Book of Common Prayer
93 The Lord reigneth; He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself. The world also is established, that it cannot be moved.
2 Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
4 The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever.
96 O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day.
3 Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people; give unto the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before Him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth; the world also shall be established, that it shall not be moved; He shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
13 before the Lord. For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.
34 I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!
9 O fear the Lord, ye His saints! For them that fear Him suffer no want.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as are of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
20 He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.
10 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children; for the people wept very sorely.
2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken foreign wives of the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
4 Arise, for this matter belongeth unto thee; we also will be with thee. Be of good courage, and do it.”
5 Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to swear that they should do according to this word. And they swore.
6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread nor drank water, for he mourned because of the transgression of those who had been carried away.
7 And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem,
8 and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those who had been carried away.
9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the great rain.
10 And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, “Ye have transgressed and have taken foreign wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.
11 Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do His pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from the foreign wives.”
12 Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, “As thou hast said, so must we do.
13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside, neither is this a work of one day or two; for we are many who have transgressed in this thing.
14 Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all those who have taken foreign wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.”
15 Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah stood against this matter, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.
16 And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, were separated according to the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names. And they sat down on the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter,
17 and they made an end with all the men who had taken foreign wives by the first day of the first month.
10 Then Paul, after the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch as I know that thou hast been for many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself.
11 For thou mayest understand that there have been yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.
12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither stirring up the people, neither in the synagogues nor in the city.
13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
14 But this I confess unto thee, that according to the Way, which they call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
15 And I have hope in God, which they themselves also hold, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
16 And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.
17 “Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings,
18 whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, with neither crowd nor tumult.
19 These ought to have been here before thee to object if they had aught against me;
20 or else let these same say here if they have found any evildoing in me when I stood before the council,
21 unless it be for this one utterance that I cried out standing among them: ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am called into question by you this day.’”
12 Then said He also to him who bade Him, “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made to thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind,
14 and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee. For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”
15 And when one of those who sat at meat with Him heard these things, he said unto Him, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.”
16 Then Jesus said unto him, “A certain man made a great supper and bade many.
17 And he sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’
18 And they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said unto him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I need to go and see it. I pray thee have me excused.’
19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to test them. I pray thee have me excused.’
20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
21 So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind.’
22 And the servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.’
23 And the lord said unto the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you that none of those men who were bidden shall taste of my supper.’”
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