Book of Common Prayer

The Lord Reigns

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

¹⁴ “This day shall be ^(A)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a ^(B)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ^15 (C)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, ^(D)that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a ^(E)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(F)on this very day I brought your ^(G)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ^18 (H)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ^19 (I)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, ^(J)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, ^(K)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ^(L)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of ^(M)hyssop and ^(N)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ^(O)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ^(P)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ^23 (Q)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ^(R)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(S)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ^(T)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And ^(U)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ^(V)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people ^(W)bowed their heads and worshiped.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ² and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection

16 ^(A)(B)When the Sabbath was past, ^(C)Mary Magdalene, ^(D)Mary the mother of James, and ^(E)Salome ^(F)bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away ^(G)the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—^(H)it was very large. ⁵ And ^(I)entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, ^(J)dressed in ^(K)a white robe, and ^(L)they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, ^(M)“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that ^(N)he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, ^(O)just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.