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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Modern English Version (MEV)
Version
Psalm 105

Psalm 105(A)

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name;
    make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing unto Him, sing praises unto Him;
    proclaim all His wondrous works.
Glory in His holy name;
    let the heart rejoice for those who seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord and His strength;
    seek His presence continuously.

Remember His marvelous works that He has done;
    His wonders and the judgments from His mouth,
O offspring of Abraham, His servant,
    O children of Jacob, His chosen ones.
He is the Lord our God;
    His judgments are in all the earth.

He remembers His covenant forever,
    the word that He commanded, to a thousand generations,
that covenant He made with Abraham,
    and His oath to Isaac,
10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree,
    and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
    as the portion of your inheritance.”

12 When they were but a few people in number,
    indeed, very few, and strangers in it,
13 when they went from one nation to another,
    from one kingdom to another people,
14 He did not permit anyone to do them wrong;
    indeed, He reproved kings on their behalf,
15 saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones,
    and do no harm to my prophets.”

16 Moreover He called for a famine upon the land;
    He broke the whole supply of bread.
17 He sent a man before them,
    Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They hurt his feet with fetters;
    his neck was put in an iron collar.
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
    the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
    the ruler of the people let him go free.
21 He made Joseph lord of his house
    and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to imprison his princes at Joseph’s pleasure
    and to teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel came into Egypt,
    and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord increased His people greatly
    and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their hearts to hate His people,
    to deal cleverly with His servants.
26 He sent Moses, His servant,
    and Aaron whom He had chosen.
27 They showed His signs among them
    and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark,
    and Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His word.
29 He turned their waters into blood
    and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance,
    even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies
    and gnats in all their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain
    and flaming lightning in their land.
33 He struck their vines and their fig trees
    and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
    and caterpillars without number,
35 that devoured all the vegetation in their land,
    and ate all the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
    the first fruits of all their strength.
37 Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
    and no one among their tribes faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
    for the fear of Israel fell upon them.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
    and fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and He brought quail,
    and satisfied them with abundant bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out;
    they ran in the desert like a river.

42 For he recalled His holy promise
    to Abraham His servant.
43 He brought forth His people with joy,
    and His chosen ones with gladness,
44 and gave them the lands of the nations,
    and they took possession of the fruitful labor of the people,
45 that they might observe His statutes
    and keep His laws.

Praise the Lord!

Numbers 17:1-11

The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them a rod, a rod for the house of their fathers, from all their leaders according to the house of their fathers, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. You will write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi, because one rod will be for each father’s house. You will lay them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you. It will be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, that they have been making against you.

Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each one of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. Moses laid the rods before the Lord in the tent of witness.

When Moses went into the tent of witness the next day, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, had sprouted. It brought forth buds, produced blossoms, and yielded almonds. Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and each man took his rod.

10 The Lord said to Moses, “Return the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a warning to rebels, that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die.” 11 Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.

Romans 5:1-11

Results of Justification

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and so we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience, patience produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

While we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

How much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 11 Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Matthew 20:17-28

A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection(A)

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes. And they will condemn Him to death 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him, but on the third day He will rise.”

A Mother’s Request(B)

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons. And kneeling before Him, she asked for a certain thing.

21 He said to her, “What do you want?”

She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your kingdom.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup that I am to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to Him, “We are able.”

23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink from My cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

24 When the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you, let him serve you, 27 and whoever would be first among you, let him be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Modern English Version (MEV)

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.