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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 30

30 Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy.

In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.

Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.

For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name's sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.

Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.

Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.

Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord:

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.

And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.

10 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:

11 For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.

12 I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.

13 I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.

14 For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.

15 But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.

16 My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.

17 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.

18 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.

19 Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse.

20 O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.

21 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.

22 Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.

23 But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.

24 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.

25 Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.

Psalm 32

32 A psalm for David. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright.

Give praise to the Lord on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings.

Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.

For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done with faithfulness.

He loveth mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth:

Gathering together the waters of the sea, as in a vessel; laying up the depths in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of him.

For he spoke and they were made: he commanded and they were created.

10 The Lord bringeth to naught the counsels of nations; and he rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of princes.

11 But the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever: the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance.

13 The Lord hath looked from heaven: he hath beheld all the sons of men.

14 From his habitation which he hath prepared, he hath looked upon all that dwell on the earth.

15 He who hath made the hearts of every one of them: who understandeth all their works.

16 The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength.

17 Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength.

18 Behold the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on them that hope in his mercy.

19 To deliver their souls from death; and feed them in famine.

20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord: for he is our helper and protector.

21 For in him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have trusted.

22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee.

Psalm 42-43

42 A psalm for David. Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.

For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?

Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.

And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.

To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?

Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

43 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, to give understanding.

We have heard, O God, with our ears: our fathers have declared to us, The work, thou hast wrought in their days, and in the days of old.

Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and thou plantedst them: thou didst afflict the people and cast them out.

For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them. But thy right hand and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance: because thou wast pleased with them.

Thou art thyself my king and my God, who commandest the saving of Jacob.

Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn: and through thy name we will despise them that rise up against us.

For I will not trust in my bow: neither shall my sword save me.

But thou hast saved us from them that afflict us: and hast put them to shame that hate us.

In God shall we glory all the day long: and in thy name we will give praise for ever.

10 But now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame: and thou, O God, wilt not go out with our armies.

11 Thou hast made us turn our back to our enemies: and they that hated us plundered for themselves.

12 Thou hast given us up like sheep to be eaten: thou hast scattered us among the nations.

13 Thou hast sold thy people for no price: and there was no reckoning in the exchange of them.

14 Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoff and derision to them that are round about us.

15 Thou hast made us a byword among the Gentiles: a shaking of the head among the people.

16 All the day long my shame is before me: and the confusion of my face hath covered me,

17 At the voice of him that reproacheth and detracteth me: at the face of the enemy and persecutor.

18 All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee: and we have not done wickedly in they covenant.

19 And our heart hath not turned back: neither hast thou turned aside our steps from thy way.

20 For thou hast humbled us in the place of affliction: and the shadow of death hath covered us.

21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread forth our hands to a strange god:

22 Shall not God search out these things: for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long: we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Arise, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and cast us not off to the end.

24 Why turnest thou face away? and forgettest our want and our trouble?

25 For our soul is humbled down to the dust: our belly cleaveth to the earth.

26 Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for thy name's sake.

Ezra 4:7

And in the days of Artaxerxes, Beselam, Mithridates, and Thabeel, and the rest that were in the council wrote to Artaxerxes king of the Persians: and the letter of accusation was written in Syriac, and was read in the Syrian tongue.

Ezra 4:11-24

11 (This is the copy of the letter, which they sent to him:) To Artaxerxes the king, thy servants, the men that are on this side of the river, send greeting.

12 Be it known to the king, that the Jews, who came up from thee to us, are come to Jerusalem a rebellious and wicked city, which they are building, setting up the ramparts thereof and repairing the walls.

13 And now be it known to the king, that if this city be built up, and the walls thereof repaired, they will not pay tribute nor toll, nor yearly revenues, and this loss will fail upon the kings.

14 But we remembering the salt that we have eaten in the palace, and because we count it a crime to see the king wronged, have therefore sent and certified the king,

15 That search may be made in the books of the histories of thy fathers, and thou shalt find written in the records: and shalt know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to the kings and provinces, and that wars were raised therein of old time: for which cause also the city was destroyed.

16 We certify the king, that if this city be built, and the walls thereof repaired, thou shalt have no possession on this side of the river.

17 The king sent word to Reum Beelteem and Samsai the scribe, and to the rest that were in their council, inhabitants of Samaria, and to the rest beyond the river, sending greeting and peace.

18 The accusation, which you have sent to us, hath been plainly read before me,

19 And I commanded: and search hath been made, and it is found, that this city of old time hath rebelled against kings, and seditions and wars have been raised therein.

20 For there have been powerful kings in Jerusalem, who hare had dominion over all the country that is beyond the river: and have received tribute, and toll and revenues.

21 Now therefore hear the sentence: Hinder those men, that this city be not built, till further orders be given by me.

22 See that you be not negligent in executing this, lest by little and little the evil grow to the hurt of the kings.

23 Now the copy of the edict of king Artaxerxes was read before Reum Beelteem, and Samsai the scribe, and their counsellors: and they went up in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and hindered them with arm and power.

24 Then the work of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem was interrupted, and ceased till the second year of the reign of Darius king of the Persians.

Philemon

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, a brother: to Philemon, our beloved and fellow labourer;

And to Appia, our dearest sister, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church which is in thy house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God, always making a remembrance of thee in my prayers.

Hearing of thy charity and faith, which thou hast in the Lord Jesus, and towards all the saints:

That the communication of thy faith may be made evident in the acknowledgment of every good work, that is in you in Christ Jesus.

For I have had great joy and consolation in thy charity, because the bowels of the saints have been refreshed by thee, brother.

Wherefore though I have much confidence in Christ Jesus, to command thee that which is to the purpose:

For charity sake I rather beseech, whereas thou art such a one, as Paul an old man, and now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ.

10 I beseech thee for my son, whom I have begotten in my bands, Onesimus,

11 Who hath been heretofore unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable both to me and thee,

12 Whom I have sent back to thee. And do thou receive him as my own bowels.

13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered to me in the bands of the gospel:

14 But without thy counsel I would do nothing: that thy good deed might not be as it were of necessity, but voluntary.

15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season from thee, that thou mightest receive him again for ever:

16 Not now as a servant, but instead of a servant, a most dear brother, especially to me: but how much more to thee both in the flesh and in the Lord?

17 If therefore thou count me a partner, receive him as myself.

18 And if he hath wronged thee in any thing, or is in thy debt, put that to my account.

19 I Paul have written it with my own hand: I will repay it: not to say to thee, that thou owest me thy own self also.

20 Yea, brother. May I enjoy thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord.

21 Trusting in thy obedience, I have written to thee: knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.

22 But withal prepare me also a lodging. For I hope that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.

23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus;

24 Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke my fellow labourers.

25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Matthew 12:33-42

33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known.

34 O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

35 A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

36 But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying: Master we would see a sign from thee.

39 Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

40 For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

41 The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here.

42 The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.