Book of Common Prayer
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness
and springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
a dry land into springs of water.
36 There He brings the hungry to live,
and they establish a city for a dwelling.
37 So they sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, they multiply greatly,
and He does not let their herds diminish,
39 after they were few and crushed
by oppression, calamity and sorrow.
40 He pours contempt on princes,
making them wander in trackless waste.
41 But He lifts the needy high above affliction,
and makes their families like a flock.
42 The upright see it and are glad,
and all iniquity shuts its mouth.
43 Who is wise?
Let him observe these things,
and consider Adonai’s lovingkindness.
With God We Do Valiantly
Psalm 108
1 A song, a psalm of David.
2 My heart is steadfast, O God.
I will sing, sing praises with all my soul.
3 Awake, harp and lyre—
I will awaken the dawn!
4 I will give thanks to You, Adonai, among the peoples,
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
5 For Your love is higher than the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
let Your glory be above all the earth.
7 Let Your beloved ones be delivered.
Save with Your right hand, answer me!
8 God has spoken in His Sanctuary:
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,
and measure out the valley of Succot.
9 Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine.
Also Ephraim is a helmet for My head,
Judah is my scepter.
10 Moab is My washbowl.
I throw my shoe on Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”
11 Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
12 O God, have You not spurned us?
Will You go out no more with our armies?
13 Give us help against the adversary—
for useless is deliverance through man.
All Creation Praise the Creator
Psalm 33
1 Sing for joy to Adonai, you righteous.
Praise is fitting for the upright.
2 Praise Adonai with the harp.
Sing praises to Him with a ten string lyre.
3 Sing to Him a new song![a]
Play skillfully amid shouts of joy.
4 For the word of Adonai is upright
and all His work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the love of Adonai.
6 By Adonai’s word were the heavens made,
and all their host by the breath of His mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea together in a heap.
He lays up deep waters in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear Adonai.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9 For He spoke, and it came to be.
He commanded, and it stood firm.
10 Adonai foils the purpose of the nations.
He thwarts the plans of the peoples.
11 The plan of Adonai stands forever,
the purposes of His heart from generation to generation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is Adonai,
the people He chose for His own inheritance.
13 Adonai looks down from heaven.
He observes all humanity.
14 From His dwelling place He gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth—
15 He who fashions the hearts of all,
who discerns all their deeds.
16 No king is saved by his great army,
no warrior is delivered by great strength.
17 A horse is a false hope for victory,
nor can its great strength save.
18 Behold, the eyes of Adonai are on those who fear Him,
waiting for His love,
19 to deliver their souls from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for Adonai—
He is our help and our shield.
21 Our heart rejoices in Him,
because we trusted in His holy Name.
22 Let Your lovingkindness, Adonai,
be upon us, as we have waited for You.
Avoid Ungodly Prophets
9 As for the prophets:
My heart within me is broken,
all my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine
because of Adonai,
because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers.
The land mourns because of a curse.
Pastures of the wilderness are dry.
Their running is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 For both prophet and kohen are ungodly.
Even in My House I found their evil.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 “Therefore their way will be for them like slippery places in the gloom.
They will be driven away and fall there,
for I will bring calamity on them,
even the year of their visitation.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
13 Moreover, I have seen unseemliness
in the prophets of Samaria:
they prophesied by Baal,
and led My people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
committing adultery and walking in lies.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers.
No one turns back from his evil.
They are all like Sodom to Me
and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot concerning the prophets:
“I myself will feed them wormwood
and make them drink poisoned water.
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
pollution has spread into all the land.”
The Role of Israel
9 I tell the truth in Messiah—I do not lie, my conscience assuring me in the Ruach ha-Kodesh— 2 that my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart unending. 3 For I would pray that I myself were cursed, banished from Messiah for the sake of my people—my own flesh and blood, [a] 4 who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption[b] and the glory[c] and the covenants and the giving of the Torah[d] and the Temple service[e] and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs—and from them, according to the flesh, the Messiah, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s seed; rather, “Your seed shall be called through Isaac.” [f] 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; rather, the children of the promise are counted as seed. 9 For the word of promise is this: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” [g] 10 And not only this, but also Rebecca having twins, from one act with our father Isaac. 11 Yet before the sons were even born and had not done anything good or bad—so that God’s purpose and choice might stand not because of works but because of Him who calls— 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” [h] 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[i]
14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For to Moses He says,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[j]
16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who strives, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up—to demonstrate My power in you, so My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” [k] 18 So then He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
Fallout from a Hard Teaching
60 So when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?”
61 But Yeshua knew His disciples were murmuring, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man going back up to the place where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life! 64 Yet some of you do not trust.” Yeshua knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not trust, as well as which one would betray Him.
65 Then He told them, “For this reason I’ve told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”
66 From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him. 67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the adversary!” 71 Now He was speaking of Judah, the son of Simon of Kriot—for he, one of the Twelve, was about to betray Him.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.