Book of Common Prayer

^[a] A song of David when he pretended to be crazy so that Abimelech would send him away, which he did.

The People Confess Their Sin

10 Ezra was praying and confessing. He was crying and bowing down in front of God’s Temple. While Ezra was doing that, a large group of the Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him. They were crying. ² Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, spoke to Ezra and said, “We have not been faithful to our God. We have married the people living around us. But, even though we have done this, there is still hope for Israel. ³ Now let us make an agreement before our God to send away all these women and their children. We will do that to follow the advice of Ezra and the people who respect the laws of our God. We will obey God’s law. ⁴ Get up, Ezra. This is your responsibility, but we will support you. So be brave and do it.”

⁵ So Ezra got up. He made the leading priests, the Levites, and all the Israelites promise to do what he said. ⁶ Then Ezra went away from the front of God’s house. He went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While Ezra was there, he didn’t eat food or drink water. He did that because he was still very sad. He was very sad about the Israelites who came back to Jerusalem. ⁷ Then he sent a message to every place in Judah and Jerusalem. The message told all the Jewish people who had come back from captivity to meet together in Jerusalem. ⁸ Those who did not come to Jerusalem in three days like the officials and elders said would lose their property and be removed from the group.

⁹ So in three days all the men from the families of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem. And on the twentieth day of the ninth month,^[a] all the people met together in the Temple yard. They were very upset because of the reason for the meeting and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood and said to them, “You people have not been faithful to God. You have married foreign women. You have made Israel more guilty by doing that. ¹¹ Now you must confess your sins to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. You must obey his command. Separate yourselves from the people living around you and from your foreign wives.”

¹² Then the whole group who met together answered Ezra. They shouted, “Ezra, you are right! We must do what you say. ¹³ But there are many people here. And it is the rainy time of year, so we cannot stay outside. This problem cannot be solved in a day or two because we have sinned in a very bad way. ¹⁴ Let our leaders decide for the whole group meeting here. Then let every man in our towns who married a foreign woman come here to Jerusalem at a planned time. Let them come here with the elders and judges of their towns. Then God will stop being angry with us.”

¹⁵ Only a few men were against this plan. They were Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah. Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite also were against the plan.

¹⁶ So the Israelites who came back to Jerusalem accepted the plan. Ezra the priest chose men who were family leaders. He chose one man from each tribe. Each man was chosen by name. On the first day of the tenth month,^[b] the men who were chosen sat down to study each of the cases. ¹⁷ And by the first day of the first month,^[c] they finished discussing all the men who had married foreign women.

Paul Defends Himself Before Felix

¹⁰ The governor made a sign for Paul to speak. So Paul answered, “Governor Felix, I know that you have been a judge over this nation for a long time. So I am happy to defend myself before you. ¹¹ I went to worship in Jerusalem only twelve days ago. You can learn for yourself that this is true. ¹² These Jews who are accusing me did not find me arguing with anyone at the Temple or making trouble with the people. And I was not making trouble or arguing in the synagogues or any other place in the city. ¹³ These men cannot prove the things they are saying against me now.

¹⁴ “But I will tell you this: I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which these Jews say is not the right way, and I believe everything that is taught in the Law of Moses and all that is written in the books of the prophets. ¹⁵ I have the same hope in God that these Jews have—the hope that all people, good and bad, will be raised from death. ¹⁶ This is why I always try to do what I believe is right before God and before everyone.

^17-18 “I was away from Jerusalem for many years. I went back there to take money to help my people. I also had some gifts to offer at the Temple. I was doing this when some Jews saw me there. I had finished the cleansing ceremony.^[a] I had not made any trouble, and no one was gathering around me. ¹⁹ But some Jews from Asia were there. They should be here, standing before you. If I have really done anything wrong, they are the ones who should accuse me. They were there! ²⁰ Ask these men here if they found any wrong in me when I stood before the high council meeting in Jerusalem. ²¹ I did say one thing when I stood before them and shouted, ‘You are judging me today because I believe that people will rise from death!’”

You Will Be Rewarded

¹² Then Jesus said to the Pharisee who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. At another time they will pay you back by inviting you to eat with them. ¹³ Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then you will have great blessings, because these people cannot pay you back. They have nothing. But God will reward you at the time when all godly people rise from death.”

A Story About People Invited to a Dinner^(A)

¹⁵ One of the men sitting at the table with Jesus heard these things. The man said to him, “It will be a great blessing for anyone to eat a meal in God’s kingdom!”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big dinner. He invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time to eat, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. The food is ready.’ ¹⁸ But all the guests said they could not come. Each one made an excuse. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, so I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another man said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of work animals; I must go and try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ A third man said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’

²¹ “So the servant returned and told his master what happened. The master was angry. He said, ‘Hurry! Go into the streets and alleys of the town. Bring me the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

²² “Later, the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you told me to do, but we still have places for more people.’ ²³ The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads. Tell the people there to come. I want my house to be full! ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those people I invited first will eat any of this food I prepared.’”