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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Darby Translation (DARBY)
Version
Psalm 137

137 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail [required] mirth, [saying,] Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.

How should we sing a song of Jehovah's upon a foreign soil?

If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [its skill];

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Remember, O Jehovah, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, Lay [it] bare, Lay [it] bare, down to its foundation!

Daughter of Babylon, who art to be laid waste, happy he that rendereth unto thee that which thou hast meted out to us.

Happy he that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.

Psalm 144

[A Psalm] of David.

144 Blessed be Jehovah my rock, who teacheth my hands to war, my fingers to fight;

My mercy and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I trust, who subdueth my people under me!

Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him, the son of man, that thou takest thought of him?

Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Jehovah, bow thy heavens, and come down; touch the mountains, that they smoke;

Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them; send forth thine arrows, and discomfit them:

Stretch out thy hands from above; rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of aliens,

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

O God, I will sing a new song unto thee; with the ten-stringed lute will I sing psalms unto thee:

10 Who givest salvation unto kings; who rescuest David thy servant from the hurtful sword.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me from the hand of aliens, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; our daughters as corner-columns, sculptured after the fashion of a palace:

13 Our granaries full, affording all manner of store; our sheep bringing forth thousands, ten thousands in our pastures;

14 Our kine laden [with young]; no breaking in and no going forth, and no outcry in our streets.

15 Blessed the people that is in such a case! Blessed the people whose God is Jehovah!

Psalm 104

104 Bless Jehovah, O my soul! Jehovah my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with majesty and splendour;

Covering thyself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent-curtain;—

Who layeth the beams of his upper chambers in the waters, who maketh clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind;

Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flame of fire.

He laid the earth upon its foundations: it shall not be removed for ever.

Thou hadst covered it with the deep, as with a vesture; the waters stood above the mountains:

At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away;—

The mountains rose, the valleys sank, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them;—

Thou hast set a bound which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.

10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys: they run among the mountains;

11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst.

12 The birds of heaven dwell by them; they give forth their voice from among the branches.

13 He watereth the mountains from his upper-chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.

14 He maketh the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; bringing forth bread out of the earth,

15 And wine which gladdeneth the heart of man; making [his] face shine with oil; and with bread he strengtheneth man's heart.

16 The trees of Jehovah are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted,

17 Where the birds make their nests; [as for] the stork, the fir trees are her house.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs, a refuge for the rock-badgers.

19 He made the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth its going down.

20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth:

21 The young lions roar after the prey, and to seek their food from God.

22 The sun ariseth, they retreat, and lay them down in their dens.

23 Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening.

24 How manifold are thy works, O Jehovah! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

25 Yonder is the great and wide sea: therein are moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great.

26 There go the ships; [there] that leviathan, which thou hast formed to play therein.

27 These all look unto thee, that thou mayest give their food in its season:

28 That thou givest unto them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good.

29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they expire and return to their dust.

30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth.

31 The glory of Jehovah will endure for ever; Jehovah will rejoice in his works.

32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing unto Jehovah as long as I live; I will sing psalms to my God while I have my being.

34 My meditation shall be pleasant unto him; I will rejoice in Jehovah.

35 Sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Hallelujah!

2 Samuel 23:1-7

23 Now these are the last words of David: David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel saith,

The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, And his word was on my tongue.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, The ruler among men shall be just, Ruling in the fear of God;

And [he shall be] as the light or the morning, [like] the rising of the sun, A morning without clouds; [When] from the sunshine, after rain, The green grass springeth from the earth.

Although my house be not so before God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in every way and sure; For [this is] all my salvation, and every desire, Although he make [it] not to grow.

But [the sons] of Belial [are] all of them as thorns thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with hands;

And the man that will touch them provideth himself with iron and the staff of a spear; And they shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place.

2 Samuel 23:13-17

13 And three of the thirty chiefs went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, when the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

14 And David was then in the stronghold; and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem.

15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate!

16 And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate, and took it, and brought it to David; however he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah.

17 And he said, Be it far from me, Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.

Acts 25:13-27

13 And when certain days had elapsed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to salute Festus.

14 And when they had spent many days there, Festus laid before the king the matters relating to Paul, saying, There is a certain man left prisoner by Felix,

15 concerning whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid informations, requiring judgment against him:

16 to whom I answered, It is not [the] custom of the Romans to give up any man before that the accused have the accusers face to face, and he have got opportunity of defence touching the charge.

17 When therefore they had come together here, without putting it off, I sat the next day on the judgment-seat and commanded the man to be brought:

18 concerning whom the accusers, standing up, brought no such accusation of guilt as *I* supposed;

19 but had against him certain questions of their own system of worship, and concerning a certain Jesus who is dead, whom Paul affirmed to be living.

20 And as I myself was at a loss as to an inquiry into these things, I said, Was he willing to go to Jerusalem and there to be judged concerning these things?

21 But Paul having appealed to be kept for the cognisance of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I shall send him to Caesar.

22 And Agrippa [said] to Festus, I myself also would desire to hear the man. To-morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him.

23 On the morrow therefore, Agrippa being come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and having entered into the hall of audience, with the chiliarchs and the men of distinction of the city, and Festus having given command, Paul was brought.

24 And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us, ye see this person, concerning whom all the multitude of the Jews applied to me both in Jerusalem and here, crying out against [him] that he ought not to live any longer.

25 But I, having found that he had done nothing worthy of death, and this [man] himself having appealed to Augustus, I have decided to send him;

26 concerning whom I have nothing certain to write to my lord. Wherefore I have brought him before you, and specially before thee, king Agrippa, so that an examination having been gone into I may have something to write:

27 for it seems to me senseless, sending a prisoner, not also to signify the charges against him.

Mark 13:1-13

13 And as he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples says to him, Teacher, see what stones and what buildings!

And Jesus answering said to him, Seest thou these great buildings? not a stone shall be left upon a stone, which shall not be thrown down.

And as he sat on the mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

Tell us, when shall these things be, and what is the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?

And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any one mislead you.

For many shall come in my name, saying, It is *I*, and shall mislead many.

But when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be not disturbed, for [this] must happen, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be earthquakes in [different] places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these things [are the] beginnings of throes.

But *ye*, take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to sanhedrims and to synagogues: ye shall be beaten and brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them;

10 and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.

11 But when they shall lead you away to deliver you up, be not careful beforehand as to what ye shall say, [nor prepare your discourse]: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak; for *ye* are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit.

12 But brother shall deliver up brother to death, and father child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.

13 And ye will be hated of all on account of my name; but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.