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 Iyov responded:
7 “Human life on earth is like serving in the army;
yes, we drudge through our days like a hired worker,
2 like a slave longing for shade,
like a worker thinking only of his wages.
3 So I am assigned months of meaninglessness;
troubled nights are my lot.
4 When I lie down, I ask,
‘When can I get up?’
But the night is long, and I keep tossing
to and fro until daybreak.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt,
my skin forms scabs that ooze pus.
6 My days pass more swiftly than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 “Remember that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never again see good times.
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no more;
while your eyes are on me, I will be gone.
9 Like a cloud dissolving and disappearing,
so he who descends to Sh’ol won’t come back up.
10 He will not return again to his house,
and his home will know him no more.
11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth
but will speak in my anguish of spirit
and complain in my bitterness of soul.
12 Am I the sea, or some sea monster,
that you put a guard over me?
13 When I think that my bed will comfort me,
that my couch will relieve my complaint,
14 then you terrify me with dreams
and frighten me with visions.
15 I would rather be strangled;
death would be better than these bones of mine.
16 I hate it! I won’t live forever,
so leave me alone, for my life means nothing.
17 “What are mere mortals, that you make so much of them?
Why do you keep them on your mind?
18 Why examine them every morning
and test them every moment?
19 Won’t you ever take your eyes off of me,
at least long enough for me to swallow my spit?
20 “Suppose I do sin — how do I harm you,
you scrutinizer of humanity?
Why have you made me your target,
so that I am a burden to you?
21 Why don’t you pardon my offense
and take away my guilt?
For soon I will lie down in the dust;
you will seek me, but I will be gone.”
10 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man, a “God-fearer,” as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God. 3 One afternoon around three o’clock he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” 4 Cornelius stared at the angel, terrified. “What is it, sir?” he asked. “Your prayers,” replied the angel, “and your acts of charity have gone up into God’s presence, so that he has you on his mind. 5 Now send some men to Yafo to bring back a man named Shim‘on, also called Kefa. 6 He’s staying with Shim‘on the leather-tanner, who has a house by the sea.” 7 As the angel that had spoken to him went away, Cornelius called two of his household slaves and one of his military aides, who was a godly man; 8 he explained everything to them and sent them to Yafo.
9 The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray. 10 He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance 11 in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds. 13 Then a voice came to him, “Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Kefa said, “No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif.” 15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven.
7 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. 2 But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; 3 so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; 4 for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” 5 (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) 6 Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. 8 You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret. 11 At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked. 12 And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.” 13 However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.