Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
GIMEL ג
17 Do good to Your servant
that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, so I may behold
wonders from Your Torah.
19 I am a temporary dweller on earth—
do not hide Your mitzvot from me.
20 My soul is crushed with longing
for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud, who are cursed,
who wander from Your mitzvot.
22 Take scorn and contempt away from me,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Though princes sit and talk against me,
Your servant meditates on Your decrees.
24 For Your testimonies are my delight—
they are also my counselors.
DALET ד
25 My soul clings to the dust.
Revive me according to Your word!
26 I told of my ways and You answered me.
Teach me Your statutes.
27 Help me discern the way of Your precepts,
so I may meditate on Your wonders.
28 My soul weeps with grief.
Make me stand firm with Your word.
29 Turn me away from the deceitful way,
and be gracious to me with Your Torah.
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness.
I have set my heart on Your judgments.
31 I cling to Your testimonies.
Adonai, do not put me to shame!
32 I run the course of Your mitzvot,
for You open wide my heart.
Locusts and the Trial by Fire
7 This is what my Lord Adonai has shown me: Behold, He was forming locusts at the beginning of the spring crop—after the cutting of the king’s hay. 2 When the locust-swarm had finished devouring the vegetation of the land, I said:
“Adonai Elohim, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand, for he is small?”
3 Adonai relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” Adonai said.
4 This is what my Lord Adonai has shown me: Behold, Adonai Elohim was calling for the trial by fire, and it would have devoured the great deep, and it would have devoured the territory. 5 But I said:
“My Lord Adonai, stop, please!
How can Jacob stand, for he is small?”
6 Adonai relented concerning this.
“This also shall not happen,”
says my Lord Adonai.
27 God chose to make known to them this glorious mystery regarding the Gentiles—which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory! 28 We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete[a] in Messiah. 29 To this end I labor, striving with all His strength which is powerfully at work in me.
2 I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those in Laodicea, as well as for those who have still not seen me face to face. 2 My purpose is that their hearts, joined together in love, may be encouraged. May they have all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, leading to a true knowledge of the mystery of God—that is, Messiah. 3 In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. [b] 4 I am telling you this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive-sounding arguments. 5 For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit—rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your trust in Messiah.
Living Out the Mystery
6 Therefore as you received Messiah Yeshua as Lord, so continue to walk in Him— 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.