Book of Common Prayer
You Are My God
Psalm 63
1 A psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
2 O God, You are my God,
earnestly I seek You.
My soul thirsts for You.
My flesh longs for You
in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
3 So, I looked for You in the Sanctuary,
to see Your power and Your glory.
4 Since Your lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
5 So I will bless You as long as I live.
In Your name I lift up my hands.[a]
6 My soul is satisfied as with fat and oil,
so my mouth praises You with joyful lips.
7 When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You through the night watches.
8 For You have been my help,
and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
9 My soul clings to You—
Your right hand upholds me.
10 But those who seek my soul to destroy it
will go down to the depths of the earth.
11 They will be gutted by the sword,
and become a prey for jackals.
12 But the king will rejoice in God.
All who swear by Him will boast,
when the mouth speaking lies is shut.
Creation Rejoices in His Salvation
Psalm 98
1 A psalm.
Sing to Adonai a new song,
for He has done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm
have won victory for Him.
2 Adonai has made His salvation known.
He has revealed His righteousness before the eyes of the nations.
3 He has remembered His lovingkindness,
His faithfulness to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout joyfully to Adonai, all the earth.
Break forth, sing for joy, and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to Adonai with the harp,
with the harp and a voice of melody.
6 With trumpets and sound of the shofar
blast a sound before the King, Adonai.
7 Let the sea roar and all within it,
the world and those who dwell in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing for joy together—
9 before Adonai, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with fairness.
As a Father Has Compassion
Psalm 103
1 Of David.
Bless Adonai, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless His holy Name.
2 Bless Adonai, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits:
3 He forgives all your iniquity.
He heals all your diseases.
4 He redeems your life from the Pit.
He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassions.
5 He satisfies your years with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle.
6 Adonai executes justice—
judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made His ways known to Moses,
His deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Adonai is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not treated us according to our sins,
or repaid us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His mercy for those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so Adonai has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame.
He remembers that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass—
he flourishes like a flower of the field,
16 but when the wind blows over it, it is gone,
and its place is no longer known.
17 But the mercy of Adonai is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who revere Him,
His righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep His covenant,
who remember to observe His instructions.
19 Adonai has set up His throne in the heavens,
and His kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless Adonai, you angels of His:
mighty in strength, performing His word,
upon hearing the utterance of His word.
21 Bless Adonai, all you His armies,
His servants who do His will.
22 Bless Adonai, all His works everywhere in His dominion.
Bless Adonai, O my soul!
Jericho’s Walls Come Down
15 Now on the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on that day did they march around the city seven times. 16 Then on the seventh time, when the kohanim blew the shofarot, Joshua ordered the people, “Shout! For Adonai has given you the city! 17 But the city will be under the ban of destruction—it and all that is in it belong to Adonai. Only Rahab the harlot will live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the scouts that we sent. 18 But you, just keep yourselves from the things under the ban. Otherwise you would make yourselves accursed by taking of the things under the ban, and so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to Adonai, and must go into the treasury of Adonai.”
20 So when the shofarot blew, the people shouted. When the people heard the sound of the shofar, the people shouted a loud shout—and the wall fell down flat! So the people went up into the city, everyone straight ahead, and they captured the city. [a] 21 They utterly destroyed everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep and donkey—with the edge of the sword.
22 Then Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land: “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her relatives and all who belonged to her. All her relatives they brought out and put them outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the city with fire and all that was in it. Only the silver, the gold and the vessels of bronze and iron did they put into the treasury of the House of Adonai. 25 But Rahab the harlot, her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. She has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the scouts whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26 At that time Joshua made an oath saying:
“Cursed before Adonai is the man
who rises up and rebuilds this city,
Jericho! On his firstborn
he will lay its foundation,
and on his youngest son
he will set up its gates.”
27 So Adonai was with Joshua, and his fame was throughout the region.
Delivered to the Council
30 But on the next day, desiring to know exactly why Paul had been accused by the Judeans, he released him and commanded the ruling kohanim and all the Sanhedrin to meet together. And he brought Paul and set him before them.
23 Paul, looking intently at the Sanhedrin, said, “Brothers, I have lived my life in all good conscience for God up to this day.” 2 But the kohen gadol Ananias ordered those standing by him to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you on the mouth, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Torah, and yet in violation of the Torah you order me to be struck?”[a]
4 Those standing nearby said, “Do you insult God’s kohen gadol?”
5 Paul said, “I didn’t know, brothers, that he is the kohen gadol. For it has been written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”[b]
6 But recognizing that one group was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees! I am on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”
7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angel or spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all. 9 Then there was a great uproar. Some of the Torah scholars of the Pharisees’ party stood up and protested sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man! What if a spirit or angel has spoken to him?”
10 As a big dispute was developing, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. So he ordered the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and to bring him into headquarters.
11 The following night the Lord stood beside Paul and said, “Take courage! For just as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome!”
Power to Pardon the Paralyzed
2 When He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was heard that He was at the house. 2 So many were gathered that there was no longer room for them even outside the door. He kept proclaiming the word to them.
3 Some people came bringing to Him a paralyzed man, carried by four men. 4 When they couldn’t get near Yeshua because of the crowd, they removed the roof where He was. After digging through, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 Yeshua, seeing their faith, said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the Torah scholars were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak like this? He blasphemes! Who can pardon sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Yeshua, knowing in His spirit that they were raising questions this way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you questioning these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority to pardon sins on earth. . ..” He tells the paralyzed man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home!”
12 At once the man got up, took his mat, and walked before them all. They were all astonished and glorified God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”[a]
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.