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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
American Standard Version (ASV)
Version
Psalm 18

Jehovah praised for giving victory and dominion.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of Jehovah, [a]who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said,

18 I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.
Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised:
So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
The cords of death compassed me,
And the floods of [b]ungodliness made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were round about me;
The snares of death came upon me.
In my distress I called upon Jehovah,
And cried unto my God:
He heard my voice out of his temple,
And my cry before him came into his ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations also of the mountains quaked
And were shaken, because he was wroth.
There went up a smoke [c]out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
And thick darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;
Yea, he soared upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his hiding-place, his pavilion round about him,
Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
13 Jehovah also thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered his voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
[d]Yea, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters appeared,
And the foundations of the world were laid bare,
At thy rebuke, O Jehovah,
At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
He drew me out of [e]many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
And from them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
18 They came upon me in the day of my calamity;
But Jehovah was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place;
He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me,
And I put not away his statutes from me.
23 I was also perfect with him,
And I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore hath Jehovah recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful;
With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;
26 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;
And with the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward.
27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people;
But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down.
28 For thou wilt light my lamp:
Jehovah my God will lighten my darkness.
29 For by thee I run [f]upon a troop;
And by my God do I leap over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect:
The word of Jehovah is tried;
He is a shield unto all them that take refuge in him.
31 For who is God, save Jehovah?
And who is a rock, besides our God,
32 The God that girdeth me with strength,
And maketh my way perfect?
33 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet:
And setteth me upon my high places.
34 He teacheth my hands to war;
So that mine arms do bend a bow of brass.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation;
And thy right hand hath holden me up,
And thy [g]gentleness hath made me great.
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
And my [h]feet have not slipped.
37 I will pursue mine enemies, and overtake them;
Neither will I turn again till they are consumed.
38 I will smite them through, so that they shall not be able to rise:
They shall fall under my feet.
39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:
Thou hast [i]subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs unto me,
That I might cut off them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save;
Even unto Jehovah, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind;
I did [j]cast them out as the mire of the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;
Thou [k]hast made me the head of the nations:
A people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me;
The foreigners shall [l]submit themselves unto me.
45 The foreigners shall fade away,
And shall come trembling out of their close places.
46 Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 Even the God that executeth vengeance for me,
And subdueth peoples under me.
48 He rescueth me from mine enemies;
Yea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me;
Thou deliverest me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations,
And will sing praises unto thy name.
50 Great [m]deliverance giveth he to his king,
And showeth lovingkindness to his anointed,
To David and to his seed, for evermore.

Amos 4:6-13

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, [a]and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 11 I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth—Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.

2 Peter 3:11-18

11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and [a]earnestly desiring the [b]coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the [c]elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and [d]for ever. Amen.

Matthew 21:33-46

33 Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. 34 And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his [a]servants to the husbandmen, to receive [b]his fruits. 35 And the husbandmen took his [c]servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other [d]servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. 37 But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. 39 And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,

[e]The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the head of the corner;
This was from the Lord,
And it is marvellous in our eyes?

43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 [f]And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust. 45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46 And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, because they took him for a prophet.