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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Version
Psalm 40

40 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.

The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness.

I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.

My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and his name perish?

And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose.

All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils to me.

They determined against me an unjust word: shall he that sleepeth rise again no more?

10 For even the man of peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me.

11 But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them.

12 By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me.

13 But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast established me in thy sight for ever.

14 Blessed by the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity. So be it. So be it.

Psalm 54

54 Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.

Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:

Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,

At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.

My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.

And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

10 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

11 Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

12 And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

13 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.

14 But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,

15 Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

16 Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

17 But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.

18 Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.

19 He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.

20 God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:

21 He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,

22 They are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.

23 Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

24 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

Psalm 51

51 Unto the end, understanding for David,

When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul David went to the house of Achimelech. [1 Kings 22.]

Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:

Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.

10 But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.

11 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

Sirach 34:1-8

34 The hopes of a man that is void of understanding are vain and deceitful: and dreams lift up fools.

The man that giveth heed to lying visions, is like to him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind.

The vision of dreams is the resemblance of one thing to another: as when a man's likeness is before the face of a man.

What can be made clean by the unclean? and what truth can come from that which is false?

Deceitful divinations and lying omens and the dreams of evildoers, are vanity:

And the heart fancieth as that of a woman in travail: except it be a vision sent forth from the most High, set no thy heart upon them.

For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put their trust in them.

The word of the law shall be fulfilled without a lie, and wisdom shall be made plain in the mouth of the faithful.

Sirach 34:18-22

18 To whom doth he look, and who in his strength?

19 The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, he is their powerful protector, and strong stay, a defence from the heat, and a cover from the sun at noon,

20 A preservation from stumbling, and a help from falling; he raiseth up the soul, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth health, and life, and blessing.

21 The offering of him that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, is stained, and the mockeries of the unjust are not acceptable.

22 The Lord is only for them that wait upon him in the way of truth and justice.

Revelation 13:1-10

13 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.

And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength, and great power.

And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death: and his death's wound was healed. And all the earth was in admiration after the beast.

And they adored the dragon, which gave power to the beast: and they adored the beast, saying: Who is like to the beast? and who shall be able to fight with him?

And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies: and power was given to him to do two and forty months.

And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation.

And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world.

If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10 He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Luke 12:13-31

13 And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.

14 But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?

15 And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.

16 And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.

17 And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer.

20 But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.

22 And he said to his disciples: Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on.

23 The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the raiment.

24 Consider the ravens, for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more valuable than they?

25 And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?

26 If then ye be not able to do so much as the least thing, why are you solicitous for the rest?

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.

28 Now if God clothe in this manner the grass that is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more you, O ye of little faith?

29 And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high.

30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek. But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.

31 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.