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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.

Duration: 861 days

Psalm 37

Psalm 37^[a]

The Fate of Sinners and the Reward of the Just

¹Of David.

Aleph

Do not be provoked by evildoers;
do not envy those who do wrong.^(A)
²Like grass they wither quickly;
like green plants they wilt away.^(B)

Beth

³Trust in the Lord and do good
that you may dwell in the land^[b] and live secure.^(C)
⁴Find your delight in the Lord
who will give you your heart’s desire.^(D)

Gimel

⁵Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will act^(E)
⁶And make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
your justice like noonday.^(F)

Daleth

⁷Be still before the Lord;
wait for him.
Do not be provoked by the prosperous,
nor by malicious schemers.

He

⁸Refrain from anger; abandon wrath;
do not be provoked; it brings only harm.
⁹Those who do evil will be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord will inherit the earth.^(G)

Waw

¹⁰Wait a little, and the wicked will be no more;
look for them and they will not be there.
¹¹But the poor will inherit the earth,^(H)
will delight in great prosperity.

Zayin

¹²The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
¹³But my Lord laughs at them,^(I)
because he sees that their day is coming.

Heth

¹⁴The wicked unsheath their swords;
    they string their bows
To fell the poor and oppressed,
    to slaughter those whose way is upright.^(J)
¹⁵Their swords will pierce their own hearts;
    their bows will be broken.

Teth

¹⁶Better the meagerness of the righteous one
than the plenty of the wicked.^(K)
¹⁷The arms of the wicked will be broken,
while the Lord will sustain the righteous.

Yodh

¹⁸The Lord knows the days of the blameless;
their heritage lasts forever.
¹⁹They will not be ashamed when times are bad;
in days of famine they will be satisfied.

Kaph

²⁰The wicked perish,
enemies of the Lord;
They shall be consumed like fattened lambs;
like smoke they disappear.^(L)

Lamedh

²¹The wicked one borrows but does not repay;
the righteous one is generous and gives.
²²For those blessed by the Lord will inherit the earth,
but those accursed will be cut off.

Mem

²³The valiant one whose steps are guided by the Lord,
who will delight in his way,^(M)
²⁴May stumble, but he will never fall,
for the Lord holds his hand.

Nun

²⁵Neither in my youth, nor now in old age
    have I seen the righteous one abandoned^(N)
    or his offspring begging for bread.
²⁶All day long he is gracious and lends,
    and his offspring become a blessing.

Samekh

²⁷Turn from evil and do good,
that you may be settled forever.^(O)
²⁸For the Lord loves justice
and does not abandon the faithful.

Ayin

When the unjust are destroyed,
and the offspring of the wicked cut off,
²⁹The righteous will inherit the earth
and dwell in it forever.^(P)

Pe

³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom;^(Q)
his tongue speaks what is right.
³¹God’s teaching is in his heart;^(R)
his steps do not falter.

Sadhe

³²The wicked spies on the righteous
and seeks to kill him.
³³But the Lord does not abandon him in his power,
nor let him be condemned when tried.

Qoph

³⁴Wait eagerly for the Lord,
and keep his way;^(S)
He will raise you up to inherit the earth;
you will see when the wicked are cut off.

Resh

³⁵I have seen a ruthless scoundrel,
spreading out like a green cedar.^(T)
³⁶When I passed by again, he was gone;
though I searched, he could not be found.

Shin

³⁷Observe the person of integrity and mark the upright;
Because there is a future for a man of peace.^(U)
³⁸Sinners will be destroyed together;
the future of the wicked will be cut off.

Taw

³⁹The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord,
    their refuge in a time of distress.^(V)
⁴⁰The Lord helps and rescues them,
    rescues and saves them from the wicked,
    because they take refuge in him.

Exodus 20:1-21

Chapter 20

The Ten Commandments.^[a] ¹Then God spoke all these words:

²^(A)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,^(B) out of the house of slavery. ³You shall not have other gods beside me.^[b] ⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol^(C) or a likeness of anything^[c] in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; ⁵you shall not bow down before them or serve them.^(D) For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation^[d]; ⁶but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷You shall not invoke the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.^[e]^(E) For the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain.

⁸Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy.^[f] ⁹Six days you may labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God.^(F) You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested.^(G) That is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.^[g]

¹²^[h]^(H)Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(I)

¹³You shall not kill.^[i]^(J)

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.^(K)

¹⁵You shall not steal.^(L)

¹⁶You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.^(M)

¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.^(N)

Moses Accepted as Mediator. ¹⁸Now as all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blast of the shofar and the mountain smoking, they became afraid and trembled.^(O) So they took up a position farther away ¹⁹and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we shall die.” ²⁰Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come only to test you and put the fear of him upon you so you do not sin.” ²¹So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

Footnotes

20:1–17
The precise numbering and division of these precepts into “ten commandments” is somewhat uncertain. Traditionally among Catholics and Lutherans vv. 1–6 are considered as only one commandment, and v. 17 as two. The Anglican, Greek Orthodox, and Reformed churches count vv. 1–6 as two, and v. 17 as one. Cf. Dt 5:6–21. The traditional designation as “ten” is not found here but in 34:28 (and also Dt 4:13 and 10:4), where these precepts are alluded to literally as “the ten words.” That they were originally written on two tablets appears in Ex 32:15–16; 34:28–29; Dt 4:13; 10:2–4.
The present form of the commands is a product of a long development, as is clear from the fact that the individual precepts vary considerably in length and from the slightly different formulation of Dt 5:6–21 (see especially vv. 12–15 and 21). Indeed they represent a mature formulation of a traditional morality. Why this specific selection of commands should be set apart is not entirely clear. None of them is unique in the Old Testament and all of the laws which follow are also from God and equally binding on the Israelites. Even so, this collection represents a privileged expression of God’s moral demands on Israel and is here set apart from the others as a direct, unmediated communication of God to the Israelites and the basis of the covenant being concluded on Sinai.
20:3
Beside me: this commandment is traditionally understood as an outright denial of the existence of other gods except the God of Israel; however, in the context of the more general prohibitions in vv. 4–5, v. 3 is, more precisely, God’s demand for Israel’s exclusive worship and allegiance.
The Hebrew phrase underlying the translation “beside me” is, nonetheless, problematic and has been variously translated, e.g., “except me,” “in addition to me,” “in preference to me,” “in defiance of me,” and “in front of me” or “before my face.” The latter translation, with its concrete, spatial nuances, has suggested to some that the prohibition once sought to exclude from the Lord’s sanctuary the cult images or idols of other gods, such as the asherah, or stylized sacred tree of life, associated with the Canaanite goddess Asherah (34:13). Over the course of time, as vv. 4–5 suggest, the original scope of v. 3 was expanded.
20:4 Or a likeness of anything: compare this formulation to that found in Dt 5:8, which understands this phrase and the following phrases as specifications of the prohibited idol (Hebrew pesel), which usually refers to an image that is carved or hewn rather than cast.
20:5 Jealous: demanding exclusive allegiance. Inflicting punishment…the third and fourth generation: the intended emphasis is on God’s mercy by the contrast between punishment and mercy (“to the thousandth generation”—v. 6). Other Old Testament texts repudiate the idea of punishment devolving on later generations (cf. Dt 24:16; Jer 31:29–30; Ez 18:2–4). Yet it is known that later generations may suffer the punishing effects of sins of earlier generations, but not the guilt.
20:7 In vain: i.e., to no good purpose, a general framing of the prohibition which includes swearing falsely, especially in the context of a legal proceeding, but also goes beyond it (cf. Lv 24:16; Prv 30:8–9).
20:8 Keep it holy: i.e., to set it apart from the other days of the week, in part, as the following verse explains, by not doing work that is ordinarily done in the course of a week. The special importance of this command can be seen in the fact that, together with vv. 9–11, it represents the longest of the Decalogue’s precepts.
20:11 Here, in a formulation which reflects Priestly theology, the veneration of the sabbath is grounded in God’s own hallowing of the sabbath in creation. Compare 31:13; Dt 5:15.
20:12–17 The Decalogue falls into two parts: the preceding precepts refer to God, the following refer primarily to one’s fellow Israelites.
20:13 Kill: as frequent instances of killing in the context of war or certain crimes (see vv. 12–18) demonstrate in the Old Testament, not all killing comes within the scope of the commandment. For this reason, the Hebrew verb translated here as “kill” is often understood as “murder,” although it is in fact used in the Old Testament at times for unintentional acts of killing (e.g., Dt 4:41; Jos 20:3) and for legally sanctioned killing (Nm 35:30). The term may originally have designated any killing of another Israelite, including acts of manslaughter, for which the victim’s kin could exact vengeance. In the present context, it denotes the killing of one Israelite by another, motivated by hatred or the like (Nm 35:20; cf. Hos 6:9).

Colossians 1:24-2:7

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking^[a] in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, ²⁵of which I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, ²⁶the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,^(A) ²⁷to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.^(B) ²⁸It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.^(C) ²⁹For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.^(D)

Chapter 2

¹For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea^[b] and all who have not seen me face to face, ²that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,^(E) ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.^(F)

III. Warnings Against False Teachers^[c]

A General Admonition. ⁴I say this so that no one may deceive you by specious arguments.^(G) ⁵For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I observe your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.^(H) ⁶So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, ⁷rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.^(I)

Footnotes

1:24 What is lacking: although variously interpreted, this phrase does not imply that Christ’s atoning death on the cross was defective. It may refer to the apocalyptic concept of a quota of “messianic woes” to be endured before the end comes; cf. Mk 13:8, 19–20, 24 and the note on Mt 23:29–32. Others suggest that Paul’s mystical unity with Christ allowed him to call his own sufferings the afflictions of Christ.
2:1 Laodicea: chief city in Phrygia, northwest of Colossae; cf. Col 4:13, 16; Rev 3:14–22.
2:4–23 In face of the threat posed by false teachers (Col 2:4), the Colossians are admonished to adhere to the gospel as it was first preached to them (Col 2:6), steeping themselves in it with grateful hearts (Col 2:7). They must reject religious teachings originating in any source except the gospel (Col 2:8) because in Christ alone will they have access to God, the deity (Col 2:9). So fully has Christ enlightened them that they need no other source of religious knowledge or virtue (Col 2:10). They do not require circumcision (Col 2:11), for in baptism their whole being has been affected by Christ (Col 2:12) through forgiveness of sin and resurrection to a new life (Col 2:13; cf. Col 3:1 and Rom 6:1–11). On the cross Christ canceled the record of the debt that stood against us with all its claims (Col 2:14), i.e., he eliminated the law (cf. Eph 2:15) that human beings could not observe—and that could not save them. He forgave sins against the law (Col 2:14) and exposed as false and misleading (Col 2:15) all other powers (cf. Col 1:16) that purport to offer salvation. Therefore, the Colossians are not to accept judgments from such teachers on food and drink or to keep certain religious festivals or engage in certain cultic practices (Col 2:16), for the Colossians would thereby risk severing themselves from Christ (Col 2:19). If, when they accepted the gospel, they believed in Christ as their savior, they must be convinced that their salvation cannot be achieved by appeasing ruling spirits through dietary practices or through a wisdom gained simply by means of harsh asceticism (Col 2:20–23).

Matthew 4:1-11

Chapter 4

The Temptation of Jesus. ¹^[a]^(A)Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²^(B)He fasted for forty days and forty nights,^[b] and afterwards he was hungry. ³The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” ⁴^[c]He said in reply, “It is written:^(C)

‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”

⁵^[d]Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

‘He will command his angels concerning you’
and ‘with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”^(D)

⁷Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”^(E) ⁸Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, ⁹and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”^[e] ¹⁰At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:

‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.’”^(F)

¹¹Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry.^[f]

Footnotes

4:1–11 Jesus, proclaimed Son of God at his baptism, is subjected to a triple temptation. Obedience to the Father is a characteristic of true sonship, and Jesus is tempted by the devil to rebel against God, overtly in the third case, more subtly in the first two. Each refusal of Jesus is expressed in language taken from the Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 8:3; 6:13, 16). The testings of Jesus resemble those of Israel during the wandering in the desert and later in Canaan, and the victory of Jesus, the true Israel and the true Son, contrasts with the failure of the ancient and disobedient “son,” the old Israel. In the temptation account Matthew is almost identical with Luke; both seem to have drawn upon the same source.
4:2 Forty days and forty nights: the same time as that during which Moses remained on Sinai (Ex 24:18). The time reference, however, seems primarily intended to recall the forty years during which Israel was tempted in the desert (Dt 8:2).
4:4 Cf. Dt 8:3. Jesus refuses to use his power for his own benefit and accepts whatever God wills.
4:5–7 The devil supports his proposal by an appeal to the scriptures, Ps 91:11a, 12. Unlike Israel (Dt 6:16), Jesus refuses to “test” God by demanding from him an extraordinary show of power.
4:9 The worship of Satan to which Jesus is tempted is probably intended to recall Israel’s worship of false gods. His refusal is expressed in the words of Dt 6:13.
4:12–17 Isaiah’s prophecy of the light rising upon Zebulun and Naphtali (Is 8:22–9:1) is fulfilled in Jesus’ residence at Capernaum. The territory of these two tribes was the first to be devastated (733–32 B.C.) at the time of the Assyrian invasion. In order to accommodate Jesus’ move to Capernaum to the prophecy, Matthew speaks of that town as being “in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Mt 4:13), whereas it was only in the territory of the latter, and he understands the sea of the prophecy, the Mediterranean, as the sea of Galilee.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 37^[a]

The Fate of Sinners and the Reward of the Just

Aleph

Beth

Gimel

Daleth

He

Waw

Zayin

Heth

Teth

Yodh

Kaph

Lamedh

Mem

Nun

Samekh

Ayin

Pe

Sadhe

Qoph

Resh

Shin

Taw

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 20

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 2

III. Warnings Against False Teachers^[c]

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 4

Footnotes

Cross references

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 37[a]

The Fate of Sinners and the Reward of the Just

Aleph

Beth

Gimel

Daleth

He

Waw

Zayin

Heth

Teth

Yodh

Kaph

Lamedh

Mem

Nun

Samekh

Ayin

Pe

Sadhe

Qoph

Resh

Shin

Taw

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 20

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 2

III. Warnings Against False Teachers[c]

Footnotes

Cross references

Chapter 4

Footnotes

Cross references

Psalm 37^[a]

III. Warnings Against False Teachers^[c]