Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 93

Psalm 96^(A)

Psalm 34

A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he departed.

The People’s Confession of Sin

10 Now while Ezra prayed and confessed, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large congregation of men, women, and children gathered around him from Israel, for the people too wept bitterly. ² Shekaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, “We have acted with vile unfaithfulness against our God and have wedded foreign women from the people of the land, yet there is now hope in Israel concerning this. ³ Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to sever relations with all the women and their children according to the counsel of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. May this be done in accordance with the law. ⁴ Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. But we are standing with you. Be courageous and act!”

⁵ Then Ezra stood and made the presiding Levitical priests and all Israel to swear an oath to act according to this word. And they swore an oath. ⁶ Then Ezra stood in front of the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. When he arrived there, he ate no bread and drank no water because he was mourning over the vile unfaithfulness of the exiles.

⁷ They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the children of the exile to assemble in Jerusalem. ⁸ Whoever would not come within three days would forfeit all his possessions, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, and would himself be excluded from the congregation of the exiles.

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people sat on the grounds of the house of God, trembling about this matter and also because of the great rain. ¹⁰ Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have acted unfaithfully by bringing home foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now therefore make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do what pleases Him: Sever your relationships with the people of the land, especially from the foreign women.”

¹² Then all the congregation answered loudly, “As you have said to us, that we will do. ¹³ But there are many people, and because it is the rainy season we will not be able to set up outside. Moreover, this is not a task for a day or two since we have so grievously transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴ Let now our rulers preside over all the congregation so that, in each of our cities, all who have married foreign women, along with the elders and judges of that city, will come at appointed times, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter is turned from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶ Then the descendants of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of the fathers’ households, according to their families, each of them by name. They sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter, ¹⁷ and finished dealing with every man who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.

Paul’s Defense Before Felix

¹⁰ After the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul answered, “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully defend myself. ¹¹ You may verify that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² They did not find me in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd. ¹³ They cannot prove the things concerning which they now accuse me. ¹⁴ However, I affirm that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of my fathers and believe everything written in the Law and in the Prophets. ¹⁵ I have hope in God that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, which they also expect. ¹⁶ In this do I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and toward men.

¹⁷ “Now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, ¹⁸ when some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a crowd nor an uproar. ¹⁹ They ought to be here before you to accuse me if they have any charges. ²⁰ Or let these men say what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, ²¹ unless it is concerning this one statement which I cried out while standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am being judged by you this day.’ ”

¹² Then He said also to the one who invited Him, “When you prepare a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you prepare a banquet, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, for they cannot repay you. You shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet^(A)

¹⁵ When one of those who sat at dinner with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ Then He said to him, “A man prepared a banquet and invited many, ¹⁷ and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now prepared.’

¹⁸ “But they all with one mind began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I ask you to excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

²¹ “The servant came and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

²² “The servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and yet there is room.’

²³ “Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”