Book of Common Prayer
87 (0) A psalm of the sons of Korach. A song:
(1) On the holy mountains is [the city’s] foundation.
2 Adonai loves the gates of Tziyon
more than all the dwellings in Ya‘akov.
3 Glorious things are said about you,
city of God. (Selah)
4 I count Rahav and Bavel
among those who know me;
Of P’leshet, Tzor and Ethiopia [they will say],
“This one was born there.”
5 But of Tziyon it will be said,
“This one and that was born in it,
for the Most High himself establishes it.”
6 When he registers the peoples, Adonai will record,
“This one was born there.” (Selah)
7 Singers and dancers alike say,
“For me, you are the source of everything.”
Book IV: Psalms 90–106
90 (0) A prayer of Moshe the man of God:
(1) Adonai, you have been our dwelling place
in every generation.
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you had formed the earth and the world,
from eternity past to eternity future
you are God.
3 You bring frail mortals to the point of being crushed,
then say, “People, repent!”
4 For from your viewpoint a thousand years
are merely like yesterday or a night watch.
5 When you sweep them away, they become like sleep;
by morning they are like growing grass,
6 growing and flowering in the morning,
but by evening cut down and dried up.
7 For we are destroyed by your anger,
overwhelmed by your wrath.
8 You have placed our faults before you,
our secret sins in the full light of your presence.
9 All our days ebb away under your wrath;
our years die away like a sigh.
10 The span of our life is seventy years,
or if we are strong, eighty;
yet at best it is toil and sorrow,
over in a moment, and then we are gone.
11 Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath
to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?
12 So teach us to count our days,
so that we will become wise.
13 Return, Adonai! How long must it go on?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Fill us at daybreak with your love,
so that we can sing for joy as long as we live.
15 Let our joy last as long as the time you made us suffer,
for as many years as we experienced trouble.
16 Show your deeds to your servants
and your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of Adonai our God be on us,
prosper for us all the work that we do —
yes, prosper the work that we do.
136 Give thanks to Adonai, for he is good,
for his grace continues forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his grace continues forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his grace continues forever;
4 to him who alone has done great wonders,
for his grace continues forever;
5 to him who skillfully made the heavens,
for his grace continues forever;
6 to him who spread out the earth on the water,
for his grace continues forever;
7 to him who made the great lights,
for his grace continues forever;
8 the sun to rule the day,
for his grace continues forever;
9 the moon and stars to rule the night,
for his grace continues forever;
10 to him who struck down Egypt’s firstborn,
for his grace continues forever;
11 and brought Isra’el out from among them,
for his grace continues forever;
12 with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,
for his grace continues forever;
13 to him who split apart the Sea of Suf,
for his grace continues forever;
14 and made Isra’el cross right through it,
for his grace continues forever;
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Sea of Suf,
for his grace continues forever;
16 to him who led his people through the desert,
for his grace continues forever;
17 to him who struck down great kings,
for his grace continues forever;
18 yes, he slaughtered powerful kings,
for his grace continues forever;
19 Sichon king of the Emori,
for his grace continues forever;
20 and ‘Og king of Bashan,
for his grace continues forever;
21 then he gave their land as a heritage,
for his grace continues forever;
22 to be possessed by Isra’el his servant,
for his grace continues forever;
23 who remembers us whenever we are brought low,
for his grace continues forever;
24 and rescues us from our enemies,
for his grace continues forever;
25 who provides food for every living creature,
for his grace continues forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his grace continues forever.
1 This is the word of Adonai that came to Hoshea the son of Be’eri during the reigns of ‘Uziyah, Yotam, Achaz and Y’chizkiyah, kings of Y’hudah, and during the reign of Yarov‘am the son of Yo’ash, king of Isra’el. 2 Adonai’s opening words in speaking to Hoshea were to instruct Hoshea,
“Go, marry a whore,
and have children with this whore;
for the land is engaged in flagrant whoring,
whoring away from Adonai.”
3 So he went and married Gomer the daughter of Divlayim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Adonai said to him, “Call him Yizre‘el, because in only a short time I will punish the house of Yehu for having shed blood at Yizre‘el; I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Isra’el. 5 When that day comes, I will break the bow of Isra’el in the Yizre‘el Valley.”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Adonai said to him, “Name her Lo-Ruchamah [unpitied], for I will no longer have pity on the house of Isra’el. By no means will I forgive them. 7 But I will pity the house of Y’hudah; I will save them not by bow, sword, battle, horses or cavalry, but by Adonai their God.”
8 After weaning Lo-Ruchamah, she conceived and bore a son. 9 Adonai said, “Name him Lo-‘Ammi [not-my-people], because you are not my people, and I will not be your [God].
2 (1:10) “Nevertheless, the people of Isra’el will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.’
20 After the furor died down, Sha’ul sent for the talmidim and encouraged them, then took his leave and set out on his way to Macedonia. 2 He went through that area, and, after saying much to encourage them, passed on to Greece, 3 where he spent three months. As he was preparing to set sail for Syria, he discovered a plot against him by the unbelieving Jews; so he changed his mind and decided to return by way of Macedonia. 4 Sopater from Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; as did Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 These men went on and waited for us in Troas, 6 while we sailed from Philippi after the Days of Matzah. Five days later, we met them in Troas, where we spent a week.
7 On Motza’ei-Shabbat, when we were gathered to break bread, Sha’ul addressed them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight. 8 Now there were many oil lamps burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting, 9 and there was a young fellow named Eutychus sitting on the window-sill. As Sha’ul’s drash went on and on, Eutychus grew sleepier and sleepier; until finally he went sound asleep and fell from the third story to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. 10 But Sha’ul went down, threw himself onto him, put his arms around him and said, “Don’t be upset, he’s alive!” 11 Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. He continued talking with them till daylight, then left. 12 So, greatly relieved, they brought the boy home alive.
13 We went on ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were planning to take Sha’ul aboard — he had arranged this because he wanted to go there by land. 14 After he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. 15 The next day, we sailed from there and arrived off Chios; the following day, we crossed over to Samos; and the day after that, we reached Miletus. 16 For Sha’ul had decided to bypass Ephesus on his voyage, in order to avoid losing time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to get to Yerushalayim, if possible in time to celebrate Shavu‘ot.
38 Leaving the synagogue, he went to Shim‘on’s house. Shim‘on’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him to do something for her. 39 So, standing over her, he rebuked the fever; and it left her. She immediately got up and began helping them.
40 After sunset, all those who had people sick with various diseases brought them to Yeshua, and he put his hands on each one of them and healed them; 41 also demons came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But, rebuking them, he did not permit them to say that they knew he was the Messiah.
42 When day had come, he left and went away to a lonely spot. The people looked for him, came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. 43 But he said to them, “I must announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns too — this is why I was sent.” 44 He also spent time preaching in the synagogues of Y’hudah.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.