Book of Common Prayer
145 I have called out with all my heart. Answer me, O Yahweh.
I want to obey your laws.
146 I have called out.
Save me, so that I can obey your written instructions.
147 I got up before dawn, and I cried out for help.
My hope is based on your word.
148 My eyes are wide-open throughout the nighttime hours
to reflect on your word.
149 In keeping with your mercy, hear my voice.
O Yahweh, give me a new life guided by your regulations.
150 Those who carry out plots against me are near,
yet they are far away from your teachings.
151 You are near, O Yahweh,
and all your commandments are reliable.
152 Long ago I learned from your written instructions
that you made them to last forever.
153 Look at my misery, and rescue me,
because I have never forgotten your teachings.
154 Plead my case for me, and save me.
Give me a new life as you promised.
155 Wicked people are far from being saved,
because they have not searched for your laws.
156 Your acts of compassion are many in number, O Yahweh.
Give me a new life guided by your regulations.
157 I have many persecutors and opponents,
yet I have not turned away from your written instructions.
158 I have seen traitors,
and I am filled with disgust.
They have not accepted your promise.
159 See how I have loved your guiding principles!
O Yahweh, in keeping with your mercy, give me a new life.
160 There is nothing but truth in your word,
and all of your righteous regulations endure forever.
161 Influential people have persecuted me for no reason,
but it is only your words that fill my heart with terror.
162 I find joy in your promise
like someone who finds a priceless treasure.
163 I hate lying; I am disgusted with it.
I love your teachings.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous regulations.
165 There is lasting peace for those who love your teachings.
Nothing can make those people stumble.
166 I have waited with hope for you to save me, O Yahweh.
I have carried out your commandments.
167 I have obeyed your written instructions.
I have loved them very much.
168 I have followed your guiding principles and your written instructions,
because my whole life is in front of you.
169 Let my cry for help come into your presence, O Yahweh.
Help me understand as you promised.
170 Let my plea for mercy come into your presence.
Rescue me as you promised.
171 Let my lips pour out praise
because you teach me your laws.
172 Let my tongue sing about your promise
because all your commandments are fair.
173 Let your hand help me
because I have chosen to follow your guiding principles.
174 I have longed for you to save me, O Yahweh,
and your teachings make me happy.
175 Let my soul have new life so that it can praise you.
Let your regulations help me.
176 I have wandered away like a lost lamb.
Search for me,
because I have never forgotten your commandments.
Psalm 128
A song for going up to worship.
1 Blessed are all who fear Yahweh
and live his way.
2 You will certainly eat what your own hands have provided.
Blessings to you!
May things go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine inside your home.
Your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 This is how Yahweh will bless the person who fears him.
5 May Yahweh bless you from Zion
so that you may see Jerusalem prospering
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children.
Let there be peace in Israel!
Psalm 129
A song for going up to worship.
1 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me . . .”
(Israel should repeat this.)
2 “From the time I was young, people have attacked me,
but they have never overpowered me.
3 They have plowed my back like farmers plow fields.
They made long slashes like furrows.”
4 Yahweh is righteous.
He has cut me loose
from the ropes that wicked people tied around me.
5 Put to shame all those who hate Zion.
Force them to retreat.
6 Make them be like grass on a roof,
like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.
7 It will never fill the barns of those who harvest
or the arms of those who gather bundles.
8 Those who pass by will never say to them,
“May you be blessed by Yahweh”
or “We bless you in the name of Yahweh.”
Psalm 130
A song for going up to worship.
1 O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
2 O Adonay, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
3 O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
5 I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for Adonay
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
because with Yahweh there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
8 He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
16 The 600 armed men from Dan stood at the entrance to the city. 17 The five men who had gone to spy throughout the land went inside. They took the carved idol, the ephod, the household idols, and the metal idol. The priest stood at the entrance to the city with the 600 armed men. 18 When these men entered Micah’s house and took the carved idol, the ephod, the household idols, and the metal idol, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”
19 They told him, “Keep quiet! Don’t say a word! Come with us and be our father and priest. Is it better for you to be a priest for one man’s house or for a tribe in Israel and its families?”
20 The priest was content. He took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved idol and went with the people. 21 When they left, they put their children, livestock, and property in front of them.
22 When they had already gone some distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors were called together to help him catch up to the people of Dan. 23 They shouted at them. But the people of Dan turned around and said to Micah, “What’s your problem? Why did you call your neighbors together to attack us?”
24 Micah answered, “You’ve taken away the gods I made as well as my priest. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s your problem?’”
25 The people of Dan replied, “Don’t make another sound, or some violent men will attack you. Then you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 The people of Dan went on their way. Micah saw they were stronger than he was, so he turned around and went home.
27 The people of Dan took what Micah had made and the man who had become his priest and went to the city of Laish. They attacked a peaceful and secure people, killed them all with swords, and burned their city. 28 There was no one to rescue them because their city was far from Sidon and totally independent. The city was in the valley that belonged to Beth Rehob. The people of Dan rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 They named the city Dan in honor of their ancestor Dan, Israel’s son. Originally, the city was called Laish.
30 The people of Dan set up the carved idol for themselves. Jonathan (son of Gershom and grandson of Moses) and his descendants were priests for Dan’s tribe until the people living in that land were taken captive. 31 So they set up for themselves the carved idol Micah had made. It stayed there the whole time the house of Elohim was at Shiloh.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 Peter and John went to Samaria and prayed that the Samaritans would receive the Holy Spirit. 16 (Before this the Holy Spirit had not come to any of the Samaritans. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Yeshua.) 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit.
18 Simon saw that the Spirit was given to the Samaritans when the apostles placed their hands on them. So he offered Peter and John money 19 and said, “Give me this power so that anyone I place my hands on will receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 Peter told Simon, “May your money be destroyed with you because you thought you could buy God’s gift. 21 You won’t have any share in this because God can see how twisted your thinking is. 22 So change your wicked thoughts, and ask the Lord if he will forgive you for thinking like this. 23 I can see that you are bitter with jealousy and wrapped up in your evil ways.”
24 Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you said will happen to me.”
25 After they had boldly spoken about the message of the Lord, they spread the Good News in many Samaritan villages on their way back to Jerusalem.
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand(A)
6 Yeshua later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. 3 Yeshua went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. 4 The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.
5 As Yeshua saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Yeshua asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
8 One of Yeshua’s disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”
10 Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.”
The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)
11 Yeshua took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Yeshua told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
14 When the people saw the miracle Yeshua performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Yeshua realized that the people intended to take him by force and make him king. So he returned to the mountain by himself.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.