Book of Common Prayer

The Majesty of the Lord.

A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.

The Lord, a Provider and the One Who Rescues Me.

A Psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before ^[a]Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

Reconciliation with God

10 Now ^(A)while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^(B)before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept greatly. ² Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “^(C)We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^[a]married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ So now ^(D)let’s make a covenant with our God to send away all the wives and ^[b](E)their children, following the counsel of ^[c]my lord and of ^(F)those who fear the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^(G)according to the Law. ⁴ Arise! For this matter is ^[d]your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^(H)be courageous and act.”

⁵ Then Ezra stood and ^(I)made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do according to this ^[e]proposal; so they took the oath. ⁶ Then Ezra ^(J)rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. Although he went there, ^(K)he did not eat bread nor drink water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. ⁷ So they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they were to assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that whoever did not come within three days, in accordance with the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his property would be forfeited, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the public square before the house of God, ^(L)trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives, adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now therefore, ^(M)make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and ^(N)do His will; and ^(O)separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “It is ^[f]our duty to do exactly as you have said! ¹³ However, there are many people, it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, because we have done a great wrong in this matter. ¹⁴ Please let our leaders ^[g]represent all the assembly and have all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ^(P)fierce anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah ^[h]opposed this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.

¹⁶ But the exiles did so. And ^[i]Ezra the priest selected men who were the heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ^[j]convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. ¹⁷ And they finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

¹⁰ And when ^(A)the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded:

“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, ¹¹ since you can take note of the fact that no more than ^(B)twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ^12 (C)And neither in the temple did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^(D)causing ^[a]a riot, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself. ^13 (E)Nor can they prove to you the things of which they now accuse me. ¹⁴ But I confess this to you, that in accordance with ^[b](F)the Way, which they call a ^(G)sect, I do serve ^(H)the God of our fathers, ^(I)believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵ having a hope in God, which ^(J)these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶ In view of this ^(K)I also do my best to maintain a blameless conscience both before God and before other people, always. ¹⁷ Now ^(L)after several years I ^(M)came to bring charitable gifts to my nation and to present offerings, ¹⁸ in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been ^(N)purified, without any ^(O)crowd or uproar. But there were some ^(P)Jews from ^[c]Asia— ¹⁹ who ought to have been present before you and to have been ^(Q)bringing charges, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else have these men themselves declare what violation they discovered when I stood before ^(R)the ^[d]Council, ²¹ other than in regard to this one declaration which ^(S)I shouted while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today!’”

¹² Now He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “Whenever you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you to a meal in return, and that will be your ^[a]repayment. ¹³ But whenever you give a ^[b]banquet, invite people who are poor, who have disabilities, who are limping, and people who are blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they ^[c]do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^(A)the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(B)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But He said to him, “^(C)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ^[d]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[e]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(D)I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ ²² And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”