Book of Common Prayer

The Majesty of the Lord.

A Call to Worship the Lord the Righteous Judge.

The Lord, a Provider and Deliverer.

A Psalm of David when he ^[a]feigned madness before ^[b]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 bitterly. 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 us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ^[b](E)their children, according to the counsel of ^[c]my lord and of ^(F)those who tremble at 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 rose and ^(I)made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, take 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, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. ⁷ They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the leaders and the elders, all his possessions should be forfeited and he himself 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 open 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, “That’s right! As you have said, so it is ^[f]our duty to do. ¹³ But 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, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our leaders ^[g]represent the whole assembly and let 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 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 They finished investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

¹⁰ 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)Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^(D)causing ^[a]a riot. ^13 (E)Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me. ¹⁴ But this I admit to you, that according to ^(F)the Way which they call a ^(G)sect I do serve ^[b](H)the God of our fathers, ^(I)believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that 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 ^[c]do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men. ¹⁷ Now ^(L)after several years I ^(M)came to bring ^[d]alms 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 ^[e]Asia— ¹⁹ who ought to have been present before you and to ^(Q)make accusation, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else let these men themselves tell what misdeed they found when I stood before ^(R)the ^[f]Council, ²¹ other than for this one statement which ^(S)I shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

¹² And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. ¹³ But when you give a ^[a]reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they ^[b]do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at ^(A)the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ 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 say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a ^[c]piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; ^[d]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[e]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘^(D)I have married a 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 the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And 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 highways and along the 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 of my dinner.’”