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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 16-17

16 The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.

Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.

Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.

That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.

Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.

I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.

shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.

From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.

From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies have surrounded my soul:

10 They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.

11 They have cast me forth and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.

12 They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling in secret places.

13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one: thy sword

14 From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of their substance.

15 But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.

17 Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. [2 Kings 22.]

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:

The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support.

Praising I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies.

The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.

The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me.

In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his ears.

The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.

There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it.

10 He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

11 And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds.

12 And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.

13 At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.

14 And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire.

15 And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.

16 Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath.

17 He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many waters.

18 He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

19 They prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord became my protector.

20 And he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.

21 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:

22 Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done wickedly against my God.

23 For till his judgments are in my sight: and his justices I have not put away from me.

24 And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity.

25 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

26 With the holy, thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent.

27 And with the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted.

28 For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud.

29 For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God enlighten my darkness.

30 For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall.

31 As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are fire tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him.

32 For who is God but the Lord? or who is God but our God?

33 God who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless.

34 Who hath made my feet like the feet of harts: and who setteth me upon high places.

35 Who teacheth my hands to war: and thou hast made my arms like a brazen bow.

36 And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me.

37 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not weakened.

38 I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they are consumed.

39 I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet.

40 And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me.

41 And thou hast made my enemies turn their back upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated me.

42 They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he heard them not.

43 And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.

44 Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles.

45 A people, which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.

46 The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.

47 The Lord liveth, and blessed be my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted:

48 O God, who avengest me, and subduest the people under me, my deliverer from my enemies.

49 And thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me: from the unjust man thou wilt deliver me.

50 Therefore will I give glory to thee, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing a psalm to thy name.

51 Giving great deliverance to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed: and to his seed for ever.

Psalm 22

22 A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.

He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:

He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name's sake.

For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.

Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.

Sirach 1:1-10

The knowledge of many and great things hath been shewn us by the law, and the prophets, and others that have followed them: for which things Israel is to be commended for doctrine and wisdom, because not only they that speak must needs be skillful, but strangers also, both speaking and writing, may by their means become most learned. My grandfather Jesus, after he had much given himself to a diligent reading of the law, and the prophets, and other books, that were delivered to us from our fathers, had a mind also to write something himself, pertaining to doctrine and wisdom: that such as are desirous to learn, and are made knowing in these things, may be more and more attentive in mind, and be strengthened to live according to the law. I entreat you therefore to come with benevolence, and to read with attention, and to pardon us for those things wherein we may seem, while we follow the image of wisdom, to come short in the composition of words; for the Hebrew words have not the same force in them when translated into another tongue. And not only these, but the law also itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the books, have no small difference, when they are spoken in their own language. For in the eight and thirtieth year coming into Egypt, when Ptolemy Evergetes was king, and continuing there a long time, I found there books left, of no small nor contemptible learning. Therefore I thought it good, and necessary for me to bestow some diligence and labour to interpret this book; and with much watching and study in some space of time, I brought the book to an end, and set it forth for the service of them that are willing to apply their mind, and to learn how they ought to conduct themselves, who purpose to lead their life according to the law of the Lord. All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with him, and is before all time.

Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world? Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss?

Who hath searched out the wisdom of God that goeth before all things?

Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.

The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways are everlasting commandments.

To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed, and who hath known her wise counsels?

To whom hath the discipline of wisdom been revealed and made manifest? and who hath understood the multiplicity of her steps?

There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon his throne, and is the God of dominion.

He created her in the Holy Ghost, and saw her, and numbered her, and measured her.

10 And he poured her out upon all his works, and upon all flesh according to his gift, and hath given her to them that love him.

Sirach 1:18-27

18 Religiousness shall keep and justify the heart, it shall give joy and gladness.

19 It shall go well with him that feareth the Lord, and in the days of his end he shall be blessed.

20 To fear God is the fulness of wisdom, and fulness is from the fruits thereof.

21 She shall fill all her house with her increase, and the storehouses with her treasures.

22 The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom, filling up peace and the fruit of salvation:

23 And it hath seen, and numbered her: but both are the gifts of God.

24 Wisdom shall distribute knowledge, and understanding of prudence: and exalteth the glory of them that hold her.

25 The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and the branches thereof are longlived.

26 In the treasures of wisdom is understanding, and religiousness of knowledge: but to sinners wisdom is an abomination.

27 The fear of the Lord driveth out sin:

Acts 28:1-16

28 And when we had escaped, then we knew that the island was called Melita. But the barbarians shewed us no small courtesy.

For kindling a fire, they refreshed us all, because of the present rain, and of the cold.

And when Paul had gathered together a bundle of sticks, and had laid them on the fire, a viper coming out of the heat, fastened on his hand.

And when the barbarians saw the beast hanging on his hand, they said one to another: Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, who though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance doth not suffer him to live.

And he indeed shaking off the beast into the fire, suffered no harm.

But they supposed that he would begin to swell up, and that he would suddenly fall down and die. But expecting long, and seeing that there came no harm to him, changing their minds, they said, that he was a god.

Now in these places were possessions of the chief man of the island, named Publius, who receiving us, for three days entertained us courteously.

And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux. To whom Paul entered in; and when he had prayed, and laid his hands on him, he healed him.

Which being done, all that had diseases in the island, came and were healed:

10 Who also honoured us with many honours, and when we were to set sail, they laded us with such things as were necessary.

11 And after three months, we sailed in a ship of Alexandria, that had wintered in the island, whose sign was the Castors.

12 And when we were come to Syracusa, we tarried there three days.

13 From thence, compassing by the shore, we came to Rhegium: and after one day, the south wind blowing, we came the second day to Puteoli;

14 Where, finding brethren, we were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went to Rome.

15 And from thence, when the brethren had heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns: whom when Paul saw, he gave thanks to God, and took courage.

16 And when we were come to Rome, Paul was suffered to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him.

Luke 9:28-36

28 And it came to pass about eight days after these words, that he took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray.

29 And whilst he prayed, the shape of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became white and glittering.

30 And behold two men were talking with him. And they were Moses and Elias,

31 Appearing in majesty. And they spoke of his decease that he should accomplish in Jerusalem.

32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.

33 And it came to pass, that as they were departing from him, Peter saith to Jesus: Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias; not knowing what he said.

34 And as he spoke these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them; and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud.

35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son; hear him.

36 And whilst the voice was uttered, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of these things which they had seen.