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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
American Standard Version (ASV)
Version
Psalm 146-147

Praise to Jehovah the abundant Helper.

[a]146 Praise ye Jehovah.
Praise Jehovah, O my soul.
While I live will I praise Jehovah:
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
Put not your trust in princes,
Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth;
In that very day his [b]thoughts perish.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in Jehovah his God:
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that in them is;
Who keepeth truth for ever;
Who executeth justice for the oppressed;
Who giveth food to the hungry.
Jehovah looseth the prisoners;
Jehovah openeth the eyes of the blind;
Jehovah raiseth up them that are bowed down;
Jehovah loveth the righteous;
Jehovah preserveth the sojourners;
He upholdeth the fatherless and widow;
But the way of the wicked he [c]turneth upside down.
10 Jehovah will reign for ever,
Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations.
[d]Praise ye Jehovah.

Praise for Jerusalem’s restoration and prosperity.

[e]147 Praise ye Jehovah;
[f]For it is good to sing praises unto our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is comely.
Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem;
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth the broken in heart,
And bindeth up their [g]wounds.
He counteth the number of the stars;
He calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
Jehovah upholdeth the meek:
He bringeth the wicked down to the ground.
Sing unto Jehovah with thanksgiving;
Sing praises upon the harp unto our God,
Who covereth the heavens with clouds,
Who prepareth rain for the earth,
Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
He giveth to the beast his food,
And to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse:
He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 Jehovah taketh pleasure in them that fear him,
In those that hope in his lovingkindness.
12 Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem;
Praise thy God, O Zion.
13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates;
He hath blessed thy children within thee.
14 He maketh [h]peace in thy borders;
He filleth thee with the [i]finest of the wheat.
15 He sendeth out his commandment upon earth;
His word runneth very swiftly.
16 He giveth snow like wool;
He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes.
17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels:
Who can stand before his cold?
18 He sendeth out his word, and melteth them:
He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He showeth his word unto Jacob,
His statutes and his ordinances unto Israel.
20 He hath not dealt so with any nation;
And as for his ordinances, they have not known them.
[j]Praise ye Jehovah.

Psalm 111-113

Jehovah praised for his goodness.

[a]111 Praise ye Jehovah.
I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my whole heart,
In the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
The works of Jehovah are great,
Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
His work is honor and majesty;
And his righteousness endureth for ever.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered:
Jehovah is gracious and merciful.
He hath given [b]food unto them that fear him:
He will ever be mindful of his covenant.
He hath showed his people the power of his works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.
The works of his hands are truth and justice;
All his precepts are sure.
They are established for ever and ever;
They are [c]done in truth and uprightness.
He hath sent redemption unto his people;
He hath commanded his covenant for ever:
Holy and reverend is his name.
10 The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom;
[d]A good understanding have all they that do [e]his commandments:
His praise endureth for ever.

Prosperity of him that fears Jehovah.

[f]112 Praise ye Jehovah.
Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah,
That delighteth greatly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth:
The generation of the upright shall be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house;
And his righteousness endureth for ever.
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness:
He is gracious, and merciful, and righteous.
Well is it with the man that dealeth graciously and lendeth;
He shall maintain his cause in judgment.
For he shall never be moved;
The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:
His heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid,
Until he see his desire upon his adversaries.
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy;
His righteousness endureth for ever:
His horn shall be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved;
He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away:
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

Jehovah praised for exalting the humble.

[g]113 Praise ye Jehovah.
Praise, O ye servants of Jehovah,
Praise the name of Jehovah.
Blessed be the name of Jehovah
From this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
Jehovah’s name is to be praised.
Jehovah is high above all nations,
And his glory above the heavens.
Who is like unto Jehovah our God,
That hath his seat on high,
That humbleth himself [h]to behold
The things that are in heaven and in the earth?
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
And lifteth up the needy from the dunghill;
That he may set him with princes,
Even with the princes of his people.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
And to be a joyful mother of children.
[i]Praise ye Jehovah.

Genesis 1:1-2:3

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God [a]moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

And God said, Let there be a [b]firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth [c]in the open firmament of heaven. 21 And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that [d]moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: 30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is [e]life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Blessed be [a]the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before [b]him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, [c]which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [d]which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the [e]times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things [f]in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, 11 in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will; 12 to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who [g]had before hoped in Christ: 13 in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the [h]gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

John 1:29-34

29 On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that [a]taketh away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was [b]before me. 31 And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing [c]in water. 32 And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize [d]in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth [e]in the Holy Spirit. 34 And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.