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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
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Psalm 78

One of Asaph’s maskils.

78 My people, listen to my teachings.
    Listen to what I say.
I will tell you a story.
    I will tell you about things from the past that are hard to understand.
We have heard the story, and we know it well.
    Our fathers told it to us.
And we will not forget it.
    Our people will be telling this story to the last generation.
We will all praise the Lord
    and tell about the amazing things he did.
He made an agreement with Jacob.
    He gave the law to Israel.
He gave the commands to our ancestors.
    He told them to teach the law to their children.
Then the next generation, even the children not yet born, would learn the law.
    And they would be able to teach it to their own children.
So they would all trust in God,
    never forgetting what he had done
    and always obeying his commands.
They would not be like their ancestors,
    who were stubborn and refused to obey.
Their hearts were not devoted to God,
    and they were not faithful to him.

The men from Ephraim had their weapons,
    but they ran from the battle.
10 They did not keep their agreement with God.
    They refused to obey his teachings.
11 They forgot the great things he had done
    and the amazing things he had shown them.
12 While their ancestors watched,
    he showed his great power at Zoan in Egypt.
13 He split the Red Sea and led the people across.
    The water stood like a solid wall on both sides of them.
14 Each day God led them with the tall cloud,
    and each night he led them with the light from the column of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the desert
    and gave them an ocean of fresh water.
16 He brought a stream of water out of the rock
    and made it flow like a river!
17 But they continued sinning against him.
    They rebelled against God Most High in the desert.
18 Then they decided to test God
    by telling him to give them the food they wanted.
19 They complained about him and said,
    “Can God give us food in the desert?
20 Yes, he struck the rock and a flood of water came out.
    But can he give us bread and meat?”
21 The Lord heard what they said
    and became angry with Jacob’s people.
    He was angry with Israel,
22 because they did not trust in him.
    They did not believe that God could save them.
23-24 But then God opened the clouds above,
    and manna rained down on them for food.
It was as if doors in the sky opened,
    and grain poured down from a storehouse in the sky.
25 These people ate the food of angels.
    God sent plenty of food to satisfy them.
26 He sent a strong wind from the east,
    and by his power he made the south wind blow.
27 He made quail fall like rain until they covered the ground.
    There were so many birds that they were like sand on the seashore.
28 The birds fell in the middle of the camp,
    all around their tents.
29 The people ate until they were full.
    God had given them what they wanted.
30 But before they were fully satisfied,
    while the food was still in their mouths,
31 God became angry and killed even the strongest of them.
    He brought down Israel’s best young men.
32 But the people continued to sin!
    They did not trust in the amazing things God could do.
33 So he ended their worthless lives;
    he brought their years to a close with disaster.
34 When he killed some of them, the others would turn back to him.
    They would come running back to God.
35 They would remember that God was their Rock.
    They would remember that God Most High had saved them.
36 But they tried to fool him with their words;
    they told him lies.
37 Their hearts were not really with him.
    They were not faithful to the agreement he gave them.
38 But God was merciful.
    He forgave their sins and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger.
    He never let it get out of control.
39 He remembered that they were only people,
    like a wind that blows and then is gone.
40 Oh, they caused him so much trouble in the desert!
    They made him so sad.
41 Again and again they tested his patience.
    They really hurt the Holy One of Israel.
42 They forgot about his power.
    They forgot the many times he saved them from the enemy.
43 They forgot the miracles in Egypt,
    the miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44 God turned the rivers into blood,
    and the Egyptians could not drink the water.
45 He sent swarms of flies that bit them.
    He sent the frogs that ruined their lives.
46 He gave their crops to grasshoppers
    and their other plants to locusts.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
    and their trees with sleet.
48 He killed their animals with hail
    and their cattle with lightning.
49 He showed the Egyptians his anger.
    He sent his destroying angels against them.
50 He found a way to show his anger.
    He did not spare their lives.
    He let them die with a deadly disease.
51 He killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt.
    He killed every firstborn in Ham’s[a] family.
52 Then he led Israel like a shepherd.
    He led his people like sheep into the desert.
53 He guided them safely.
    They had nothing to fear.
    He drowned their enemies in the sea.
54 He led his people to his holy land,
    to the mountain he took with his own power.
55 He forced the other nations out before them
    and gave each family its share of the land.
    He gave each tribe of Israel a place to live.
56 But they tested God Most High and made him very sad.
    They didn’t obey his commands.
57 They turned against him and were unfaithful just like their ancestors.
    They changed directions like a boomerang.
58 They built high places and made God angry.
    They built statues of false gods and made him jealous.
59 God heard what they were doing and became very angry.
    So he rejected Israel completely!
60 He abandoned his place at Shiloh,[b]
    the Holy Tent where he lived among the people.
61 He let foreigners capture the Box of the Agreement,
    the symbol of his power and glory.
62 He showed his anger against his people
    and let them be killed in war.
63 Their young men were burned to death,
    and there were no wedding songs for their young women.
64 Their priests were killed,
    but the widows had no time to mourn for them.
65 Finally, our Lord got up
    like a man waking from his sleep,
    like a soldier after drinking too much wine.
66 He forced his enemies to turn back defeated.
    He brought them shame that will last forever.
67 Then he rejected Joseph’s family.
    He did not accept Ephraim’s family.
68 No, he chose the tribe of Judah,
    and he chose Mount Zion, the place he loves.
69 He built his holy Temple high on that mountain.
    Like the earth, God built his Temple to last forever.
70 He chose David to be his special servant.
    He took him from the sheep pens.
71 He took him away from the job of caring for sheep
    and gave him the job of caring for the descendants of Jacob—Israel, his chosen people.
72 And David led them with a pure heart
    and guided them very wisely.

Genesis 26:1-6

Isaac Lies to Abimelech

26 Now there was a famine. This was like the famine that happened during Abraham’s life. So Isaac went to the town of Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines. The Lord spoke to Isaac and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I commanded you to live in. Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your family all these lands. I will do what I promised to Abraham your father. I will make your family as many as the stars of heaven, and I will give all these lands to your family. Through your descendants[a] every nation on earth will be blessed. I will do this because your father Abraham obeyed my words and did what I said. He obeyed my commands, my laws, and my rules.”

So Isaac settled in Gerar.

Genesis 26:12-33

Isaac Becomes Rich

12 Isaac planted fields in that place, and that year he gathered a great harvest. The Lord blessed him very much. 13 Isaac became rich. He gathered more and more wealth until he became a very rich man. 14 He had many flocks and herds of animals. He also had many slaves. All the Philistines were jealous of him. 15 So they destroyed all the wells that Isaac’s father Abraham and his servants had dug many years before. They filled them with sand. 16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave our country. You have become much more powerful than we are.”

17 So Isaac left that place and camped near the little river of Gerar. He stayed there and lived. 18 Long before this time, Abraham had dug many wells. After he died, the Philistines filled the wells with sand. So Isaac went back and dug those wells again. He gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Isaac’s servants also dug a well near the little river and found fresh water.[a] 20 But the men who herded sheep in the Valley of Gerar argued with Isaac’s servants. They said, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named that well Esek.[b] He gave it that name because it was the place where they had argued with him.

21 Then Isaac’s servants dug another well. But there was an argument over this well too. So Isaac named that well Sitnah.[c]

22 Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one came to argue about this well. So Isaac named it Rehoboth.[d] He said, “Now the Lord has found a place for us. We will grow and be successful in this place.”

23 From there Isaac went to Beersheba. 24 The Lord spoke to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Don’t be afraid. I am with you, and I will bless you. I will make your family great. I will do this because of my servant Abraham.” 25 So Isaac built an altar and worshiped the Lord in that place. He set up camp there, and his servants dug a well.

26 Abimelech came from Gerar to see Isaac. He brought with him Ahuzzath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army.

27 Isaac asked, “Why have you come to see me? You were not friendly to me before. You even forced me to leave your country.”

28 They answered, “Now we know that the Lord is with you. We think that we should make an agreement. We want you to make a promise to us. 29 We did not hurt you; now you should promise not to hurt us. We sent you away, but we sent you away in peace. Now it is clear that the Lord has blessed you.”

30 So Isaac gave a party for them. They all ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning each man made a promise and a vow. Then the men left in peace.

32 On that day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. The servants said, “We found water in that well.” 33 So Isaac named it Shibah.[e] And that city is still called Beersheba.[f]

Hebrews 13:17-25

17 Obey your leaders. Be willing to do what they say. They are responsible for your spiritual welfare, so they are always watching to protect you. Obey them so that their work will give them joy, not grief. It won’t help you to make it hard for them.

18 Continue praying for us. We feel right about what we do, because we always try to do what is best. 19 And I beg you to pray that God will send me back to you soon. I want this more than anything else.

20-21 I pray that the God of peace will give you every good thing you need so that you can do what he wants. God is the one who raised from death our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of his sheep. He raised him because Jesus sacrificed his blood to begin the new agreement that never ends. I pray that God will work through Jesus Christ to do the things in us that please him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

22 My brothers and sisters, I beg you to listen patiently to what I have said. I wrote this letter to strengthen you. And it is not very long. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy is out of prison. If he comes to me soon, we will both come to see you.

24 Give my greetings to all your leaders and to all God’s people. All those from Italy send you their greetings.

25 God’s grace be with you all.

John 7:53-8:11

A Woman Caught in Adultery

53 Then they all left and went home.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he went back to the Temple area. The people all came to him, and he sat and taught them.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in bed with a man who was not her husband. They forced her to stand in front of the people. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses commands us to stone to death any such woman. What do you say we should do?”

They were saying this to trick Jesus. They wanted to catch him saying something wrong so that they could have a charge against him. But Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. The Jewish leaders continued to ask him their question. So he stood up and said, “Anyone here who has never sinned should throw the first stone at her.” Then Jesus stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

When they heard this, they began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left alone with the woman standing there in front of him. 10 He looked up again and said to her, “Where did they all go? Did no one judge you guilty?”

11 She answered, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus said, “I don’t judge you either. You can go now, but don’t sin again.”[a]

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International