 May my ways be steady
in observing your laws.
6 Then I will not be put to shame,
since I will have fixed my sight on all your mitzvot.
7 I thank you with a sincere heart
as I learn your righteous rulings.
8 I will observe your laws;
don’t completely abandon me!
ב (Bet)
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
don’t let me stray from your mitzvot.
11 I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I won’t sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, Adonai!
Teach me your laws.
13 I proclaim with my mouth
all the rulings you have spoken.
14 I rejoice in the way of your instruction
more than in any kind of wealth.
15 I will meditate on your precepts
and keep my eyes on your ways.
16 I will find my delight in your regulations.
I will not forget your word.
ג (Gimel)
17 Deal generously with your servant;
then I will live and observe your word.
18 Open my eyes, so that I will see
wonders from your Torah.
19 Though I’m just a wanderer on the earth,
don’t hide your mitzvot from me.
20 I am continually consumed
with longing for your rulings.
21 You rebuke the proud, the cursed,
who stray from your mitzvot.
22 Remove scorn and contempt from me,
because I observe your instruction.
23 Even when princes sit and plot against me,
your servant meditates on your laws.
24 Also your instructions are my delight;
they are my counselors.
12 (0) For the leader. On sh’minit [low-pitched musical instruments?]. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Help, Adonai! For no one godly is left;
the faithful have vanished from humankind.
3 (2) They all tell lies to each other,
flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts.
4 (3) May Adonai cut off all flattering lips
and the tongue that speaks so proudly,
5 (4) those who say, “By our tongues, we will prevail;
our lips are with us. Who can master us?”
6 (5) “Because the poor are oppressed,
because the needy are groaning,
I will now rise up,” says Adonai,
“and grant security to those whom they scorn.”
7 (6) The words of Adonai are pure words,
silver in a melting-pot set in the earth,
refined and purified seven times over.
8 (7) You, Adonai, protect us;
guard us forever from this generation —
9 (8) the wicked strut about everywhere
when vileness is held in general esteem.
13 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) How long, Adonai?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
3 (2) How long must I keep asking myself what to do,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long must my enemy dominate me?
4 (3) Look, and answer me, Adonai my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
5 (4) Then my enemy would say, “I was able to beat him”;
and my adversaries would rejoice at my downfall.
6 (5) But I trust in your grace,
my heart rejoices as you bring me to safety.
(6) I will sing to Adonai, because he gives me
even more than I need.
14 (0) For the leader. By David:
(1) Fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They deal corruptly, their deeds are vile,
not one does what is right.
2 From heaven Adonai observes humankind
to see if anyone has understanding,
if anyone seeks God.
3 But all turn aside, all alike are corrupt;
no one does what is right,
not a single one.
4 Don’t they ever learn,
all those evildoers,
who eat up my people as if eating bread
and never call on Adonai?
5 There they are, utterly terrified;
for God is with those who are righteous.
6 You may mock the plans of the poor,
but their refuge is Adonai.
7 How I wish Isra’el’s salvation
would come out of Tziyon!
When Adonai restores his people’s fortunes,
Ya‘akov will rejoice, Isra’el will be glad!
6 My son, if you have put up security for your friend,
if you committed yourself on behalf of another;
2 you have been snared by the words of your mouth,
caught by the words of your own mouth.
3 Do this now, my son, and extricate yourself,
since you put yourself in your friend’s power:
go, humble yourself, and pester your friend;
4 give your eyes no sleep,
give your eyelids no rest;
5 break free, like a gazelle from the [hunter’s] trap,
like a bird from the grip of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazybones!
Consider its ways, and be wise.
7 It has no chief, overseer or ruler;
8 yet it provides its food in summer
and gathers its supplies at harvest-time.
9 Lazybones! How long will you lie there in bed?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 “I’ll just lie here a bit, rest a little longer,
just fold my hands for a little more sleep” —
11 and poverty comes marching in on you,
scarcity hits you like an invading soldier.
12 A scoundrel, a vicious man,
lives by crooked speech,
13 winking his eyes, shuffling his feet,
pointing with his fingers.
14 With deceit in his heart,
he is always plotting evil and sowing discord.
15 Therefore disaster suddenly overcomes him;
unexpectedly, he is broken beyond repair.
16 There are six things Adonai hates,
seven which he detests:
17 a haughty look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet swift in running to do evil,
19 a false witness who lies with every breath,
and him who sows strife among brothers.
5 Everyone who believes that Yeshua is the Messiah has God as his father, and everyone who loves a father loves his offspring too. 2 Here is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God, we also do what he commands. 3 For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, 4 because everything which has God as its Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust. 5 Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God?
6 He is the one who came by means of water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah — not with water only, but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 There are three witnesses — 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood — and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human witness, God’s witness is stronger, because it is the witness which God has given about his Son. 10 Those who keep trusting in the Son of God have this witness in them. Those who do not keep trusting God have made him out to be a liar, because they have not trusted in the witness which God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the witness: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Those who have the Son have the life; those who do not have the Son of God do not have the life.
16 “Oh, what can I compare this generation with? They’re like children sitting in the marketplaces, calling out to each other,
17 ‘We made happy music,
but you wouldn’t dance!
We made sad music,
but you wouldn’t cry!’
18 For Yochanan came, fasting, not drinking — so they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came, eating freely and drinking wine — so they say, ‘Aha! A glutton and a drunkard! A friend of tax-collectors and sinners!’ Well, the proof of wisdom is in the actions it produces.”
20 Then Yeshua began to denounce the towns in which he had done most of his miracles, because the people had not turned from their sins to God. 21 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Beit-Tzaidah! Why, if the miracles done in you had been done in Tzor and Tzidon, they would long ago have put on sackcloth and ashes as evidence that they had changed their ways. 22 But I tell you it will be more bearable for Tzor and Tzidon than for you on the Day of Judgment! 23 And you, K’far-Nachum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Sh’ol![a] For if the miracles done in you had been done in S’dom, it would still be in existence today. 24 But I tell you that on the Day of Judgment it will be more bearable for the land of S’dom than for you!”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.